That's so funny!

Revisiting Britmom's prompts of the week

• One thing I do that makes my child laugh is…
• One thing that my child does that makes ME laugh is…

The Sprout is sooooo funny (as I am sure most little ones are, but mine is funnier...).  We are going through a rough patch, not only because we babied him whilst he was sick, but also because he is 2.  So we need to do things that make us laugh.

He loves tickles!  Richard and the Sprout can tickle each other till the cows come home.  He also enjoys jumping from the table to the couch and anything dangerous.  But his favourite thing is to be chased.  He will run in circles for ages and laughs and laughs and laughs.  A commercial that ALWAYS makes him laugh is the IAMS cat on the IAMS cat food commercial.

He also likes the Pedigree Dentastix Doggie Denture commercial

There are a million things he does that makes me laugh.  But what gets me every time (and he knows this) is when he gives me this little mischievous look.  I wish I could describe it.  He squints his eyes and gives a little mischievous smile...it is so cute.  He knows it makes me laugh because he does it when I am mad at him, or thinking about something seriously or when I look concerned in general I think.  He tilts his head into my view and gives a little "Puck Smile".

Another thing that makes me laugh is his little dance.  He seems to dance to everything, from my ringtone to a commercial jingle.  We have recently incorporated Nick Jr. into our TV watching (moving up from Baby TV).  They have allot of energetic songs on the shows they play.  Besides Dorra the Explorer, they also have a program called Bubble Guppies (link to one of the songs, Outside song) and Umizoomi.  They are full of annoying songs that kids love.

Although we seem to be playing allot of tug-o-war of wills, there is allot of laughter to help balance it all out.

Favourite TV

The Sprout watches allot of BabyTV.  But recently we have branched out to CBeeBies and we have found a few good ones.  I hope these play in the US (you will actually have to go to my site to see the videos if you are just looking at my email).

Timmy Time is one of the new favourites (he loves most things clay animated):






My personal favourite, Peppa Pig



I am trying to get my head around the Northern Irish version of Sesame Street.  They use clips from Sesame Street to answer the question of the day...and it is all done in a thick Northern Irish accent.

New favourite things 18-24 months

This is the new list of things I have loved for the Sprout's 18-22 months.

• Crayola's washable Supertip pens, Beginnings coloured pencils and washable finger paints.

• Chalkboard paint.- We now have 2 chalkboards in our house that I painted directly onto the wall.  The Sprout was really taking to drawing on the wall, which was really fun, but unfortunately, we can't have Sprout originals all over the house.  The boards a somewhat a success, at the moment he really likes breaking the chalk, but we do manage to do some drawing on the new boards.

• Balloons.  I bought a bunch of "Happy Birthday" balloons (because that is all ASDA had) and we had a ball popping them, and bashing them around, especially when I filled the tent with them.

• Popcicle moulds.  The Sprout really loves popcicles, but have you noticed that the majority of the popcicles you buy are nothing but humming bird food (sugar water).  I remembered that when I was little, we used to make our own popcicles, they were usually frozen orange juice, but we still made them ourselves.  So I parused on Ebay, and found a popcicle mould.  We usually have smoothy popcicles.

     Vanilla yoghurt
     1 banana
     A fruit of your choice, we usually have strawberries or nectarines
     Some vanilla extract
     Enough milk to fill the blender to 500 ml

That's it.  The possibilities are endless.

• CARPET SWEEPER!!!  I love my cheap £13 carpet sweeper.

1 1/2

From 2011-04-15

I never get to be on the internet any more and when I am, I certainly don't have enough time to type something.  So while the Sprout is entertaining himself in his crib and not taking a nap like he is supposed to be, I will write a few things.

The Sprout is officially 1 1/2 years now, but it seems like he has been this old for a while now.  He tantrums and demands and screams allot.  He is constantly running and playing outside.  The neighbours gave us their toy slide, so he plays on that allot.  Because the garden lines up with our windows, I don't have to be there every second.  This doesn't mean I am not paying attention, but it does mean I can empty the washing machine or get a drink while he is playing.  But he did manage to eat a snail when I wasn't looking a couple of days ago.  I think that would have happened regardless.

We went to get his first pair of shoes from a shoes store on Saturday.  He was fitted and everything  and although he was wary of the sales girl, we found two pairs we liked.  He wears a 4 1/2 G.

The Sprout is 79 cm tall, but I haven't had him weighed for 6 months, I suppose I should do that tomorrow.

To my relief, he now uses crayon to draw instead of to eat.  We have a growing collection of art piling up.  I want to get some paints now that it is warm and sunny so we can make a mess outside.

From 2011-04-15

Speaking of messes, we have been gardening.  The Sprout loves digging in the dirt and dumping it all over the front porch.  He also loves to dig up the plants I just planted and then try to plant them again.  He is fascinated by bugs, but is not yet aware that they are living things, oh well, a dead snail is a good snail.

We still don't really say real words, but I am not worried about that.  We think his first word is "shoes" just because he pointed and made a sound that sounded incredibly like "shoes."  We also think he has said "love you" but that is under speculation.

We finally kicked the binki habit.  All I had to do was keep it out of sight.  I do have to admit that on days where he has been incredibly difficult I will put it in his mouth and it makes him tolerable.  I think it is weird that he won't put a finger in his mouth.  He did find his nose though...

Richard and I have slipped him some ice cream, and of course he loves it.  I just bought some popcicle moulds so we can make healthy popcicles.  The ones in the store are incredibly bad for you.

As for me, I am stuck at Costa.  I didn't get the jobs in the States, so I will be studying for my "Life in Britain" test so I can get my English Citizenship in July.  I saw my first movie in the cinema since I had the Sprout.  I saw Scream 4 and thought it was stupid.  To be fair, I slept through half of it, and I am not a big fan of the Scream movies.  But I wanted to go anyway.

Our apple tree has beautiful white and pink flowers on it, I should take a picture.  It is amazing how all the flowering trees and spring flowers lifts your spirit and turns the city into a beautiful place.  We have been lucky to have had such beautiful weather for the past month or so.  We have been able to turn off the heating.

My new favourite baby gear is the 360 degree cup.  It looks like a plastic tumbler but it has a ring at the top that is leak proof.  The kid still has to suck on it, but they can do it at any place on the lip like a real cup.  It has been helpful because the Sprout is always wanting to drink out of my cup and results in really soggy clothes.

360 Junior All-Round Sippy Cup 

(just checked, you can't get these in the States!!  

Guess I will have to bring some back)

Reviews and must haves

Just thought I would update people about some products I have found helpful.



Sippy cups
We just discovered the Tommee Tippee Tip it up sippy cup.  It has a soft and flexible silicone sipper that is really easy to use and doesn't leak.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in the U.S.  The Sprout has got this cup almost mastered, but the downside is he likes to gnaw on the tip.  Another cool thing about the cup is that you can change out the sippy part for any of the Tommee Tippee bottle nipples.  I have begun to think about how I am going to get the Sprout to sleep without nursing.  One thought was with a bottle.  Putting a teat on this cup means he would have handles.

Kool-Aid
What is up with Kool-Aid?  I did a little tie-dying the other day with some Kool-Aid.  When I got the clothes out of the wash I found that my clothes were white again!!!  What's up with that?

My stroller
I am still loving my Graco Metrolite stroller.  We have been using it for over 7 months now and it still works great.  We have used it on snow, dirt, gravel, grass, and cobble stone surfaces and it is still going strong.  Now I won't lie, whenever I am driving the stroller down the British sidewalks, I feel like I am navigating a horse and cart.  It feels like it may fall apart at anytime, but it doesn't and the Sprout still falls asleep in it .

I love that it is uber light and turns on a dime.  It is easy to collapse and store in a car.  It was the best $130 I have spent.

My new must have list for the weaning months:

• Cif multi purpose anti bacterial surface spray.  I love this because you can use it on food surfaces. I have a trial size one that I keep in the baby bag and a big one for home.

• Bib with sleeves.

• A toy on your key rig that is for baby.

• Some pre-made baby food either store bought or homemade.  I have both because sometimes I am lazy and didn't get around to making any or I think he needs a new flavour.  I like to keep fruit ones because we run out of fruit and I don't make mushed fruit anymore.  I really like the Organix brand because there is nothing else in it except the fruit or veggies.
• Rusks for the baby bag.
• A good sippy cup.
• A bath seat.

 The Safety First Bath Seat

• A mat to go under the high chair.
• I love the Baby Orajel smart dose teething gel.  Unfortunately we don't have it in the UK, but I can have it sent.  

• Another thing I can't find is a concentrated Tylenol type product with a dropper.  Both these products are small and fit right into the baby bag.
• Cheerios

I am sure I will think of more things.

Feeding the monster

We have been eating solids for about a month now.  We have been having a good time trying out new combinations and I have been on a liquid diet.  Yes, I am that mom...the mom who eats whatever her baby doesn't.


My dad gave me Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purees and there are a lot of good recipes in it.

Some of the Sprout's favourite are:
Lovely Lentils (which she has on her website and I have copied below):

Ingredients

30g (1oz) butter

125g (4oz) leeks, finely sliced

30g (1oz) celery, chopped

30g (1oz) red pepper, cored, de-seeded and chopped

60g (2oz) red lentils

100g (4oz) 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped

250g sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

15 fl oz vegetable stock or water

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the leeks for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the celery, red pepper and carrot and saute for 5 minutes. Add the lentils, saute for one minute, then add the sweet potato and bay leaf and pour over the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables and lentils are tender. Remove the bay leaf and blend to a puree.

Cherub Chowder.  Cherub Chowder consists of chicken, potato, onion and sweet corn.  I really like this one.

Sweet potatoes and peas are his favourites.  He likes them mixed with about anything.  Surprisingly enough, he doesn't care much for fruits, but does like gala melon.  He will also eat bananas if they are put in a fresh food feeder.

Fresh Food Feeder by Munchkin

He also likes Organix Rusks, they are really good for relieving tooth pain, I think.  I usually take a cue that he might want one when he starts gnawing on EVERYTHING with vigor.  I would like to get around to making my own rusks.

One website that has been especially helpful is wholesomebabyfood.com  it gives loads of advice about how and when to feed the baby, different preparations and storing of homemade baby food and has tons of recipes.


We have had a lot of fun mixing and matching vegetables and making a huge mess.

13 weeks and the international traveler

13 weeks old, how can that be?

The Sprout can now:

• Look and follow things
• Smile on demand
• Hold his head up for long periods of time
• Make the cutest little cooing noises
• Be “wiggy” on his back all by himself and be entertained
• Seems entertained by my reading to him and the pictures in his books
• Has moved on to size 2 diapers because he is a whopping 11 lbs (which is killing my back).

Some things that aren’t so great are:

• Wanting to be held when he is done being “wiggy”.
• It is getting almost impossible to sneakily put him down when he has fallen asleep.
• His tummy is still in an awful state of constipation and gas.

Some of his favourite things:

• Being walked and rocked
• “Wiggy” time
• The mobile his Grammy got him
• The shadows the cat watches on the wall
• This picture I have on the wall

Walk through the Cemetery by Jasmine Becket-Griffith

After we recovered from our jet lag which left the Sprout crying all night and sleeping all day, he has now settled into a somewhat “big boy” routine of being awake all day, with a short nap or two, and sleeping in 4 hour intervals at night starting from 6 pm to 5 am.

The trip to the US

The trip to the US went by too fast.  It had been a year since I had been home.  It must have been weird to meet my Sprout and have never even seen me pregnant.

The airport and ride on the plane went by easy peasy.  I was so worried, but I now have a new respect for what stewards actually do on the plane.  They don’t just give you food and drinks, they are there to help you and make sure you don’t freak out.  It is hard to remember that there can be a couple of hundred people on a plane and the stewards are there to make sure everyone gets along and enjoys the flight, they are at the forefront of customer service.  The stewards on the American bound KLM/Delta flight from Amsterdam were really great.

Things that made my plane trip better:

• A bulkhead seat with a bassinette.  I can’t imagine having a child bigger than the Sprout on my lap all by myself for 10 hrs.  I was pretty insistent on having a bassinette and then we didn’t use it much, but it was nice to have.
• A sling.  I didn’t even use the stroller except as a trolley for my bags.

Baba sling

• A bottle with formula.  Even though security was extremely tight at Amsterdam, they are really friendly about baby stuff.
• A manual breast pump.  Something happens to your breasts at 30,000 ft.  The pressure seems to make all the milk want to come out.

Avent manual breast pump

• A hooter hider.  I had never had to hide my chest when breast feeding and in such small spaces, using a blanket was really hard, so the hooter hider was really excellent even though the Sprout really didn’t like it.

Bought from Joanna Design on Etsy.com

• And just having a baby.  You get pushed to the front of the line for everything and if you don’t MEN complain, it is so sweet.

The Sprout was an excellent flyer.  He kept to his regular schedule of awake and sleep times with only a few fussy times in between, but he hardly ever cried.

When we got to customs, I had to fill out a visitor form for Sprout because of his British passport, but other than that the transition was smooth.

Being at home was so nice.  I didn’t care that it rained for the majority of the time or that I didn’t spend much time driving, I enjoyed visiting with my family and was glad that they all got to see Sprout for the first time.  It was the perfect way to spend the New Year.

Things I wished I had known

Dorothea Lange: Migrant mother (alternative), Nipomo, California, 1936

10 Things I wish I had put into my hospital bag:

1.

1. Breast pads.

2. My own breast pump and nipple shields to help start breast feeding since the Sprout couldn’t latch.

3. My “What to Expect...” books.

4. Heavy duty menstrual pads.

5. Cash.

6. Granny panties, the ones that go up to your waist.

7. 2 nursing bras that were at least 1 size larger than my bra size.

8. Paper and a pen.

9. Slippers.

10. Shirts or pajamas I could unbutton or unzip.

Of course having brought my suitcase to the hospital would have helped, but I hadn’t put these things in my case yet, and some of these are specific to my situation.

5 things I wish I had had at home before I came back from the hospital:

1.  

1. A maid...no seriously, sanitary wipes for the kitchen and bathroom.

2. Tiny baby clothes and loads of onsie pajamas, those boys have stealth peeing reflexes that they save up only for you.

3. Disposable diapers and cotton balls.

4. Disposable plates and readymade dinners.

5. A Moses basket or really small bed to place the Sprout in.

5 things I wished I had known before I left the hospital:

1.    

1. Boys don’t understand the amount of effort it takes to actually have the baby at home and even though you have been in the hospital and bore a child, you are still expected to make all the meals and clean the house, because after all, they still have to go to work.

2. The laundry is never finished.

3. The days go by fast because they happen in 3 hour intervals.

4. You will cry in the middle of the night wishing your husband could breast feed.

5. Babies are gassy. How to tell… they get really squirmy and uncomfortable then will let out an adult sized fluff that you can blame on your husband.

4 things I learned from my mom:

1.    

1. You have to breastfeed.

2. Using a binki is ok, but only temporarily and only for soothing.

3. HOLD THEM WHILE YOU CAN. They grow very fast

4. It is all about the Mom, and she therefore bears most of the work.