Going Nuts

As part of Tali's bedtime routine, she spends a few minutes in her Jumperoo while I prepare her bath. She's usually in there for about five minutes but last night she was having such a blast that I let her bounce around for 15 minutes. Tali was jumping so hard that I was afraid the whole thing would break. Luckily, Fisher Price makes good toys. She was so funny in there that I had to take some video. Pay particular attention to her feet - she jumps like a dancer (Jennifer - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!). When I finally pulled her out (not because she was finished, but because her bath was getting cold!), she wasn't even out of breath. It's 8:15 at night, most babies her age are asleep and she's jumping her little heart out. 

Stacking Rings

What a difference a week makes! When I gave Tali stacking rings a week ago, she gently removed the top one (red) and placed it in her mouth. When done, she gently placed it down then took the next one (orange) and so on. She played in a very polite, girly way. Two days ago, this is how she played with the rings.

Bad Mom - Nap Time

It's been a while since I've done a Bad Mom entry and I'm definitely past due. Today I decided to take Tali on two errands during her awake time but while at the first, I noticed she was getting sleepy. So instead of taking her to the second errand, I decided it was best to bring her home so wouldn't be cranky and she could get a good nap. Unfortunately, Tali fell asleep in the car and when we got home I had to wake her to bring her upstairs to her crib. I got her up as quickly as I could but it was too late. She was already awake and crying. I left her room quickly, hoping she'd fall back asleep. No such luck. She cried for 30 minutes and threw two pacifiers out of the crib before I went in to get her. I took her out, calmed her down and read to her then put her back in her crib. Crying again. She finally fell asleep an hour after she normally goes down for her nap. 

You may be wondering where the Bad Mom is in all of this. Well, as I was trying to figure out why she was so tired that she fell asleep in the car (we arrived home 4 minutes after her normal nap time), I realized that she woke up 30 minutes early from her morning nap. So I should have been prepared for her to be tired at 1:00 instead of 1:30 (which she was). Had I properly anticipated her needs, we could have been home at 1:00 and she would have gone to sleep without an hour of crying. Yup, I feel like an idiot.

What Was That For?

Last night, Tali woke up around 1:15 and started screaming, not crying - screaming bloody murder. I let her scream for 15 minutes and since she wasn't calming down I went in to see what was wrong. (Lucky for me, I am the only one who can calm her when she wakes up like that so it's not even worth H getting out of bed - he's tried before.) No fever, no dirty diaper, no spit-up, she just needed her mommy. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped. It took her about eight minutes to fully catch her breath and calm down and then I put her back down. After that she went back to sleep. I, of course, laid awake for an hour waiting to see if she woke up again. She didn't.  Since I don't know what the problem was, I am going to guess it was teething-related. I am so not a fan of this teething thing and she doesn't even have teeth yet! Does this really go on for two years? Will I ever get some sleep?

First Baby Pool Experience

When: Yesterday

Where: Our back porch

Details: Since Tali had such a traumatic experience the first time we put her in a swimming pool, I decided that it would be best to start her off in a baby pool. Now that she's sitting very well I figured it was time. I bought her an inflatable pool (easier to store) with a top to shade her from the sun (she's not a fan of sun hats). Her pool arrived on Monday evening and I blew it up on Tuesday. When I first put her in the pool, she cried (of course).

Then Jackson came over and drank some of the pool water. That calmed her down and she played with the elephant bath toys that I put in there for her.

Next, I gave her a flower (attached to the sides with velcro) to play with.

After playing with the flower, she figured out that the mushrooms are also toys.

She stayed in the pool for about 15 minutes, until it was time to walk Jackson. While she didn't love it, she didn't hate it. I might put her in again today.

An Aunt-Filled Weekend

This past weekend two of Tali's aunts came to visit. On Saturday evening, Tali played with Aunt Judy and on Sunday Aunt Ilana came in for the evening and stayed until Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, Tali is getting to that stage where she needs her mommy to be there at all times. Tali had fun with both aunts but didn't want to be left alone with them and constantly touched me to make sure that I was around. By Monday morning Tali had gotten comfortable with Aunt Ilana and they played and laughed together after I left the room. I was glad to see that she can get comfortable with other people but am a little bummed that she's entering this phase. Fingers crossed it passes quickly.

First Taste of Dairy

When: Monday, August 24

Where: At home

Details: Monday was Tali's eight month birthday and that meant she was officially old enough to have dairy. It's recommended that you start babies on yogurt (cultured, easy to swallow, etc.) so that's what I did. I gave her some pear-flavored yogurt and it was the typical "new food" routine. Confused at first, then happy.

First Bites. The voices you hear are her Aunt Ilana and me.

After a few bites of yogurt, she was hooked. Then she was talking and playing with the lion attached to the tray of her high chair.

Watch out cows, here I come!

Fashonista in Training

Tali has a lot of dresses, a lot of cute dresses. So on most days you'll find her wearing one of these dresses. What you may not know is that she picked out her dress. Each morning I open her closet door and she leans in and touches a dress. Whatever she touches is what she wears for the day. I began doing this as entertainment for myself but now it's something Tali really enjoys. As soon as I put my hand on the closet door knob, Tali's face lights up. She gets very excited as the door opens and then leans in to pick out her dress. When she touches/chooses something, there is a huge smile on her face. As it comes out of the closet, she gets very excited and she smiles (sometimes even laughs) as I put her dress on. This has become one of my favorite parts of our day.

Finger Food

"breaded" papaya

Now that Tali has mastered Puffs, she wants all of her food to be finger food. Whenever there is a crumb of food on her tray, she tries to pick it up and put it in her mouth. (I give her a few Puffs as "dessert" after each meal so that she can satisfy the urge and practice hand-mouth contact.) This leads me to believe that she is ready for real finger foods. So after she finished her dinner last night I cut up some banana and put it on her tray. She was definitely excited about the banana but it didn't go as well as I thought it would for three reasons: 1. the pieces were too big and she gagged on them at times; 2. due to its texture, the banana was hard to pick up; 3. she misses her mouth, a lot. Today I solved the first two problems. After Tali's 3:00 meal, I cut up some papaya. I made the pieces much smaller and "breaded" them by coating them in her rice cereal. Success! Tali didn't choke once and she could easily pick up the pieces of food. There were still quite a few pieces of papaya that landed on the seat of her high chair or the floor, but that will just come with practice. At least she's having a good time!

Homemade Baby Food

When I decided that I would make Tali's food instead of buying the jars, H was very supportive. I also received encouragement from friends who had done it (explaining what they did and that it really wasn't that difficult), a friend who is a chef and my mom. However, there were others who were a bit more negative - mostly those who didn't do it themselves. I remember being told that after a few weeks I'd give up and start buying the jars. Well, Tali's been eating solid foods for three and a half months now and I am proud to say that I have yet to purchase baby food (I do have two jars from a friend but don't even care to open them). Why did I decide to make her food? Here are the top reasons:

1. I know exactly what she's eating. 

2. It is more nutritious than jarred food (even the organic ones) since store-bought food must be cooked at very high temperatures in order to have a long shelf life. The high temperature depletes nutrients. 

3. It just tastes better. I had one friend tell me that her son thought apples were sour! Yup, the jarred applesauce made him pucker his lips. 

4. It allows me to be creative. I don't have that many opportunities to express my creativity these days so Tali's food has become one outlet. I make my own combinations (mango/peach/blueberry or squash/peas/carrots are two recent combos- yum!) and she loves them.

5. It's cheaper.

6. It's better for the environment. I store her food in reusable plastic cubes. 

7. I believe this has made her a good eater. H was a very picky eater as a child and while I wasn't as picky, I wasn't as good as she is. Again, the food tastes better.

Now we're ready to start on finger foods and while I will give her Puffs (although I hate the fact that is has ingredients I cannot pronounce), I plan to give her a lot of homemade finger foods. This will be fun (and Jackson will benefit greatly).

Tali eating Puffs