Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo… How ’bout You, You, You…

We had every intention of making it to the zoo the other day, but a little someone opted instead to nap for FIVE hours. Maybe he was dreaming of zebras, and tigers, and crocodiles, but if you ask me he has no idea what he was missing out on. We went the following day instead and if he wasn’t dreaming of wild animals before, he most certainly is now. Let me re-phrase that, because more specifically he probably has goats on his mind. And juice containers in the shape of dinosaurs. Yes, goats and plastic sugar filled dinosaurs. That is what Hooper was into. 

Adventures in Parenting

I suppose everyone deals with the frustrations of parenting differently. Some turn to discipline while others turn to the bottle. Willy and I turn to humor. When Hooper’s being a “little shit” as we like to call it, we humor ourselves. Most of our frustrations are centered around the dinner table and our frivolous attempts to get Hooper to eat the damn food we so lovingly put on his plate. For a while now, it’s been hard to eat at the same time. As soon as he sees my plate, all he wants to do is touch my food and throw my food on the floor. It’d be one thing if he ate my food, but instead he’ll stop eating his food so he can play with my food. Needless to say, Willy sometimes suggest I eat in the other room. I don’t argue.
And that’s the rough background for this little story. I was eating next to the cozy fire in the other room, Willy was eating with Hooper in the kitchen. Next thing you know Willy says I should come into the kitchen. This is what I find:

 

So the question becomes, how do you deal with a 15 month old that won’t eat his spaghetti? Your answer may be to let him starve. Another parent may just poor themselves a glass of wine. Willy’s answer was to dump the spaghetti on his head. And my response was to photograph it. What’s that you say? We’re not going to win the parents of the year award? Oh shucks. Willy’s dad dumped spaghetti on his head as a small child and one day when karma swings back Hooper’s way, he can dump spaghetti on his kid’s head. All is fair in love and parenting.

Hooper @ 15 Months

Growth: You weigh 22lbs 15oz (25%), up two pounds since your last appointment at twelve months. While I do pay close attention to what you eat and how much you drink, how much you weigh no longer holds my interest. It’s funny to hear the doctor say, “the only thing he’s below average in now is weight”. It sounds so harsh, like average is something one should be striving toward. You’ll be long and lanky like your parents, sorry. With that said you are above average in head circumference, 60%, and height, 60%. At this rate, you are predicted to be 5’11 and 160. Papa is about 6’1 and 175. I think you’ll hit quite a few more spurts along the way. You have 9 teeth, four top, four bottom, and one first molar on the top left.
Feeding: We started what I refer to as Operation Feed Hooper Different Foods and it’s worked. Mama had to redefine her goals and settle for a mere taste as a designated success, but at the end of the month I can say you have tasted and tried many new foods and several were even enjoyed. The happiness it brings to put together a meal and then have you enjoy it is indescribable. I think it’s innate, a transfer of the fulfillment from breastfeeding to filling you up with other good nutrients. I suppose that’s why woman are typically putting the food on the table. Whatever the case, you’ve tried new things. It’s the small victories…
You’ve taken to holding your own bottle. I’m not sure how, it seemed to happen overnight. It’s much easier now to hand you a bottle of milk and let you roam around leisurely with your cocktail as opposed to having to sit down and feed you. You are, however, quite keen on dumping your bottle upside down and leaving a milk trail wherever you go. You enjoy this even more when you notice Sarah following oh so close behind in anticipation of your spillage. At some point the bottle just becomes a toy and then I start to miss the days where I cradled you on the sofa as you gulped down your bottle. These days I have to follow you around and clean up and remind you “milk for Hooper, not Sarah” and prompt you to “put it in your mouth”, which are just the words sons want to hear from their mothers. Just as I’m writing this I had to get up and retrieve your bottle from the drawer of DVD’s you hid it in. You have me questioning if this bottle training was really a good idea and worrying about what the future of using a cup is going to be like. Not sure what we’d do without Sarah. Her attention to things on the floor is very much appreciated. 
Sleeping: You’re still the sleep champion. You go to bed about 9pm, wake up about 7:30am. Then you nap from about 10am-12pm and again from about 3pm-5pm. You refuse to take much of a nap when you’re at your Nina’s house. Not sure why. All I know is that you conk right out as soon as you get home and we usually have to wake you for dinner. We still have the monitor in your room, I can’t seem to part with it. It feels like a life line. 
Talking: Life just isn’t like the movies where things happen and there’s no debate or doubt about it. First steps are clearly first steps and first words are practically used in sentence form with the perfect meaning attached. With that said, you’ve said a lot of things. Not consistently and not always coherently. You said what we thought was “doggie” a while back, but I have yet to hear that again. Your Nina said she heard you say “cookie”a long time ago. I think I heard a version of cookie a couple days ago. You say baby and point to your belly. Baby is your first two syllable word. You also say “boom”. Sometimes I think you’re saying “broom”. It’s hard to know. But you did fall on your bum the other day and then proclaimed “boom”. You also took the broom out of the closet and said “broom” repeatedly, rolling your “r” like someone south of the boarder. So maybe you are saying both boom and broom. You refer to Sarah’s food dishes as “nay nay”. The only sense I can make of this is that every time you run toward that food dish we say “no no”. Any phone is referred to as “ma-ma”. Not sure if this is because you recognize me as ma ma and associate the phone with hearing my voice or if you just like to call the phone ma-ma. You say “papa”, but it’s pronounced as both a secret and a question. You try to repeat “Nina” when I mention you are going to Nina’s house. It comes out as “Nay Nay”, so I’m not sure you are trying to say Nina or if the dog bowl is all that’s on your mind. Maybe you can explain all your gibber gabber later. When I can tell you are poopin’ your pants I say “ca-ca” and you repeat “ca-ca” and grab your diaper. Perhaps potty training is in the not too distant future. You also say “ball”, “ca” for “calm”, “gone” after you throw things on the floor, and I swear you say “Was dis?” when you hear a strange noise, like the garbage man coming (Lisa, maybe you were right about Evan… haha). 
Development: You have quite the sense of humor. You’re finding more things funny and are starting to repeat the things you get a kick out of. You like teasing Sarah and having her chase you. You break out into a big ol’ giggle session when she nips your little butt playfully. Not sure how this will pan out when you don’t wear diapers anymore. That may turn your giggles to tears. The difference between now and before is that before you found us funny, now you find yourself funny. You’re able to easily entertain yourself these days. You personality has grown exponentially. I was fairly certain you were right handed, but as of late, you’ve been using your spoon quite often with the left hand. You throw a ball with whatever hand has the ball in it. Again, more ambiguity. You are good at following direction. Your new trick is turning around. You think it’s funny when we say “turn around” and you make a 360 degree turn. You also like doing rolls. Yes, I’m teaching you forward rolls. You do so many in succession that you come up a little dizzy and I worry about you holding your food down. You can climb up your high chair like it’s a latter and love climbing onto my desk chair to move the mouse around and stare at the computer screen. 
On Becoming a Big Brother: Clearly you have no ability to conceptualize the meaning of a baby growing inside me. What you do understand is that mama has a belly we refer to as “baby”. You like to pat your “baby” as well. You may not understand it all, but you certainly are intrigued by my belly and like to lift up my shirt and poke my belly button. Multiple times a day you prompt me to show you my belly and you proceed to give the baby unsolicited hugs and kisses which melt my heart instantly and make me think that while you are not old enough to “get it”, on some subconscious level the wheels are spinning. Your behavior appears totally innate and makes me question my overpowering logical side. 

Style de Hooper

I had another post planned today that I will share later because Hooper is being featured on one of my favorite blogs, Modern Kiddo and it is the cutest post ever. Sure, I’m totally biased, but I do want to extend a warm thank you to Dottie and Alix for the love. So instead, I’ll throw a little Style de Hooper your way. You can click here to view Hooper on Modern Kiddo. 
These posts are honestly some of the hardest. Trying to get Hooper to stand still is almost impossible. I think he’s starting to understand to the concept, as every now and again he’ll stand so deliberately against the wall… for two seconds. Literally two seconds. And I usually have the camera down by my side because I’m pleading with my eyes to get him to stand there. By the time he listens and I get the camera up to eye level, he’s on the move. See the picture above? There you see him…
…and now you don’t.
Sitting nicely…
…and now preparing for his escape.
Steamboat Overalls: from Etsy seller Lishyloo
Undershirt: Gerber plain white
Shoes: Saucony hand-me-downs

Bits + Pieces

Snapshots from our week…

Hooper has started making teeth indentations on his crib rail. I saw our crib used on craigslist a while back and it looked like a little wood pecker slept in it. Now I know why // Hooper worked on perfecting his fork usage. If only he’d be more agreeable to what went on the fork // We broke it down to Jiminy Cricket tunes… again and again. Seriously, this record is the cutest // Sarah had what we refer to as a “bim bom” day. You know, those days when you lounge around and if you get up at all you choose to skip instead of walk because the world is just that jolly // Hooper’s first molar finally made it’s presence. It was preceded by a weeks worth of snot. A lot of snot. The thought of dehydration crossed my mind. Okay, I’m teasing, but really, there was a lot of snot // Hooper ate a full plate of healthy food. And yes, he picked the cheese off first before he really chowed down. (Hooper, I like your style) // I tried mixing strawberries (one of his favorite) with cottage cheese. He didn’t like it. But he did like playing with it between his fingers. And then rubbing it on his belly. And ultimately Sarah was one the one who really scored. She usually does // I found these mushroom canisters and fell in love instantly // Still obsessed with my banana pancakes // And Sarah’s still obsessed with watching any of us eat just about anything // Some vintage books came in a package in the mail for Hooper from Grandma Vickie (thanks!!) // Hooper finally sat down in his bath. He usually stands up. And eventually tries to climb out. He also learned how to make his bath toys squirt water. I got wet // And lastly, Hooper made some important phone calls. For all those mother’s with cute daughters out there, be forewarned.
Happy Friday! And a special thanks to Bleubird for inviting her readers to participate in this post series.

Hooper & the Giraffe

Hooper is into the unlabeled uses of things. He does not use a broom to sweep or a hose to water the lawn. What’s that you say? This is normal? Ha! What a funny world these little ones live in. It’s no wonder that he uses his vintage playskool giraffe walker as anything but a walker. I lie, he does use it as a walker from time to time. But most of the time he is doing the following:

Letters of Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Hooper,
I saw you in your papa’s arms last night and couldn’t help but comment on just how big you have gotten. People say it time and time again, but really, where does the time go? It seemed crazy to me when I first found out you were going to be a big brother. You were still such a baby. But just in a few months, you’ve changed. You’ve grown. And I don’t know where my baby went.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing sweeter than watching you change and develop. I know now why parents can only engage in conversation about their children. I also still know why this is annoying, and thus I hold back in sharing every little detail of your development. You are all that is on my mind, all I want to talk about. You are the reason for the smile on my face, the reason I plan ahead, the reason my life has so much purpose and meaning. 
But you are not my baby anymore. You are a boy. A beautiful boy. My boy.
Happy Valentines Day mi amor,
Mama
P.S. Below is a picture of your Papa and I just before we got married. We were in Panama gazing at the beauty that surrounded us and busy planning what was then our future and is now our present.

 

Style de Hooper

I’m in trouble if this next little bun in the oven is a girl, because my online shopping carts are full with the cutest little frilly things. In the meantime, I’ll spoil my little boy with the cutest vintage finds. Here’s what my recent shopping spree bought him. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I buy more for him than I do for myself. Welcome to motherhood, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Included was this sweet little note from Jen @ Olivers Forest

Sources: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

Bits + Pieces

Snapshots from our week…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah was busy being Sarah, waiting for her little friend to come out of his crib and play. She is the crib protector, but only sometimes. Other times she is the crib monster// We uncovered an old record from our hand-me-down pile// I made a banana pancake for Hooper and spun the new tunes in the background. So technically speaking, Hooper ate pancakes with Peter// I took our wedding album out of the cupboard and found a nice little home for it behind the sofa// Hooper discovered how to put his jack-in-the-box back in his box and close the lid. Big advances// I spent lots of time in the kitchen inspired by a few new recipes// I made baked sweet potatoes with brown sugar for Hooper to try. He refused to even try. It was a bust// We bought some plants for the backyard// Hooper dug into his spinach nuggets, always a crowd pleaser, and then removed all his books from his bookshelf.
Happy Friday! And a special thanks to Bleubird for inviting her readers to participate in this post series.

Polly Wanna Cracker?

When you’re between a rock and a hard place, you get inventive. When it’s your first child, you praise yourself constantly for your imagination. I suppose by the time you are a parent to two, these tricks are not so much tricks as they are simple rules in raising kids that everyone seems to know. As for me, I’m a novice. Let me bask in the glory of success.
I’ve tried a few different things as of late to expose Hooper to a wider variety of foods. While things are still hit or miss, he has definitely broadened his palate.
Hooper loves crackers. And when I say love, what I mean is that he will take already been chewed food out of his mouth and throw it on the floor if that cracker box even passes his field of vision. So I decided to work this to my advantage. As of late, he’s tried a few different spreads, peanut putter, and guacamole all on top of his beloved cracker. These are all things previously refused. Yes, he refused peanut butter.
Dear cracker, thank you for turning my gray skies blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone has their own tricks of the trade, I’m all ears. 🙂 Oh yes, and any more suggestions for things on crackers… I’ll take those too!

Style de Hooper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T-shirt: flea market find
Overalls: from Etsy seller MsTips
Boots: uggs, a lovely gift from the grandparents 🙂
…And the cutest squatter ever, you ask?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wishing everyone a Happy Superbowl Sunday 🙂

 

 

A Story

Hooper is a finicky eater. I say finicky instead of picky because usually we can get him to eat good, but it takes a whole lot of patience, perseverance, distraction, inventiveness, and some more patience. Other times he can be flat out picky. Not sure if it has to do with the color or the texture or the smell, but sometimes he won’t even try things. I’m determined to have him eat good and expand his horizons. I’m determined to, well, not let him turn out like me… Picky at 30.
So we went to the store the other day to pick out some new foods to try.

Please take a moment to notice the one shoe off. This seems to be a favorite shopping cart activity.

I cut up some grape tomatoes, black olives, and mozzarella cheese (one of his favorites). I also sauteed some shallots. 

To be honest, I thought I had outdone myself. There’s no chance in hell I’d ever touch the puree mixes I feed him, but this little combo looked good, smelled good, it had success sprinkled all over it. I topped it off with a little balsamic vinegar dressing and voila:

And the result:

Do you see that scared look on his face? See that tension in his little hands and he attempts to push the table away? Oh no, I don’t think this is going to work out.

See the intensity in those eyes? At least I know someone will eat it.

Anyway, as suspected, it was a bust. So I made a second attempt. I pureed it.

…And it was still a bust. 

We put it on garlic bread and this mama and papa savoured the goodness. And boy was it good. 

I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get this little guy to try more of a variety. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you dealt with picky eaters? Have any tricks? Advice? Suggestions? Recipes? I’m all ears…

Confessions Of…

Nearly all of the puree concoctions I make are for breakfast. This one was for lunch. I make just a single serving because the tofu texture changes when refrigerated over night. Here’s what I included:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organic Tofu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Kiwi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blueberries
He ate it all. Here’s proof:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hooper @ 14 months

Growth: We have not been to the doctor since your 12 month appointment, so I do not know your height or weight. In fact, for the first time ever someone asked me what you weighed last and I couldn’t remember. I used to know down to the ounce. I used to worry so much about how much you were getting. Those days have passed and it is nice not to harp on your weight. You’re healthy, that much I know.
You haven’t gotten any more teeth. Your daddy and I are wondering where they’re all hiding. They seemed to all come in at once and now nothing. I do see a tiny one starting to pop through on the bottom right, so maybe that’s a sign there will be more shortly thereafter.
Eating: Feeding you has always and will always be an adventure. You definitely know what you like. Breakfast is never a problem. We have that down to a routine. You always get a puree of different fruits and vegetables and you haven’t waved one off in quite sometime. We always finish with some whole grain cereal, either Flax Seed Flakes or Hearts and O’s. If you haven’t finished your puree, adding a little cereal always does the trick. For lunch you eat Greek yogurt, steamed carrots, sweet potato mixed with broccoli, a tofu mix (sometimes you wave this away or share so lovingly with Sarah), grilled cheese, scrambled eggs with cheese, corn mixed with sour cream, anything mixed with sour cream. For dinner we try to give you some of whatever we’re eating, but that doesn’t always fair well. In fact, lately we’ve been trying to feed you before we eat because as soon as I sit down with my food all you want is my plate and my fork. It’d be one thing if you ate what was on my plate, but all you want to do is play with it. So ya, I’ve been feeding you while papa makes dinner. You like veggie burger patties, spinach cakes, cherries, blueberries, breaded chicken, fish sticks, some pasta, Mediterranean couscous. Your favorite snacks are raisins, apple sauce, string cheese, and any cracker. We’re always trying new things, but you are definitely picky and feeding you is definitely frustrating at times.
You do well with a spoon and fork, but still use your hands as well. Not sure what to do about the bottle… as we still have to hold it for you. Not because you’re not capable, but because when you really want milk, you want us to give it to you and when you’re not interested you just want to carry your bottle around and spill it all over the place. We keep meaning to push the sippy cup, but we haven’t done a good job at being consistent.
Talking and Development: You’re starting to say a lot more these days. Mostly different sounds: go-go, boom, hiss, mooo, nay-nay, nooo, and various pitches of whining. Words you use include: ma-ma, your all time favorite, pa-pa, da-da. More than speaking, you’re understanding. If I ask you to sit down, you sit down. You can point out your hair, ears, nose, belly, and feet. If we say “stomp your feet” or more recently “fancy feet”, you stomp your feet in quick succession. If I tell you to give Sarah a hug, you rest your little head on her side. You follow simple instructions and for the first time I think it’s safe to say you are smarter than Sarah. I wondered when this transition would take place. It has.
Sleeping: You go to bed at about 9pm and wake up around 8am. It’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for more. You take a two hour nap in the morning, usually from 10am to 12pm and another nap in the afternoon around 4pm for another hour or so. You are an absolute perfect sleeper and I love it.
Favorites: You’re in to anything and everything which has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: we don’t need to bring any toys when we go anywhere. You always find something to entertain yourself with. Disadvantages: nothing is off limits. You’re somewhat into your toys, but you’d much rather carry around a broom or go digging in the recycling bin. You’re also still obsessed with Sarah’s food, partially because you obviously enjoy the taste. You love to organize things and are constantly picking something up, transporting it to somewhere else, then rearranging the pile you’ve accumulated, then transporting it all to a new location. You’re quite industrious.
Upcoming: Still haven’t gotten around to that mommy and me class. Our midwives suggested mommy and me yoga. I’d love to do that, so I’m going to look into that. Other than that, transferring from a bottle to a sippy cup is a must. I’m starting to get embarrassed. Just kidding. Seriously though, it’s time Hooper.

Style de Hooper

Here’s another snazzy look Hooper rocked the other day. See that little curl over his left ear? It’s killing me with cuteness. The outfit isn’t so bad either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See that cut on his left hand? He had a run in with the mirror. Oh and that mark on his chin, you ask? Not even sure when or where that happened. This boy… I tell ya…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirt: The Children’s Place
Vintage overalls: From Etsy seller Little Reader Vintage
Shoes: Classic Vans