Adventures in Eating

As you can see, Abhi is a messy eater. He likes to smear his food all over his face and up into his hair especially. It is hard to get away without giving him a bath everyday now because of these lovely manners. I am still feeding him mostly - the baby mush with some new chunky stuff. He is getting used to it and imitates my chewing... He is really good at grasping food with his fingers and puts food in his mouth. He is a pretty good eater most of the time and eats everything. Although, some things like prunes he rejected. I find if I keep trying, he will gradually accept new things he is not sure of at first. His favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, pears, applesauce and he has a newly found appreciate of yogurt (one of those new items that took time). The other night he had spaghetti and cheese which he seem to like...so things are getting more interesting. He has been eating graham crackers and toddler cookies for sometime to practice but he is moving on to more adventurous finger foods like shredded cheese, avocado, egg, and cheerios. On mother's day we meet our friends (Jenn, Oscar, Luli, and Fiona) for brunch at the Indian buffet and he got to try all kinds of interesting stuff like paneer (indian cheese), idly (lentil patty), watermelon, and mango. Of course, more ends up on the floor than in his mouth but he is working on it.

Eating does go beyond the highchair. Now that he is learning to put food in his mouth, Abhi picks up lots of things off the floor and does exactly that. This is nothing new, everything goes into the mouth, but this is small pieces of stuff that he thinks are for eating. I have to be careful about keeping the floors clean and keeping the cat food up on the counter. This is really causing a lot of distress for my cat Buster. He does not like his food to be unavailable! My other cat Marble just disobeys all my rules and gets on the counter to eat anyway. Our venturing outside is also providing new things to taste like dirt and mulch. Well, I can't say he is not adverse to trying something once (or more if I would let him).

Abhi loves books. As the child of a librarian, of course, he loves books! What does this have to do with eating you might ask? Well, he recently displayed a new kind of love for his books, he likes to eat them too. See the picture...notice the missing corner. These days he is finding that eating them is almost as exciting, or even more exciting, than looking at them. I am not sure where that corner went...guess he really did eat it. Little nutritional value I am sure but good practice chewing???

Tonight, it's spring vegetables and pasta, another new one. Yummy!

Visit to the Park and going to the Doctor

Wednesday afternoon we went to the park and met our friends Sandy and Sachin. We meet them in mom and baby yoga back when Abhi was around 3 months. We haven't seen them since so the boys have changed so much since then. Sachin is a month older than Abhi. Back in the days of yoga, they used to admire each other from a distance laying on their blankets but now they can sit up and really interact. They also introduced us to swinging and Abhi had a blast! He was smiling and having so much fun especially when I would push him and he would go higher. Lots of new experiences with the nice weather!

Abhi also had his 9 month doctors visit on Thursday. Yes, it is a little late. We missed his original appointment because I forgot! Don't ask... But, he is 22 1/4lbs (gained about 4 pounds since 6 months - all that food!) which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight. He is 28 inches long (grew 2 inches since 6 months) which puts him in the 75th percentile with height. Overall, he is doing well and the doc is happy with his progress. I was so happy because there are no shots for the 9 month appointment but come to find out Abhi still had to get checked for anemia - drawing blood. I hate having my own blood drawn so I got really nervous. But, it ended up going better than I initially thought. Poor Abhi, he thinks every time we go to that place he has to get poked with needles. Next appointment is at 1 year and it is back to 4 shots!

Abhi has sprung into his first spring!

That is an appropriate title seeing that Abhi loves bouncing. He would bounce non-stop if he could. But, instead he walks back and forth from the living room to the kitchen and explores the same things over and over! Then occasionally I will bounce him or hold him upside down. But, since he is getting so heavy and my weight lifting has pretty much gone down the drain, it doesn't last too long. He gets upset when I stop because he is now starting to show his emotions very well. He must be thinking..."I don't understand why I can't do everything I want all the time!!!" Well as far as the bouncing, lifting, and going upside down...mommy's arms would fall off.

So, Abhi's first spring...Abhi had his first encounter with grass a couple of weeks ago...he was not pleased with it at all. I think it was poking him which he did not care for on his delicate baby skin. This is kind of funny because delicate is not a word that comes to mind when describing this little boy or any part of him. He kept touching it then withdrawing his hand very quickly. Then when he finally did walk beyond the blanket and fell down in the grass, he did not want to put his hands down to help himself back up. He has been out a few times since and is getting more used to it. We are off to the park again this afternoon so more fun in the grass to come. We also took him out to see the bluebells, the picture with appa (daddy). They bloom once a year in April and we got out on a good day when they were in full bloom.

More exposure to flowers...I decided I need to do some planting this spring. What else do I have to do? With a 9 month old not much really...sure. Well, I made a little time and did get some flowers and herbs planted. So, Abhi is checking out some of the blooms in the picture. He likes to pull the pedals off and dig in the dirt(and then put them straight to his mouth of course - more on eating later) so it is a limited time with the flowers for now. He loves to destroy everything mama has made pretty and clean; or is it explore?

Welcome Back!

Hi Everyone - Last time you visited our blog, you saw the nursery finally finished for baby. Well, if you can believe it or not that was 9 and half months ago! We now have a busy, baby boy who is ruling our world. So, we are converting the blog to Adventures of Abhi (the busy boy). Stay tuned for updates and new pictures as Abhi grows (more) and does lots of fun things.

Baby's Room is Finished!

Well, here is best all around view I can give you of Baby's room. I finished hanging and organizing everything Friday morning. We also rearranged our room this past weekend to accommodate the bassinet where Baby will start sleeping for awhile. I spared you those pictures though, not nearly as exciting or cute. Yes, it feels like we need a bigger house after setting up all the baby stuff but I think we will be able to manage. So, we are now ready and waiting for Baby!!!