Little Shopper

BLT was a little helper at the store. He put our purchases up on the counter and then thanked the clerk and said goodbye. He then carried the bag all the way back to the car. This was after some drama though...

First, he had a tantrum on the stairs in the parking deck when I picked him up with 3 steps left. People were backing up from both directions, so I made a move. He was not happy and wouldn't go on the slide after that. At the Container Store, he was really interested in the glass elevator, so I took him in there. When it started to go, he was really scared, poor guy. I almost couldn't get him back down to the ground floor because he didn't even want to take the stairs around the elevator! Then we went back over to the slide and there was a jazz concert giong on the same time. He started crying again! I can't figure out why he seems so scared of everything all of a sudden. Poor thing. I don't know what's going on.

He also had a rough day at school. When I was coming in to pick him up, he was getting in trouble. The teacher was saying something like, "BLT, that is not okay." Apparently he was rather rambunctious all day, climbing on the backs of chairs, throwing toys, etc and I had shown up right after a toy throwing episode. So unlike him to be causing trouble! The teacher did tell me that he did have a sweet moment on the playground when a new kid was crying. He went over and took his hand and patted him. Aww!

Hopefully, BLT will get back into his groove soon and we won't have so many emotional moments!

No picture today

I took BLT on the stroller walk after work as promised yesterday before the tantrum. Of course, he only wanted to ride in the stroller until we got to the store, then he wanted to walk. We stopped in Rite-Aid for a few things and then popped in Safeway to grab something for dinner. When we got home it was 6:15 - just a little later than when we usually have dinner. But before I could get dinner, he fell fast asleep while nursing. I feel so bad when this happens and he doesn't get his dinner or his bath. I feel responsible to keep him "on time." I didn't realize he was extra tired. It's harder to get everything done these days because he wants to go-go-go until he all of a sudden he's ready for bed right that minute. He didn't seem to mind, though - we'll see how the early bedtime affects his sleep! 1-1/2 hours down...

Uh oh!

Oh no. BLT has discovered the art of the tantrum. This episode occured when I told him it was time to go inside for dinner and we weren't going to take the stroller on a walk. BLT Sr got the first episode yesterday morning when he wouldn't let BLT get his own soap or play with the toilet paper.

BLT recovered to request gogurt and ah-may for dinner (that would be plain yogurt and homemade carrot muffins). He also had a few "elbows" (elbow macarroni with peas), some blueberries and some "apple" (pear).

I made the muffins this week and they have been a major success! I have redemeed myself from last week's zuchinni muffin disaster.

3-Day Weekend

We had a very busy weekend visiting with Grandma & Grandpa. The first pictures are from Saturday at the Bay Trail near Sunnyvale Baylands park. Then there's a picture of BLT and I looking quite similar on the ferry to Alcatraz Sunday. Before that, we went up to Muir Woods. BLT remembered his squat posing of a few weeks ago. Very cute!

We had a really nice time. BLT learned a lot of new words from Grandma & Grandpa - watch, two, cheese & smile (for picture taking) and more. THe also got to see his current favorite animal - Sea Lions! Arr, arr, arr.

The only downside was the rain on Sunday. It's not supposed to rain in May in the Bay Area! We had more rain just on Sunday than we usually average for the entire month of May. Good thing we brought our umbrellas!

BLT was on the cranky side, too, because his nap kept getting messed up. He gets tired right around lunch time which really makes it hard when you're going out to lunch. He went right back to napping fine at school today - napped a whole 2-1/2 hours almost! Whoa!

Random Food Stuff

I've been having a shortage of pictures this week because I can't figure out the new camera. This is one from last weekend.

Toddler eating is so complicated. Every night we must figure out lunch for the next day. Right now, his lunch entrees are PB&J, PB&B (banana), whole-wheat english muffin pizza with peppers, mushrooms or spinach and quesadillas with some veggie. Unfortunately, quesadilla has fallen out of favor and today's came back completely untouched. He also gets a container of fresh fruit to split between lunch and afternoon snack, some applesauce or cheese for morning snack and some crackers, pretzels or freeze-dried fruit to split between snacks.

For dinner, I try and get a veggie in. Monday, I had a dinner that was a huge hit! BLT had polenta triangles with sauteed mushrooms, all dipped in pizza sauce, of course. He loved it and ate it all himself with his fork. Tonight, I made him some zuchinni pancakes (shredded zuchinni, egg, flour, bread crumbs). He liked them, but not as much, so I had to feed it to him. He fed himself a bowl of yogurt at the same time. This was followed by almost an entire pear (known as "apple").

Really, the whole point of this food-devoted post was to mention those two dinners because I was very proud of myself. I'm trying to break the reliance on convienence foods for his dinner. We stick to mainly healthy food (veggie burgers, eggplant cutlets from TJs), but it's still not as good as a homemade meal. I don't like to spend too much time on his meal since I prefer to spend time playing. :D

BLT Sr has been making veggie muffins (carrot or zuchinni) that BLT just loves for breakfast. He calls them "Ah-may." No one knows why. BLT Sr was getting burnt out on the muffin making, so I took my turn this weekend. BLT has reject my zuchinni lemon mini-muffins. They are a little off - I think the recipe was too fluffy. Plus, I didn't measure anything, which may having thrown it off. Oops. BLT Sr is back on tap for next week's muffins. He's the best!

Vroom Vroom

BLT spotted a motorcycle on his "bike" ride and did his universally recognized sign for motorcycle - the revving of the hands along with a "vroom vroom" sound effect. He loves to ride his bike and wants to ride it all the time. He doesn't seem to be able to pedal just yet, or want to, so we push him about. He does insist on being able to steer, though. It would be much easier if he would let us use the front wheel lockout!

BLT also enjoys playing with his bat and the sandbox at the park. He especially loves getting "wa-wer" and dumping it in the sand.

Old Mac D.

BLT surprised me during bath time by joining my sign-a-long!
Please ignore the Mommy voice. BLT is not quite ready for a solo.

Another milestone was reached today:

First Skinned Knees Requiring Bandaids

I'm not sure if there's a spot in the baby book to fill out for this or not. When I picked him up he was all bandaged up and had the ouch report to go with it. He had a Cozy Coupe car accident out on the playground. This is, I'm sure, the start of many skinned knees now that it is shorts season.

New Camera!

We got a new camera this week. BLT Sr. has been very busy snapping pictures left & right to learn how to use it. I think he's getting pretty good! Here are some of my favorites:





He even got a covert shot of BLT sleeping. Isn't he cute? You could almost imagine him sleeping longer than 3 hours at a time.


We made a breakthrough discovery this weekend. Typically, on the weekend, BLT goes down for his nap before lunch because he seems to get tired earlier and he usually eats a 2nd breakfast with Mommy & Daddy. On Saturday we fed him lunch at 11 even though he seemed tired already. He was out by 11:45 and slept for 2 hours! Whoa! We tried it again today and he slept almost 2-1/2 hours! Shocking! We will be sticking with this new method.

Toddler Style

BLT has started to express his preferences in clothes. It's so funny. What I pick out for him and what he picks out for himself are not the same!

This morning I was putting him in a very nice Hawaiian style shirt from Aunties J & J. There was a hitch, though. I was putting away his laundry at the same time as I was getting him dressed and he saw "bugs." He had to wear his bug onesie (from Auntie C).

He picks shirts with animals on some other screen print. I pick stripes or solids.
He picks socks with a design. I pick solid color socks.

He's the boss when it comes to his clothes, though, so he gets the final word!

I did coerce him into changing from the patterned turquoise/blue socks that matched the first shirt (he picked the socks, I picked the shirt to match) to a pair of red ones that matching the bug shirt.

Other funny happenings...

We walked over to the Rite Aid to pick up a few things this afternoon. One thing we got was a new tube of Butt Paste (a diaper changing ointment). While I was running his bath, he opened the box, put the paste away (in his top drawer in a basket) and then threw the box away in the trash can. I was very impressed!

He has just started to be able to get into the top drawer. This morning I went in to find him taking wipes (one at a time) out of the top drawer, wiping his diaper area (over his clothes) and then running them into the bathroom to toss them into the trash.

When I folded up his laundry yesterday, I found one of BLT Sr's shirts in there. He must have found it on the floor as we were unpacking and put it into his basket. I'll have to keep an eye out when I put the clothes into the washer next time in case something sneaks in that doesn't belong!

Whale Watching

We had a fun weekend in Santa Barbara! We went down to visit some friends. Saturday morning we ran a 5k. BLT did not run in the stroller but hung out with "Uncle V" while BLT Sr, "Auntie B," and I ran the race. I did not do a best time, but still ran the whole way, which is good enough for me! We also had fun at the beach making & smashing (BLT) sand castles, eating out, and... whale watching!

These pictures our from our whale watching trip. It wasn't looking promising for whales and then the captain got a tip so off we sped in the other direction and found 2 humpback whales! It was so neat.

The secret to feeding BLT veggies: deep fry them. He loves veggie tempura. I cut it up for him and spear it and then he dips it into the sauce. He ate 1 piece of zucchini and almost 2 pieces of carrot at the Sushi restaurant on Saturday. These were not small pieces, either! Now how to do this at home...