New high chair!

And being the overzealous parents we are, we had to choose a high chair with all the bells and whistles. 7 height adjustments. 3 reclining positions. And battery-operated playthings all attached.

Yes, it's not just a high chair! It's an activity center! Which stokes me because I've been *trying* to figure out how to put things within her reach while at the same time getting her to practice sitting up. She has short arms, people. And I need to continue to encourage her to reach for things. She's starting to get pretty good at it though so yay!

Time for a new baby purchase

Tomorrow, I buy a high chair, thanks to Mom (that'd be Grandma to Kiki!) I'm excited! I can't wait for lunch tomorrow. Yay!

Speaking of our latest obsession -- food -- we've pretty much nailed down what she likes to eat. That would be cereal, carrots, and sweet potatoes. The list that makes her make faces: bananas, apples, peaches, pears, squash. The list that makes her purse her lips and refuse to open: green beans and peas. Just like mama; a carb freak who hates fruit.

So I figure I'll indulge her betacarotene cravings and turn her orange for Halloween.

Speaking of which, we were at Target comparison shopping for high chairs and they have the cutest sleeper-type costumes. I favor the Tigger; Kipp's angling for the pink hamster. I'm not sure why. He likes the monkey best, but it wasn't in Kiki's size... well, actually, therein lies the true problem. We couldn't figure out if the 3m was too small and the 6m was too big -- she's like somewhere in the middle. And Halloween is like 5 weeks away, which is astronomically far away in terms of baby growth. So we had to put off the actual buying until, I don't know, October 30th at midnight or something.

We're planning on taking the kids to the zoo for Halloween. We did that last year -- or was it the year before? I'm not sure which, but it was good fun. Crazy full of people, but good fun. You know, the town I live in isn't huge, especially not by Silicon Valley standards, but I get all nostalgic when every denizen within a 50 mile radius converges on one location at one time. It reminds me of rush hour on 101 and Saturday at noon at Costco, all at the same time.

I thought winter was descending there for a bit, but it's warmed up again. Dammit. I'm tired of having to pay someone to mow the lawn. I want the cold back! I want the lawn to go to sleeeeeeep already. Stupid lawn.

Kiki's now slinging a rattle around like a pro. Well, okay, she's a little uncoordinated, and it ends up bash! hitting her in the head bash! mama's glasses bash! her own eye bash! mama's nose... and so on and so on. But I love it. I'm so happy to see her using her arms!! Her PT has been commenting on the laxity of her shoulders. Everything else is strong and active, but her arms and shoulders need some devoted attention.

Well, I'm off to dream about high chairs. Toodles!

Food Train

I know I'm currently obsessed with my daughter's eating. I can't help it. The doctor says there's no reason to try to force-feed her, considering she's doing as well as she is, and I couldn't if I tried anyway because she's a stubborn little cuss.

But her eating habits vary every damned day. One day she'll be attached fondly to her bottle; the next day it's no more than a slightly annoying chew toy. One day she sucks down 10 ounces at every feeding (except at her food feeding), the next day 8, the next day a reluctant 6. She's like the moon, waxing and waning, except a whole lot louder.

She's still trying foods. Doesn't like applesauce unless it's mixed with cereal. And don't stop the food train a'coming, peoples, 'cause she don't like a-waiting. Now in addition to the GRRRRRRR she does when she's playing, she does an ERRRRRRRRRR when she's ready for her next spoonful. She tried this new communication on her daddy this morning while he was feeding her. You know, it's really hard to keep the food train on track when you can't stop laughing.

I'm planning on buying her a sign language DVD in the next couple of weeks. We'll see if she likes signing.

Big Girl Eating

When I decided to start introducing Kiki to solid foods, I was prepared for certain side effects -- specifically constipation. When she made the transition from mostly breast milk to mostly formula (I just .... stopped producing. Go figure.), she got constipated, so I figured adding solid foods would do pretty much the same thing.

And it has. We've done the prune juice -- diluted with half water and 1 oz given 2ce a day. This works somewhat except that she's not crazy about prune juice (who can blame her?) We've had to resort to glycerin suppositories on occasion. But what I've found actually seems to work on a regular basis -- no pun intended -- is corn syrup in every bottle.

And no I'm not being a paranoid mom who can't tell the difference between constipation and solid poop. Yes, I know breastfed babies do the soft pooping that is nothing like the firmer pooping of the formula-fed baby. And I know that all babies strain when they poop and it doesn't mean they're constipated. But when she's straining so hard she turns purple AND she starts screaming until it's come out AND she's passing a little blood AND it's the consistency (I shit you not -- again no pun intended) of modelling clay -- well, honey, your baby is constipated.

Okay, anyway, we have it under control.

But we have this OTHER side effect of introducing solid foods that I honestly did NOT expect AT ALL. I mean, it's not like I'm feeding her a TON of solid food. I'm INTRODUCING, which means, you know, a tablespoon of some kind of food 4 days in a row, until I introduce a different food. So again, just one tablespoon a day of food.

I think I went awry when I then decided to add a nighttime treat of rice cereal, so now she's getting 2 tablespoons of solid food day, two different times a day.

In any case, the upshot is that Kiki loves to eat big girl food. She's very good at it. She opens her mouth like a little bird after every swallow. She bounces around excitedly while she's eating. She claps her hands. She feels at her mouth, plays a little with the food.

In other words, she loves to eat. Just like I'd thought she would.

And she has decided she hates her bottle. Which I never in a million years expected.

I mean not HATE hate, but she could do without, you know? I'm glad I don't breastfeed, because she's taken to chewing on the nipple. And then she takes a mouthful of formula and spits it out like a fountain and grins. She pushes away the bottle after a couple of ounces, then fusses because it's gone, then just plays with the nipple when it's back in her mouth.

And this happens at every feeding, mind you, not just after I've given her food. If she decides to wean herself in the next couple of months, I will just kick myself until she's 16 for just HAVING to introduce food so damned early.

Update: she dislikes bananas and hates green beans. But she luuuurrrrrves sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash. Next up: apples! (I know it should be peas. I want it to be peas. But Kipp wants her to try the cereal with apple in it and I won't let her try it until I introduce apples, and he's very impatient with the whole introduction thing.)