Wednesday, August 17, 2011
random anecdote
On the shuttle from the Charlotte airport on Sunday, we were riding with a middle-aged couple who were asking about Michael. The woman commented Michael looked big for 9 months, and I said others have told me the opposite, and she laughed and said "well, what do I know; I'm just an OB nurse!"
They started telling us about their children, and how their middle child was a climber. Once, they found him on top of the window after he climbed the drapes. "And he's still climbing!" They laugh, as if sharing an inside joke. "Only now, it's corporate ladders!" Apparently, he has his parents' retirement taken care of and has done very well for himself.
"Do you ever do any online shopping?"
"Yeah," I replied, thinking of Amazon.
"Ever hear of ModCloth?"
"Umm... yeah, I have, actually." I had been there once, following an advertisement on thinkGeek or something.
(pause)
"So, what does he do for ModCloth?"
"Oh, he and his wife own it!"
I was suddenly very impressed. "Yeah, you guys are set!"
"Thanks for the reassurance." I couldn't tell if they were being snarky!
I looked them up on Wikipedia, and ModCloth has done well, so yeah, yay capitalism! I'm surprised his parents were taking a shuttle with us mere proles. But I also got the feeling that his parents like tell everyone they meet about their middle son. (It wasn't exactly a natural conversation flow, not that I really blame them!) How'd you like to be the oldest or youngest of their children? I bet they get no love. ;-)
They asked us if we went to school, and Ben told them we met at Berkeley.
"I thought you looked like preppies! So from liberal Berkeley to... where are you heading?"
"Austin."
"That's not much better!"
They asked us if we went to school, and Ben told them we met at Berkeley.
"I thought you looked like preppies! So from liberal Berkeley to... where are you heading?"
"Austin."
"That's not much better!"
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
9-month checkup
Michael had his 9-month well-baby checkup yesterday with a new pediatrician. This office is definitely not as sophisticated as Kaiser's; for one, they had to manually inspect a chart to figure out Michael's percentiles!
Michael passed inspection.
ETA: I just found out why there was such a discrepancy in the weight percentiles -- the nurse must have been using a growth chart for breastfed babies.
- [stat (nurse's percentile reading; online calculator's percentile)]
- 29 inches long (75%; 67%)
- 19 lbs, 12 oz. (50%; 32%)
- Head circumference 46.2 cm (75%; 70%)
Michael passed inspection.
ETA: I just found out why there was such a discrepancy in the weight percentiles -- the nurse must have been using a growth chart for breastfed babies.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Video dump!
Ben was taking care of Michael and put him in the crib for a minute to use the restroom. Apparently Michael was playing with his bear when Ben left, and sometime during the brief interim before he came back, Michael conked over and fell asleep:
We couldn't really get any good videos of Michael scooting. He did a lot of scooting until we turned on the camera, then he'd just stare at us! This is probably the best scooting video we have (and it's only 10 seconds long), where he sees a plastic bag on the floor (a "paper bag" if you believe my video commentary) and makes a beeline for it:
Michael has a new game where he kicks his leg up in the air:
We went to South Carolina (more posts on that later, I hope) and Michael got to play in a bouncy chair for the first time. He really took to it, at least initially. He got pretty sick of the bouncy chair and would scream and stiffen and spread his legs if I tried to place him in it towards the end of our vacation, which means we won't be buying one in Texas!
Here is another video of Michael bouncing in the seat, this time with his cousin Evan showing off his bouncing skills (no seat!) next to him. Michael and Evan took quite a shine to each other during the visit, babbling and giggling and touching each other's faces. Evan is 11 months older.
We took this video last night. It shows off Michael making gurgling noises, crawling, scooting, sitting up, and being full of crump. ("Crump" is my family's word for the essence of cuteness.)
We couldn't really get any good videos of Michael scooting. He did a lot of scooting until we turned on the camera, then he'd just stare at us! This is probably the best scooting video we have (and it's only 10 seconds long), where he sees a plastic bag on the floor (a "paper bag" if you believe my video commentary) and makes a beeline for it:
Michael has a new game where he kicks his leg up in the air:
We went to South Carolina (more posts on that later, I hope) and Michael got to play in a bouncy chair for the first time. He really took to it, at least initially. He got pretty sick of the bouncy chair and would scream and stiffen and spread his legs if I tried to place him in it towards the end of our vacation, which means we won't be buying one in Texas!
Here is another video of Michael bouncing in the seat, this time with his cousin Evan showing off his bouncing skills (no seat!) next to him. Michael and Evan took quite a shine to each other during the visit, babbling and giggling and touching each other's faces. Evan is 11 months older.
We took this video last night. It shows off Michael making gurgling noises, crawling, scooting, sitting up, and being full of crump. ("Crump" is my family's word for the essence of cuteness.)
A litany of milestones
On July 18, Michael started crawling (scooting) backwards. Two days later, on July 20, he was scooting forwards.
July 25, he was standing up and hanging on to me. He let go of both of his hands and stood for a second!
July 28 was his first night sleeping in his crib. He had slept in the co-sleeper bassinet up to that point, but he learned to crawl out of it by then. :-(
The next day, July 29, he was going from lying down to sitting up all on his own. I wish we got a video of the way he did this: he "crawled under" himself to sit up! It wasn't until August 3rd that he was gracefully pushing himself into a sitting position. Also on the 29th of July, his pincer grasp was firmly established: he was eating beans handily, much to my delight and Ben's dismay.
On August 2nd, he did his first "proper" crawl with his butt in the air (as opposed to scooting on his belly), but it wasn't until August 14th (yesterday!) that he was crawling ably.
On August 8th, I laid Michael in his crib for bed, then realized I had to turn on the light to look for something. I glanced over at Michael and to my surprise he wasn't lying down, or even sitting up, but standing and chewing on the crib rail!
July 25, he was standing up and hanging on to me. He let go of both of his hands and stood for a second!
July 28 was his first night sleeping in his crib. He had slept in the co-sleeper bassinet up to that point, but he learned to crawl out of it by then. :-(
The next day, July 29, he was going from lying down to sitting up all on his own. I wish we got a video of the way he did this: he "crawled under" himself to sit up! It wasn't until August 3rd that he was gracefully pushing himself into a sitting position. Also on the 29th of July, his pincer grasp was firmly established: he was eating beans handily, much to my delight and Ben's dismay.
On August 2nd, he did his first "proper" crawl with his butt in the air (as opposed to scooting on his belly), but it wasn't until August 14th (yesterday!) that he was crawling ably.
On August 8th, I laid Michael in his crib for bed, then realized I had to turn on the light to look for something. I glanced over at Michael and to my surprise he wasn't lying down, or even sitting up, but standing and chewing on the crib rail!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Hummus
Last week, I bought some tahini paste from the bulk section of one of the "natural food" stores here to make some hummus. Thanks to my brilliant estimations, I had only a smear left in the bin after making my hummus, not enough to do anything useful with. So, with Michael in one arm and one free hand, I smeared the tahini on my finger and licked it. Michael grabbed my finger to have a taste, too! So I smeared a little more on my finger and offered it to him, but he hesitated, so I licked it myself. That was good enough for Michael to know it was safe -- he lunged for my finger again and helped himself to more!
Michael seems to be a fan of hummus. I've been smearing it on breadsticks and veggie sticks, but he likes it straight from the spoon, too. It's nice and sticky so it doesn't all fall out when he turns the spoon over, which is a plus! And no adverse reactions to sesame seeds (tahini paste is basically sesame seed butter).
Hummus recipe modified to my tastes:
Michael seems to be a fan of hummus. I've been smearing it on breadsticks and veggie sticks, but he likes it straight from the spoon, too. It's nice and sticky so it doesn't all fall out when he turns the spoon over, which is a plus! And no adverse reactions to sesame seeds (tahini paste is basically sesame seed butter).
Hummus recipe modified to my tastes:
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed, with liquid reserved
- 2 T. lemon juice
- 3 T. tahini
- cumin and olive oil to taste (maybe 1 T. cumin and 4 T. olive oil?)
- Pulse the garlic in a food processor. Add garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, and cumin. Blend until creamy and well mixed. Add reserved liquid from can garbanzo beans until desired consistency is reached (I add very little, just maybe a tablespoon or two).
- Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Pour olive oil over the top immediately before serving and mix in, if desired.
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