Mornings are much more fun now that I'm not rushing off to school or work. Timmy and I usually start our day with a glamorous breakfast.
Fresh cherries, apples, blueberries and yogurt for him:
Oatmeal with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries (the best strawberries ever from the farmer's market), vanilla soy latte, chocolate hazelnut biscotti and OJ for me as I leisurely read my favorite magazine in the world:
You spent the 25th of August being the perfect plane passenger, sleeping, eating, looking out the window or reading books the whole 6 hours.
On the flight to Newark from LAX, the guy sitting in front of you saw you after we landed and said, "I didn't even know there was a baby behind me!" And that pretty much captures the kind of baby you are... quiet and observant in public, generally easy and good. The plastic cups also came in pretty handy for entertaining you. You were mesmerized by the view out the window upon take-off and landing, looking at the trucks, lights and houses.
You were baptized back in New Jersey at the church your daddy went to growing up.
My handsome boy, letting me dress you up even though it was about 90 degrees and 90% humidity:
You with Grandparents and Mommy and Daddy:
You with your Godparents, Aunt Annie and Uncle Mikey:
After church, we had a big party for you at Grandma and Grandpa's house...LOTS of friends and family came all the way out to see you and celebrate!
This month you really started turning on the charm. When we go out, you flirt with just about everyone. The first thing people always say is "Look at those cheeks! (sometimes they say thighs)" The next thing they say is "what a great smile!" You are becoming much more social. You loved playing with your cousins and your friend Richie this trip, watching and laughing as they ran, climbed and crawled all around you. Hopefully you'll be able to move around with them soon!
Your culinary adventures continue. The big news is that you had your first taste of steak! We thought it only made sense to let your first taste of beef be the best there is, so we gave you chunks of juicy filet mignon at Grandma and Grandpa's house. You LOVED it! Four big pieces of steak were sucked dry until they turned white the first night we gave it to you.
You now eat avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, pears, oatmeal, rice and wheat cereal, peas, asparagus, zucchini, squash, peaches, blueberries, cherries, apricots, prunes, and turkey. You also starting feeding yourself cereal puffs and whole blueberries. We are looking forward to mealtimes as a family!
Lately you have gotten a kick out of imitating us. Whether it is making silly faces or noises or pouting/crying, you will copy us and then giggle uncontrollably. I probably shouldn't encourage the raspberry blowing during meals, but I can't help but laugh when you do it. This monkey face is your current specialty... Your daddy made fun of me because he claims that he knew I was taking a video once I said "You're funny." I'll try not to comment when I capture you on video anymore! (sorry it's sideways)
You are so much fun to be around, which is good, since I spend all day with you now! I love playing with you, talking and reading to you and snuggling with you! Watching your own little personality develop and emerge is amazing.
Now that our apartment is unpacked and most of our stuff is put away, we can bring out some of Timmy's new toys!
He has a sing 'n go choo choo, which is a train with zoo animals that plays songs and drives around the floor. He is fascinated by it. Mostly he likes picking it up and tasting it, but hey, I'm sure some day he'll think of his toys as something other than food.
He also has a music table. Sometimes he stands, sometimes he sits; every time he wonders why the book in the middle only has one page for him to turn.
He thoroughly enjoys the big foam blocks, especially looking through holes left by the cut-out letters, and of course, eating them.
Last but not least, his favorite toy of all, a laundry basket! He'll have to compete with the cats for that one.
With law school and the bar exam over, Timmy and I have found lots of extra time to go enjoy the sunshine and summer time activities:
About a week ago, we went to the beach with our good family friends the Ankenys. He took a nice, long nap under the beach umbrella, sat in the sand and loved looking at the waves. He even dipped his feet in the water. Thanks to Deb, we have some pictures!
On Friday, we went to the pool. Timmy was very happy to see Tanya, his babysitter from the summer. So happy, in fact, that he momentarily forgot about the heinous hat I made him wear.
He now really likes being in the water and splashing.
Big things are happening to Timmy's food repertoire...
After a couple days of practice, he can now feed himself the cereal puffs. I think he gets pretty excited when he is successful in transferring them from his tray to his mouth. I can't even imagine how excited he'll be when he can eat whole blueberries!
He also tried meat for the first time today. He really liked turkey! Don't get too excited, Grandpa Ottomanelli... we didn't hand him a big chunk of steak! For now, we gave him pureed ground turkey with some applesauce. This was a hit. The other meat they recommend starting with is Lamb (easy to digest), but the smell of that makes me want to barf, so we'll probably try chicken next.
In preparation for our trip back east, we also tried out baby food from a jar. The first one was apples & blueberries, which he liked. He was not so interested in the second jar with bananas. I bought a few more today so he will have a variety to choose from when we travel.
Lastly, we started sneaking a tiny bit of formula into his sippy cup. I'm not sure when, maybe not for a few more months, but there is an end to nature's nectar sometime in Timmy's future.
A lot can happen in two weeks when you're only 7 months old...
He started saying "da da." He also makes a noise that sounds like "cat" and says something that sounds suspiciously close to "grandma." I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean to actually say these things as descriptions or titles, but if we say "mama" "dada" or "grandma" he will smile and look at the appropriate person. He never smiles when he says cat, he just looks very seriously in the general direction of George or Sweet Pea.
He rolls onto his belly in his crib when he's sleeping, which wakes him up and makes him really cranky.
He is beginning to "understand object performance" as the baby books put it. He will bang things against each other, splash in the water, press the buttons that make noise on his toys and drop/throw his sippy cups.
Either his appetite has improved or he has become less of a picky eater. Now all his bowls are clean at the end of every meal. He tried asparagus today and LOVED it. He also came around on bananas and peaches and he likes those as well. We've been giving him gerber graduate puffs, which are basically banana flavored cheerios. He usually just moves them around on his tray and then pulls them off, but sometimes he'll pick it up in the palm of his hand and transfer it to his mouth. He hasn't mastered the pincer grasp yet.
He loves water just like his mama. He drinks it all day long from a sippy cup. Hates juice.
Finally takes baths in a big tub! The first few nights, I think he was a little freaked out by it. But by the third night, he was splashing and kicking and having a great old time.
He sometimes gets scared around strangers or cries when I walk out of the room. Usually he will happily go to other people though.
He wrinkles his nose when he smiles really big, showing off all of his gums. Cutest. Smile. Ever.
He gives big, slobbery kisses when asked for them, grabbing both sides of the other person's face to pull them in closer.
He really loves reading all of his books. He'll pull them over to his lap and turn the pages, pausing occasionally to bite the edges.
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