Etta’s Big Day
Happy first birthday, Etta! It’s hard to believe that Etta has been home with us for almost six months now. She has changed so much in such a short amount of time. My little baby has transformed almost entirely into a toddler. She is not walking yet, but she’s climbing on everything. She has been able to climb an entire flight of stairs for about two months now and has started to climb onto the table in the playroom. Practicing for tabletop dancing perhaps?
Etta has four teeth now, just not the four you’d imagine. My little vampire managed to switch up the order of entry of her top teeth, leaving her grin a little funny looking. She’s a teething machine right now, so maybe she’ll even things out in the near future. In the meantime, I’m doing what I can to help out, lending my nose to her periodically, since it’s her favorite teething ring.
Etta has learned a great deal from her brother. She’s a master at playing with all of his toys. She runs cars up and down the floors just like Oscar and knows how to disassemble his train set (obviously, he’s not thrilled with this). The surprising thing about this is that Etta has enchanted her brother to the point that he’s actually willing to let her play with his toys at all. Pretty impressive if you think about it. He’ll even share treats with her. The other day we were having some popcorn and Oscar took a piece of popcorn, broke it up like I do for her (to make sure she only gets the fluffy part and none of the kernel) and put it in her mouth. Unbelievable.
She has quite a vocabulary built up already, saying “choo choo”, “chicken,” “uh oh,” “doggie,” “papa” (grandpa), “up,” and a few other words on a regular basis and some, like “mama,” less frequently. She also signs, waves and blows kisses. My favorite, though, is her beauty queen wave. She’s been working on it for months, and rolled it out the other day on our hay ride. She sat on a hay bale (all alone, literally pushing me away, since she’s become quite independent lately) waving to the crowd (there was none) and beaming the biggest smile ever. It was a sight to behold, believe me.
Maybe the biggest thing she’s learned from her brother, though, is how to pitch a fit. Little Miss Etta is no longer the easiest baby ever. She has learned to throw quite an impressive tantrum, complete with an arched back and the reverse head butt. It had to happen eventually, I guess.
We’re celebrating her birthday all weekend, starting on the day itself (Friday), with a pre-dawn roadtrip for doughnuts and pancakes and cake with Uncle P and Aunt L from Kansas that evening, followed by the Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay on Saturday and who knows what to follow on Sunday. Happy Birthday, Etta!
Snickerdoodles
I baked cookies – from scratch – for Oscar for the first time today. Yeah, probably a little late, but you know, I just don’t want him getting used to such a thing (my cooking – not cookies). They turned out ok. Better than they look. We’re not going to get to enjoy them anymore, however, since Max the Whippet decided they looked so fantastic (or was just angry that I was baking for the boy child and not for him) that he jumped onto the counter and ate them all. And I wonder why I haven’t been able to rekindle my pre-baby feelings for him.
Best. Mommy. Ever.
You might remember about a month ago when I blogged about my greatest failure as a parent. My inability to get my son to eat a cupcake on his birthday. Well, it’s only been a month, and things have really turned around here. Just yesterday, almost a month to the day after his first birthday, Oscar ate his first chocolate cupcake and screamed for more when it was finished. I gave him one of those little cupcakes that come three in one container in those 100 calorie packs (yeah, can you tell this is not an advertisement?). He scarfed down one and yelled when we wouldn’t give him another one. He actually licked his fingers afterward to get the frosting off. It was a beautiful moment.
I feel so successful. Sure, Oscar’s teeth are rotting from all the sugar I’ve given him in the past month, sure he might now have a pre-cursor to heart disease, but it was worth it. I’m feeling invincible right about now. What’s next? I’m thinking trans fats. He doesn’t seem to have developed a taste for them yet, but just give me a month.
Where did I fail you?
I’ve tried to be a good mother. I’ve read all the books everyone recommends to me, I try to keep an open mind, I spend time with my son (both the quality and quantity type). So, how, I wonder, did this happen?
My son does not like cake. There, I’ve said it. I was going to hide it from you, but in the hope that I might be able to help other parents come out of the closet on this, I thought I would share. I’ve tried so hard to develop good, healthy eating habits in my son that evidently I forgot to introduce him to “sweets.” He loves fruit, especially mixed in with ricotta cheese, so apparently he’s ok with the concept of sweet foods. He also loves maple syrup (as evidenced by his current love affair with waffles). But when faced with the culinary delight that is a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting, he wasn’t about to have any of it.
I mean, could he be more bored?
It’s not good when your child prefers to stick the cupcake into his ear instead of eating it. Luckily, Max was there waiting to clean up Oscar’s mess.
Even Nanny Norma was disappointed. She even interjected the dreaded, “in my country, kids like the sugary treats.” My failure is on a global level.
I vow that next year’s birthday will be different. From now on, this child will be on a daily diet of sugary, processed foods. No more of this healthy nonsense. Forget about the organic fruits and veggies. The only fruit this kid is going to see is as a garnish on his sugar-infused, super-sized snacks. I will fix this.
Happy birthday little guy!
Since this blog has turned into Oscar’s baby book, I thought I might as well engage in the ritual list marking his first birthday:
Motor Development
- Has been using a pincer grasp for three months now and can grab almost anything and manage to get it into his mouth
- Loves to use this ability to pinch on my face
- First rolled over at 7 months, 2 days after our G&R; could pull himself to a standing position on my lap holding my hands the next day; learned to clap the day after that
- First sat up at 8 months
- Started crawling almost immediately after we arrived home from Vietnam in April; at the same time, started pulling himself up on everything he could find and even using our moving boxes as a makeshift walker
- Spent about a week recently leaping up from the floor to stand and then sitting down after about a minute when he tired
- Has taken a step unassisted, but only one
Verbal development
- Jabbers all the time, and is able to say mama in reference to me and refers to his bottle as “bob”
- Has the sweetest laugh and giggle
- Still small by American standards, but seems like he’s getting pretty tall
- Still can fit into size 6-12, but also wears a lot of 12-18 month clothes
- 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom – has started clenching his jaw very tight and grinding his teeth – awful
Sleeping
- Thankfully, the night terrors have become far less frequent
- Goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm with a bottle. Nanny Norma can get him to fall asleep in his crib, but it’s not happening when I put him down. He’ll awaken at some point between 11 pm and 4 am for bob and then get up around 6 am (if I’m lucky)
- Usually goes down for a nap 3 hours after he wakes up. If put down in his crib, he’ll only sleep about 20 minutes; if he lies down with me, he’s out for 1-2 hours. Same process in the afternoon, though, he balks at sleeping in the crib at all then
Eating
- Usually a great eater. Loves French toast, ricotta cheese with raspberries (or apples), fish, chicken, basmati rice, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, macaroni & cheese, strawberry and banana yogurt (plain or with blueberries, raspberries or cheerios mixed in), bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, guava, lemons, grapes, bread and chocolate malts (I know – bad mom). Oh, and bob
Fun facts
- HATES his carseat and being in the car generally
- Loves music and dancing – he dances to the dishwasher’s noises
- Is fascinated by the front loading washing machine – has been known to dance to this, too
- Favorite song is “Watermelon Man”
- Big fan of peek-a-boo and itsy bitsy spider
- Will watch “Meet the Robinsons” over and over again from start to finish
- Has a crush on June from “Little Einsteins” – stares at her picture on the disc cover
- If screaming, will stop immediately (like within the first two notes) of hearing the theme song of “Little Einsteins” or “Phineas and Ferb” – this came in handy in VN on several occasions
- Is sort of freakishly strong
- Loves to be in a swimming pool
- Likes to show people how he can put his face into the water and blow bubbles in the tub
- Will now touch sand, although still refuses to touch grass
- Thinks bubbles are amazing
- Is very ticklish
- Loves to have his feet massaged
- Has been in five countries already – Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and the United States
- Favorite chew toy is my iPhone
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Etta’s Hats
Where I’ve Been
