The jars

I think we've mentioned Julia's obsession with glass jars.
We didn't buy baby food in jars very often, more than some might expect (my mom was really surprised), but less than most people who have babies. Somehow Julia fell in love with jars, in particular the baby food size. She likes other sizes, but we think she can carry the smaller ones easily in her hands. Julia likes to carry 3 as Jai previously referenced.

While traveling in New England, we brought a few jars of baby food as surplus in case we didn't have anything for her to eat. We also bought some jars once there, again for emergency situations. By the end of the trip I wanted to make sure she ate all of them because I was tired of carrying them. We had 2 with us when we went through security and I had to open them to be "checked." WHY?? They are sealed containers of baby food! UGH - I hate airport security.

I digress from this story of Julia being OCD about jars.

We really realized it when we were in a fish market in NH getting take out for lunch. While we waited for our food to be prepared, we walked around the market and looked at various items on the shelves. I noticed the Desert Essence brand of salsa which surprised me. I've never seen it in stores other than Turnip Truck or Whole Foods. Julia was walking with my cousin's daughter, she turns, sees the jar and SCREAMS ... so loud & perfect for a role in a horror movie. She ran up to me to get to the jar; we realized later that she thought it was the Desert Essence bean dip we used to buy and feed her. Now we make our own as it was killing our budget! Julia loves bean dip - made from pinto, garbanzo or black beans. She probably would like white bean dip too, but we never make that - maybe we will.

Once we got home, we recycled the glass jars and have not bought any more baby food. It was getting out of hand how obsessed Julia was with the jars. Actually it's not necessary anymore to have the baby food as Julia has progressed a lot feeding herself with the spoon and fork. She got some good practice when we stayed with my cousins Rick & Lori; I realized that we (I) need to encourage Julia to feed herself even when it's messy. : )

18 month Dr. visit

All of my stats increased.
weight - 11%tile (up 1 %)
length - 61%tile (up 0.5 %)
head - 61%tile (up 36 %)
I'm a lean, big headed tall kid. : )

I have about 25 words in my vocabulary.
Even some 2 syllable & double compound ones. I'm brilliant!
I have this slight obsession with jars - small ones, tall ones, fat ones, doesn't matter. They just have to be a jar!
I organize & stack them which apparently is what I'm supposed to be doing.

As always I am IMPRESSIVE!

BTW - I hope you all know that I'm not this conceited even though my head grew a lot! It's my parents. My mother is uber-competitive, you know!

New England Whirlwind!

I survived a LONG trip on the plane and driving all around RI, MA and NH from June 11-22 ... my parents are crazy!
Really it was my mother. She's the planner & she wants to fit in as much as possible when we're in the Northeast.
Basically we saw Mommy's Wellesley friends & their families (SO many kids!), lots of cousins and the fun people at Amherst College tennis camp.

It is GREAT to be home - I really missed my bed.

Next trip is short - only 3 days and 3 hours away. We're going to family reunion in Atlanta in July. ROAD TRIP! : )

June Holidays

Happy Anniversary!
On June 18 Jai & I celebrated 5 years of marriage!
It seems like we always are traveling on or around our anniversary.
This year we were in MA staying with my cousin Jeff & his family.
That afternoon we left Julia with Susie, Jeff, his wife, Leslie, & their 2 school-age children.
They had a great time playing in the pool, jumping on the trampoline, & riding the kid cars.
Jai & I drove to nearby Fitchburg and stayed at a lovely B&B.

The B&B is on a gorgeous piece of property with a pool, woods, green lawn & a friendly big dog.
I took a nap while Jai showered & watched some World Cup football.
Then we ate dinner at a local Indian restaurant.
The review states the food is delicious, but ambiance is lacking. We concur!
The next morning we breakfasted on the porch.
We ate fresh local strawberries picked by the owner, Greek yogurt (our new favorite food), oatmeal and omelets.

We returned to the family rested & full! : )

Gift: I got Jai a colorful hammock and for us as a couple/family an ice cream attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer. YUM! : )
Jai gave me bookshelves for the dining room - to be built within a month's time. YEAH!

Father's Day on June 20, 2010
World Cup soccer (or as the rest of the world calls it "football") is from June 1-July 11.
Jai was a good sport (haha) since we left Nashville to travel to New England on June 11 & basically missed MANY games. Then we're traveling back from Jai's family reunion in Atlanta on July 11 during the FINAL World Cup match. Therefore I decided to give Jai some time alone at Jeff & Leslie's house while the rest of us went to church. It was a nice old church, nice short service, friendly people. They really enjoyed cute Julia. They seemed really disappointed when we told them where we lived. Jeff said they asked if we were his neighbors. : )

Jai had a little break & watched some football alone. Later we traveled to New Hampshire to stay with my aunt & uncle Carol & Ray and cousin Julie, her husband, Evan and their 2 tween/teenage children. Carol is my uncle Bob's ex-wife (my mom's oldest brother), but she is Julie & her brothers' mom too & will always be my aunt. Ray is a great person too & we consider him an uncle.

Thanks for being a great dad to Julia. She is a lucky daughter to have you for a father.

We had lots of time spent with family - seems appropriate to spend these holidays with family too.

Gift: I got Jai a NICE camping French press so he can have delicious coffee in the great outdoors. He really likes it!

Fever # 2

Julia had a fever again which happens so rarely so we're always concerned.
Usually is full of energy & happy, Julia is listless & cranky when she has a cold.
We are not quick to take medicine or call the doctor.
We're not likely to give Julia medicine without attempting other interventions.
Cool baths to decrease the fever is one method we use.
Lots of liquids, Julia's comfort foods like applesauce & toast, also rest & relaxation as much as possible to keep her comfortable, hydrated and rested.

Uncle Joel gave some suggestions that are more traditional than we like. They involved Children's Tylenol & calling her doctor. I know he doesn't understand us - thinks we stress ourselves out more with our "longer" health care solutions. I remember having a conversation with someone about the recent recall of Tylenol which I didn't know anything about. The person looked surprised & said "what do you do for a fever or cold?" I gave my homo pathetic answers.

Thankfully Julia's fever decreased as she rested that night & next day. Quickly her behavior & overall demeanor returned to happy, smiley, pleasant Julia!

Practice Makes Perfect

Julia usually takes an afternoon nap but sometimes we do quiet time in the morning...half-hour or so where she sits in her bed with a book, lays down, reads, talks whatever.

Over the past couple of days she's been a little sick and her schedule is a screwy. She's taken morning naps and quiet-time/nap in the afternoon. Today, I listened while she did her typical singing and humming and, of course, babbling and I heard her say "mommy", "daddy", "daddy", "mommy" over and over. She was practicing.

I've heard her repeat things but its usually while she is reading or talking near us or imitating us. This is the first time I have heard her do what sounds like practice repetition.

Kinda cool, huh?

Being a Toddler is for the Birds

I am in love with birds. They are the most fun animal to watch. I think that's because they are everywhere I go and they make all those fun tweets and chirps.

I remember a couple of weeks ago I surprised my dad. We were outside - the best place in the world - and I looked over his shoulder, pointed and said "bird!?". He didn't know what I was talking about because he didn't know I knew the word and he didn't see the bird I was pointing at for a few seconds.

**It is amazing how long it takes tall people to see or understand what I'm pointing at.***

Anyway, the other thing is that I've been sick more times since I started walking and talking than I was the whole year before and THAT is definitely for the birds!! A couple of weeks ago my stomach was bothering me soooo much. Everything I ate came out watery and a lot at once. It was gross. Mommy and Daddy held there nose a lot when they changed my diapers and we had to wash a lot of sheets and clothes. NOW, after all that I got a huge fever yesterday. Mommy and Daddy came into my room every couple of hours all night long. I got to eat a lot of mango popsicle and frozen banana and I took a bunch of cold baths. I feel better today but not great - of course, that doesn't stop me from wanting to go outside.

I'm not so hungry but I think I'll ask Daddy if I can go upstairs for a 2nd nap. Hopefully by the time Mommy comes home I will feel better she looked very worried about me.

It looks like we have a busy summer and I can't wait! World Cup!! Massachusetts!! Atlanta!! Swimming Pool!!

Always a Concerned Mother

Again I don't remember all my insightful words from weeks ago ... I think I realize that there is always something to be concerned about as a parent. Julia doesn't get sick often which is wonderful. She's rarely fussy, usually she's cranky when hungry or tired. Julia gets hurt most of the time when she's playing and running and bumping into things. But there's always concern about how's she's doing - physically, emotionally, mentally. How is she developing? How does she compare to other young children? I know she's an individual and will do it her way, that I definitely know! We know she's developing on pace, regardless of when she walks, talks, runs, stacks things, feeds herself, picks up her toys, not matter how she relates to other kids. Julia is happy - that is the most important quality. She is doing fine.

G.I. Julia

Once again I'm writing a post many weeks after I titled it so I wouldn't forget.
I think that the title will help me remember ... it does, but only so much information. All of the great words & thoughts I had at the time are GONE!

Anyway, what I remember is that Julia starting crawling again and it reminded me of the commando crawl she did early on. Since she's been walking for 7-8 months it seemed funny that she was crawling. I wondered if she would regress and stop walking. Now she runs all the time so that seems like a wonderful regression. : )

However, she continues to walk; occasionally she crawls, but usually it is when she's looking for toys that have gotten under the table or couch.

"G.I. Julia" seemed like a clever play on words since she looks like a solider doing the commando crawl. I think I'm so clever ! : )

Toddler Diarrhea

I'm not going to write much about this topic; it's not a pleasant subject.
Julia had this predicament from May 5-13 and thankfully it is over!

OMG!

It is the most foul, literally, experience of having a child. So disgusting!
Julia was not a happy camper either. We were constantly changing her diaper and she hated it, too. Her room smelled awful! We had the fan going, the windows open, using essential oils to disfuse the stench.

No one talks about it, for good reason I suppose.
We weren't sure what was going on initially.
Then we referred to the trusty Internet for information.
We relied on the BART (banana, applesauce, rice, toast) system to minimize any gastro-intestinal related issues to Julia's food. That really helped settle her stomach and also to make sure she was getting some nourishment.

We are so glad Julia feels better.

Risen Waters in Nashville

11-13-11
I found this old email to a friend & realized it might make an interesting post since it's taken me so long to complete what I started from 1 1/2 years ago!
 Sent: Saturday, May 8, 2010 10:46:01 AM
Subject: Flood Relief 

Dear 

How did the volunteer work go yesterday?

It’s strange how someone right near you could have damage and then the neighbor didn’t.

I’ve heard that about tornados and stuff, but nothing this close – since the tornado in ’98!

Some friends live near Sutton Hill Road, but I don’t think they had any damage.  Strange!

I am glad you & your dog are OK.  

Bonnie & Buddy are well too!  They didn’t have electricity on Sunday.

I got your voicemail message, but I was at work and we had stuff ALL day.

Schools were closed all week, not sure about next week.

I think it depends on when the 2^nd water plant gets restored.

They don’t want 76,000 students flushing the toilets! : )

Also we hear there is some damage to buildings as well as roads so not sure about bus routes, etc.

I haven’t heard from Mike & Chad. I heard Donelson was hit hard.

One of my co-workers who lives there relayed some scary stuff!

Luckily we’re OK, nothing major happened to us or our property.

Our basement flooded – about 8 inches deep – which is a pain for my brother.

He was in Atlanta for the weekend so I had to tell him over the phone. : (

However, the good thing is once the rain stopped, the water drained and all of it was gone the next day.

We’re glad for that as we anticipated emptying many buckets of water! : )

Some of our appliances are OK – the washer works, but not the dryer.

Good excuse for a clothesline! : )

We didn’t have hot water or heat/air for a few days because that stuff is in the basement.

We unplugged everything when we discovered the water.

With Joel in Atlanta and not going up & down to the basement, we didn’t think to check!

You know Jai likes AC so he was a little uncomfortable.

I went to the Y to take showers – Jai & Joel took cold showers!  : (

FUN! FUN!

Julia is a trooper – good spirits always – and her laughter makes up for everything.

I actually left to go to church on Sunday morning WITH Julia, turned around quickly & returned home.

I got so scared when I saw how high the water was on Gallatin Road, imagined the car floating & trying to get Julia out.

WHEW! Really scary! : (

We watched TV for hours on Sunday – thankfully we had electricity.

The scenes were frightening as I recognized SO many places around the city submerged in water!

We were definitely going stir crazy stuck in the house.

The weather was beautiful, sunny, blue skies on Monday – strange contrast to the constant rain for 2 days!

Johnders & I walked the neighborhood Monday morning to survey the situation.

Slow morning traffic, not much damage on these streets.

Take care.

Love, Tara, Jai, Julia, Johnders & Joel

Mother's Day 2010

I would like to wish my fabulous wife Tara a wonderful Mother's Day!

There are no amount of words I can use to express how impressed I am with you, how fortunate I am to know you, and how glad I am that YOU are the mother of our child. Julia and I are better people for know you.

Today is also Julia's 17 months birthday - she's almost 1 1/2 years old!

Said with nothing but love,
Jai

Three is a magic number.

I can't tell you why but it appears even at Julia's 16 months three is a magic number. Since she was a small crawling baby she has needed things in her hands when she moved. We've seen anywhere from 1 to 4 items in her hands while she motors around the house. Sometimes, and maybe even most often, it is a bulky item...gallon jug, large book, giant stuffed frog.

Two seems obvious but not for her. Three is what she likes. When she has some finger food, pretzels or cookie chunks, she wants one in each hand and one in her mouth. When she plays with her rings or we go outside and play with Johnders' tennis balls she has to have three. No matter how awkward, she must have three. She will let you hold an item while she readjusts the other two but she will manage to get three as quickly as possible.

The ancients were on to something and it is verified by the randomness of my daughter.

Julia, You Cannot Sit on Daddy's Head

That alone is a funny title!

However, many times Julia tries to sit on Jai's head.
She thinks it is OK to do and of course we laugh, then tell her not to do it.
Confusing! : )

We think it is part of her large motor development.
Julia's trying to figure out how her body works and moves and what she can do with each part.
It's pretty funny to see though I don't think Jai really enjoys it! : )

Pam the Yarn Doll

My aunt Pam is a great knitter.
She made the purple hooded sweater for Julia.
It has the zipper in the back which is AWESOME!
She knitted some slippers, too - still too big for Julia.

Pam also knitted a doll.
With brown skin and a purple pants and black "wavy" hair ... just like Julia!
Julia loves it!

We kept referring to it as "the doll" this and that, "go get it" or "let's pick it up."
That got tedious quickly and soon we realized that the doll needs a name.
As creatively as when Tara was 4 & named our family's cat "Kitty" I came up with "Pam" for the doll's name.

However, it works. Julia likes it too.
Hopefully she'll remember that her great-aunt Pam made it for her.

I hope my aunt Pam doesn't mind being the name of a doll. : )

First Ice Cream

vegan chocolate ice cream at Pied Piper Creamery - yummy!

Aunt Niki scoops this great cold stuff at PPC on the weekends.
She convinced Mommy to let me try it even though I'm not supposed to have chocolate for awhile. At least it was vegan so Mommy was OK with me having a taste.

I really liked it and hope I get to try it again soon.
Mommy and Daddy talk about getting an ice cream attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer.
That would be AWESOME - ice cream all the time!

Fathers are key to toddler development | DIYFather.com - It's great to be a dad!

I read this somewhere a while ago but its nice to see it in print again. Yea Me (and men like me)!

Fathers are key to toddler development | DIYFather.com - It's great to be a dad!:

"As part of the investigations, kids aged 12 to 18 months (accompanied by a parent) were placed in three different risky situations: social risk (a strange adult entered his or her environment), physical risk (toys were placed at the top of a stairway), and a forbidden activity (parents were forbidden to climb the stairs after the child succeeded the first time). "We found fathers are more inclined than mothers to activate exploratory behavior by being less protective," says Paquette. "

"Paquette is convinced that mothers and fathers intervene differently in the education of a child and these complementarities benefit a child. 'Even if both parents change diapers and give the bottle, they don't do it the same way,' says Paquette. 'By stimulating exploration, controlled risk-taking and competition, fathers provide something different to the child who will benefit greatly from this singular contribution.'"

While Julia Was Sleeping ... EVERYWHERE?!?!

First of all, I love the movie "While You Were Sleeping" which stars recent Oscar winner Sandra Bullock. YEAH, Sandra!!! : )

That is partly why I was excited to create this post title to describe Julia's busy sleeping behavior. This girl is busy day AND night! Compared to where we put her down for her daytime naps and to bed in the evening, she is in completely different positions and places in the crib. It's a MINI crib, also - there's only so much room to move around!

Some people are pro-family bed - that's cool for them. I can not do it. Sometimes I move a lot during my sleep, too. Julia & I would knock into each other constantly!

She is SO cute when she's asleep - she's cute awake, too! : )

15 Months & Pushing the Envelope

Julia is 15 months old. What does that mean? She's growing and getting smarter. She's fine tuning her skills and becoming more aware of the world and herself.

You always hear stories about parents having eyes in the back of their heads. I think Julia has eyes in the back of her head b/c she doesn't seem to miss ANYthing. Part of it is the completeness of her senses. Neither Tara nor I hear or see as well as we used to, Julia is still new and incredibly sharp. She sees things out of the corners of her eyes, she hears the slightest noise from across the house. Its a little frustrating when you are trying to get her food ready before she realizes its time to eat and she hears the refrigerator open.

She's been doing so much that its hard to talk about what's different this month. She's getting better at climbing the stairs but she doesn't understand the going backwards down the stairs. Her babbling has gone to a new level with more word-like sounds, a stronger repertoire of sounds, and, of course, more words. She has recently figured out how to climb onto things and into cabinets. She likes to be chased by people and Johnders.

BREAKING NEWS: The day before yesterday she grabbed my finger and walked me to the refrigerator for a snack.

She is a master mimic. She loves imitating her Uncle Joel as well as dogs. It really is an onslaught of activity with her.

On the bad side: She is teething again and thus quite fussy. She is more specific about her wants and gets that much more agitated when we don't get it right. Mealtime can be a CUSS (if you saw "Fantastic Mr. Fox" you know what I mean)!

It continues to be a wonder and a joy to watch her grow and develop. I think I sound like a broken record about that but she continually amazes.

Velcro Baby

This is Julia's newest title/nickname. I don't know what happened, but suddenly this is what Julia becomes when we leave her! Usually it happens at the church nursery, occasionally at the Y nursery. Everyone reassures us that it is normal, part of typical development, but it is heart-wrenching to walk away from your wailing child after you've peeled her off your leg/lap/whatever she can grab!

Initially I was surprised and didn't connect her behavior with separation anxiety - I thought it had happened already and she seemed to do OK. I didn't realize it happens later, too. When we return to pick her up, the nursery workers tell us that she only cried for a few minutes thankfully. I think I felt bad longer! : ) Also, sometimes she'd cry when we returned like she had forgotten while she played, but then she remembers we were gone and really missed us.

Of course she misses us ... but it's so interesting to think what is going on for her. Just like when she was an infant, crying still is a major way to communicate. Julia seems to "talk" ALL THE TIME and I forget that she really cannot tell us many of her feelings as readily as I think she should.

Ahh, the wish for words ... yet other parents tell us we'll wish for the silent/non-verbal days! : )

Keeping the Feast

This is the name of a great book by Paula Butturini. It is non-fiction story about Paula's experience through her husband's journey of depression. I finished the book in early March and didn't write this post until April so I'm not remembering many details. However, it takes place in many countries, mostly in Italy. It involves wonderful descriptions of food and the connections to all kinds of memories, particularly childhood and family. The descriptions of how Paula lives with a depressed person really resonated with me as I recall living with PPD. It is HARD stuff! I've probably written this before, but I remember someone describing it as mild PPD and I think OMG how does someone live with major PPD! I believe it was mild, but it was difficult so I know how challenging it is for individuals who are struggling with depression every day for YEARS!

I am grateful for people who share their story as it helps others understand and cope.

Reading is Fundamental (and so is singing)

Thank you Dolly Parton.

Like so many kids in Tennessee Julia gets a book a month from the wonderful Imagination Library. Overall, I have been pleased - not enough board books but other than that its an amazing program. I've about a correlation between the size of home libraries and an individual's success further down the road. Well, I think we are seeing Julia's future.

Julia loves this book and she knows it by name...our name, "ABC Book". She starts her version of the ABC song as soon as she touches the book.  Her version of the song sounds a bit like the spanish alphabet and goes like "aahhh baaaayyyy deeeedaaa" before it sort of trails off into a hum. Seriously?!? She's been singing some version of the ABC song for a couple of months and it is in a large part due to this particular book, a Leap Frog music table and the fact that her dad cannot remember many words from any other kids song...

She's a wondefully engaged child and I am glad to be along for the ride.

Flirty Spice

That is Julia's newest nickname. We've noticed her flirty behavior before, but it really seems more prominent lately. Mostly it seems like she flirts with males more than females ... is that typical? The cutest thing is when she flirts with my brother. Joel has been staying with us the last few weeks. He's helping us organize and clean our basement in preparation of converting part of it into livable space for himself. Actually, it's a pretty nice area though the concrete floor and walls are chilly, but he's a guy and probably will be OK.

Anyway, Julia's flirtatious behavior is amusing to watch. She usually gets quite excited and waves at Johnders as soon as she descends the stairs; now she looks in the guest room and waves at Joel. It's quite adorable to watch. She truly enjoys looking at Joel, especially as she sees him playing with Johnders.

If you haven't looked at some of the recent photos on flickr, check them out. The ones our friend, Lisa Connor, the great photographer, took are incredible and show some of Julia's flirty qualities. : )

The First Cold/Fever

Julia inherited my constitution, or so it seems. She can eat anything without adverse effects, she's hot-natured, and she doesn't get sick. Of course, I have to throw in that studies show babies who are breastfed for their first year are less likely to get sick which makes the timing - 1 month after she weaned - of Julia's first cold interesting...

About 2 weeks ago she got really congested but it didn't seem to have much affect on her. We started with the humidifier and eucalyptus infused steam baths combined with J/A/S/O/N Cooling Mineral Gel Tea Tree Pain Reliever (essentially the same as Vicks Vaporub). The congestion seemed to clear up and then Tues night I put Julia to bed at 6pm and she slept until 8am, which was a little unusual - about 2 hours longer than normal. The morning progressed as usual but at lunch she was crankier than her usual "Feed me NOW!" cranky. She eat as much either. I put her down for a nap, she slept 2 hours but seemed tired still so I left her. She slept for another hour and woke up really hot to the touch. I took her temp with one of our thermometers. It read 103.1 but she wasn't acting that sick - she was a little slower than normal but happy and chatty and playful none-the-less. I didn't think to take it a 2nd reading. I laid her back down and she tried to doze off while I called Tara and Bonnie (left a message). I looked it up on the Internet and didn't see any reason to be alarmed and since I haven't gotten really sick in years I wasn't too worried. Tara got home, held Julia and she went back to sleep. B/c of all the sleeping I started to get nervous. We watched TV but I couldn't concentrate and I was hyper alert listening for her.

She woke up at 8:30pm and seemed much perkier. Her temp was closer to 100 so we brought her down for a dinner of oatmeal and milk. Then we gave her a bath and took her back to bed. She was quiet but I had horrible dreams all night.

This morning Julia woke up at her usual 6:40ish, her temp was 99.8 (which is apparently 98.8 orally) and she had some oats, banana and milk, as usual. I let her play a little in her room and laid her back down for a nap. She slept for 2 hours, her first morning nap in months.

Julia has given us no worries (other than the slow weight gain) in these past 14 months and I now have an idea of that knot in your gut when something is wrong and you can't do anything about it. This incident again reminds me of what a carefree baby I have; she's inquisitive, healthy and happy. I am also reminded that I am an extremely fortunate man.

Julia Sleeps

Julia Sleeps
Originally uploaded by bmitd67

A nap is a very important part of your day when you turn 14 months old