Tai has 5 months to practice walking in a straight line, holding a small pillow. That's right, in early September Tai will play the role of ring bearer in a wedding. We're confident that if I "release" him at one end of the aisle, and Minh stands at the other end (perhaps with some delicious cheese in his hand) we can get Tai to transport the rings down the aisle.
He's already a fantastic walker, as long as he can wander around in the direction of his choosing. The other day we "took a walk" down to the end of our street (about 200 feet) and it only took 15 minutes.
But by September he'll be nearly two (!), so it'll be a whole different ballgame....
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The New Gig
I've been working at my new job for a few weeks now, so I figured I owe everyone an update on how it's going. The only tricky part is that my boss has been known to read this blog (before she was my boss!) So I'll start with the great things about my new job:
(1) My amazingly wonderful boss.
(2) Foam soap in the bathrooms.
(3) The view out my window.
(4) The fastest microwave ever. I swear, what would take 2 minutes to heat up in a normal microwave only takes 45 seconds in this one. I've been very productive with all that extra time on my hands.
(5) A wider selection of Post-It Notes.
But no job is perfect, and there are some drawbacks to this one:
(1) The long walk from the parking garage to my office. It takes 4 whole minutes! I could microwave a Thanksgiving turkey in that amount of time.
(2) No longer having lunch with Minh four days a week.
(3) No longer being able to pop into Target or Trader Joe's on my way home.
(4) Data files with 500+ variables (I don't want that much data on anyone!)
(1) My amazingly wonderful boss.
(2) Foam soap in the bathrooms.
(3) The view out my window.
(4) The fastest microwave ever. I swear, what would take 2 minutes to heat up in a normal microwave only takes 45 seconds in this one. I've been very productive with all that extra time on my hands.
(5) A wider selection of Post-It Notes.
But no job is perfect, and there are some drawbacks to this one:
(1) The long walk from the parking garage to my office. It takes 4 whole minutes! I could microwave a Thanksgiving turkey in that amount of time.
(2) No longer having lunch with Minh four days a week.
(3) No longer being able to pop into Target or Trader Joe's on my way home.
(4) Data files with 500+ variables (I don't want that much data on anyone!)
I'm certain I'll continue to discover more pros and cons to this new gig during the coming months (and years!). I'll be sure to keep everyone posted....
Monday, March 17, 2008
Let The Weaning Begin!
Tonight I officially began weaning Tai off the boobies. Yes, after almost 15 months, I am ready to be done nursing. [If you are someone I gave funny looks to when you nursed your baby for more than 8 or 9 months, insert smug comment here. I deserve it.]
After plotting and planning for a couple weeks, wondering how best to approach it, I found some useful advice in a book a friend gave me. Mind you, this was a La Leche League book, so the vast majority of the text is dedicated to why you should not "force" your baby to wean, but let it happen naturally, usually between the ages of 2 and 4. (Hey, extended nursing works for some folks, but I think I'm just about at my limit.) Finally, about 100 pages into the book, they give up on convincing you not to wean and give some pretty reasonable advice about how to approach weaning (if you must).
The book offers a couple different tactics and I've selected one called "don't ask, don't tell". Oh, wait. That's an entirely different issue. What I meant to say is "don't offer, don't refuse." The theory is that if Tai asks to nurse, I let him. But I don't offer unless he asks. He's been nursing just twice a day for a couple months now and it occurred to me that each night at bedtime I just automatically whip out the boob as part of our routine. So tonight I waited for him to ask for it.
And he didn't.
I rocked him and sang to him and he sucked on his pacifier, and he fell asleep on my arms. Now we'll see if he wakes up in a couple hours asking for milk. If he does, I'll oblige. And we'll go from there....
After plotting and planning for a couple weeks, wondering how best to approach it, I found some useful advice in a book a friend gave me. Mind you, this was a La Leche League book, so the vast majority of the text is dedicated to why you should not "force" your baby to wean, but let it happen naturally, usually between the ages of 2 and 4. (Hey, extended nursing works for some folks, but I think I'm just about at my limit.) Finally, about 100 pages into the book, they give up on convincing you not to wean and give some pretty reasonable advice about how to approach weaning (if you must).
The book offers a couple different tactics and I've selected one called "don't ask, don't tell". Oh, wait. That's an entirely different issue. What I meant to say is "don't offer, don't refuse." The theory is that if Tai asks to nurse, I let him. But I don't offer unless he asks. He's been nursing just twice a day for a couple months now and it occurred to me that each night at bedtime I just automatically whip out the boob as part of our routine. So tonight I waited for him to ask for it.
And he didn't.
I rocked him and sang to him and he sucked on his pacifier, and he fell asleep on my arms. Now we'll see if he wakes up in a couple hours asking for milk. If he does, I'll oblige. And we'll go from there....
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The Slippery Slope
We took Tai to Friendly's for the first time last night. And it was awesome. I hadn't been inside a Friendly's in more than 10 years, and it's a whole new place when you have a kid.
Tai was thrilled to visit all the other people eating, sit in the high chair and eat greasy food, indulge in some ice cream, and even be given his very first balloon! We all had a wonderful time and dinner plus dessert for the three of us was only about $25. Amazing!
After dinner we went food shopping and Tai burned off his ice cream high by toddling around the store, with his balloon tied to his overalls. At one point, he was standing by the entrance, waving his balloon at everyone who came in. Maybe he is destined for a career as a Wal-Mart greeter?
The fear now is that we have begun the steady descent down the slippery slope toward all-too-frequent Friendly's dinners. It's easy, fun, and cheap, but our bodies can only take so many bacon cheeseburgers....
Tai was thrilled to visit all the other people eating, sit in the high chair and eat greasy food, indulge in some ice cream, and even be given his very first balloon! We all had a wonderful time and dinner plus dessert for the three of us was only about $25. Amazing!
After dinner we went food shopping and Tai burned off his ice cream high by toddling around the store, with his balloon tied to his overalls. At one point, he was standing by the entrance, waving his balloon at everyone who came in. Maybe he is destined for a career as a Wal-Mart greeter?
The fear now is that we have begun the steady descent down the slippery slope toward all-too-frequent Friendly's dinners. It's easy, fun, and cheap, but our bodies can only take so many bacon cheeseburgers....
Sunday, March 02, 2008
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