Happy Birthday Cutie Pie!

Testing the limits of the carpet cleaner

Cutie Pie has started a new battle of wills. It's anybodies guess when he will abruptly end a meal by throwing his tray across the room.

As you can see, Cutie Pie has discovered an interesting quirk of our otherwise perfect highchair. It has a clear plastic tray that nests on top of the pretty wooden tray. This way the baby eats off the plastic, washable part but the chair still looks nice and matches the dining room furniture. This feature was important to me when we bought the chair because our house is small and there was no where to store a high chair. The baby's chair was going to be right out there 24/7 and I wanted it to blend in with the rest of the decor. I have since given up on such illusions, as you can probably tell if you look back at the pictures of my living room covered with a garish baby mat and littered with toys.

I am open to suggestions on how to manage this messy dilemma. We bought one of those booster seats that pull right up to the table but he throws his little baby plates and bowls around the room with reckless abandon so I prefer to use the highchair where he can eat off the tray. At least the tray is big and easy to catch before it hits the floor.

This whole thing started as a protest by Cutie Pie when we didn't feed him fast enough. Cutie Pie prefers to scoop all his food up in one handful and shove it in his mouth, often choking in the process. To avoid having to use CPR at every meal, we had to be more careful about giving him small bites and pacing him through the meal. However, sometimes Cutie Pie eats those bites in a matter of seconds. If you mistakenly turn your attention to your own plate, you are in trouble. I've had to learn to eat with one hand holding down Cutie Pie's tray and the other hand cutting up Cutie Pie sized bites. If only I had three hands so I could feed myself!

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

Another Abandoned Blog

Blogging has fallen to the bottom of the priority list lately as I try to juggle being the mother of an active, walking, falling, whining, running, babbling, nose running, coughing, door opening toddler and managing the "busy season" at work. Life has become a never ending exercise in organization. That pile of paperwork never seems to get any smaller. And since they pay me to work, it must come before blogging.

I have really missed the creative outlet blogging gives me. Each day, when Cutie Pie does something unbelievably cute, I think to myself, "That would make a great blog."

For instance, when Cutie Pie and Da Da invented the "I'm going to get you!" game. I have never heard a sound so beautiful as the giggles and laughs coming from my husband and son playing together. It makes tears come to my eyes just thinking about it.

Cutie Pie has also been discovering new and exciting things around the house. No matter where he is and what he is doing, he keeps one eye on the bathroom door. And if someone should absent mindedly leave it open, Cutie Pie makes a beeline for the toilet, which he thinks is the Best Toy Ever! The best part is that Mommy immediately picks him up when he touches the toilet and washes his hands, another treat. Cutie Pie has begun to associate the toilet with water play. Lucky me!

The most exciting thing to happen lately was when Cutie Pie learned how to open the screen door to the backyard. He loves swinging that door wide open and walking out into the yard all by himself. He's such a big boy now. Unfortunately, he's not always sure on his feet and the other day he tumbled head first into a pile of dirt one of the dogs had just created. Cutie Pie was covered, he even had dirt in his eyes. I resisted the urge to immediately wash him off because it was the first time my baby boy had ever really gotten dirty! Not to worry though, he got a bath soon enough. Which of course, just made his day. Let's hope he doesn't realize that getting filthy gets him a trip to the bathtub or he'll be getting 8 baths a day!

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com

10 Months and Counting

Cutie Pie reached the all-important milestone of double digits: 10 months. Since I have been breastfeeding him this whole time, I now consider myself an expert breastfeeder.

We had our share of problems in the beginning. I remember reading about different personality traits babies have that can contribute to difficulty feeding. Cutie Pie had all of them. Excited Ineffective: when he sees that it's time to eat, he gets so excited that he can't eat correctly. The Rester: likes to eat a little, then sleep a little, then eat a little more, then sleep a little more... The Gourmet: likes to taste the milk first and will not be rushed into eating. The Baracuda: digs right in and eats enthusiastically, sometimes painfully. And finally, The Procrastinator: gets upset if the milk is not there NOW!

Somehow we made it through those painful and emotional early days and got to the point where nursing part of our routine. We love to cuddle in our rocking chair at feeding time. Cutie Pie is just as much an expert as I am.

As Cutie Pie approaches his first birthday, I know my breastfeeding time is coming to a close. It really makes me sad that my baby is growing up so fast. The kid is eating solid food like a line backer. He's going to have no use for milk very soon. This next phase in our lives is going to be a hard one for Mommy.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com

Is This How You Catch A Cold?

Well, Cutie Pie did it again. He caught another cold.

This time Cutie Pie got his germs from me. I was absolutely miserable over the weekend. We were supposed to go meet a friend's new baby but the evil cold put a halt to our plans. We know all too well that new babies shouldn't be around sick people. When Cutie Pie was born, our Doctor all but drilled that into our heads. I had to do the responsible thing. I stayed home and sniffled. I was devastated that day, not because I felt sick, but because I couldn't stand to be trapped in the house for another day. I love spending more time at home with Cutie Pie but I also love going out. Unfortunately, there are only so many places I can take a nine month old. I get excited every time I get to leave the house.

I was quite proud of myself for keeping Cutie Pie germ free during my cold. I kept my hands washed and avoided sneezing and coughing when I held him. I did everything those Swine Flu people have been telling us to do. I guess I didn't do as good a job as I thought, Cutie Pie woke up this morning with a drippy nose and no appetite. It's amazing to me that Cutie Pie can be so sick but keep smiling. I wish I could be more like him.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

Ouch! Teething hurts everyone.

More teeth! Cutie Pie thinks he is a dinosaur. His new favorite game is to screech, grab my neck in a bear hug and bite my shoulder as hard as he can.

It makes me so sad that he bites when he hugs me. I love hugging my baby boy. I don't love it when he sharpens his new chompers on my shoulder blade. Now, when he hugs me, I have to play defense. I can only relax when his mouth is already full.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to not scream and scare him to death. I have been passing out teething rings for so long now that I don't know where they are anymore. It doesn't matter anyway. He doesn't want to bite those boring, tasteless teething rings. He wants to bite Mommy. I've got black and blue spots on my shoulders as proof.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com

These Shoes are Made for Walking

We have a walker! Cutie Pie is getting to be quite good at walking. I am so excited that he is moving around. He is growing up so fast. He's pretty pleased with himself too. Now he can reach all kinds of new things. I even saw him standing on his tippy toes trying to reach the door handle. Who taught him how to open a door?

So after we finished jumping for joy at seeing Cutie Pie take his first steps, we got down to the very important business of buying Cutie Pie his first shoes. He had a couple of pairs in size five that I picked up a month ago. I figured he would grow into them. I crammed them onto his feet a couple of times over the past month. I had a hard time getting them on but I figured it was because Cutie Pie is always curling his toes. The shoe seemed a little big so I guessed that Cutie Pie was a size four. So I went out and bought my Cutie Pie the cutest little size four Reebok you ever did see. I couldn't even get them past his toes.

It became apparant to me that my baby was one of the unlucky children with extra wide feet. I was going to have to buy his shoes from a specialty store. And not just his first shoes. Every shoe I buy him. Forever. Great.

We made a trip to Stride Rite, where they quickly fitted Cutie Pie with size 5 1/2 Wide. After spending more money that I would on my own shoes, Cutie Pie walked out of the store officially a big boy. He cried a little on the way home because he didn't know what those giant things on his feet were. But Cutie Pie has gotten used to wearing shoes over the past few days and now they don't seem to slow him down one bit.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/