Spoons

At Anthony's 18-month pediatrician appointment, Dr. Babcock asked if Anthony has started using spoons yet. My response was "somewhat", and that was considered good enough.

He actually has halfway decent spoon skills. The loaded end always makes it into his mouth. He still needs to work on scooping, though that is also improving.

Both yesterday and today he had mashed sweet potato as part of dinner. That was a little harder to manage, but he did okay. (Its hard because its too easy to accidently leave it behind if you pull the spoon out wrong.) A month ago he would have rejected the spoon in favor of fingers. He considered that yesterday, but then decided that the spoon was a better choice.

The Universal Game of....

"Chase the Pigeon". Or in this case, chase the ducks.

When we were in Italy on our honeymoon, huge crowds of young children of all nationalities would gang together to chase the pigeons around various town squares. None of these kids spoke the same language but they were able to play together as chase is a fairly universal game.

Well, Anthony hasn't gotten to play "chase the pigeon" yet, but he did get to chase ducks, which is a close second.

For Bob's birthday we went down to southern California so that we could go to the Red Bull Air Races. We left Anthony at my parent's house, of course. The trip was of dubious success. Anthony wasn't completely happy being left behind, he didn't nap well and he slept at night even less.

He did, however, enjoy an outing to a local park that had ducks. (And a few errant roosters/chickens/baby chicks.) Mean Mama would NOT let him play in the duck pond, no matter how attractive it looked.

Visiting with Family

Getting nice pictures of Anthony with his cousins is getting harder and harder. The crux of the problem is that they are now mobile. Kurt is old enough to understand the concept of standing still to have his picture taken. The younger boys, not so much.

I'm pretty happy with how these came out, though.

Grandma's Visit

Turns out we did get some nice picture of Bob's mother and Anthony playing together!

Kay was only out for two days, but we had a nice time. I took Friday off work and we took Anthony to Deer Hollow Farm. We had a lovely walk and spent awhile visiting with the animals. We were getting ready to leave and it must have been feeding time because Luna (the cow) and the sheep started mooing and bleating LOUD. Anthony didn't quite know what to make of it.

We then met Bob for lunch and then took Anthony home for his nap.

Saturday Bob flew us up to Santa Rosa for lunch with Uncle Bob. We had lunch at the little restaurant where Bob took me on the infamous "airplane date". We ate outside and afterwards Anthony was able to run around in the fenced in yard.

Big Boy Haircut

Well, after enduring such indignities such as coming home with his hair in a ponytail, we finally decided that it might be time for a haircut. For haircut #3 we decided it was time for a big-boy haircut with actual style. A new children's salon Snip-its opened nearby and we gave it a try.

Anthony was less than enthusiastic about this cut. To begin with, he didn't want to sit in the chair. We started him off sitting on my lap and he did okay there. We tried using an animal cracker to bribr him into sitting in the chair, but no dice. He did decide, however, that he required a steady stream of animal crackers and goldfish to ensure cooperation. In the middle his stylist had to leave to take a phone call and we took that opportunity to transition him to the big-kid chair. (Note the handful of goldfish in the bottom picture.)

He did fine in the chair, except for deciding he wanted nothing to do with the clippers. So we didn't use clippers.

I'm pretty happy with how his cut turned out. We didn't give him a "little hispanic boy buzz cut" because Anthony wouldn't look like Anthony without his hair.

He cleaned up nicely, but I still miss my little wild-haired boy!

Big Boy Haircut

Note the celebratory animal cracker in the bottom picture!

A comment on Snip-its. Generally I was impressed with the franchise. It was clean (brand-new) and bright and generally the staff seemed enthusiastic. However, a huge part of their business centers around birthday parties for young girls. They get their hair and make-up done and get all "glammed up" to "strut their stuff down the Snip-its Catwalk". Frankly I found the whole concept moderately repulsive.

But, I'd go there again.

Yummy New Treat!

This year I finally signed up for a CSA box from Blue Moon Organics. For those unfamiliar with the concept, basically I commit ahead of time to a weekly produce box from the farm. Every week I pick up my box and it contains that week's fresh fruits and vegetables. I get whatever is in peak of season that week. I get a "fruit centric" box, so I get a hefty helping of fruit--currently strawberries. Its changing how I cook--after I pick up my box on Thursdays I can then plan my menus for the week. I'm having a lot of fun, trying some new recipes and getting out of the broccoli/zucchini/green salad rut.

For quite some time, Anthony has refused to eat vegetables at home. (He'll still eat them at daycare.) However, he has a certain fondness for whatever is on his friend Robert's counter. Earlier this week, Robert's Mom Sarah was shelling peas. Anthony wanted them. He ate a few and decided that raw peas out of the shell were okay.

We came home and shelled a few of the sugar snap peas I had in the refrigerator. (My box this week and last week contained a pound of sugar-snaps.) He loved them.
Then I discovered that he also enjoyed eating the whole thing raw. Only issue is that it took him forever to munch up all that fiber. Meanwhile, he drooled chlorophyll all over his collar.

Anthony's Airplane Magazine

Anthony has become quite the reader. He sits at the table with us now for meals. At breakfast we traditionally read the paper and Anthony joins in with his own reading material. His current favorite is "AOPA Pilot". He's pretty seriously attached to that magazine. He likes to flip through the pages and point to pictures of the airplanes. I think he's working pretty hard at saying "airplane", too.

Another View

Grandma Taught Anthony a New Trick

Bob's mom came last weekend for a short trip. Somehow, we didn't get a picture of the two of them together. :-(

They had so much fun together, it was great watching. He thought she was the funniest thing EVER. She even taught him a new trick.

Mama is so proud!

Pumpkin Boy

I meant to post this one a few weeks back.

I sent Anthony off to daycare every day dressed very nicely. Most of his outfits are name brands and they always match. (I have to dress him nicely to counteract the long uncombed hair.) His bag, of course, always has one change of clothes in it. As always, the change of clothes is also a coordinated outfit.

Here's where Maria and Kathleen mess with my plan. When little dude requires a change of clothes, they only change the offending article of clothing. Sometimes it works, a week before this he came home wearing his jeans with his gray "peas" t-shirt. The matching gray yoga pants were safe in the bag. But he still looked okay.

Then there was the day he came home dressed like a pumpkin.

Earth Day on the Bay

While Bob went flying on Saturday, Anthony and I went up to the Marine Science Institute's Earth Day on the Bay. Honestly, little dude didn't enjoy it quite as much as I had expected.

He seemed to appreciate getting to "pet" the fish. He also enjoyed wading in the bay for a few minutes. He didn't enjoy the Banana Slug String Band at all, though. Kind of surprised me--they put on a good show and who doesn't enjoy kid oriented music?? We decided not to wait around for the mud-grab. I'm not sure he would have appreciated the texture, anyway.

What he DID enjoy was begging for food from other families. We had our own snacks, but other people's are clearly better.

The Grown-up's Easter Basket

Donna and I tie-dyed eggs this year. They came out fabulous. (yet no pictures, sense a theme). I did make a point of getting a photo of the cookies that I made for the grown-ups basket. Yes, I made them all by myself. Bob helped me assembled them at the very end, though. He did a good job, I think he might be better at this than I am!

Anthony's basket contained: one box of animal crackers, an airplane pull toy and a new toothbrush.

Easter Duds

Anthony is wearing his new Easter shirt with LAST YEAR'S pants. They are now more of a board short than a cargo pant, but they look great!

This year's pants had already fallen off of him, so we changed. They're styled very similar, though.

(If pictures were taken of different days, its easier for me to make separate blog entries.)

Too bad we didn't get pictures of the whole family dressed up!

Happy Easter!

Better late than never....
(Of course, the answer to that is "better never late!")

We didn't get many pictures from Easter, I blame Bob! Oh well. Vince, Donna and Jessica came out for the weekend. We had a lovely time. Saturday we all went to the California Academy of Sciences. It was very crowded but we had a nice time. With no pictures. Probably my fault.

Sunday we went to church. Anthony got kicked out of the sanctuary to the nursery even before the service started. Overflow seating was in the garden and Jess quickly abandoned us to go sit in the sun. (There are large sliding doors that open the garden to the sanctuary.)
The Easter Bunny was very good to Anthony. He got several new books, including "Hands, Hands, Fingers Thumb", one of my new favorites. Donna also gave him some new dude duds. He needs to gain wait to keep the pants up, though. I'll get pictures soon.

Anthony's First Apple

Anthony's pal Robert has been chowing on apples lately, so today I gave one to Anthony to try. I had to start it for him, but then he had a lovely time chowing away.

This picture is *very* mis-leading. He did most of the apple eating in the front yard with Robert, who had his own apple. There were a few mishaps and I had to wash it off with the garden hose a few times. Yes, I'm that kind of Mom!

The funniest thing was watching both boys check out the neighbor's sprinklers. They are the same size, standing side-by-side munching on their apples watching the sprinkler go like it was the neatest thing ever!

By the way, it took him a good hour to eat the apple that far down. We gave it back to him for some pictures after dinner.

Dinner was last night's leftovers--gnocchi and pine nuts in a brown butter sauce. He liked the gnocchi okay, not as much as the apple!

Mama's little ragamuffin

I think that Maria at daycare is sending hints about Anthony needing a haircut. I picked him up today and all his hair was in a pony tail on top of his head, Pebbles style.

I made him keep his hair that way until Daddy came home.

He has peanut butter smeared all over his shirt and in the hair. Pediatrician gave us the okay to try it for the first time. Not exactly a success so far. He doesn't appear to recognize it as food.

Yes, I know he needs a haircut. Probably a big-boy haircut. I just love his wild hair, though.

18 Months Old

Sorry, I've been bad about posting lately.

Anthony is 18 months old now.
At his check-up this week he came in at 31 1/2 inches, 34 lb, 6 ounces.
He's still 75% for height but has dropped to 25% for weight. He's an active little dude.
And skinny, his jeans tend to sag.

Let's see, what is he doing now:
1. 1 word: Mama. I think that's a most excellent first word. There may be more that we don't understand. Pediatrician isn't worried that he's not talking yet as he uses "advanced jargon" and clearly understands everything we tell him.
2. Books: he loves books and will pull his favorites off the shelf for you to read.
Current favorites: "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy", "Planes" and "Goodnight Gorilla". He'll also sit down and flip through the pages checking out the pictures.
3. Favorite toys: his plastic slide, his lawnmower and Mom's shoes.
4. Favorite food: kiwi fruit is number 1 by a landslide. He's also been enjoying black beans lately. He pretty much eats them straight out of the can. (Rinsed first, of course.)
5. He's figured out how to make his riding toys go.

By the way, if anyone wants a gift suggestion, more of the "Pigeon books" by Mo Willems would be greatly loved. I love reading "Pigeon Wants a Puppy", especially the line, "I'm a puppy loving pigeon!" Its one of my current favorites.