H-WEEN!

I love, love, love Halloween! I am itching for Halloween weekend to come around already!

We are a Halloween crazed couple, who grew into a Halloween crazed family! I already talked about finding Monsters awesomely awesome dalmatian Halloween costume for a whopping $2, but finding an infant halloween costume is only one tiny step in the whole process!

About two weeks ago I started decorating the inside of our house with pumpkins, spider webs, spiders, skulls and other ghoulish creatures. Last week Hubbs and I purchased $30 worth of pumpkins to carve and line our outdoor walk way. We intend to carve them some time this week, and then I'll cook up the seeds for us to munch on too!

For the last three years it has been family tradition to have a Halloween party and this year is no exception. Thankfully this year Halloween falls on a Sunday making this typical one day holiday a whole weekend of fun!

Our small town does a "down town" trick or treat where kids 12 and under can trick or treat between 3-5 in the evening with their parents in the down town core. That will be the only trick or treating Monster participates in this year. This halloween event is taking place on Friday right before our family Halloween party.

All I have left on my Halloween preparation to-do list is candy shopping for my tick or treaters!




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Evolution of Baby Meal Time

Once upon a time I had a newborn, who enjoyed a strictly liquid diet... Oh how easy that time was!

Monster first tried rice cereal back when he was three and a half months old, and since then has gained quite the menu of foods he's successfully eaten without an allergic reaction. I've been a good mommy and recorded absolutely everything. Date, time, what food, and his reaction... That was up until about a couple weeks ago.

I'm still writing down the food that he's successfully tried, liked and didn't react from but I'm more "willy nilly" about the process. Monster is an old pro when it comes to eating, so he can chew and swallow without much worry on my part (Note: Having said that I'd like to make it clear that he is never left unattended with his food). I've become quite accustomed to serving him whatever we're eating at supper time, or "sharing" whatever is on my plate with him. Within reason of course, I'm not about to give him hunks of steak that he physically can not manage eating on his own or any "fake" foods I might be eating.

I've designed his infant meal time schedule in a way that will make for an easy transition when the time comes that he wont be eating bottles as a main source of nutrition.

7:30-8:30am - Breakfast #1 (Solids; cereal/yogurt/toast and fruit, sippy cup with 2oz formula)
10:30-11ish - Breakfast #2 (Bottle)
1pm - Lunch #1 (Solids, fruit/veggie/toast/finger foods, sippy cup with 2oz formula)
2:30-3pm - Lunch #2 (Bottle)
4:30-5pm - Supper #1 (Bottle)
6-6:30pm - Supper #2 (Solids, whatever we're eating or veggies, sippy cup with 2oz formula)
8pm - Bedtime Snack (Bottle)

Essentially the way I have it set up is that Monster eats solids at our meal times, ultimately (hopefully) making it easier to "ween" him when the time comes. Slowly changing his bottles at "snack times" into snacks and slowly increasing the amount of solids he consumes at meal times.

Anyone who has just gone through this process, I welcome tips! :)

Mommy Review - Parum Pum Pum Drum

Earlier I posted photos of Monster's first reaction to his awesome new toy the Parum Pum Pum Drum from B. toys this post is my mommy review!

The drum itself is hollow so you can pack all your instruments inside and has a strap, and handle for easy carrying for your baby/toddler. It's also y clean up and storage since the drum comes with 7 pieces. Once the lid is on the drum, you use the centipede drum sticks to parum pum pum on your drum.

The first piece is the Jingle Bell Ant. The ant is on top of a soft plastic A, perfect for teething pain relief. The jingle bells provoke feels of anxious excitement because they sound just like Christmas jingle bells! The toy itself is easy for Monster to hold and use.

The second piece is the Busy Bee Maraca and Clacker. This instrument actually makes three sounds! Shaking, "raining" and clacking all which are easy to do! The letter B is the wings, I think we have found a trend. The third piece is the Cute Caterpillar Tambourine! The cute caterpillar is in the shape of the letter C, the over all circular shape is perfect for the little hands expected to hold the instrument.

Finally last but not least are the two Shaka-Shaka Eggs! When Monster and I play these are my instruments of choice for two reasons. Reason One: I absolutely love the sound that comes out of this tiny, perfectly egg shaped, amazing instrument! Reason Two: The Parum Pum Pum Drum is recommended for 18 months - 3 years and I'm sure one of the reasons is the size of these eggs. They almost fit into Monsters mouth and since he still investigates by putting everything in his mouth, the eggs are Mommy's for the time being.

Overall family consensus: The toy is well worth it's reasonable cost because it's 5 instruments in 1, literally. It's also fun to play with for more then one person making it easy to have family play time with your baby/toddler. Go on, B. You! Start your own family band! ;)

Parum Pum Pum Drum! B. toys Photos!

Yesterday Monster received his gift from our lovely new friends over at B. toys! Here are some photos of Monster's first reactions to his Parum Pum Pum Drum!

Here is Hubbs helping Monster open up his Drum full of other instruments!

Checking out his Jingle Bell Ant and Cute Caterpillar Tambourine!

Now that all the toys are free from their packaging, Monster is reaching for one of his Shaka-Shaka Eggs!

Some of the toys standing proudly in their new home!

Typical or Genius?

I'm at a crossroads... Something happened yesterday and I'm not sure if it's evidence of a typical baby or a supremely genius baby?

Let me set up the situation. Hubbs and I are in the living room eating breakfast, Monster had already eaten his so he was playing on the floor next to me, and Lola (our pug kid) was begging for scraps as usual. I decided to toss a bite of toast for Lola and it landed in the center of the base of our exersaucer.

This presented a dilemma for Lola because the base isn't flat so that it can rock around while your baby is playing in it. Every time she put her paw on it, it rocked forward so got scared. After about 5 minutes of her surveying the situation and trying different angles she still hadn't been brave enough to get the toast.

Monster watched as Lola struggled and decided he could get the toast for her. He bum scooted closer and attempted the same feat fearlessly. His arm length was the only thing that kept him from achieving his goal.

I am surprised and amazed at the thought processes it must have taken in order to see Lola failing and decide that he would give it a shot. I'm not sure if this behavior is typical "I want what she wants!" or if it's genius baby problem solving?

I know Monsters behavior is evolving everyday but what is typical for a 7 month old in terms of problem solving?




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What to Expect... In the 7th Month

Last month I decided to blog about Monster and how he's hitting hit monthly milestones according to the book What to Expect in the First Year. I'm a creature of habit, so here goes the 7 month milestone blog! It's just a few days late. Just a reminder that the milestones are separated into sections with different headings.

By the end of this month, your baby...
...should be able to:

• Sit without support - Check! For over 2 months now!  
•  Feed self a cracker - Check! Well, I've never tried a cracker but he really likes Mum Mums
• Razz - Check! He stared around 5 months, but then stopped after he mastered the skills. Now he does it every so often... Usually when we're trying to feed him something.

...will probably be able to:

• Bear some weight on legs when held upright - Check! His love for standing predates his love for sitting.
• Object if you take a toy away - Meh.. I'm not sure if this milestone is accurate? What if you have a passive baby who doesn't really care? He fusses about it sometimes, but a lot of the time he doesn't mind.
• Work to get a toy out of reach - Check! About a week ago the little Monster used a wooden spoon to reach for a toy I put a foot away from him. I was attempting to get him to crawl to get the toy.
• Pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other - Check!
• Look for a dropped object - Check! One day that whole exersaucer is going to topple over!
• Rake a raisin and pick it up in fist - Check! Only sub Cheerios for raisins
• Turn in the direction of a voice - Check! Wasn't this on the 4 months check list?
• Babble combining vowels and consonants "ma-ma-ma", "da-da-da"- I'm sad to say no. He doesn't babble he shoots out combinations that sounds like he's trying to say words. We've heard "Hey", "Hi", "Yeah", "Dad", but the only babbling he does is "mmMmMmMmmmMmm" at meal times.
• Play peekaboo - Check, kind of. If I put a receiving blanket on his head and ask "Where's Monster?" he will pull it off and that's when I say "Peekaboo!". Is that close enough?

...may possibly be able to:

• Stand holding on to someone or something - Check! Once we master crawling we will start practicing cruising.

...may even be able to:

• Pull up to a standing position from a sitting - Check, but only with mommies hands. He hasn't pulled up on anything else.
• Get into a sitting position from stomach - He has only done this once, so I'm not going to count it.
• Play patty-cake or wave Bye-Bye - Check, kind of. He's waved a handful of times without coaching. The rest of the time it's hit or miss. He might wave, he might play shy. No patty caking around here though.
• Pick up a tiny object with any part of thumb and finger - No, Monster has not mastered the pincer grasp. He tries desperately, can make the motion but has not actually picked anything up.
• Walk holding onto furniture - No. He walks while holding someones hands though.
• Say mama or dada indiscriminately - No. Boo.

Giving Thanks

In the last year I've grown a healthy baby in uteri, birthed that healthy baby boy (unfortunately I'm not thankful for the c-section delivery but that's a whole other blog!), and kept that beautiful, healthy little boy just that, happy and healthy!

I am clearly so thankful for him! Thankful for Monster, and for Hubbs because he helped me create, grow, and love Monster!

I am thankful for my support system of family and friends near and far, and I am thankful for those of you who read this and support me with helpful comments!

Cheers to more happy and healthy years!

Remember to say "I love you" and "Thank you" when you feel it whether the time is right or not because we might not always have the opportunity to. :)