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Even BLT likes looking at his blog!

Check our our website to see some more video of him rocking out to his alphabet magnets.

Bathing Beauty

BLT had his official weigh-in and measure today at the doctors. He clocked in at 26lbs and 33". The weight is questionable because they had him stand on the scale himself fully clothed. It read about 26.5 lbs, so I guess the nurse just subtracted 1/2 lb for the clothes. The height is also questionable, especially since they got him at 33-1/2" last time! This time they tried to make a mark where his foot was and one where his head was on the paper covering the table. There was no real effort to stretch him out, so it's probably a bit on the low side.

He's doing just fine and is very healthy. The only thing is he has eczema and some other bumpy bits on his skin. The ped said is all the same thing, basically really dry skin. We try very hard to keep him extra-moisturized and put a little hydrocortisone cream if he's itching a lot. It comes and goes, but sometimes he scratches a lot.

Build-A-Moo

I was so excited that BLT was finally old enough to enjoy Build-A-Bear. We were at the mall when they opened on Saturday so we went over to check it out. BLT picked out a cow. Well, he also picked out a dog, then the cow, then a dog... we already have a stuffed dog, so we went with the cow. Then we picked out a cow sound box to stuff in the foot. The next step in the Build-A-Bear process is the "stuff-me" station. They stick the floppy animal onto a nozzle and you step on a pedal and the stuffing is blasted in to the animal. Okay. This was a bad moment. Poor BLT. He was terrified for his cow. He cried and cried. As soon as he was stuffed, he gave the cow a big hug. He barely loosened his grip enough to get the cow stiched up (they just pull the laces tight and cut the end off). We then picked a name out for the cow - "Moo." Not so original, perhaps, but BLT doesn't mind! Moo even got a free guitar on our way out - just like Daddy!

Moo and BLT are already fast friends. Here is BLT and Moo reading with Daddy. He brought Moo in to our room this morning and I could hear him moo'ing all the way over from his room!

Oh, and something funny - BLT is really into beards right now. He has the Little Golden Book Bible from Great-Grandma and he loves to look at the beards in there! Then we stroke our chins and he says "beer."

18 months old

Has it already been another 6 months in my baby's life?

BLT has now reached that point where we count his age in half years instead of months. At least, I think so. He is developing his own little personality and sharing more of it with us. Books are by far his favorite things. He also loves his family of stuffed animals. Just this morning, I had to hold bear, cow, cat and dog while reading a story. He loves to eat fruit, all kinds of fruit. He also loves yogurt and crackers. It's hard to find other things for him to eat, although anything goes down easier dipped in a little pizza sauce. He likes to give kisses and hugs now. He likes to make animal sounds and is adding new words all the time.

I took him to get his picture taken this evening. Wow! It was tough to get a shot. He didn't want to stay on the backdrop. Then we gave him some blocks and he was too busy putting them in and out of the big block prop to look up. After that, he kept going back to the blocks even when we moved them away. He also had fun taking basketball shots with a small soccer ball that they had. With all that effort, we did manage to get a few good ones!

Google-Eyes

I showed BLT how to make goggles with your hands during dinner. He thought it was hilarious. I tried hard to capture his version on camera, but he moved every time I got the camera up! Finally, Daddy caught this one:


We're all tired tonight because we did our 2nd 5k this morning! I finished in 28:05, just after BLT and BLT Sr. They could have gone faster, but were nice enough to wait for me. It was the San Jose Mercury News 5/10k - there were about 5 or 6,000 runners. That's a lot of people!

Edited to say my official time is 27:59! That was with the timer chips, so it should be pretty accurate.

Busy Day

Here's a play-by-play of our evening.

First we stopped at Toys R Usto get BLT a new inflatable bathtub. He really wanted a giant ball. I also wanted to get him some new sand toys, but when I asked him if we should get them, he said "no." So we compromised and got some small balls.

Next was dinner ... see picture #1
Two glasses of rasberry Kefir (small glass with straw)
One scrambled egg with sauteed green bell pepper - refused completely
1/2 meatball with spinach and pizza sauce
Water in adult-sized water bottle picked out of cupboard while Mom was cooking

BLT and I went to Whole Foods last night to grab some dinner and picked up the Kefir. From Kefir.net:
"Kefir's tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, but it contains beneficial yeast as well as friendly 'probiotic' bacteria found in yogurt."
Turn's out BLT LOVES it. He also loves yogurt, so it's not surprising. I did get the fruit flavored one. Next I will try the plain and see if he likes that. He loves plain yogurt, so maybe!

Then we inflated the bathtub. BLT was quite the little helper. He just laughed and laughed when I pumped the handle up and down with both our hands on it.

After that, BLT decided he needed the Boo-Boo Bunny. We used it last weekend and he must have remembered it. I don't think he had an actual Boo-Boo. The bathtub inflating was not that intense!

Then it was bath time, running time, and then bed time! Of course, we found time for a book or two somewhere in there.

An update on the transition: It's been going really great after that first not-so-good day! No crying at all the last two days. He will be in the new class for the entire day tomorrow. They must have been doing some sort of painting today because he had several different colors on his pants, his shirt and even his undershirt!

Baby Picasso

BLT was inspired by cousin JT.

Day Two of visiting the new class went much smoother. He only cried on the way over there and not at all while there. He was there for two hours today and will stay tomorrow for lunch.

Laundry Detail

BLT likes to make sure all his dirty clothes get into the basket, all the way. He's even started doing mid-undressing runs to the laundry basket. I missed the basket with his long sleeve shirt, but got the onesie going in! It's hard to keep up with him these days because he is in a perma-run.

BLT is moving up this week at daycare. It is tough. He spent 1 hour in the new room today and his teachers said he cried and didn't want to go. It was surprising because he is generally one of the happier kids. He is also getting more demanding. One teacher was doing flannel board stories today and after the 1st one, BLT needed a diaper change. He didn't want to go and miss the 2nd story, so they had to convince him that would wait until he got back for the 2nd one. "Mor, mor"

He also wants "mor, mor buhk" before bed. Finally, I had to cut him off tonight. He was already half asleep!

The Menagerie

It takes a village to read a story. More specifically, it takes 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 giraffe and 2 bears. Plus, 1 mommy and 1 BLT. Cat is hidden here, but if you look closely you can make out one of her stripes between the dog's leg and the giraffe's head.

Stinky Feet

BLT just laughs and laughs if you say "Who has stinky feet?" and then give a sniff and pee-ywee face. I know, it's silly, but it's fun!

Peachy

Yeah, he's cute.

He's been so sweet these days. In the morning he gives me a kiss before I leave for work and then goes and puts his hands up for Daddy. Then he says, "Bye bye."

ETA (edited to add): I think there are a lot of pictures of him in his highchair because that is when he is contained! It's hard to get a shot when he is on the go. He's either a blur, or he tries to get the camera. :D

Kara OK

You know what they say, the family that karaokes together, stays together.

(Note to self: sit up straight for pictures!)

BLT added a new animal sound to his collection this weekend: Baa. One fun thing he likes to do is go and get something that goes with a picture in a book. If he see a picture of a giraffe (in Chinese-English dictionary), he runs over to his room and gets his stuffed giraffe (thank you Grandma A). If he sees a doggie, he goes and gets his stuffed dog (thank you Aunt M). If he sees a teddy bear... etc. I remembered he had a stuffed lamb/sheep during bed time stories (thank you again Grandma A), so I got it out and we had fun holding it up to the sheep picture and saying "baa."

We had a really nice weekend. BLT was very sweet and patient. Poor thing went to Parent's Night Out on Friday night. Usually, he is the first kid asleep and is still asleep when we pick him up. This time when we picked him up at 11, they said he slept only 30 minutes and then got up and played! He was running around the place when we got there. It was tough to leave him because he was crying a lot. We waited a bit outside and walked by the window to see if he was okay, and he had stopped crying already. It turned out nicely and he had a good time. (As did we - we saw Woody Allen's Match Point and had a nice dinner out. Duck for dad and venison for mom.) Yesterday, we went over to Peet's for coffee and pastries and then walked over to the mall so BLT could play in the play area since it was too wet for the playground. We then spent some quality time in the family restroom when BLT needed a diaper change because it turns out they have a very fun toy block in there. (I love going to the mall before the stores open!) We then came home for naps and lunch before going over to our friends' house. We had fun playing with their 3 month old and their phones & remotes (BLT), and then went out to dinner. This time BLT was well behaved and the other parents had to cut their dinner short. We told them we knew all about that! Today, we tried to get in our usual routine, but our run was cut short by rain. So we headed over to Rico's, a new Mexican place for breakfast, then our local coffee shop for coffee and Ms. Pac Man and then a tour of the farmer's market. BLT then had his nap before lunch and then a friend came down from Berkeley to visit. We went to a nice late lunch at Straight's (mostly Singaporean cuisine) and BLT was so well-behaved! I took playdough on a tip and he had a lot of fun with that. Once the food came, we put it away and he had several bites of Roti Prata (bread) and didn't complain while we ate up everything. We then had some nice visiting and even some karakoe before our friend had to leave and BLT had to get in his bath. This was a long recap! We did have a really nice weekend with everyone totally healthy and feeling good!

Wintering in the Alps

Oh the beautiful snow covered peaks of ... San Jose!?!?! This about the third time this month that we've had snow on the hills. Wow! I can't wait for it to get warm again and stop raining, although the snow is beautiful! Our running program has been sharply curtailed due to the cold and rainy weather. We started out today on our 2mi Sunday run, but rain forced us to turn around after about 5 minutes. We high-tailed it back to the car.

Feeding Time at the Zoo

BLT would like to thank Aunt Chris for the chopsticks he got before he was even born. He has not quite got the hang of them yet! I was hoping they would spark interest in his food, but he still only had 1 or 2 pieces of green bean and maybe 4 or 5 pieces of tofu. He used to love this meal! (Around 11-12 months old...)

He did polish off most of a large banana, though, before wanted the "bubble." In this case, "bubble" was the can of playdough on the counter. "Bubble" refers to most things in a container, including soap and shampoo for the bath, lotion for post bath and more!

That reminds me of last night. I was holding BLT when I opened the fridge to get the green beans (tonight was left over of last night). "Cracker." ??? It turns out he wanted the yogurt. He eats plain whole milk yogurt with Kashi mighty bites every morning for breakfast. The Kashi are also called "cracker," so I guess it applies to yogurt as well! So last night he ended up having a good sized bowl of yogurt and Kashi (and then some blueberries) while I made the tofu & green bean and then he didn't want any.

He is definitely getting more verbal!

Milestones

100 days old



6 months old



1 year old


BLT is going to be 18 months old in less than 3 weeks. It's bittersweet. He's so big and such a little person now. Every day he does something new. It's amazing.

He loves to read. "Buh, buh." (book) He got so excited tonight while reading Go Dog, Go. We also read The Very Busy Spider, The House that Jack Built, Fisher Price Lift-the-Flap Barnyard (he likes to do the animal sounds for horse, cow, dog and duck, he even tried the bird song today!), A-Hunting We Will Go, Nursery Rhymes Collection, and even Conde Nast travel magazine during dinner. This morning we read his Chinese-English picture dictionary. He loves to go get his stuffed giraffe when we get to giraffe.

Smiley Boy

He's happy and he has a lot of teeth! Those bottom two eye teeth are finally in. Yippee!



BLT with Mommy. Doesn't she look tired?

Squatting Rights

If you pull out the camera, BLT goes into a squat. I have no idea where he came up with the idea that to pose, you must squat, but here is the proof. All from our trip to Monterey. We have just returned from a couple of days down there.

Feeding a toddler when dining out is always interested. It's hard to predict what he will eat.
Thursday lunch I ordered him a fruit cup. He ate it all and ate half of my artichoke ravioli (which accompanied my very tasty chicken breast over pickled red onion and sauteed spinach).
Thursday dinner, he ate none of my mahi mahi and scallops over cous-cous, only a few bites of bread. He was pretty patient, but got frustrated as we were finishing up and as I glanced apologetically at the romantic couple at the next table, it turned out I knew the guy, so I think it was okay.
Friday breakfast, we were able to get him his favorite plain yogurt and I brought his Kashi people along to dip.
Friday lunch was quite sucessful with a kid's meal from the aquarium - PBnJ, fruit cup and milk in a souvenir cup. The PBnJ came on three slices for some reason, so I took out the middle for him. He has a big mouth, but not that big!
Friday dinner, he surprised me by loving the calamari dipped in remoulade. This was more like calamari steak sections rather than rings, but still deep fried. I ordered a polenta and sauteed mushrooms small plate for him and it went over pretty well. Then he had a total meltdown and I abandoned my dinner to take him to the car. Oh well. It just didn't work out.
Today at breakfast he was able to get some plain yogurt again with Kashis. (This is what he eats every morning.)
We stopped at Bubba Gump's for lunch and he ate almost 3 (!) whole "Hush Pups," which are hush puppies with shrimp, mahi-mahi and corn mixed in. Oh, dipped in remoulade again. He did have a small meltdown when I wouldn't let him have any of my beer, but recovered when his water showed up in a souvenir cup.
For snacks, he had bananas and satsumas and some crackers all brought from home, 1 banana and 1 satsuma per day.

All in all, a pretty successful run of eating out! Food wise, anyways. I'm still recovering from the trauma of dinner last night. We should have let the concerige know that her idea of "child friendly" may need to be revised seeing as the restaurant only had 1 high chair and we had two babies. BLT got a booster and our table was just WAY too small for a kid who likes to grab everything. That would be out kid. The other kid was perfectly happy to read her books. Oh well. At lunch the day before, another mother had to take her food to go with her toddler while the dad stayed behind to finish up. She told her daughter to "look at that kid [BLT] sitting so nicely in his high chair." I told her we had only been there 30 seconds, so she couldn't really tell anything. But that meal he sat in his high chair for a nice leisurely lunch just the two of us. Win some, lose some!