Jen's Blog

sourpuss

Gary and Elliot and I went out to eat for lunch today. We went to a Mexican restaurant, where we thought Elliot would like some of the food. He kept pointing to something on the table, and we tried rice, beans, sour cream, but nothing seemed to be what he was pointing at. Finally, I thought maybe it was Gary's glass of water, so I showed it to him. He pointed at the lemon slice on the edge. I thought, what the heck, he'll taste it, spit it out, and we can go on with lunch. Boy was I wrong! He sucked on that lemon for a good long time, and was quite content with it. Gary said while I was hunting for my camera Elliot gave a bit of a gee-this-is-sour shudder, but otherwise he quite liked it.

Although we haven't tried them recently, he has shown a strong liking for pickles, too. So I feel confident in saying that *I* wasn't the one craving pickles and lemonade while I was pregnant, it was Elliot.

new curtain

I finished a new curtain today for the bedroom. I have 3 to make, and this is the first one. This one is in a different fabric as the others, because I bought bolt ends and that's all I could find. Anyway, it's a nondescript enough pattern, and the colors match both the walls and the tape in the blinds.

This is the first time I've done any sewing since, hmm, definitely before Elliot was born. This is the first curtain I've made, and instead of following instructions, I just copied the existing curtain. That plan worked okay, but there were a few things I wish I had done differently. Like sewing the sides of the curtains (to hide the selvedge) *before* doing the curtain rod pocket. :) Eva came over this morning to help me out; she gave me lots of useful advice and the next two curtains should go a lot smoother.

walking

Elliot has started walking! He's been taking a single step for a couple of weeks now, but just in the past week he's taking 3 or 4 steps at a time. But only when conditions are right, and he's not in a hurry. When he really wants to go somewhere, he still crawls, since that's faster. He's getting more confident in his balance, and he happy to do a lot of walking just holding on to someone's finger.

I took Elliot to StrideRite after his 1 year checkup to have his feet measured; he wears a size 5, which is about average for his age, but probably big for his size. Gary and I have bought him several pairs of shoes, even though it's best for him to be in barefeet. It's been pretty cool here, though, and it's just too cold to walk around the living room without at least socks on. Mainly he wears a pair of sneakers, but I bought him a pair of slightly nicer (a slightly larger) shoes for winter, and Gary went all out and bought him a pair of very traditional baby shoes while on a business trip in Seattle. He didn't like wearing shoes at first, but he's gotten used to them, and likes to play with the velcro straps.

snapshots

A couple of pictures of Elliot from this week.

random photo

from Elliot's bday party.

(photo by Rose Sandoval)

home sick, again

Elliot's been sick again for the past few days. He went for his 1 year checkup last week, and got a bunch of vaccines. He has not been sleeping well since; some nights are fine, others are horrendous. On Wednesday he got a fever in the afternoon, and then, just as we got home, he threw up. All over himself, me, and the floor. Lovely.

He has since been surviving on Pedialyte and goldfish crackers. He managed to eat half a container of yogurt for dinner yesterday, and a little milk. Last night he didn't sleep well, and Gary and I finally figured out, at 2am, that he was probably just hungry.

This morning he seems to be doing better, although he looks tired, and is having a tendency to spit out half his milk after drinking it.

my scarf in progress

This is my latest knitting project. The yarn is Karaoke, which is 50% soy silk, 50% wool. It's very nice to work with! The pattern is called the mistake rib. I'm halfway done...let's see if I can finish it before fall starts!

a couple of birthday photos

Sonia (our daycare provider) took some pictures of Elliot's birthday party yesterday. (click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture)

One Year

Hard to believe Elliot was born a year ago. He has started taking half-steps this week, so he's not walking like Gary hoped he would by a year, but he's pretty darn close. We introduced cow's milk this weekend; he's now drinking a 50-50 mix of milk and formula and he doesn't seem to have any problems yet.