Have you heard of Dr. Jean?

I had not heard of Dr. Jean Feldman until a few weeks ago. A friend who is a Pre-K/Special K teacher sent me a message and asked if I would be going to the DR. Jean concert at the library.  My answer: Who?  So I was sent to Dr. Jean's site* and found out that although I didn't know of her specifically, I definitely knew her work.  I have used her cheers in my classroom for years and the kids always LOVED it. (seriously, check out her site and you'll find some great ones)

Anyway, since Bridget and I didn't have any plans, we went off across town to see Dr. Jean.  And I'm soooooooo glad we did.  Bridget had an absolute blast and I cracked up watching how much fun the entire audience had. My favorite part was the Tooty Ta**.  Please, please PLEASE look this up if you don't know it.  It's totally worth it.  I don't think you can truly realize how absolutely hilarious it can be to watch 150+ kids spinning in circles with their thumbs up, elbows back, knees together, bottoms up, tongue out, and eyes closed singing the song.  I'm still laughing just thinking about it.  Bridget's favorite was the Alligator Chant which I can't really seem to find a good video of.  The girl is completely enthralled by alligators (but that's a whole different post).

I'm so glad that we live in a city where our library district is able to offer these shows to us.  Especially when they can offer them for free.  I'm so fortunate that I have been able to take this bit of unexpected time off with Bridget to do these things. Although life is far from perfect, days like this make it a bit brighter.

Bridget and Dr. Jean.  Really, Bridget was happy.  But she was also tired.

*If you go to her site right now, pictures from her visit to Vegas on on the front page.  Bridget and I are front row, center section.  Can you spot us?

**I have no idea how long this song has been around.  The first time I heard/participated in this song was High School Key Club.  Seriously, it was run by our crazy (but hilarious) chemistry teacher and she had a whole group of high school kids doing this utterly childish dance and cracking the heck up.  Ah, high school.  How fond a few of my memories are of you...

My brilliant idea

Ok, so Bridget loves toast. She also loves fruit. So, brilliant me thought, "Hey, let's give her some toast with jelly!" Um, yeah. I don't think I can even describe the sticky mess that ensued (although I'm sure most of you can imagine.) That was a few weeks ago and she hasn't had jelly since. Until today, when I had another brilliant idea.
A while ago, Baby in the Kitchen posted about "dippy eggs" and how dipping teaches hand eye coordination and strengthens the pincer grasp. I have yet to make dippy eggs for Bridget (mostly because I can't stand the smell of hard boiled eggs. Blech!). I really wanted to do this for Bridget, but due to the smell issue, I just couldn't. Then I had an idea! I could make "dippy toast."
I put some fruit preserve into a small bowl, heated it up until it was liquidy, and then let Bridget dip her toast in it. She LOVED it! She "got it" so quickly. I guided her hand once or twice and then she was all over dipping all by herself (genius I tell ya!) And although there was still some stickiness, it was much more manageable because she's a pretty dainty little eater and only got the preserves on the tips of her fingers as they dipped the toast. It was awesome! I think this may become a regular part of breakfast.

Completely unrelated: This is my 200th post! Yippie!

Bridget took her first steps!

We watched her take two steps!  Then, when I ran to grab the video camera, she sat down and crawled after me.  We haven't been able to get her to do it again.  But, I did get a picture of her standing all on her own.  She's getting so big!

5/3/10

My how things change

On Mother's Day two years ago , I posted this and started this blog.

Around this time last year, this was what was going on in my life.

This year, I woke up to the sweetest little baby yelling for "Mama!" and went downstairs to see this.

She was so happy to see me and even broke her "All-I-Want-Is-Daddy" phase for the day.  She was so sweet and Mommy-loving.  Some days I just can't believe she's mine.  She's so perfect and awesome!

Today I thought about all the mommies out there, in so many stages of mommyhood.  Those with fur-babies, those still hoping and praying, those with angel babies, those pregnant with their miracles, and those of us lucky enough to be able to spend the day with our little ones.  So, wherever you are in your journey, Happy Mother's Day to you.  I hope yours was as joyful as mine.

Bridget is signing

We've been using American Sign Language for a few things with Bridget for, well, since she came home.  Our most consistant use has been at dinner time when we use, "more", "all done", and "milk."  We also use "Mommy" and "Daddy", "dog" and "cat."  In the past few weeks, it has really started clicking with her.  Breakfast March 20th was the first time she signed "more" for sure.  She's been using it every day since.  Then for lunch today, she signed "all done" and at dinner she signed "milk"  Wahoo!!!!  There have been a few times she has signed something like Daddy and then looks for Mike, but we're not positive about that one.  I'm trying to get her signing on video but my flip is missing right now.  Grrr.  She's doing so many new things now that I really hope I can find it in a few days.  I'm so excited and don't want to forget these days. She's growing up so fast.

First time on the swings, April 1st, 2010.  She's so happy!

I love food.

Not that this should come as any surprise. Really, who doesn't love food? I also love cooking. I rarely do it for lack of time, but I love to cook meals at home. What I don't like is the prep work before and the cleaning after. Seriously, I need to be a chef so I can have people to do those parts for me. I tell you all of this because I have been cooking all of Bridget's food since she started eating solids. At first, it was a breeze! Steam some veggies, puree them in the food processor, freeze, and you're good to go. Woohoo! Supermom!

However, now that she's eating things that are more complex than mashed peas and carrots, it's starting to take its toll on my time and my kitchen. Truly, making one or two meals for her takes the better part of 3 hours start to finish. And that's not counting in the time to make the stocks or whatever is needed prior to making said meal. A few weekends ago, I took on two meals: Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Apples and Mini-Minestrone (recipes from Top 100 Baby Purees which I borrowed from the library and absolutely love). Both sounded appetizing to me so I figured Bridget would like them too. She's an awesome eater and the only thing we've found so far that she doesn't like is avocado (I know, crazy right?).

Anyway, I set to work around noon last Saturday. I had make the stock needed for both recipes the day before (because holy cow, have you seen how much sodium is in store bought stock?). Cleaning, chopping, prepping, etc took about 45 minutes and then cooking and pureeing was another hour or so.

This is the chicken, sweet potato and apple cooking. Yum!

This is the minestrone. I think the potatoes sucked up more liquid than expected but eh, it still smelled delicious.

After cooking and pureeing, you pour everything into ice cube trays and let them freeze. Then, you pop them out and store them in baggies. This is the awesome part about homemade baby food. I have individual little portions of many different meals available to me at all times. No feeling bad about opening a jar that she only eats a little from. No disgusting smells that don't seem to fit the food you are serving (which for the record is why I started doing homemade food in the first place).

Bridget's shelf in the freezer. From left to right: Chicken w/ sweet potato and apple, Minestrone, greens mix, sweet potato and carrot, strawberry and apple, cauliflower w/ cheese sauce, peas, and plain carrots. (and yes, that is a sock in the freezer at the bottom. We fill it with rice and use it as a cold pack.)

So I suppose in the end, for all my whining and complaining, I still love making Bridget food. I know exactly what's in it and it makes me feel good to know that I'm giving her a good start with good foods. Because I make her food, she's been exposed to several foods even I haven't had much experience with (parsnips anyone?). It has also expanded my comfort level with cooking. I'm no longer afraid of leeks. Bridget loves them. And I'm learning to love them too. Bell peppers on the other hand...blech.

Now, the next big step is to get her to eat finger foods. She's really not a fan of anything whole except her puffs.

How/what have you all been eating?

A walk through time

Here's a very brief walk through the last few monthly birthday pictures of Bridget.

Before she learned to sit up on her own. We had to keep propping her up and catching her as she tipped to the side.


Her 7 month pictures which I didn't get around to taking until she was 7 and a half months. Oops. But she was sitting on her own!


Her current 8 month picture. It was so hard to get a good shot because she's so mobile now! She kept crawling around the couch and trying to get down.



So I just let her crawl/stand/walk and tried to get some good shots. She's such a happy baby. I'm so blessed to have her in my life.

Peek-a-boo!

Bridget can play it! (please ignore the obnoxious parent voices.)



My child is clearly a genius! ;)

Bridget and the Fish

So, at Thanksgiving time we visited Mike's family near Phoenix. About five minutes from their home is a wildlife zoo which recently added an aquarium section. We decided that it would be a great family outing and off we went with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sabrina and Uncle Brandon.

We got to see all sorts of fun stuff. Bridget was much more interested in the aquarium section than the zoo section.



She liked watching the penguins dive and swim (really, who doesn't?) but her favorite thing of all was this little fish. She just stared at it and very contentedly watched it swim back and forth in its little home.



The sound on the video is horrible because there were so many people around, but you can hear Uncle Brandon in the background being so excited about Bridget enjoying herself. This video was taken after we had already been standing watching the fish for several minutes.

I think we need to get Bridget a fish tank, what do you think? :)