Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

The other day I made cornbread, knowing that a) Katherine would love it b) it was good food for her (I cut down on the sugar, and combined the cornmeal with ww flour) c) it would make an incredible mess on our carpet.  So cornbread is now one of my “outside foods.”  On most afternoons, when Katherine wakes up from her nap, I hustle the kids into the stroller so that we can catch some fresh air before dark, and I hand her both a small tupperware box (in this case, cornbread and dried apricots, at other times tortillas with peanut butter and raisins, or hummus and carrots) and a bottle of water.  Everyone is happy: our teething baby gets some distraction and a chance to sleep (Teeth 3 and 4), Katherine gets some fresh air, food, and a chance to wake up somewhat slowly from her nap, and I get some exercise and time in green space.  At some point Katherine joins me on my walk, usually after I’ve given up on coaxing her out, and she really enjoys pushing Nathaniel.  Whether because she takes too many walks with me or because she’s just at that age, Katherine runs, rather than walks, so we manage to cover some ground.  Unfortunately, we’re slowly being squished by the encroaching dark, but I know that that time of year is short, and we’ll find another way to get out once it’s too cold and wet for playgrounds and too dark for afternoon park visits.

Erin

Recently the kids seem to be able to reach all sorts of things that used to be (and, in my mind, still should be) out of reach.  Katherine now has to duck when I open the upper bathroom cupboard; when we first moved here she was several inches out of reach, and I’d wondered whether she would remain below it for our entire time in England.  I guess that shows how difficult I find it to anticipate changes!  When she pulls up a chair, she can nearly reach the canisters in the upper kitchen cupboards; when she gets there, she’ll be able to help herself to the raisin bin (which she can, of course, open).  I still don’t know how we’ve managed to keep her out of the fridge, since it’s just her size and situated below the kitchen counter.

The other day I came home in the evening to find all of our shoes spread out on the floor and what remained of the shoe rack perched high on other furniture; apparently Nathaniel had spent his time tearing the (admittedly, poorly-made) wooden shoe rack to pieces, so our prior arrangement was now out of the question.  Today Nathaniel was hunting around the lower kitchen cupboards, having discovered an entire roll of fun paper towels there earlier in the day.  He then reached up and grabbed the pull for the silverware drawer, enjoying the ride as it slid open.  He can’t quite reach in for the knives yet, but good grief!

Erin

There is a two-hour period of the day during which Nathaniel is consistently the most charming, vivacious, inquisitive, happy baby one could imagine. He contentedly crawls around the room, exploring everything. He looks up every few seconds to beam at me with his big, goofy grin. If I so much as bother to touch him, he bursts out with laughter. If his charm doesn’t bring me over frequently enough, he’ll occasionally come over to me for a bit of happy cuddling (and he does know how to cuddle, unlike Katherine who better knows how to use one as a springboard). Care to guess what time of the day this is?

First clue: Erin is already in bed.

Exactly. It’s not daytime. It’s ten to twelve at night, to be precise. His charms do not extend to showing any inclination to go to sleep. But he really does make it difficult to dislike him for it.

Last week we finally (if a bit reluctantly) surrendered the spoon to Katherine while we all eat breakfast.  She has since done a very good job of feeding herself, with a minimum of mess–helped by the fact that our muesli is very sticky.  Yes, I know, she probably could have used a spoon earlier, but we already had too many problems playing tug-of-war with her over food and utensils.  She is very happy with her new role, and that frees us up to try new things on Nathaniel.  He fluctuates in his preferences for either milk or solids, but he makes his preferences known when we try something on him.  Pureed carrots are a hit, as is yogurt, but things with too much texture definitely get some interesting facial reactions.

This afternoon Katherine and I made pumpkin scones, using this recipe (yes, Laura, the one you were swooning over the other day).  The scones are to die for, though I need to find a good butter substitute (applesauce is not an English thing).  Pumpkin, raisins, and pecans: what’s not to like?  I let Katherine eat a few of the pecans, under supervision; thus far we’ve been reluctant to give her whole nuts, since she tends to swallow all food like it’s yogurt.  She chewed the pecans carefully and is now an enthusiastic fan.  I also explained to her that pecans are Grandpa Birdsong’s favorite food (setting aside cinnamon rolls, since she’ll probably discover those on her own some day), and she is now the third generation of Birdsong pecan lovers.  She seemed to take on the role with relish.

Erin

Life has been fairly boring recently.  We’re working on job applications, so every few days we stop to think about what kinds of jobs we’re going for this year, which sends us into a bit of a tailspin (which country or continent?  what kind of school, teaching or research?  which field?), but other than that life is full of the usual kinds of work: cooking good food, playing with the little ones, and bundling them up for walks outside.  Each child now has his or her own blanket/animal/pillow (Lisa E. gave Katherine a giraffe; Grandma B. gave Nathaniel a crocodile), so I now push Ms. Orange and Mr. Green down the streets of Oxford and check frequently for exposed fingers and knees.  I still get gasps when tourists realize that there’s a second little kid tucked behind the first one.  It’s amusing, though I am not thrilled when they then dig out their cameras.

Nathaniel has had quite a week.  He just abandoned his rather careful ways and started getting reckless, so we’re starting to see bumps and bruises on him, too.  He tried crawling up the stairs a few times earlier this week (just to the second step, where the baby gate is), and in the process he slipped and gave himself a bloody nose.  He managed to do the same thing when he got tangled up in his own limbs while crawling in the kitchen earlier this morning, so I’ve been patting a number of bloody lips this week.  But he is also starting to babble syllables, he’s cruising along furniture quite nicely, and at his checkup this week I learned he’s holding steady at 22 1/2 pounds–where he’s been for the last few months.  He gets a lot of attention at playgroups, probably because most mothers remember how brief this stage is, and yet how cute.  He’s also suddenly become very interested in trying our food.  Yesterday he had some soup and an entire banana over the course of the day.  Katherine was thrilled . . . but then she tried feeding him her cereal.  Nathaniel seems quite keen on this whole “real food” experience, and I can’t say he’s nearly as interested in nursing, so I may let him incorporate more solid food into his diet as he explores.  If nothing else, it makes for great faces when he tastes something new!

Katherine has learned about half of her alphabet, and finally really got into the song time at our playgroup.  She still stares solemnly at the group during the singing, but whispers to me every time there’s a pause “Sing.  More singing?” and eagerly asks for repeats when we get home.  She also likes to count to 10, though she gets a bit eager and seems to skip 4, so she’s only accurate up to about 3.

Erin

From a NYTimes article on the recent American Academy of Pediatrics’ warnings against giving small children screen time:

“[R]ecent research makes it clear that young children learn a lot more efficiently from real interactions — with people and things — than from situations appearing on video screens. ‘We know that some learning can take place from media’ for school-age children, said Georgene Troseth, a psychologist at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, ‘but it’s a lot lower, and it takes a lot longer.'”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html

And people wonder why I have my concerns about online college courses . . .

Erin

One trick is to manage to get usable photos/videos. A second trick is to get around to uploading them. Here are a few recent videos of Nathaniel. The first is of him with a piece of apple. We’ve recently started experimenting with giving him apple chunks, mango purée, squash soup, and the like. He’s very enthusiastic about all of it, much more so than comes through in this video:

Turn up the volume for the following one. He spends hours and hours doing this. Sometimes he looks down and watches the saliva pool:

Bigger toys are better, right?

In which scenario would you be more likely to die next year? (A) You move to the inner city of a large urban area such as Chicago. (B) You move to a suburb.

Explain your answer.