Banana, Watermelon, and Cheese Please!

So after a few months of eating solid foods there appear to be three foods in which Nate certainly shows a preference. I think if we just fed him banana, watermelon, and cheese cubes he would be very happy. Nate eats solid food very well and will eat most of the food we put in front of him. One of the foods he really likes that still surprises me a little is this mixture of lentils and pinto beans that we've made up for him

Nate is just over 10 months and he is at a stage where he wants to do things himself. So in order to get him to eat, small chunks of food he can pickup himself are best. He is no where near being able to use a spoon himself and he is starting to get to a point where he doesn't want to have someone else feed him with a spoon. We are getting to the point where we are feeding him a lot of the same things we are eating, just cut up into smaller pieces.

Nate has really been easy to feed and rarely turns down anything. He still gets a lot of nutrition from formula/breastmilk, but he is certainly eating enough that I would guess he is getting about 50% or maybe a little more of his nutrition from solid foods. Nate is such an active kid that I'm not worried that he is not eating well. Being happy and active seems to be the best signs young kids are getting appropriate nutrition. If they seem lethargic, very discontent, or aren't wetting diapers then there might be something to look into. I think we are all good here....

Nate's Travels for the Week

So last week Nate logged a lot of miles in cars. The previous weekend we did our final move from Austin to Houston. Then mid-week Nate went back with me to take care of some last odds and ends in Austin. That included final clean up and closing on the house in Austin. Then to top it all off this last weekend we went to New Orleans. Nate has been such a trooper through all of this. He is sleeping in different places, had different schedules, and all kinds of new experiences. Even though we are not making it easy on him Nate just seems so very happy. Maybe all the changes are exciting for him and if we actually stay put for a couple weeks Nate will get bored.

This last weekend we traveled to New Orleans to visit friends that live outside of New Orleans and to spend a day at Jazzfest. The wife and I enjoy going to Jazzfest. We've been able to attend many times. We had someone who very graciously was willing to watch Nate while the wife and I went to Jazzfest. We never considered taking Nate to Jazzfest. Jazzfest is actually rather family friendly to a degree, but it just amazed me at how many kids we saw at Jazzfest. Nate would have loved it for an hour or two (the point is an hour or two, not all day). He would have been smiling at everyone and just loving taking in everything new. Then we saw all these exhausted kids that wanted to sleep and were not very happy. One of my favorites was this kid that was fast asleep in his fathers tent backpack. Couldn't have been any older than 2 and they were headed into an area close to a show that was extremely crowded and loud. I say that Jazzfest is rather kid-friendly, but on a popular weekend it can get really crowded and it can take a long time to get in and out of the fairgrounds. It is also New Orleans in late-April and early May, it can get really hot and humid. Not ideal for kids that can go from having a good time to upset and fussy in a matter of seconds. On a less crowded day where you were willing to take in some of the smaller acts, stay away from the major crowds, and were willing to cut the day short it could be ok experience for a small child. This same would apply for other outdoor music festivals I've been to.

Climbing and cruising

Over the last week Nate has gone from trying to pull-up to a standing position on everything to pulling-up and then trying to climb up on things and doing some cruising. I'm thinking he would be doing more cruising if we weren't in a rather sparsely decorated apartment. Since so much of our stuff is in storage he just doesn't have as many items to grab on to.

Nate has managed to find other items rather than furniture to use for his adventures. There are two small boxes in his room. Nate has managed to climb on top of them so he can look out the window. The boxes are not tall, but this could be foreshadowing of more climbing to come. He has also gotten pretty good at cruising around a number of things around the apartment includes those boxes in his room, his wagon, and a table. He is starting to get steps down pretty well and his legs are strong enough to hold him up. Only figuring out coordination and balance are going to be what keeps Nate from walking. While we are excited to possibly see Nate take his first steps, we know that also means that much more movement and our chasing down Nate. If his crawling is any indication he'll go from steps to running in no time.

More Teeth

We believe Nate is getting in more teeth. Nate has been a little fussy of late, plus he seems to be drooling more, and he even has a little runny nose. Nate only has six teeth so far, but those seem to be the tell-tale signs of new teeth coming in. Right now it appears that Nate is getting his lower lateral incisors. I don't see the teeth breaking through yet, but I can see what looks like teeth right below the surface.

Currently Nate has both his lower and upper central incisors and his upper lateral incisors. So we are expecting a few more nights of iffy sleep. We'll keep the Tylenol nearby even though we rarely use it. Hopefully this shall pass quickly and he'll have another tooth or two to use to smile at people.

What will Nate get into next

Nate has shown that he is pretty good at getting into things. He has no problem opening cabinets, drawers, and unlatched doors. More baby-proofing in store for me. This weekend he proved that his skills of using his fingers are getting better. He managed to open a bottle of moisturizer. I had left him to play for a few minutes and I came back and he the bottle separated into the two parts. He had the pump section up around his mouth. I caught him before he tried to ingest any significant quantities. The bottle is relatively easy to open it just spins off. However, I hadn't expected him to figure out how to open and to already remember lefty loosey.

For the time being that bottle will no longer be within Nate's reach. I'm sure I could use some glue to keep the lid on any only have access through the pump. Actually some loctite might work really well on items like this. Just strong enough that Nate couldn't open, but if you really needed to get into it you could with a little force.

No more doorstops

Suddenly all the doorstops in our house have disappeared. For quite some time these were one of Nate's favorite toys. You would hear that boing, boing noise quite often. Now Nate has an affinity for taking these off the wall. I guess you could say he has figured out to use his fingers. The doorstops are rather easy to take off it is just a twist. However, Nate has gotten ready good at it. He can crawl over to door stop and in a couple seconds have the doorstop in his hand. So for the time being we have a stack of doorstops on a shelf until I can get around to securing the better. I've got experiment with some glue/adhesive or a shim to hold spring like doorstop in place. I also need to glue little rubber caps on so once Nate figures out how to get around this he won't be able to get rubber cap off.

Until then we just have to be very careful when opening doors and making sure we don't cause any damage. Just another example of the things I would have never thought I would have to secure. I'm sure this will continue and Nate will get into, take apart, or find things we never expected.