My new wagon

I have been doing a lot of new things this week. I've been crawling a lot more recently, and much faster. I figured out that if I crawl on my hands instead of my arms, I can get where I'm going much quicker. That's a good thing since I'm a very busy person. Mom and Dad have been giving me a lot of opportunites to crawl around our house and play, and I am bent on exploring every corner of our home, like our drawers. I have figured out how to open them, and I love going through all of the bottom drawers in the house. It's fun opening one, pulling everything out of it, and then moving on to the next one.

I've also been pulling myself up into a standing position. I am getting really good at it. I love pulling myself up up the back of couch and looking out the windows. It's also fun to pull myself up in my crib, put my hands on the crib bars and stare out. My parents say I look like a little jailbird when I do that. It's a much better way to spend my time than napping, I think.

When I'm not crawling or standing, my other favorite thing to do is clap. Mom and Dad are still laughing at it, and I think it's really fun. I like to give myself applause whenever I can. Between that and waving, I am really enjoying my hands.

Today, Mom, Dad, Peepa, Matty, and I all took a walk. But it wasn't just a normal walk. I got to ride in my brand new wagon! It was supposed to be a birthday present for me next month, but we all couldn't wait to take it out sooner. I got to ride all around the neighborhood. We saw other kids and dogs, rode through sprinklers, and hurdled all kinds of bumps. It was quite a journey. I felt like the king of the world in my ride. A neighbor said that we looked like a parade. I really like my birthday present, even though I got it a few weeks early.

Mom, Dad, and I leave this week for another vacation. We get to go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Pennsylvania. I'm excited to see them again, plus my Aunt Lauren, Uncle Daniel, and my great-grandparents. I'm also going to meet my Aunt Jen for the first time. This will be my very first 4th of July, which is supposed to be some kind of holiday. Dad has been telling me about something called fireworks. I am excited to see some. They sound even neater than my ceiling fan that I like to stare at. I also get to go out on Grandma and Grandpa's boat. I haven't ever been on a boat before. I hope its as fun as my wagon. I can't wait to go!

Mom and Dad took a lot of good pictures of me riding in my wagon and playing prisoner in my crib.

Mitch and Friends

This weekend has been one big adventure so far. Friday night, I hung out with my friends Clark and Benjamin at Clark's house. It was really fun. We got there right before my bedtime, and since Clark's too little (he's two months old) to sleep in his crib, I got to test it out for him. The best thing about his bedroom is he has the best nightlight in the world - a huge aquarium. Here's a picture of me looking at it before I went to sleep. When it was time to go home, Mom and Dad were proud of how well I did switching from Clark's house to our car to my bed at home.

It was nice to see Benjamin too. He is about a week and a half older than me, so I'm looking forward to hearing what he thinks about birthdays. He also lives in our neighborhood, and our Mommies used to walk together, just before we were born.

Today I woke up to a fun surprise. Mom fixed me some new things for breakfast - watermelon and pancakes! I loved both and am glad Mom made a lot of pancakes for me so she had plenty to freeze for later. After my nap, I had a pretty exciting lunch as well. Mom and Dad were eating burritos and Mom made me a little burrito in a bowl, with rice, beans and avocado. I ate it up! Mom and Dad were really happy to see me eat the same thing they were having and to see me chew so much. I ate it all without having any of it mashed up or pureed. I am such a good little chewer!

Saturday night I had another adventure. Mom and Dad wanted to hang out with our neighbors, so I ate dinner and went to sleep in my Pack n' Play at their house. This time was a little easier since I didn't have to ride in the car. Mom and Dad say I am an easygoing, happy and flexible little guy. I am glad to have all these new experiences.

Here are pictures of me hanging out with my friends, playing with fish, making faces at Mom, playing in my bath and Peepa making herself at home on Mom's poolside chair.

How Cloth Diapers Work

This post is part of a series about my experience wearing cloth diapers, which I decided to include in my blog because a lot of people ask Mom and Dad about it. In a previous post, I talked about why we chose cloth diapers. In this post, I'll tell you how they work and how it's going so far.

First, for those of you who were wondering, no, we don't use pins. Instead, we hold everything together with something called a Snappi. It just clips on to the diapers, like an Ace bandage clip. It's really easy, and Mom and Dad can really change me fast with them. The cloth diapers are pretty absorbent, but Mom and Dad usually use two of them, just to make sure nothing soaks through. After they put on the diapers with the Snappi, they cover the diapers with a diaper cover. The diaper cover is water resistant, so it keeps me from leaking. The diaper covers have simple velcro attachments and come in solid colors as well as fun designs.

So far, the cloth diapers are working great. I go through a lot of diapers a day. When I was first born, we went through about 230 a week. Since I wear two at a time, that works out to around 115 changes a week! At 11 months, I wear about 95 per week. That's probably more than I would use if I was wearing disposables. Since I feel it right away, I can let everyone know when I need to be changed.

Right now, we all love cloth diapering, and we'll continue to do it as long as it works for us.

Summer's a good time for new things

I've had a pretty eventful week so far. I'm really getting the hang of waving and I figured out how to clap. The best part about it is it makes Mommy and Daddy laugh and copy me when I do it. They seem pretty excited about clapping.

I also figured out how to hang on to Mom and Dad's knees when they are on the floor with me so I can pull myself up onto my feet. I've only done it a few times, but I think there's more where that came from. Yesterday I did it on the couch so I could look out the window and today I pulled myself up onto my knees in my playpen and against the door, where there's always a cute baby in the mirror, in Mommy and Daddy's room.

Today I also crawled on my hands and knees for the first time. Mom was surprised because it was pretty different from my usual army crawl and rolling around. It's fun!

Miguel is really rolling out the new summer food. This week I tried some of his new squash and some plums. Mom gave me something new too - a piece of a tortilla - which she says I'll eat a lot of since we live in Texas. And today she shared her lunch with me - a grilled cheese sandwich! It was yummy, and when Mommy dropped some on the floor, Peepa and Matty discovered they like it too.

This week I've been enjoying lots of playdates. I have friends of all ages, from two months to three years old, and today I made a new friend, Ollie, who's eight days older than I am. Hopefully we'll start having some of these playdates in the pool. Even in the shade, it is too hot to hang out at the park.

Fathers Day

Today was Father's Day. It was so fun. We got to tell Dad how fantastic we think he is, and Mom got to wait on him hand and foot.

We started out with our fun yesterday, when I showed Dad my pool. He made it even more fun by spraying me with the hose. I love it! It's just like the sprayer in my bathtub, but bigger. It made me laugh and really filled up my pool.

Today we kicked off Father's Day by giving Daddy some presents. I gave him a shirt, some socks and some swim trunks. Next, Mom made Dad some eggs, fruit salad and banana/chocolate chip pancakes. They gave me some blueberries from the salad, but wouldn't share the pancakes with me.

After my nap, Dad had a chance to wear his new swim trunks when we went to the pool at the community center. It was great! We had a picnic, then Mom shared her swim cap and goggles with me and spun me around really fast in the water. After that, Daddy held me while Mom went under the water to play peek-a-boo with me. It was really fun splashing in the pool, and I'm really tired out now!

Check out pictures from our fun Father's Day weekend.

Hello Pasta

Summer is so fun! I've been spending more time in my pool, and because of the yummy things that grow here at this time of year, like watermelon, eating is getting more interesting by the day.

Mom and Dad keep giving me new food and new ways to eat. I'm getting better at chewing and the other day, Mom gave me a new kind of cup. This cup has a straw in it, and she gave it to me because she read it's better for my teeth and speech development than the kind I was using before. That will make Bubbe happy. Mom thought I wouldn't be able to use the straw yet, but I knew how to do it right away.

Today I surprised her again by telling her I was thirsty. I was sitting where I could barely reach my cup, and she thought I was just whacking it around, but then she looked at me and I had grabbed it and was holding and drinking from it. She thought that was pretty funny.

Tonight Mom and Dad surprised me with something new - peaches from our farmer, Miguel! Mom was so happy when she saw that he had them, but I'm not sure what I think of them yet. Part of the problem is getting Mom and Dad to share them with me so I can figure it out. Mom ate half the peach because she wasn't sure I'd be able to eat it all, or so she said. Dad was supposed to feed the pieces she did cut up for me, but they kept disappearing into his mouth before they made it into mine. I'm not sure I like having to chew them, but tomorrow Mom said she'll make me a banana peach smoothie for breakfast, so we'll see how that goes. Last week I tried something else new from Miguel, which Mom and Dad had never even tried before - pattypan squash. We all agreed it's very good and that it looks like flying saucers. Mom got more of that from Miguel for me today, so if the peaches don't work out, at least I have that to look forward to.

Another thing that's fun about summer is that Father's Day is coming up. To celebrate, Dad and I became supermodels! The photographer who took my picture for her Web site and business card is now running my picture as her advertisement in a local magazine called Parent: Wise. She also submitted pictures she took of kids with their dads, including one of Daddy and me, and the magazine chose to run it with an article about how smart dads are. You can see pictures of me on page 8 and 12. Mommy is super proud of us and is glad she is married to a model.

Otherwise, I've been having more fun rolling around and playing with things like a toy my Aunt Laurie got me for Hanukkah and I realized I can feel textures in a book I have called Millie Moo. It's all so much fun!

You can see lots of pictures of me making funny faces at Mommy here.

My very own pool (that I have to share with Peepa)

Mom and I have had a pretty exciting week so far. Yesterday my lunch was entirely made up of finger foods - cheese, mixed veggies and pasta. I liked the pasta more than I have in the past. It's growing on me. As long as Mom doesn't give me any more yogurt, like she did over the weekend, I'll eat almost anything.

Today she had another surprise for me. She told me we were going outside. I thought she was crazy - it's about 100 degrees out there! Then she put a funny sunhat on, which I thought would be hilarious to take from her, but she wouldn't let me do that. Then, to make matters even worse, she wrestled me into sunscreen and my swim shirt and trunks. I realized we were going to the pool, and I was right. But what I didn't expect was we were going to my very own pool in our backyard! It is so great! It is just the right size for me. Mom tried getting in with me for a little bit, which was fun too, but she barely fit. The little pool also gave me a good opportunity to bond with Peepa, who tried to drink all the water. Matty avoided me, as he usually does, because I can't resist pulling his fluffy hair, but he enjoyed being out in nature and the chance to chew on sticks. I am really excited to have my own pool so I can cool off in our backyard and splash around with my toys whenever I want. I also can't wait to show Daddy! I was so tired when we went inside today, I took a long, nice nap.

To see pictures of my pre-pool lunch today, me in the pool, bonding with Peepa, and Matty chewing on a stick, click here.

Mitch's first Memorial Day

This was an eventful week. Monday Daddy was home for Memorial Day, and we had a nice long weekend. While I napped, Mom and Dad pulled jungle weeds (aka Asian jasmine) from our front yard. I couldn't believe it - before I went down for my nap, I was thinking of all the fun I could have swinging from the vines in a few years, and when I woke up from my nap the next morning, they were gone. Mom and Dad were pretty tired, so I put two and two together and figured they pulled them. Then I saw these pictures of Dad standing where the weeds used to be, and Peepa and Matty watching them through the fence, and it confirmed my suspicion.

Tuesday I felt awful. Mom noticed I was not my usual smiley self and that I felt really hot, so she took my temperature. It was 103! So we went to the doctor, who told Mommy just to snuggle me and give me Tylenol. We spent lots of time cuddling, and the next day I felt much better. I really don't like being sick, I've decided.

Friday night, I hung out with Auntie Megan. We had lots of fun, and I showed her all my toys and how good I'm getting at rolling around my room. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad went to the movies. I hear that Dad did a legendary park job while they were gone. He keeps telling me about it, so it must have been good. I had a great time with Megan and hope I get to see her again soon.

I also tried lots of new stuff this week. Last night Mom made me some quinoa with some vegetable broth she made. She and Dad didn't think I'd like it, but I really surprised them by gobbling it right up! I can't wait to have it again. The best part about it is that's what Mom and Dad had for dinner too, although theirs was a little spicier. I also had bite-sized mixed veggies including corn, peas, green beans, and carrots. That was fun because they're just the right size for my little fingers. It's like it was made just for me! And Mom is spicing my food up a little. This week she used olive oil and parsley on some of my veggies instead of the usual butter. I really like it!

Today was very fun. I got to see my friend Ellie because it was her first birthday, and her mom threw her a party. I got to play with her fun toys, sit in a pool filled with balls and watch lots of other kids play. Mom and Dad got to hear about the kind of trouble I'll get in over the next year or two from moms with older kids. I can't wait! Happy birthday, Ellie!

You can see pictures of my week here.