18 Month Update

Published
by
Courtney
on July 1, 2008
in Baby Nora and Eats
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Dear Nora,

The alternate title for this post is: Holy Shit You’re Turning Into A Little Person. You’re clearly becoming less and less of a baby…and more and more of an actual…dare I say it…toddler. I don’t know when the change began taking place because it seems to have happened overnight. One day you were a chubby little baby. The next you were a little person. Everyone says the time flies by. They didn’t say that it was going to happen at Mach 5.

While you’re all busy turning into such a big girl, I’m left astonished sometimes. Now you brush your teeth all by yourself…from getting on your stool to reach the sink to putting the brush back in the holder. You used to need help with that. Things that just yesterday you couldn’t do, today you’re doing perfectly. You follow directions (for the most part). You wash your hands. You pull up your own pants. You take off your shoes and put them on. It is amazing to me how smart you are.

Speaking of smart. You are quite the jabber jaw. My Grandpa used to tell me I was vaccinated with a phonograph needle. I think you were, too. (Psst…the phonograph was the first device ever used to record and replay sound…it used a needle…waaaaaay before your time.) According to the ‘experts’ somewhere between 19 and 24 months you will have mastered between 50 and 70 words. You’ve had over 100 words for about a month now. I know because I wrote them all down to see just how many there were. In not much of a particular order…the words you know and regularly use at 18 months are:

airplane, apple, baby, boo boo, book, ball, bath, bike, bobs (as in Bob Evans), beep, bite, bubble, bra, boob, butt, bread, blue, bump, color, cereal, cheese, car, coat, cold, choo choo, chicken, cookie, Dora, daddy, dog, diaper, Erica, earthquake, eat, Elmo, ear, earring, elbow, eyeball, food, fork, fart (your Father taught you that one), feet fight, french fry, go, get up, green, green bean, grandpa, Gabba, help, hi, hello, How (for Uncle Howie), hat, hippo, hot, icky, ice cream, Joe, juice, jelly, jammies, Kyle, kitty, keys, limo, lion, mom, meow, moo, more, monkey, no, night night, nice, noodles, petty, play, Pete, pop, pee, poop, plate, potty, pancake, purple, quack, ride, roar, read, seat, Swiper, shoe, shell, stone, shop, swing, slide, stop, snack, sheep, sprinkle, shut up (I think I taught you that one…from yelling at the dog), sketti (spaghetti), soup, toes, truck, tire, tower, teeth, two, towel, Texas, table, tissue, wiggle, water, watch, yellow, zoo

Your Daddy and I always joke that you’re finally fun now. That the sleepless nights and all that other crap are finally worth it. That’s not entirely all a joke. You really are a lot more fun now. Now we can play. We hide and jump out to scare you and you run away at top speed laughing your head off. We color pretty pictures. We go on bike rides. We dance to the silly songs on Yo Gabba Gabba. You have such an awesome personality. Even on the days that you’re a little crabby we have a blast!

Recently you’ve also taken quite a liking to the dog. You’re very lucky that Pixel is a tolerent (although sometimes stupid) animal. I caught you one day trying to pull the dog off of the footstool….by her tail. She totally ignored you. You try to ride on the dog…she allows you to do so. Some days you just downright terrorize the dog…chasing her all over the living room…climbing up wherever she is and shoving her out of your way. Other days you can’t hug and kiss her enough.

Reading is a favorite past time of yours (a close second to coloring, these days). Book! you proclaim as you round up something to read and bring it over to me. Then Seat! because you want to sit in my lap while I read to you. These are the few moments you sit still long enough for me to steal a kiss. We have to read a book before nap time. We have to read three before bed. You’re going to be one of those kids that sneaks a flashlight into bed so you can read when you’re supposed to be sleeping, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I was one of those kids, too.

You are also well versed in animal speak. You know (and will happlily recite) the sounds of a: dog, cat, cow, duck, monkey, lion. The lion is my favorite because you roar from the tips of your toes, it sounds like. You know how to give hugs and kisses although you rarely sit still long enough to do so. You request kisses when you get boo-boos and will give them out if you cause a boo-boo to someone else. On a person, teddy bear, and drawing of a robot, you can point out their: eyeballs, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, belly, hand, foot, cheek, and butt. You will give a teddy bear or a person a high five.

Seeing you grow and turn into your own little being is so awesome…and sometimes a little bittersweet. Sometimes I miss the ‘baby’ side of you…but then you snuggle up to me when we rock in the chair before bed and it feels like a little part of you is still a baby. A little part of you will always be my baby. Even though you’re turning into a pretty fantastic little girl.

Love,

Mommy

Confidential to Bad Waitress

Published
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Courtney
on June 19, 2008
in Confidential
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Note to the waitress we had for lunch today: Your tip sucked because you did. You managed to get the drink refills…but left the empty glasses. You managed to get our food out in a decent amount of time…but the time it took you to bring three desserts was equal to the amount of time it took me to deliver Nora. In fact, I might have delivered Nora in less time than it took you to bring the dessert. We would have cancelled the dessert orders…had you shown your face within 45 miles of our table. The time it took you to bring our checks was closer to the amount of time it takes to paint a house. Supposedly it was due to the fact that you had to split them. However, I’ve been to restaurants before…splitting checks is pretty common. Not sure what the hold up was with that. My guess? You were using an abacus. Which you first had to locate in a nearby antiques shoppe. My bill was $9.92. I considered rounding it to an even ten so that it would be easier to remember. Plus I thought it would be a total pain in the ass for your establishment to take an eight cent tip off of a credit card. I also thought it would make a nice blog post for you…if you have a blog. I can see the title now…One Time This Bitch Left Me an Eight Cent Tip. To save you that embarrassment (and blogging material) I left none. I don’t usually do that. I’m generally pretty understanding. But, really…the service was that bad.

She’s Not Always Eating…

Published
by
Courtney
on June 18, 2008
in Baby Nora and Photo Essays
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Sometimes she’s in her high chair to keep her squirmy ass in one place for longer than 45 seconds. The actual title for this post should be Color Wonder Markers, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways. But that was far too long.

The Color Wonder products? Pure freaking genius. Fantastically fantastical, I say.

Nora has only recently began to show an interest in coloring with crayons and markers. You know, as opposed to eating them. Apparently sometimes a girl just needs her daily dose of Burnt Sienna.

The extra awesome thing about Color Wonder Markers? It matters not if she eats them! They only work on the special paper. Good thing…because I’d have a hard time explaining why the 17 month old baby is sporting purple teeth.

My most recent finding is the printable pages on nickjr. Now she can color Gab-Gah! Gab-Gah! (Yo Gabba Gabba!) all day. She does this while I watch soap operas and polish my nails.

I particularly enjoy the level of concentration involved. I’ve never seen a more serious colorer. She loves to draw eyes. You can tell by the way she yells Eye! Eye! while crushing the end of the marker on the paper with triumph.

Her favorite color, by far, is Geen!, but Yo! is a close second. When she’s all finished she happliy exclaims Peeety! (pretty) and waits for the big to-do that is made of hanging the masterpiece on the fridge. However, after having to use photoshop to remove the dirty fingerprints from the wall behind her…I’m thinking we need to start hanging them there!

Some Bad News

Published
by
Courtney
on June 10, 2008
in Baby Nora
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A translation of the conversation Nora had with an unknown caller this afternoon, on the Elmo Remote:

Ho! Ho! (Hello)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Mmbuh Mmumba (incoherent toddlerspeak)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I So I So (I’m so I’m so sorry)

SNAP! (The closing of the phone)

I’m not sure what the caller had to say…but it didn’t sound like good news. I especially like the way she offered her condolences (she learned this on Yo Gabba Gabba) and immediately snapped the phone closed. Kind of as if to say, “I’m sorry to hear that. I got shit to do. See ya!”

I’ll Do It MYSELF Thank You Very Much

Published
by
Courtney
on June 7, 2008
in Baby Nora and Photo Essays
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Today we had sweet corn. Do you think Nora was happy with eating the corn I shaved off the cob for her? Hell-to-the-no she wasn’t. We figured this out by the way she flipped her plate onto the floor. This made the dog extremely happy. Us? Not so much. After much pointing at Larry’s plate and a few babbles in his general direction we figured out that she was asking for a bite. Why didn’t I think of that? ‘Bie‘ totally sounds like toddlerspeak for bite. Do you think she wanted to take a bite while one of us held the cob for her? Again, hell-to-the-no she didn’t. She wanted a buttery, peppery, kernelly chin. Yeah, I made up kernelly…but you knew what I meant, didn’t you?

And so, I bring you, without further delay…Nora’s first shot at eating corn on the cob…A Photo Essay…

This one cracked me up because she almost seems afraid of the cob. The raised eyebrows seem to question what it is that she is biting into. Or maybe she’s questioning the fact that both her parents are laughing while her Father is wielding a camera.

I admire the extreme concentration. This corn on the cob business is serious stuff. This is obviously not a privilege to be taken lightly.

Are you guys sure I can eat this?! And why are you still laughing?!?

I am tentatively enjoying this corn. That I am feeding myself. Without you.

Up next? Chicken on the bone!*

*That was totally a joke. We don’t even buy chicken on the bone. It reminds Larry too much that his chicken used to be alive. And that it had little chicken friends that it’ll never see again.

A Girl’s Blankie: A Photo Essay

Published
by
Courtney
on May 27, 2008
in Baby Nora and Photo Essays
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Dear Nora,

You are turning into somewhat of a Linus. So much so, in fact, that we had to have Grandma crochet you a second blanket just so we could wash the primary blanket every once in a while. You find the backup blanket acceptable for playing and napping…but never for sleeping. Apparently sleeping at night is a special thing only to be shared with the primary blanket.


When you say blankie it comes out sounding like bike-bye and at first we thought you were saying bye bye.

One of your favorite games to play with your blankie is BOO! It’s not peek-a-boo…you only say the boo part.

Your blankie is definitely your comfort item…you want it when you’re tired (and won’t sleep without it)…you want it when you’re hurting…you want it when we’re in an unfamiliar place…and you want it when it’s goofy-play time. That blankie is quite a traveler, too. In your short sixteen months it has: been to San Francisco twice, seen a few doctor’s and shots appointments, made it on quite a few shopping trips.

I can tell by the way your eyes light up when you see your blankie that the two of you are going to be lifelong pals. You couldn’t hug it any tighter or snuggle it any deeper. I imagine that knowing that your Great-Grandma made it for you will one day make it all the more special for you. Enjoy your bike-bye, Baby Girl. And I don’t care what anyone says, if you want to carry it down the aisle when you get married, you totally can!

Love,

Mah-om

The Whole Plate is Only 8 Points?!

Published
by
Courtney
on May 22, 2008
in Eats
. 0 Comments

I’m back at Weight Watchers. ‘Nuff said, right? When I was in WW before (two times) I did very well. Now I’m not trying to jinx myself or anything, but I lost around fifty pounds both times. Once I quit because money got tight and WW became an extra. The other time I quit because I got pregnant. Know what happened? Each time I started I weighed about the same. What I weighed when I first joined is the same amount I weighed when I re-joined the second time. That’s also within ten pounds of what my starting weight is this time. This time I’m ten pounds less than the two previous times so I guess I got sick of my clothes not fitting a little sooner this time. What I’m getting at is this: I am very good at counting points, exercising, and all that stuff…when I am a meeting attending member. When I “count my points on my own” I gain the weight all back. That is not something that works for me. If I take the money I spend each week going out to lunch and add it up I’m more than paying for my weekly meetings. Plus I found out that my insurance company will reimburse me up to $150 a year for my WW meetings. Sweetness.

I’m going to post pictures and recipes of dinners if it’s something I think you’d be interested in…plus it’s an easy way for me to catalog the dinners I’ve figured out the points for. So to help out my fellow WW members (and myself) here goes the first one:

Chicken with Cherry Salsa, Sweet Potato Fries, and Asparagus

First, I forgot to take the picture until I had started eating…so picture another piece of chicken on there. I had two (because I actually just took one breast and split it thickness-wise so they’d cook quicker).

The chicken (after I split each breast) was super simple.  Each side got salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Place in a skillet that’s preheated on medium with about 2T. EVOO. They only take about 5 minutes on each side. If you’re using a regular sized chicken breast then it’s going to take longer…probably about 10-12 minutes on each side. I like to feel like I have a large quantity of food, and two small pieces seems like more than one big piece.

The sweet potato fries are peeled and cut sweet potatoes that I sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg. No exact measurements or anything…just sprinkle until they look nicely coated and toss them on a cookie sheet. They’ll bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

The asparagus gets drizzled with EVOO and three to four cloves of sliced garlic on top. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and roast in the 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

I saved the cherry salsa for last because it was so freaking delicious and I always save the best for last. I made the salsa earlier today and popped it in the fridge to let it marinate and chill and then put about a tablespoon or so on each piece of chicken. I was a little hesitant to try it because I don’t like hot stuff and it called for jalapenos…trust me when I say that this is super awesomely yummy. The original recipe for the salsa said you could dip chips in it, but I can’t vouch for whether that’s good or not.

Cherry Salsa
2 Cups Bing Cherries, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/4 Cup Cherry Preserves
Juice of a Half a Lime
1/4 of a Red Onion, finely chopped
1/2 of a Jalapeno Pepper, finely chopped

I chopped everything in my mini chopper. I did the cherries by themselves and just pulsed them so they weren’t too small. Store in an airtight container.

WW POINTS: 8
Serving: Two small pieces of chicken (3 ounces), 2T. salsa, 1 Cup Potatoes, 8-10 Asparagus Spears.