Who needs parents?

Last week I got a package in the mail. It turned out it was from Oma, some covers for my crib rails that I like to chew on. I'm sad I can't chew the wood anymore, but Mom says it's for the best and they are good to hang on to while I jump in there. Plus they make my nursery look nice. Thanks Oma!

I've also been having a good time throwing things (especially out of playpen) lately. Everyone says I'm going to be a pitcher one day. Dad says if I want to do that, I need to work on being left handed.

The really exciting thing that happened this week was that we went to Pennsylvania again to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I love seeing them, and this time was no exception. They always have lots of yummy food, fun toys, and great hugs for me. This trip was a little different because Mom and Dad went to a wedding in Philadelphia so they left me with Grandma and Grandpa for a night. It was their first night without me. They were nervous, but I was really proud of how they handled it. While they were gone, I had a blast. I hung out with my cousins Amy and Mianna. Mianna, who is five years old, was especially nice to me. I also got to play with Little One, Grandma's cat, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Daniel, Great-Grandma B and Mom-Mom and Pop. Grandma and Grandpa also took me to Grandpa's company picnic, where I got to meet lots of new people, made lots of friends, and got a cool puzzle to play with at home. I was a little shy at first, but after a little while, I really opened up and enjoyed it. Grandma gave me lots of yummy chicken to eat.

It was a fun trip, but we had to come back to Austin today. Mom and Dad said I did great on the airplane again. It was also nice to see Matty and Peepa. While Little One was nice, Mom thinks I'm more of a dog-baby.

Mom and Dad didn't take very many pictures of me this weekend since they were in Philadelphia. Hopefully, I'll get some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa soon to post. In the meantime, here are some pictures of me in Austin before we left, and some pictures Mom and Dad took during their time in Philadelphia.

What was Mom thinking?!

I don't know what Mom was thinking last week. You can see what she tried giving me for lunch Thursday - rice with tofu and mixed veggies. She knows I don't like those veggies or rice, so I have no idea why she even tried that. My friend Elan's mom told her he likes tofu, so she thought she'd see if I liked it too. I don't know why she even tried - it's so gross! You can see in the photo what I thought of it. Needless to say, Dad ate it for lunch over the weekend.

Here are some pictures of all my fun food adventures this week - tofu, blueberry smoothies, pancakes, and macaroni and cheese - and the aftermath, in the tub.

Messy Eater

We had another hot but great weekend, and I ate a lot of blueberries. Mom made Dad and me blueberry smoothies - you can see from the picture that I wound up wearing a lot of it. This morning, Mom made me blueberry buttermilk pancakes with bananas! It was great.

The other exciting thing we did this weekend was test drive a Mazda5, a mini-minivan. We hope to not need a new car for a while, but want to have something in mind when we do need it. I don't know what Mom and Dad thought of it, but I liked that I could really see out the window. It was also fun thinking of all the stuff I could bring along in a bigger car. Hopefully we'll test some more cars out soon.

Out with the old, in with the new

This weekend was out with the old, in with the new. Saturday I turned 13 months old, and it was our last day of nursing. Mom is a little sad, but she and Dad are proud of how big I'm getting.

Saturday afternoon, we visited some friends and their one-month-old baby. Mom and Dad forgot how different it was when I was that little. It made them really glad I can do all the cool things I can do now. Mom held the baby while Dad held me. For a second I was okay with it, but as soon as the baby cried, I realized I didn't like it. Mom said she never heard me cry so hard, and she gave the baby back right away. After a little bit, I calmed down and was back to my usual self. They say I have some work to do if I'm ever going to get a little brother or sister.

Later that day was more fun. We met some new friends, who have the same last name as ours, at a pool. Their family has three boys, who are bigger than I am - they are 4, 6 and 8 years old. After the pool, we went to their house for dinner, where I climbed up some steps, tried a Hawaiian sweet roll and surprised everyone with a diaper explosion. Mom and Dad had a good time watching the other kids and said it was fun imagining what it would be like to have three of me, but older. I was excited because I got to stay up a bit later than usual.

Today we celebrated the end of nursing by heading over to Kerbey Lane for breakfast. I was still kind of tired from being up later than usual Saturday, but it was fun anyway, and I was happy to have peach pancakes for breakfast.

We have had a lot more time to do fun things because I don't want to take a nap in the afternoon anymore. We've had a really good routine over the last few months with a morning and afternoon nap, but I don't want my routine to turn into a rut. Mom and Dad might get bored.

For some recent photos of my recent crib-chewing, bubble-blowing, teeth-brushing, rain-grabbing, pancake-eating adventures, click here. Note where Peepa is in the pictures of me in my highchair. That's her new favorite place.

Take that, crib!

Since Mom came home last week, we have been busy and I've expanded my culinary repertoire.

Last week we had red day, when I tried raspberries (YUCK!), cherries (delicious!) and applesauce with blueberries (yum). Then on Tuesday, we went to one of Mom's favorite restaurants, Kerbey Lane, with my friend Kanai and his mom. It turns out Tuesday is "Kids Eat Free Day," and I tried something fantastic - my very own raspberry pancakes! I can't believe how good they are. Since then, Mom made some pancakes with bananas, and they were good too. She also introduced me to things she eats, like vegetable stir fry, veggie yakisoba, and my favorite, macaroni and cheese, which she says played a major role in making her the woman she is today. I can see why - it is great! I plan to eat a lot more cherries, pancakes and macaroni and cheese. I've also begun eating avocado again, which makes Dad and Mom happy, since there aren't any other vegetables I'll touch (except to throw on the floor for Matty and Peepa) right now.

This Monday morning Mom and I were upstairs when we heard a weird noise. Mom got really excited and we ran outside, where she said she had something to show me - rain! It was like a shower outside! You know how I like anything that sprays, and I had a good time sticking my hand in it. Since we only had about five minutes to enjoy it before the rain went away as fast as it showed up, Mom was glad she took advantage of the opportunity and showed it to me. She said it seems like we may never see it again.

I've also been keeping Mom and Dad busy with additional Mitch-proofing. Now that I am crawling around and standing up, I can really get into a lot more stuff. This weekend, Dad installed a magnetic knife strip in the kitchen to keep all of the sharp knives out of my reach. He also installed locks on file cabinets. Mom and Dad keep moving things to higher shelves, but I'm going to keep growing - they can't keep this stuff away from me forever, plus I'm getting better at searching out the things they try to hide from me.

The other major thing that's new is going on in my mouth. The first molar I've been working on is coming out a little more, and three more are poking through! I'm getting better and better at brushing my teeth, and Dad said if I hurry up and push the teeth out, he'll give me some brisket to chew on. I can't wait to try it! In the meantime, I will just keep chewing on my crib when Mom puts me down for a nap. As you can see in this picture, I've been giving woodchucks a run for their money.

Hanging with Dad

Mom went out of town this weekend for a wedding, so Dad and I got to spend some quality time together. This is the longest I've been left alone with Dad, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Wow - what a great weekend we've had.

I woke up Friday morning to find Mom gone. What a surprise! But Dad took the day off work, and was happily there to greet me in the morning with a delicious breakfast of bananas and cereal. After some tooth brushing, playing, reading, and my morning nap, we were off to explore Austin.

We started by visiting our library and the very strange and scary statues. Then we visited one of Mom's favorite places, Amy's Ice Cream. They have a pretty fountain there and lots of cows. I've learned a lot about cows through my farm animal toys and books. From there we visited the 360 bridge, one of the most famous sites in Austin. We stopped to admire the view at Mount Bonnell, and then learned all about Texas at the Capitol. We were pretty pooped, but we stopped on the way home to visit our neighborhood sno-cone vendors. I took a long nap in the afternoon, and we had an uneventful evening.

Saturday, we went to one of my Dad's favorite places to eat, Freebirds Burritos. We met up with Dad's friend Jaime, who fed me lunch while Dad ate his burrito. I tried some new foods. Dad brought sweet potato french fries, which were yummy. He also gave me a bite of some of his burrito - a piece of lettuce and a very small piece of chicken. I like them both. Mostly though, I just ate cheese and some cereal puffs. It was a really good lunch.

As much fun as Dad and I have had this weekend, I am excited to see Mom again. Its more fun when we're all here together. I've posted pictures from my adventures with Dad.

Getting picky

I am getting choosier about the food I eat. Mom says I’m picky, but I keep telling her I'm just refining my palate. From meal to meal, the things I like and dislike change. I let Mom and Dad know what I don’t want by making a disgusted face, picking the offending food up and crushing it in my hand, then sticking my arm out, turning my hand over, and depositing it on the floor. I figure after it’s been there, she won’t try to give it to me again, and Peepa and Matty are glad that I share with them.

As a result of this process, Mom’s been giving me lots of new things to try. So far, I’ve had scrambled eggs with cheese (liked it the first time I had it, but not after that until lunch today), a meatball (hated it – wouldn’t even swallow it), vanilla yogurt (At first I thought - yuck! But today at lunch I ate a whole bowl of it), dried strawberries (yum!), and I’ve been drinking lots of whole milk (I decided I like it after all). Right now the only things I really have been enjoying consistently are bananas, cereal, cheese and applesauce.

I've also been having a good time showing Mom and Dad how much new stuff I can figure out, like opening the tv cabinet from my playpen, chewing a chunk of wood out of my crib, throwing sopping wet washcloths out of my bathtub at Dad and grabbing stuff off the table next to my high chair.

Tuesday Mom and I visited my friend Ellie. After we were there a little bit, Mom left so she could go work. I didn’t mind. I played with Ellie and all her fun toys and took a nice nap. It was fun! When I woke up, Mom was back. We had some lunch, then went down the street with Ellie and her mom, Suzanne, to the sprinkler park. I love the sprayer in the sink, where I take my bath, and the sprayer on the hose outside, and this was even better. There were many colorful, gigantic sprayers everywhere. It is a great way to cool down on a hot day. I can’t wait to see Ellie and the water park again soon!

Yesterday I had another chance to play with someone other than Mom and Dad. My new friend Marta came to hang out with me while Mom went to work again. We had a dance party, I showed Marta all my toys, we made fish faces and she read my books to me. It was a great afternoon!

This morning I was a little grumpy because my molar, which finally cut through my gums, was bothering me. Mom said it would be good to have a change of scenery, so we loaded up the wagon and Matty and headed down to the library. It was not open yet when we got there, but we had a great walk anyway. Lots of people smiled and waved at us, including a policeman, and a guy yelled out his car window, “That’s a nice looking wagon!” I guess he liked my new birthday canopy. There’s no end to the fun we have around here!