my big boy

oliver keeps growing and it is so bittersweet. he has completely lost that little baby face and is turning into a real boy. it's all downhill from here. :)

this weekend, we worked on turning his eating schedule around, which was actually much easier than we thought it would be. he adjusted without much of a fuss. we held him to a minimum of 3 hours between feedings during the day, letting him eat more in the evenings if he so desired, and tried to keep him to 4 hours at night (though if he woke up at 3 or 3 1/2, we fed him... can't go cold turkey on him :). he settled right in, though sunday and last nights he was a little more restless than normal. the doctor had said it is more important than ever to make sure he puts himself to sleep, since he is starting to feel separation anxiety, and if we rock him to sleep or come running every time he cries, he'll learn those behaviors and we'll never get a good night's sleep again. :) so we've been working harder on letting him cry some, and while it's hard, i am hoping it has the desired effect. i know he can put himself down when he wants to (if he's ready for a nap, you can put him in his bed wide awake and hear nary a peep), but if he wants his mom and dad, that boy is NOT going to sleep (no matter how tired he is). you can always tell, too. he'll scream like the world is ending for 10 minutes, and then as soon as you go in to check on him, he'll quiet down and start giggling. punk. sunday night, i went in there to calm him down, and he'd grab my hand, whimper and giggle, and if i'd lean over him, he'd reach up and rub my face. that boy as got my number, and he knows it.

katie's friend jessie came and babysat for him saturday, and he was of course the perfect baby. bryan, mom, and i drove around to shop for kitchen remodel stuff, and we have a few ideas. we need to nail down our new floor plan and pick cabinets, and the rest will follow. and my money right out the door with it. :) i'm really excited to get started, however!

one of the things oliver's new pediatrician told us to watch out for to know he was ready for solids was the desire to put everything in his mouth. he had really started doing so in the last week or 2; his rattles and animals inevitably ended up getting chewed on a bit. SO we bought some big boy feeding supplies, ready to start him on rice cereal. sunday night as we ate dinner, he sat with us as usual, and we gave him a spoon to get used to that idea (no food on it). it was so incredibly cute - bryan would pretend to feed him, and he would very seriously concentrate on pretending to eat (and did a very good job - he wasn't sucking on the spoon or spitting it out; it looked like he was eating), and then give us a big goofy grin as if to say, "did you see me? i ate like a big boy!" he did such a good job we decided to try the real thing last night, and he surprised both of us by actually eating. we had expected a messy baby, but he actually ATE! i was so proud! some of course ended up on his chin, and he didn't eat much, but he did so well. so he is officially on solids now. :) in another week or 2, we'll start him on fruits and veggies. he's hardly a baby anymore. his motor skills are so developed, he's eating solids, and while he can't roll over he can inchworm along the floor... he's figuring out the connection between his actions and their effects: how when he jumps and wiggles in his jumperoo, the lights and music starts; if he shakes a rattle it makes noise; if he grabs his bottle and pushes, it goes out of his mouth, and if he pulls it towards himself, he can feed himself (he takes great delight in removing the bottle from his mouth then putting it back over and over and over again). it's a slippery slope at this point... he'll start developing even more rapidly! and while i can't wait for all the joys of watching him grow up, a tiny part of me wishes he would stay tiny forever; that little bug that just wants to curl up on my chest and cuddle.

is it wrong to have mac n cheese for breakfast? i made some for dinner last night; creamy and gooey and plenty of left overs (gee, i wonder how that happened). i can't seem to stop thinking about it. we had that with marinated pork loin (vermouth, olive oil, crushed green peppercorns, dijon) and broccoli for dinner last night.



bryan made a ridiculously juicy pork loin friday as well. that along with some broccoli rabe. the loin (both nights) was from peapod and i must say - we were happy with it. same with the rabe.



WFD: adobe beef tacos with pickled red onions, or some version thereof. or perhaps pizza, homemade of course (with bryan's infamous dough recipe). holla! that is, of course, if i can hold off on eating it until dinner. it may become lunch.

some new pictures and video in the march 2008 gallery.