There Goes My Lunch...Again

Once again, Tali wanted the rest of my lunch. She'd already eaten two whole carrots and most of a turkey/cheese roll-up when she saw what was still on my plate. Today's desire? Brussels sprouts! Yup, my 2 1/2 year old LOVES Brussels sprouts. Seriously, this kid will eat almost anything.

New Diet

Today Eli had his four month old check-up.

The good news: He looks healthy, is very strong and has excellent head/neck control.

The bad news: He's only gained 7 ounces in the past month (he should have gained between 1 - 1 1/2 pounds), is still spitting up a lot and I saw blood in his stool today. Based on all of these factors, the doctor thinks he might have a dairy allergy. The best way to find out is for me to eliminate dairy from my diet for a few weeks and see what happens. So starting now, I am dairy-free. No more ice cream, cookies or cheese for me. It's unfortunate, but I am happy to do whatever it takes for my son to be healthy. The doctor said that if he does have this allergy, he could outgrow it between the ages of 2 and 3. So that's good news.

If anyone has any good dairy-free recipes for me, please send them my way. Tonight I was going to make corn chowder for dinner. It's made with lots of milk. Guess I'll have to come up with a new plan.

But First...

Before her nap, I read Tali a book about moving. In the book, the family has their house painted and carpet installed before they move. When we finished the book, Tali started a conversation about it. The conversation went like this:

Tali: Tali has a new house.
Me: Yes, you do have a new house. And we will be moving soon. But first, we have to paint and put in carpet.
Tali: We will paint the new house. But first, we have to put on a smock.

Teething Has Begun!

Eli started teething today. He's sucking on his gums and drooling. Tali started a little bit older than this and didn't get her first tooth until after she turned one. Let's hope, for my sake, that Eli also waits that long to cut a tooth.

Taking One (or Four) For the Team

Our new house has a very old swing set out back. Tali loves it and I make sure she has time to play on it every time we go to the house. Unfortunately, our back yard is currently full of mosquitoes. Every time we are out there, we all get bitten (except for Tali, strangely). Today Eli is sporting four new bites (one is on the other side of his wrist) from this weekend's visits. Poor baby. Luckily, they don't seem to bother him.

Just Kidding!

Tali saying goodbye to the cherry tree she never got to climb.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to begin chronicling our house renovation in a new blog. Well, I've changed my mind. Instead of writing for all the world to see, I am going to simply send out regular e-mails, with pictures.  If you'd like to be included in those e-mails, please let me know. You can either respond to this post or send me an e-mail.

We've Been Busy

We've been very busy with our new house. Between the kids waking at night and all of the details H has been working on, neither of us are getting much sleep. The good news is that we've finally selected a contractor! Work will start next week. I plan to write about our renovation process here:

http://ourrenoproject.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

First Day of School (Parts I and II)

Tali's first day in the 3's.

Tali's first day in the 2's.

Last year when H and I were looking for a new school closer to our new home, we toured two different schools. Neither would take Tali in their 2's program as she was too verbal and they were worried she'd be frustrated and bored with younger 2's who didn't speak much at all. So we settled on a school and agreed to put her in a 3's class and simply repeat the 3's or 4's.

After Tali's first day in the 3's (a Friday), the teachers approached the principal with concern. Tali was so young (there was a girl almost an entire year older than her!) and she seemed a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps she'd be better off in the 2's. On Monday morning, I spoke with the principal. H and I both agreed that we'd like to put Tali back in the 2's as that is where she belongs. So, we made the switch. (Of course, after her second day in the 3's the teachers said she did great and they'd like to keep her.) I'm so happy we did. The 2's class started a week later so she didn't walk into a situation where everyone was comfortable but her. There are 10 kids in her class and two are actually older than her by just a week and two. Another two are younger by only a month and two. The kids in her class are very verbal and the moms I've met so far are very nice.

The only downside to all this change is that Tali has cried a lot. This makes her fourth new classroom in a year (last year's 2's, camp, the 3's and now back to the 2's). Poor thing is very confused. She quickly made friends with another girl in class so I'm sure things will calm down soon.

Finally Out of the High Chair

Tali's first meal in her new booster seat.

Yum!

This past weekend, Tali hit a very big milestone - she moved to a booster seat! While most kids make this move well before age two, Tali was perfectly happy in her high chair. And we were perfectly happy to have her in it. The only reason we moved her is because Eli will need the chair in 2-3 months and we wanted to make sure there was enough time between the two of them that Tali wouldn't consider it "her chair" anymore. It actually took a bit of convincing to get Tali into her new booster seat. Now that she's there, I wonder why we didn't do this sooner. It's nice having her at the table with us and it's so much easier to clean.

Tali's first meal in her new booster seat? A bagel with veggie cream cheese. Her sixth? A pizza with guanciale, black truffles and sunny side egg (note: she loved the truffles but didn't care for the guanciale). She'll happily eat anywhere!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Last Tuesday it was raining. I decided we would stay inside all day. Tali insisted on going out. She really wanted to wear her rain boots, rain coat and carry her umbrella. So I let her play out back. She had a blast!