Saturday, October 28, 2006

Food

Our pediatrician recommends that babies wait until 6 months before getting 'real' food. Unfortunately, Pippa has taken matters into her own hands. For the past couple of weeks when we eat she'll stare at us, mimic chewing motions, and reach with her hands for the food. The tipping point came last week when I was out to lunch w/ a friend and Pippa launched herself out of my lap, into my dessert plate, and tried to shovel a cannoli into her mouth. Sooo... we ordered a high chair and started 'food'.


Pippa in her snazzy new high chair



Pippa with her sippy cup of water

And, da da da, Pippa with 'food'. Babies 4-6 months are supposed to start on rice cereal. It's nasty stuff, really, but kids who aren't started on some type of grain cereal in that timeslot can develop gastrointestinal problems and diseases (like Crohn's disease) and have something like a 4 times greater risk of developing diabetes as adults. Crazy. So, rice cereal it is.

All the books say kids hate rice cereal, that you should only make up a tiny amount because they won't finish the helping, that most of them spit it out and don't actually get much into them, and that really this is about practicing eating and getting a little bit of new food into them, not about actually fulfilling any caloric needs. But, of course, we're talking about Pippa here. What this picture doesn't show is her flapping her arms in excitement and making little whooping noises. I made double the amount I thought she'd need and she ate it all. This picture was taken at the end of the meal and you can see her bib is almost completely clean. She only gets messy now because we apparently don't move fast enough for her and when the spoon comes near her she has to 'help' -- which means while a fair amount lands in her mouth, it also goes in her ear, eyes, nose, on the dogs, etc.




She LOVES this cup. When she sees it come out of the cupboard she flaps her arms, opens her mouth, and screeches like an exotic bird (for those of you without babies, these are all signs of extreme joy).




As usual we had a bumper crop of basil this year. I harvested the end of it before the nights dipped into the mid-30s -- this pile is after using it all summer and fall, etc. It took me almost two hours to wash and dry it, and then it made 8 large batches of pesto that we froze. Mmm.... pesto....

Links to these pictures, and previous ones.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Race and Party

So on Saturday James entered a 5k race in Hillsborough, pushing Pippa in her new jogging stroller. He didn't set a course record, but he did better than he thought he would. Jeremy also ran, and Ruffin came along to keep Emily company (Ruff wasn't running so she could save her energy for a mini-triathlon on Sunday).

Pippa, as is evident from the photos, wore her Hallowe'en costume-- mainly because it's a nice warm outfit, but also 'cuz we thought it was cute.

Most of the people at the race thought so too-- She was repeatedly cheered along the course- "Go, Bumble Bee!" James was confused why she got so many more cheers of encouragement than he did, since she really wasn't doing much of the work.... :)

on to the photos:
Jeremy holding Pippa pre-race


It's too bad nobody likes this little bumble bee....


Pippa resting before her gruelling run. Bees and elephants, it turns out, are best friends.



Jeremy, slumbering Pippa-Bee & James pre-race

One more pre-race photo


At the start line-- James didn't win the 'stroller class' but he did place first among males pushing strollers.... Also, note the little girl in a yellow tank top-- she placed third in the race overall-- 9 years old, and she ran a 16min 50sec 5k... the next two fastest women runners were Duke track students.


Jeremy coming down the hill towards the finish


back up the hill, you can just make out James and the bee...


Post- race-- James is tired-- the Pippa-bee, awake and refreshed after the run.


Pippa hanging out with her race number.


These Nike shoes were a raffle item after the race-- the winner was a college student who said she didn't know anyone who could use them and gave them to Pippa. Overall, Pippa really made out on the day not only was she given the shoes, but one of the race coordinators saw her when we were registering in the morning, and gave her a baby tee-shirt from the Turnip Patch Park for which this run was a fundraiser.


Later that day, we went to some friends' house for a 1 year birthday party (Happy Birthday, Sadie!)

Here's a great photo of Josh and Jen's son, Alex (very photogenic) with Pippa (not so photogenic (at least in this photo)).

Sunday, October 08, 2006

All Grown Up

Pippa recently discovered that toes make a good pacifier. Sadly, she's decided they're such a good toy that to really get her money's worth she needs to wake up in the middle of the night to play with them. Luckily, she doesn't mind if we don't join in.






We've started teaching her how to drink out of a "big girl" cup -- since the cup delivers liquid to her mouth she LOVES it, and is getting really skilled. That girl loves her food...


I love this Rocking Moose -- Pippa loves to take rides on it, too. She sits up and holds on, and we rock it. We stay close by just in case she slides off the side -- but it hasn't happened so far.










This is probably the most horrifying picture. Her stupid Mama wondered one day that since Pippa was so good at standing up w/ help, what would happen if I propped her up on a chair. The results are below -- the wretched Bean can stand by herself. Walking still has to be a long way away.... right? Right?


Miss Chunkenstein sitting up in her chair. Check those belly rolls out!! Those pants are brand-new, and are for nine month olds. Sigh.


And to prove that we do things besides gaze at our kid -- here's the little bit of other stuff. We hosted a surprise birthday party for Ruffin. It was a Murder party -- the picture below shows us all in character. Jeremy is trying to be sexy -- can't you tell it's the Blue Steel look? James is a British secret agent who has a "gammy" leg (you can't see the cane) and is looking pompous. Jim is a kind of mad scientist. Ruffin is a "Teutonic beauty" who speaks very accented English -- and the accent changed each time she spoke. I'm the owner of the vineyard the murder takes place at, and my husband is the one who is murdered (my face is just the right mix of smiling bravely for the photo and not really caring he's dead... ah, love). And Kristin is the socialite, interior decorator who holds a secret grudge. Much fun.


And now with "normal" faces.


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