Temptation

I took Jett to his regular check up today. He's great, except he keeps getting taller but not fatter. So our doctor gave us some tips on increasing his calorie intake. This is what she suggested we feed him: heavy cream in his yogurt, brown sugar on his fruit, cream cheese mixed w/ scrambled eggs, and ice cream layered between two pieces of cake. I guarantee that one of us will gain weight in the next three months. It better be Jett.

Snacks

I may have just ruined Cheerios for Jett. Do you think it was too early to start on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Stomach Virus

Or Why I Haven't Posted in Over a Week

It's been a messy, dreadful, exhausting week. I won't go in to the details, but I've learned a few lessons this week that I would like to share.

1. Immediately after your baby throws up, he might be very, very thirsty. He might beg you for a drink. He will cry and his face will get red and little tears will leak out of his eyes, but DO NOT GIVE HIM ANYTHING TO DRINK FOR 30 MINUTES. Otherwise it will come right back at you and then you will both be crying. You are his mom, so it should be easy to entertain him for those thirty minutes.
2. Once he's had his first sip of pedialyte or water or whatever, and you know he can keep it down, you should give him a few more sips every 5 minutes. YOU DO NOT NEED TO WAIT 30 MINUTES BETWEEN SIPS. No wonder your baby is still crying. Geesh.
3. Buy a better book that will put 5 MINUTES and 30 MINUTES in bold so you do not get confused.
4. If your baby is going to poop through his diaper make sure he is with his aunt so you don't have to deal with it.
5. If both parents and baby are going to be sick at the same time, make sure that an aunt and a grandma are willing to risk their own health, and the health of their families, to take care of you and yours.

One last message for Virus: I'm done playing the student now and Jett is tired of being your model, so get out of my house. And take those messy diapers with you.

15 Months

Today Jett is 15 months old. Jett - with his 5 little teeth and his size 6 feet - is 15 months old. Sweet Jett.

This has been an excellent month. A month of eating, climbing, and signing.

Eating
This month I finally let Jett hold an entire piece of food himself. I seem to be more hesitant than other parents I know about how big of a piece of food I let Jett put in his mouth. But my hesitancy hasn't really caused any problems for Jett, and hey, I've never had to fish anything out of his throat either. Besides, he has a very small mouth. Anyway, now he holds peaches and bananas and graham crackers all by himself. Such an exciting development (for me at least) with such a mundane benefit: now that I let Jett hold his own food I can unload the dishwasher while he eats.



But that's not all. You should see what my baby eats. Two bananas for breakfast, plus a small bowl of Rice Krispies with milk, plus some cut up strawberries, and some blueberries. This week he was willing to eat tofu and broccoli blended in cottage cheese, which just goes to show you that he didn't get my taste buds when the chromosomes divided.

Climbing
I know most kids Jett's age are natural climbers and he is no exception. He climbs up his highchair, his crib, the stove, the stairs, his changing table, and he climbs on me. My favorite activity with him right now is to push the foot stool up against the couch. He climbs up on to the footstool and throws himself down on the couch, giggling.

Signing
We started teaching Jett a few signs just for the fun of it a few months ago. It's pretty intriguing to watch him catch on to the signs. He learns them pretty quickly now. Tonight we were laying on the couch and I started "quizzing" him on the signs. (I know that sounds ridiculous, but we were just goofing around). Most of the time, when I said a word, he could sign it. His favorite right now is "rabbit". The sign is to put your fingers over your head like rabbit ears. (I made that one up). The thing about signing is, it's not like we have real conversations that way. Sure, he knows the sign for elephant, but how often do you say "elephant"? For now anyway, signing is mostly a fun party trick, and believe me, we'd be a hit at a party, if we could stay awake past 8:00.

I could go on and on but we haven't been sleeping much these past 10 days and it's hard to write creatively when you are as tired as this. Jett either has allergies or a cold but except for the lack of sleep and the constant nose wiping, he's great. He's always great. Even when he's not great, he's great.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jett. We love you.

The Park

Today at the park Jett slid down the little baby slide all by himself and then he slid down the bigger baby slide all by himself. So brave! Then he said "hi" to a new person for maybe the first time. So social! Then he demanded that I break my back and hold him up so he could drink out of the water fountain (he had his first drink from a water fountain last week with Charlie) even though he had a perfectly fine sippy cup full of water right in his stroller. So Charlie's fault.

But Then He's So Good!

So we're trying to slowly cut out the bottles. Part of the problem with this is that Jett doesn't like to drink milk from his sippy cups, and he's supposed to drinking some milk every day. Charlie, who gets up with Jett in the middle of the night now, has stopped offering Jett a bottle in the middle of the night, and Jett has been just fine without it. And for the last few days I've only given him a bottle when I have to change his diaper - because then he's so good. I only put a couple of ounces of milk in it so he'll have it finished by the time I'm done with his diaper. But just 10 minutes ago I filled up the whole bottle with milk - what was I thinking - and changed his diaper, set him down on the floor, and walked in to the kitchen. I never took the bottle back from him so he's still walking around with it. But if something keeps him so quiet and so occupied and so content, can it really be a bad thing?

Besides, I happen to know for a fact that Charlie gave him a bottle last night.

At least we never let him climb up onto the stove. We do have some limits.

Update: Finished that bottle, threw it on the ground, and is now walking around with a snapshot of my sister. Maybe I can hand that to him when I change his diaper. I'm sure that's an association they'd both like to develop.

When is a Baby Not a Baby?

• When he starts eating ice cream cones?
• When he can feed himself macaroni and cheese?
• When he will find his shoes and try to put them on, find his hat and try to put it on, and then take hold of your finger and walk you to the door in order to convey that he wants to play outside?
• When he can climb into his highchair by himself?
• When he can use the toilet as a stepping stone to the sink?

I know, I know. Now I'm just bragging.

Lunch Time

Charlie and I have different philosophies when it comes to feeding Jett. Charlie feeds Jett everything, bit by bit, spoonful by spoonful. I tend to hand Jett the spoon and let him go at it. Both methods have their advantages. For example, Charlie usually doesn't have to sweep and mop the floor when he's done. But I get all the good pictures.