Trick for Cleaning a High Chair

I'm linking up with We Are That Family today.  I used to participate in Works for Me Wednesday more often, but I never think about it on the right days.  Last night when I was cleaning spinach out of the high chair seams, I realized I had both a solution and the right day to share.  

We sort of skipped puree baby foods and went straight into table food with Oliver.  He caught on really quick and has a pincer like no other.  And I'm not just saying that as a proud mom.  He has been picking up his own food (even small pieces) for months.  That's when we started giving him food actually - when he had developed the skill to feed himself.  We wanted him to have as much breastmilk as possible so I nursed exclusively until he was 7+ months old.  Around 8 months old, we started feeding him a meal of solids at dinner on a consistent basis and only in the last couple weeks have we started giving him a second meal of solids during the day.  Anyway... since he's been feeding himself for months, our high chair has seen its share of disaster.  When I realized that the seams of the plastic collected food like a magnet on steroids, Chandler suggested I use toothpicks to clean it.  Brilliant.  I probably wouldn't have thought of this for a long time.

(Before)

(After)

It works for me.

11 Months!

Oliver is 11 months!!!

Weight: 18.5 lbs officially (dr appt for a cough last week)

Height: 27.5" officially

Teeth: 5 completely and two half way, another is just behind those two

Diapers: Had trouble with sizing our FuzziBunz this month.  It's the first time I've changed them really and it has not been fun!  Lots of leakage around here folks.  I think we've got it now.  We're still doing a mix of cloth and disposable and in those he's still in a size 3.  He may always be a size 3!

Clothes: He still has a couple pair of 3-6m Gymboree pants and a few 3-6m shirts from there too but for the most part he's in 9m and 12m shirts.  His shoe size is 3.5 infant.

 (His hair has grown SO much in the last few weeks, it's over his ears - I keep it tucked behind them.)

What he's up to...

-When he's tired of something or is generally displeased he shakes his head.  It's so funny because neither of us have taught this to him! 

 

-Likewise, he will also swipe things away that he's done playing with or that he perceives as in his way.  I have a laser pointer that Nola likes to chase and if you put it on Oliver's leg he tries to wipe it off - it is so funny!  

 

-He loves wheels - anything with wheels.  When we're changing his diaper in the back of the car he has a fit to reach over and play with the stroller wheels.  Any new truck or play vehicle he gets has its wheels inspected before he will do anything else with it, good wheels are a must.  I've become a pro at hunting for toys that have independent wheels.

 

-Nola is still a highlight for him.  I took a video of the two of them playing the other day and he was watching it with me and laughed so hard - it's really cute.  She could be growling and he'd think it was hilarious.  Speaking of which, we had some issues with her that started when she was two and she basically turned into a gator, but Oliver seems to have calmed her down quite a bit for some reason.  He's good therapy for her and I often find her sleeping in his nursery during his naps.  Sweetness!

More wheels!

-He nurses several times/day.  It varies day to day, but he nurses at least five times each day with some comfort nursing in between.  He is eating a big meal of solids at night and a meal of solids sometime in the morning hours.  Today it was closer to noon when he ate.  It varies day to day.  He eats anything we give him and really doesn't dislike anything so far.  He continues to eat table food and not really any puree foods.  Last night he ate two snack packs of cinnamon applesauce.  Steamed broccoli is hit or miss.

 -He enjoys jumping.  

 

-He dances when he hears music.  We didn't teach him this either - it's really neat to see what he comes up with on his own.

 

-He can clap!  He clapped for the first time tonight on January 10th, at 11 months exactly, in the bathtub. I'd been showing him clapping for a week or so on and off - so proud!  We're working on where his nose/tummy/toes are... he thinks it's funny when you point to his nose.  It's so funny that I'm so enthralled with these little things.  When I would babysit and parents would flip out that their child could do these things I had the mentality of, 'Duh, all kids do that.'  Having my own, I get it.  So sorry dear parents!  I think it takes having your own to understand how fun and neat it is to see your child learn something you taught them.  

 

-He naps an hour or so in the mornings and three hours in the afternoon.  Solid naps.  The morning nap occurs after he's been up for about two hours so usually between 8:30 and 9:00 AM.  Some days he'll sleep til 11 or 11:30 if I let him.  His afternoon nap is around 12:30/1:00 and he's up around 4 PM.  

 

-Just today he stood by himself for several seconds.  He's done this a handful of times but today Tuesday was the longest!  

 

-He says mama and dada well.  He doesn't quite get bye-bye although he can say it.  I think it's coincidence that it's a word.  We think he's beginning to associate mama with me.  Mama is currently his favorite word. Sometimes he'll say what sounds like, 'Mama, my mama.'  Melt. my. heart.  Dada was his favorite word for a while.  Often he'll say what sounds like 'Dad' - so cute!

 

-He is really into cause and effect. He knows his Kindermusik eggs are shakers and he goes for them and immediately shakes them.  He knows that the tempo sticks are for hitting together.  He got a ball thing for Christmas and you put the balls in the hole and they roll down and around the toy... he isn't strong enough to push the balls down so we showed him how to put the ball on the angled part and he picked it up immediately to do it.  He is fascinated with this task.

 

Overall, he is really coming into his own person this month.  Last month is still my least favorite month.  I'm just being honest.  This month is one of my favorites.  He is so incredibly silly.  He loves to laugh and play games.  Some of my favorite time with him is when he nurses.  Sometimes he'll just lay there and I'll tickle him and he just just so sweet!  He loves to smile and is always on the go.  

Hello 11 months!

xoxo

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So we're four days late... we party hard around here!

Happy, happy new year!

Christmas Gifts

This year, gift giving was easy thanks to Oliver.  Everyone got very personal gifts from us.  I've been excited to share my most favorite though... and now that everyone has received their gift, I can post pictures!!!

We went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and thank goodness teeny tiny was asleep because it was so helpful during the process.  We painted 8 plates and 4 mugs assembly style.  My sister met me there and she was in charge of both rocking the boy so he would stay asleep and keeping track of which plate/mug had which layer of paint so we'd know which one needed to be painted next.  

When Oliver woke up I let him finger paint a plate - so. much. fun.

Without further chatter... behold, our penguin plates!  I. love. them.  They turned out so much better than I'd hoped!  The white was really hard to work with and a few ended up a little wonky like the one below, but overall I was SO pleased with them.  I kept adding to them, i.e. black rim, snow in the rim... a little part of me wanted to write something cute like 'Happy Feet' or something, but I decided to stop while I was ahead!  

(pic taken from my phone - will try to get a better one later)

... it seemed only fitting to have footprint bags for the plates. :)

They were a hit and I think everyone loved them as much as we did!  We will definitely be doing something like this every year.  It was so funny at the paint place, so many people looked at me like I was a nut since I was painting black footprints.  One lady even commented that she'd seen another person make a plate but they used a light blue for their baby - I had to laugh before telling her that I was making it into a penguin.  I showed her the picture I'd seen on Pinterest that someone had done on paper and she then said, 'Oooh.'  Ha!  

As I was painting, I did have to wonder - at what age is a footprint not cute anymore?  Maybe when it's too big to fit on the plate?  I plan to move on to hand prints as soon as he's old enough to understand what it means to 'keep your hand open,' but until then I'm stuck with the feet.  And don't even try to tell me that foot prints are never not cute because I highly doubt my mom would be excited about a platter with my foot print painted on it!  :)

Ten Things - Miscellany

For no reason at all other than I need to muster some motivation to pick up the clutter that covers our floor counter couch garage entire house right now.

1.) I don't like to walk on carpet that I just vacuumed.  When I'm vacuuming and you walk on the fresh lines, I feel a strong need to vacuum where you just walked (again).  This also applies to a crawling baby, despite how cute he may be.

Side note, we got a Dyson Animal in July (Merry Christmas to me from Chandler) and it is every bit as good as what people say.  I love it.  I use it no less than every other day.  The stairs attachment is dumb though, with three animals, we use the regular head and don't bother with the silly attachments.

2.) When I'm loading dishes in the dishwasher I turn the water on and keep it running whether I need to rinse things or not.  I know it's a horrible waste, but I feel like I need the water.

3.) We signed up for Amazon Prime in April because I needed a stroller that the car seat could snap into ASAP.  We thought we'd cancel the free trial, but decided we really liked it.  We use it a lot.  In the eight and a half months we've had it, we've placed 68 orders.  36.8 weeks in 8.5 months - about two orders each week.  CRAZY!  We love it.  I dare you to try it.

4.) These are the best fingernail clippers ever.  Buy them.  You won't be sorry.

5.) Lots of friends posted mobile pics of their sweet babies at Christmas and when I clicked through the pictures some would loop back to older pics from the previous Christmas.  They had gotten so big.  When I think of that being us next year and Oliver being almost two, it makes me want to throw up.  Seriously, time needs to stop.

6.) Nola often throws up yellow stomach bile - I don't know what causes dogs to do this.  Did that gross you out even more than me wanting to throw up because my baby is growing so fast?  I'll stop with the grossness.

7.) Sunkist and Cheezits are great together.  Keebler Giant Fudge Sticks and Ocean Spray Cran-Tan(gerine) are also great together.

8.) I devoured The Secret Life of the American Teenager when Oliver was teeny tiny and wanted to nurse all.day.long.  I am sad Netflix is behind on the seasons.

9.) I spend way too much time on the computer when I should be cleaning up the house.

If you haven't ordered those fingernail clippers, you're missing out.  They are soooo good.  Way better than the Revlon ones at the grocery store.  That link is not an affiliate link or anything, I just really love them.

10.) I talk to my friend Katie just about every day and Chandler thinks we are ridiculous because he doesn't understand.

Off to pick up the junk that is scattered around................ I know your day is much more complete after reading this! :)

Then & Now - Green Shirt Edition

There have been only a couple things I've loved enough to buy two sizes in, but this is the same shirt (3-6m) in each picture.  It feels like he never wears my favorite things for long, but then I look back and realize he did get a good six plus months out of some things and I don't feel so sad. 

 An exception to the norm for most babies, but I love it.

 4 months - June 3rd

10 months - December 15th

First Christmas

Love this! So glad we ordered it.