Spice

When I was a baby, the medical professionals were busy telling mothers to eat lots of bland food so as not to offend the baby with pungent flavors. These days, the recommendations have changed (as have so many others). Now they say eat what you love, eat lots of complex, tasty, smelly foods so as to cultivate those tastes in your children. Hurray for me and my peers!! Hurray for Jackson. It's working.

He likes Indian curry. He likes lentil soup. He likes pineapple (something to do with the 1-2 pineapples I ate each week while pregnant?). He also likes mole, argueably the best food ever invented. Last week we had mole--sadly not Blue Iguana, but a passable version from Trader Joe's. Jackson was eating it up!! He ate it and ate it and then made what appeared to be the international sign for "This food is too spicey!". You know, with his mouth open, tongue out, panting. So I gave him a little bite of sour cream. He went back to the mole with gusto, and we repeated. Towards the end, he may have made the connection between the mole and the spice because he refused to eat any more, but he had a good run with it.

Here's a pic post lentil soup. I had to hose him off afterward.

Pickles

A few weeks ago, we took Jackson out for Reubens at Rein's deli in Vernon (NY deli in CT). It was delicious. Jackson liked the pickles--A LOT.

Little Boy

When I look at Jackson these days, I no longer see a baby. I see a little boy. So he can't talk or walk yet, but he's developed so much of a personality that he's no longer really an infant, jabbering and pulling faces and up on his feet. Now, when something happens that he doesn't like (a diaper change or bedtime for example) he goes on and on as if he's listing off all of the injustices that have occurred to him through the day. In order to better convey the message, he sticks both of his lips out like a duck while he complains.
He also has very distinct character traits. He's funny and makes up silly games. I have no idea what the point of these games are, but I play along anyway. He also is developing a bit of a temper and a lack of patience. It's so funny to watch his miniature temper tantrums develop because we take things like cords away from him.
I've been telecommuting all week since Jason has been working overnights. Jackson is hanging out with me all day. He's spent a fair amount of that time standing in the corner pulling CD after CD from the shelf. So many that I had to pile them to the side because he kept falling over on them. Today, I looked over, and he wasn't even holding on to anything. He was just standing there, then he slow-motion lowered himself to the ground to sit.
We've also been working on naming the most important things in his life--his parents. I tried to set him down this afternoon. He immediately pulled up on my legs and said ma-ma-ma-ma. I really think he meant it this time.

ps. He has enough hair to show up in the photo!!!

Inspiration for the Vampire Myth?

Since I became a mother, I started noticing the similarities between infants and vampire mythology. It does sound pretty unlikely, but, well... Here are my observations:


Feeding--first, the fact that its referred to as "feeding" or "feed". This language is reserved for vampires, parasites, and infants. Then, add in that the infants do much of their feeding at night, directly from the body of a woman. Just like vampires, their keen sense of smell helps them locate the food. After feeding, their pale skin flushes red.


When they appear, baby teeth are very sharp! Not fangs exactly, but serrated. Both creatures have fingernails that grow back to their original length within 1 day's time.


Babies spend much of the day sleeping. Like the vampires, the delicate baby skin cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Babies are supposed to be kept in the shade and/or slathered heavily with sunscreen. The sunscreen has to be a barrier type like zinc oxide, not just a chemical sunscreen.


This was just a sampling. Other similarities occur to me all the time.

Chase

Jackson has found a new game. The other day, I was picking meat from a chicken so of course, I had my loyal beagle at my heels. Jackson was in his walker in the kitchen. Since he loves the puppies, he walked over to her. Ally is very wary of the baby, she scampered across the room. Ally wouldn't leave though. Food is her primary motivator, so she wanted to stay nearby. Jack spent the next 20 minutes or so chasing Ally around the kitchen.
Tonight, he's down on the floor, making laps up and down the hallway in pursuit of my coonhound, Mabel. She won't go too far away since her greatest source of pleasure is being near me.
I think Jackson is more excited by the pursuit than by actually getting to pet a puppy. Mabel is less excited.