Future chef?

Just helpin to prepare dinner...

hmmm what looks good for tonight?

maybe some mangos!

hopefully no one will see me...

I can't wait for it to defrost! Must. have. right. now.

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oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...

Today while my Mommy was cleaning up an overflowing dishwasher (she says "don't even ask") I decided to climb out of my Tripp Trapp, even though they got me the baby rail I managed to hoist myself onto the table so that I was hanging off of the table. Good thing my Mommy was a track star in a previous life, or I might have fallen on my little head. [JUMP TO FULL POST]

crawlin up the stairs

Check out what I decided to do this weekend... my mommies put a gate at the top of the stairs assuming that for the time being the bottom of the stairs would be safe from my little hands and knees- what were they thinking?!?



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Hopefully I'm not Ridin' Dirty...

A lady my Mommy works with gave me this very cool toy- check it out!

Checking my blind spot

Gas level looks good

And all looks good under the hood- I'm ready to roll!

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contact paper

Today I discovered the joy of peeling contact paper off of shelves. The daycare people were not happy with me... :) [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Laundry Day

Just helpin' Mommy with some laundry

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What a Weekend

This weekend was jam packed with good stuff. First, my Mama came home from her business trip to West Virginia on friday night. That was great because I hadn't seen her in three days, except by webcam, which isnt the same because I am just so distracted by the computer I can't really pay attention to Mama. We saw Uncle Mike and Uncle Dennis at dinner, and then on Saturday, Nona came over to visit and brought me some presents from her trip to Cape Cod. On our way to dinner, we ran into Liam, who lives right down the street from me and also goes to my daycare. It was nice to finally have my moms meet his parents, because they live so close btu they've never met (liam and I are old pals, though, as we hang at daycare everyday). Nona had dinner with us, and she also told me that, if the inspection goes okay this week, she will soon be the owner of a waterfront river house with a pier 12 miles from Bethany Beach Delaware, and my moms and I can go whenever we want. Yay.

Sunday we had our first playgroup that my Mama and some other people's Mamas organized for us kids. There were about 22 under-one-year-olds in all, all with lesbian parents. Who knew there were so many of us, all born within a year of each other. We counted at least 4 sets of twins! It was a bit of a madhouse, but I got to see some of my old friends, like Dina, Natalie, Owen, and Kayla, and meet a whole bunch of new friends too. We had dinner with Uncle Mike and then I finally took a nap- I had been too excited all day to sleep, and was getting very very cranky. Yikes.

Tomorrow it's back to the daycare grind. Only 5 more days til the next weekend! [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Meme about me-me

I was tagged by my friend Levi so here are my answers to his MeMe.

3 Things That Scare Me

• Really loud noises, especially when my doggie starts barking at the top of her doggie lungs
• When I am left by myself (how could they?!)
• Tucker Carlson

3 People That Make Me Laugh

• My mommies
• Uncle Dennis (on purpose)
• Uncle Mike (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not)

3 Things I Love

• My big shiny clock
• Electronics that I can chew on
• Making squeeky noises with my teeth

Things I Hate

• Being left alone
• teething
• having electronics that I am chewing on taken away

3 Things I Don’t Understand

• Why when my mommy says "no," the correct response is not to turn around and give a big grin and keep on with whatever I am doing
• Why I can't chew on whatever I want to
• Calculus

3 Things On My Desk/Table (or my highchair)

• Rice cakes (more to play with than to eat)
• My Sassy teething feeder
• Random toys

3 Things I’m Doing Right Now

• Pulling up on everything.
• Crawling super-fast
• Eating new foods every week

3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

• Go down the stairs by myself (my moms say this cant be soon, despite my efforts, otherwise it might be immediately "before I die").
• Eat what my mommies eat.
• Get all my teeth in and over with.

3 Things I Can Do

• Pick on Ella at daycare
• Pet my doggie
• Make my mommies smile

3 Ways to Describe My Personality

• Flirtatious
• Willful
• Sociable

3 Things I Can’t Do

• Talk
• Eat peanut butter
• HVAC maintenance

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To

• Your mother(s)
• My theme song- "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas
• The Leapfrong learning table songs (over and over and over)

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To

• The religious right
• President Bush
• Really Loud Noises

3 Absolute Favorite Foods

• Mango
• Sweet potato
• Banana

3 Things I’d Like to Learn

• Walk
• Talk
• Dance

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly

• Breastmilk
• Breastmilk
• Breastmilk

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid

• Lost
• Law and Order
• The Today Show
  

3 Babies I Tag
Natalie

Bigfella

Quinn

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Squeaky Teeth

I learned this morning how to make my teeth squeak. I rub the top and bottom teeth together and it makes a very cool noise and it gets my Mommy to say, "GUS!" [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Leapin Lizards- I can stand!

I've told you all how I am crawling all over- well now I've decided that I should be standing as well. My Mommies are sure in for it!!!

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Habababababa...

Mama got me a bunch of super-cool european toys from Haba and DouDou (no, that's NOT the same as doo doo)... I love them, but as you can see below, it is a bit overwhelming...

 
 
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Cuz I'm so cool

I want this! [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Polka Dots and Stripes

I'm not going to let this roseola get me down! [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Another Cool Baby Item

http://www.babysparewear.com/

Pricier than just buying an extra pair of clothes, but a cute idea and a good shower gift if you have money to, uh, spare... [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Don't Fence Me In

So now that I can officially crawl the length of the living room, let the babyproofing begin. (Or continue. Apparently one of Mama's nesting activities before I was born was to do "some" babyproofing, which really meant just trying out 100 different types of latches and locks.)

So here's what they're using, to my chagrin.

Super Stopper for the windows to keep them from opening too far and me from falling out.

Blind Winder. For the venetian blinds- works like a tape measure and retracts the cord for you. They work pretty well, but you need to be careful not to put too much cord in them (you cut the blind cord before attaching them. shorter is better).

Hands-free Gate- one of the only hands-free, pressure mounted gates my moms could find. Apparently drilling into plaster is something you dont want to do on a regular basis, and having a gate that you dont have to step over is also important to them. So this is one of the few that meets both criteria.

Sliding Outlet Covers My moms did some research and chose this type of outlet cover for a few reasons- first, the plastic ones are apparently pretty easy for some little ones to take out (and possibly choke on). The ones that you have to turn can be hard to use. So they picked these, which we already have on some outlets; although I am not allowed to play with cords, my moms tell me they are easy to use. For them. Not me.

We are facing a few dilemas and welcome input:

1) Any way (other than the parental eagle eye) to childproof cords? like for example the cord that runs from the lamp to the wall or the radio on the table to the wall? I love to play with cords, put them in my mouth, etc. Light is a pretty important thing to have, so they cant remove the lamps altogether or they wont be able to see my cute face....

2) Anyone have any suggestions on anchoring big furniture to plaster walls? Because I love to climb already, my moms have horrible visions of the tv cabinet falling on me. We use plastic anchor things for pictures and such, but what about huge-*ss furniture? What wont pull out of the wall? [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Gus's Grown Up Rant of the Month

How is it that this and this got almost no outcry or attention, and this and this both are considered in the top 50 magazine covers of all time, and this is acceptable for a sports magazine, but THIS so angered the public that they ripped the covers off of their magazines and threaten to cancel magazine subscriptions? Maybe I dont mind cause I'm a breastfeeding little dude, but jeez people- relax....

(yes, we know it is old news...) [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Roseola

So, after a fever on Saturday and some small spots on Saturday afternoon my moms decided to keep an eye on me on Sunday. I seemed to be back to my normal cheerful self on Sunday and even visited with Nona and Poppy, but then Sunday afternoon/evening my spots got worse, and when I woke up this morning they were all over! A trip to the Dr. revealed that I have Roseola (even though most kids usually have a fever for a longer time. If you look closely you can see my spots. [JUMP TO FULL POST]

Unique Baby Essentials

Lots of my moms' friends are currently expecting, and some are hoping to be expecting, at at least two (against their better judgment) have asked for adivice on baby things. Infant essentials. Some of these were a big surprise to my moms, who had never heard of many of these but had them recommended y friends. So this is their list of what you might need when you have a little guy like me but not know it. Everyone knows things like diapers, stroller, carseat, etc, so the won't start there. So here's a list of the things my moms say they really enjoyed having and that they would call "must haves" that you wont find on a typical list. They tell me that these items are what they recommend for new parents and for great baby shower gift ideas, although we aren't advocating off-registry purchases :-)

Bumbo Seat

This seat was indispensible - although I am getting big and strong enough to catapult myself out of it now, it was great starting at about 3 months. It helped me learn to sit up, allowed me to sit up and participate in family life without being held, and served as a great way for my moms to put me down an let me play without worrying about me. My mom would put it on the table (not an approved use!) when eating dinner or on the floor when they had to answer the phone etc. I could sit in it, see the world (or the living room at least), and play with a toy without getting into trouble.




Sassy Teething/Feeder

This feeder is great- when I first started teething my moms would put ice in it and I would chew on it. Now that I can eat solids (but cant feed myself yet) this is another way for me to participate in meals, especially out (where I would otherwise get whiny and cranky). Simply fill with banana, sweet potato, etc and I can feed myself without choking. What my moms like about this brand in particular is that it comes with a cover/lid (Very important!) and can be chilled in the fridge.



Snap N Go
Lots of moms and dads we heard from agree- this is critical when you have an infant and want to use the infant seat as a carrier without also having to lug a bulky stroller everywhere. Some folks even suggested to my moms that they use this as their only stroller until I was older and then they'd be more knowledgeable about what they wanted before shelling out the big bucks for a "real" stroller (they got my Peg stroller as a git, so the advice was moot).



Noah's Ark

So this isn't a "must have" but it has turned out to be my all-time favorite toy so far so we'll mention it (it's my favorite even though the recommended age is for older kids, so I'm sure I'll get more use out of it). Lots of different animals and a noah toy, but they all store inside the boat, so they make for easy clean-up.



Ice Blanket
Like a freezer pack, but can be cut to size and is flexible enough to wrap around bottles etc. Can cut off a few "squares" (rectangles I guess) to keep with bottle in a small area (like the insulated pockets on diaper bags) to add extra cooling.



Bundle Me

Although there is some debate on whether or not this "aftermarket" product should be used in a car seat (parents views on this, like many things, differ!), my moms found it very handy, especially for a winter bamino like me. It allowed them to keep me warm outside withou over-dressing me (or putting on coats, buntings, etc, which you have to take off inside, defeating the purpose of an infant carrier if the baby is asleep and you have to wake them to remove their coat).



Night and Day Bottle Warmer
My moms didnt buy alot of gadgets (no wipe warmer for this tushie for example), but this one was very useful in the first months. Basically it is a bottle warmer AND a cooler in one, so you dont need to leave the bedroom (or in my mama's case, sometimes, even the bed) to warm a bottle in the middle of the night. Put the bottles in the cooler with the ice pack (included) before bed and fill the reservoir with water. When it's time to feed, no need to go all the way to the fridge for the bottle and/or warmer. It's gotten less use as I've gotten older (and nicely agreed to take cold bottles). Although I did most of my feeding via nursing, bottle feeding pumped milk helped take some of the burden off of Mommy and was actually doctor-mandated at the beginning when I had jaundice.
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This is what a poor sick baby looks like...

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Cheaters*

"okay, so we switch this 2 with this ace, and we're all good"*

*lest you think I am a real cheater, we have three cards because apparently eating the cards while playing Hold 'em is not a good thing. So they tried to keep me from eating the "real" cards by giving me my own card with a picture of a funny clown on it and thinking I'd then leave Uncle Dennis's cards alone. It didn't really work, as you can see.

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Poker

Pocket queens? I say "all in" Uncle Dennis...

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A Tooth and a Cold

This morning I woke up with a new tooth (sticking out of my gums), another one just under the surface, and a fever. So we're having quite a mellow day at home. [JUMP TO FULL POST]

U.C.O.

Unidentified Crawling Object.  [JUMP TO FULL POST]

First Day of Daycare

Here's a [belated] pic from Monday, the first day to daycare and first day back to work. Taken in the jungle that is our backyard.  [JUMP TO FULL POST]