For Babies and Kitties: Improvised Ribbon Dancer

As a child of the 80s, I think of them as Ribbon Dancers, but it's a simple device regardless of what you call it. A wand or handle of some sort, plus ribbon(s). Babies and kitties alike squeal with glee at these things.

I am always one Hanukah away from being a full-on ribbon hoarder, and as a result, my husband is made a little anxious by the presence of ribbon (I exaggerate, of course....a bit). In hopes of justifying the ribbons I kept from 2 dozen Tiff's Treats (don't ask why we needed 2 dozen cookies between the two of us), I made a ribbon dancer out of an extra kitchen utensil, a clear elastic hair tie, and 3 thin ribbons.

Adding a contrast color and staggering the ribbon lengths, I think, make it a more interesting toy.

Food #3: Steamed Carrot

Emerson's first carrot involved about an hr of prep before getting to the eating part. I've learned an important lesson; crank food mills are the way to go. I McGyvered a system to strain out most of the carrots fibrous texture. Had I left them to steam a little longer, this would have been less of an issue, but i left them a little al dente in hopes of maximizing nutrients, color, and bright flavor. This system though involved lots of tools and about 5 steps.

The Eating:
He was pro from the beginning, but not as dramatically as with avocado and banana. He now has the habit of guiding the spoon into his mouth with each bite--wanting to take over fully, but yielding to my holding it in the end. He is still remaining rather clean through the process, not letting valuable morsels escape his mouth too much.

The kid loves food. He will fit in well with Team Excellence.

...answer is:

1,867 emails remaining at the end of that nap. but the fallen were the easiest to seek and destroy. it only gets more time consuming from here.

on a teething note:
Motrin is so much better than Tylenol. so glad he's old enough for ibuprofen now.

the race: email clutter

Today's question:

is it possible to be a mom of a teething, non-sleeping infant, and get down to inbox: zero.....when starting from inbox: 3,296?

He's asleep now.  How far can I get before he awakens...

Emerson's treacherous crib.

Sometimes I look into Emerson's crib and think to myself, "This thing is a deathtrap."

it is an elaborate system of improvised bolsters and soft things--to facilitate side-sleeping, to support his sitting and playing with the wall toys, to serve as a home for the 11 small stuffed animals. He has solid head and upper-body control, and he's (sadly) a light sleeper...so, I don't think he's going to smother himself. But, this reasoning doesn't keep me from waking up several times in the middle of the night and checking in on him via the Dropcam.

Still, his menagerie seems slightly more useful than dangerous at this point.

Took 3 Months...

to realize these chew toys/teethers fit together like this....

Aaaaand we're back!

Soooo much to catch up on.  I have a backlog of posts that need a touch of work (for coherence) before posting....little-by-little that'll happen, but I'm going to stop using that backlog as an excuse to put off my return to this blog!


Salient points:

• Emerson Elijah Weisfeld was born on September 12, 2012, at 2:24am. So, yes, he'll be 6 months old tomorrow!
• He is the perfect match for our little family--quiet, observant, happy, sensitive, gentle, funny, not very outgoing but very friendly once settled in...loves avocado!
• As of today he: is sitting unassisted for stretches of time; has had one meal of solids (yesterday), he has been holding his own bottle for almost a month; he copies the sounds of a few phrases "I love you", "Good", "Hi", and "Yeah".
• He consistently responds to "Gentle"....he will stop whatever rough thing he is doing as soon as you ask!
• He LOVES music class at Heartsong Music on Anderson Lane....great with rhythms. More on that soon.

so much more to come...