playing with Daddy October 21, 2010

Keziah seemed to have lots of fun playing with Daddy and Get-Well Dinosaur on our bed a couple of nights ago. She especially enjoyed all the extra room to roll over continually.

if you are orange, i will eat you October 17, 2010

Keziah has started eating solid foods! The official recommendation is to start with rice cereal, mixed with some breast milk or formula (a taste babies are already used to) and move on from there. This suggestion was not a winner for her and she didn’t seem to like it much, even when we tried multiple times. I was thrilled when the doctor said that we could try other things and then try to work that in.
Sweet peas was not a real winner either.
Then the sweet potatoes came around and caught her eye. It took quite awhile and a lot of patience as I coaxed her and ate some myself and exclaimed their deliciousness for all to hear. I could honestly say that they tasted really, really good and that the cereal wasn’t nearly this appealing. I ate a bit while she watched and thought, “I have to be careful, or I’ll eat all of her food.”

After a bit of time, with barely anything on the spoon, she grabbed it with one, then two hands and pulled it to her mouth. She turned away the second the spoon touched her lips, smearing the orange goop across her cheek and then did it again and again. This process continued as I gradually was able to add a little more to the spoon each time. She would pull it to her mouth, feel it with her fingers, turning them a lovely shade of orange and then sort of chew and lick and spoon for awhile until it was time to fill the spoon again. Sometimes she’d still turn her head away comically and sometime she’d just go for it.

The way that Keziah brings the food excitedly to her mouth, then turns her head away in disgust, then smiles and goes back for more reminds me of a comical scenes in a movie. In the scene, a couple is usually fighting and then suddenly, overcome with passion, they start to kiss, realizing that they love each other. Then they start fighting again, then kiss and the cycle goes on and on. Anyway, odd analogy, but she seemed to really, genuinely like it, but on her terms. If she was pulling the spoon to her mouth (though I was still holding it), then she’d eat it, but if I tried, I’d get the head turn. Sometimes she would look at the spoon the squirm and turn her head towards me with a loving smile, as if to question me “Mommy, am I REALLY supposed to eat that?”

We tried carrots next, which she also seemed to love (and which taste, to me, remarkably like the sweet potatoes). I think that Papa O would be proud of her love of carrots. They will help her grow up big and tall just like him! It’s been a fun and amazingly messy new adventure, but very enjoyable. It’s interesting to watch her process the whole thing as she takes the steps towards actually eating the food. It’s taken more patience than I would have thought, after how quickly and without thought she took to the bottle, but I guess it’s a whole new world.

in the footsteps of YiaYiawatha October 13, 2010

My mom was up here for a visit last week. After two days of me running around with various errands and appointments while my mom watched Keziah (because I could), she decided to stay an extra day so we could spend some more time together. It was a good decision. I’m glad that she stayed. Not that the other days weren’t good, we just needed another day together and I know she wasn’t ready to leave her granddaughter just yet.

So . . .on Friday, we had a great lunch together at Common Roots Cafe, a cool coffee house/cafe in Minneapolis that serves all local and organic food, much of which they grow in their own garden in the plots behind the parking lot.The lunch was delicious and the soup my mom had left her complimenting it hours later (if you knew how amazingly tasty my mom’s various homemade soups can be, you’d realize how good her soup must have been). My soup was good and my chai latte was amazing and left me wondering why I had ordered a small.

After my mom oohed and aaahed and drooled over and photographed their garden, we headed to Minnehaha Falls. This is a great park in Minneapolis with gardens and trails and a very accessible waterfall, something that’s important to a mom with a stroller. I’m not exactly sure why Tom and I have never been there before. We wandered around for awhile before finding where the actual falls were (somehow we had missed it driving by) and where the bathroom was (so I could actually enjoy the falls).

We had a great late afternoon there, enjoying each other’s company, talking about how much Tom and my dad would enjoy it there. It was a great place for feeding Keziah and for watching her take in all the new sights and sounds. We walked around a bit and took lots of pictures, practicing our photography and we took turns getting Keziah to giggle, which was half the fun of the whole event. The falls were beautiful, especially since urban waterfalls are a bit more fascinating (though I don’t know their source) and it was a perfect, pleasant afternoon together.

Favorite Fall Things October 3, 2010

We are having an amazingly beautiful fall so far. I looked back at some photos of our yard from last year and realize that it should get even more beautiful within the next couple of weeks! We’ve all been sick this week, so not able to enjoy it as much, but we went for a short walk today and the air was perfect, the sky was clear and the colors were so refreshing and wonderful. I can’t wait to enjoy the rest of this favorite season. Enjoy these pictures of some of Keziah’s favorite fall things. She did watch part of the Packers game and striked her best football player and fan poses in her awesome jersey (with frilly yellow pants to go with!) Sorry, Papa O! Today she seemed to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves outside, but would have liked it better if she could have eaten the leaf we were playing with.