Giving thanks and saving money

Today, I'm very thankful for all the retailers that are offering great sales on their websites, so I can rack up the savings without leaving my house! Waiting in line in freezing rain? Not for me! Here's a roundup of some of the deals I appreciate most!

I'm also grateful for my family, including my two wonderful (at the moment) kiddos. I'm especially enjoying Gator's recent surge in communication ability at 18 months and my heart still swells with love watching him and his sister interact. I've been slacking on sharing photos lately, so I'll intersperse a few from fall so it's not all deal links!

Amazon MP3 Download Credit - $3  My husband has been using Amazon's mp3 store a lot lately. He says the prices are often better than iTunes, and he can still listen to the music on his ipod, smartphone, etc. Amazon also has a lot of Black Friday deals. Today you can get five albums for $1.99 each. We're getting the Interpol album.

Many other retailers have specials on their websites, and I suggest checking your favorites to see what kind of specials you can find. Old Navy is one of those retailers. But before you go straight to their website...are you using Swagbucks?

I've been using Swagbucks.com for a few months and have earned $20 in Amazon reward certificates so far. You can use the points toward other things, but as you may have noticed, I shop on Amazon, so it's the closest thing to getting a cash reward for me. I use swagbucks when I'd be doing searches anyhow, and I randomly get points for searches. You trade those points in for rewards. I was racking up the points when I was being more intentional about doing my searches through the site. They have a toolbar as well, but I'm a creature of habit with my Google toolbar...

Old Navy has been running some great promos lately and I needed to pick up some more wardrobe basics. I'm so glad I checked Swagbucks before I did. They are offering a chunk of swagbucks (reward points) if you make a $50 Old Navy order through their link. So I made my order, got my savings, plus cashed my swagbucks in for a $5 Amazon reward card.

Do you cloth diaper? Nicki's Diapers is offering 10% off of everything except Bum Genius. Nicki's offers free shipping on most diapering items, so it's a nice opportunity to get a discount on items that rarely are. I'm thinking about getting some cloth trainers for Violet. When she gets to the point when her Pull-Up is dry most nights, I'd much rather have something reusable and washable on her.


There is much more I'd like to share, but motherhood calls! I hope to add to this post or add more as I find more links that I think will be of special interest to my readers.

Full disclosure: A lot of the links on my blog are affiliate links. That means you supplement my income in a small way when you purchase those items or others after clicking on my link, or sign up for a site I've referred you to. Thank you for your clicks...every little bit helps!

Hooking

I haven't been spending very much time knitting and crocheting due to using my rare free time for other things and being less inspired to do it in warmer weather. We're enjoying some wonderful unseasonably warm weather right now, but it will be cold and time for hats and scarves soon!

I learned to crochet when I was young, and I've relearned a few times over the years. It always comes back to me, but I need some guidance. For the longest time, i didn't know what dc and sc and whatnot meant and so couldn't take advantage of the patterns that are out there. Thanks to Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker I have a fun reference that teaches and reteaches what I need and helps with all those pattern abbreviations.

I participate in my local Stitch N Bitch group when time allows, which isn't often these days. It's a wonderful group of creative, talented women who inspire me to do so much more with yarn. Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'N Bitch books are a great source of information, inspiration, and patterns. I have a knitting one as well as the crochet one.

I started a hat for Gator maybe a month ago and it's still sitting on my needles, a few inches into the project. I was so excited to find some yarn I loved and got to work on a pattern of my own design that I hope will live up to my expectations. I just need to sit down and finish it! Knitting children's hats is relatively fast and relaxing for me.

Next up will be tackling crochet again. I have some adorable hat patterns from The Inner Hooker that I'm looking forward to making. First up is the owl hat. Gator has such a big head that he and Violet should be able to wear the same size. I'm planning on making my first one gender-neutral and hopefully one of them will be able to wear it. Especially since I'm not sure what my crochet gauge is like and I'm not planning on swatching. It's wonderful when hats can stretch and there are two little heads in the house to put hats on.

Amazon Mom = Amazing Savings!

I was pricing Pull-Ups on Amazon today and saw a blurb about Amazon Mom. I had to check it out, and I'm glad I did!




Here's how it works. Amazon already offers a 15% discount when you Subscribe and Save on items you use regularly. I've used this both on a repeating basis and with no intention of continuing the subscription. You can cancel or change your delivery frequency at any time.

With Amazon Mom, you get an additional 15% off on many baby items, including diapers, for a total of 30% savings. AND it's delivered free right to your door, with free two-day shipping! I love coupons, but I was able to order some Pull-Ups and Pampers Baby Dry Diapers for less than I would have paid at the store with coupons and shopping sales. And did I mention they will just show up at my door, and I don't have to listen to whiney kids in a shopping cart or chase a toddler all over the baby department?

As an added bonus, Amazon Mom gives you three months of a free Amazon Prime membership and lets you earn additional months with your baby purchases. I've used a free trial of Prime and like it, but I could never justify the annual subscription fee. Prime gives you free two-day shipping on anything shipped by Amazon, whether it's sold by Amazon themselves or a seller using Amazon fulfillment. Next-day shipping is available for just $3.99. No more waiting until I have $25.00 worth of little items to get so I receive free super-saver shipping, and it arrives oh so much faster.

(Isn't that little bear hat on the baby in the Amazon banner cute? I hope to crochet one for Gator this winter. One of many to-do projects!)

Preschool Premiere

Today, my big little girl started school. It's just preschool, but she's attending a program at the public school, and that makes it feel so much more like real school.

She was having second thoughts about it until she met her teacher and saw her classroom yesterday. Then she was so excited and couldn't wait to go back. I hoped she'd wake up easily because she was excited to go, but she's just like me in the mornings. NOT a morning person and she'll go back to sleep if at all possible.

I could tell she was a little unsure about things at times, but for the most part she was excited about this new experience. When it was finally time for her class to walk from the lobby to their classroom, she practically bolted through the door. Her teacher had to take her hand to hold her back. Some of the other kids were crying or reluctant to leave their parents. Mine couldn't wait. It made me a little sad that I was more emotional about this than she was, but I was also proud. I raised her to be an independent, capable young woman and she proved it today.

I'm proud that my sometimes tempermental little girl impressed the preschool screeners enough that she was selected to be a typical peer role model for the integrated preschool program. I'm excited for all the lessons she'll learn there, whether they are typical preschool experiences or the result of attending school with children with special needs.

I hope she's still excited to go after the novelty wears off. I need all the help I can get with her in the mornings!

Favorite sounds

Before I had children, my favorite sound to hear was a cat purring. It was such a peaceful and relaxing sound, and I still love hearing it.

After my daughter was born, the sound of my child laughing with delight became my favorite sound. I still love that sound oh so much, especially when it's a sweet little baby giggle.

There's another sound that I treasure and will miss when my baby is weaned. It's the peaceful, contented sound of my baby breathing restful breaths while taking soft rhythmic swallows. The attitude and sounds of pure contentment in my child helps me relax even after the most frustrating of days. Nursing gives us both an opportunity to step back from the world and relax and reconnect...at least when the baby is sleepy.

World Breastfeeding Week is coming up soon. This may be my last chance to celebrate it with a nursling and I'm a jumble of emotions when I think about the day my baby weans. And yes, he's my baby. At the same age, my daughter was a little girl, a toddler, etc. But her even more active little brother is probably my last baby and will remain my baby in my mind for some time.

Walking Tall

Summer 2008

Summer 2010

Shoe deal!

If you don't mind paying this way, this is a great opportunity to get shoes for cheap! Shoebuy gives free shipping, free returns, and they have more than just shoes. Offer expires July 4.

Gator's first shoes: We're in love.

When we went to get Gator new shoes, I fell in love with Stride Rite's current prewalker line. The Calf, Cygnet, Eaglet, and other shoes have a super-flexible rubberized sole that allows the foot to move naturally while offering more protection than a leather sole. It felt like a natural step between the Robeez Gator had been wearing and a more traditional shoe.

We opted for the Stride Rite Calf sandal since it's warm and muggy at this time of year. The sandals look fine with socks for cooler days, but he usually wear them sockless and enjoys the super-soft leather against his feet. He likes them so much that he'll randomly bring them to us to put on his feet. (I try to be barefoot around the house most of the time, but the kids seem to have other ideas...)

Gator loves the extra traction these shoes give him. They make it easier to climb up slides and scale other things not meant for climbing. Have I mentioned this boy is a climber? He's a better climber than his sister, and she frequently struggles as she tries to imitate him.

I believe it's very important for children to have properly fitting shoes, especially for their first pair or two. The local Stride Rite was out of Gator's size in all colors and styles of these prewalkers, so I ordered online. I frequently order shoes for Violet, Superdork, and myself online. There are so many sites that give free shipping and free returns and other discounts, and I like being able to try things on in the comfort of my home. As opposed to watching my kids demolish a store's product display in under a minute.

I do get a kickback if you purchase something from these sites with these links, but they are sites I use and recommend even if I didn't get anything out of it. But of course, if you are going to purchase from them, I'm so grateful if you help a mama out...

Most of our purchases come from Shoebuy, but we shop Endless and other sites too.

Click here to save 10% off your purchase!

Sproing!

Check out those curls!

Incredible!

Superdork has been trying to convince me he should get a new phone. We both have Blackberry Storms, and while it's not the coolest, newest thing out there, it does what I need it to do and I'm content not spending more money on one. He wants an HTC Incredible, and I am intrigued by Android phones but not enough to want to pay for one. Isn't extending your contract enough? Well I just discovered that it is one place...the Incredible is just a penny on Amazon's new wireless site! Maybe my husband will get a new toy sooner than later. Maybe.

Look Who's Talking

Gator has recently learned to say "baby" quite well and loves to point them out everywhere he can find them. He's also mastered "bye-bye" which comes out more like "buy-bye" and likes to wave when he says it. But when he waves, he closes his hand toward himself instead of the person he's waving at. It's still a wave, and it's still cute.

Just now, I gave him a few puffs to snack on, and he looked like he wanted more. I asked if he wanted more, and his affirmative noise came out "yeah". I poured out a few, and he said something that I think was intended to be "thank you".

We're pretty impressed by this guy...

I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

We've been busy lately. I've been working part-time, Superdork has been working his usual crazy hours, Violet's being a typical terror/sweet/terror of a three-year-old, and Gator gets into EVERYTHING. I know I've said this before, but he keeps finding new ways to climb over things or squeeze into tight spots and explore things he should just leave alone. Like the trash can.

It's been raining a lot, giving Violet plenty of puddles to jump in. She was thrilled to finally get rain boots, and thanks to our rainy weather, got to wear them almost every day for two weeks. We'd picked out frog rain boots at Target, but they kept not having her size in stock. I had them in my cart for her when I checked out some clearance stuff. There were pretty flower rain boots 75% off near the garden section! Score! Mama loves a deal!

An abundance of "green" coupons

It looks like these update every month! I was able to find many of the products at Giant Eagle, where they doubled the coupons under $1.00 for even more savings!
Earthfare Coupons

There are a lot of other couponing websites and blogs out there, including The Couponing Kellys and Proverbs 31 Chic and the many great resources that they link to!

Check out coupons.com (there's an ad at lower right) for printable coupons. You have the best selection at the beginning of the month!

Best Dressed or Worst Dressed List?

A fun slice of life moment yesterday. She does crazy stuff; he toddles around adoringly. Sometimes she's thrilled with the interaction and other times she's annoyed. He quickly grew bored and she started "mothering" a baby doll while in her fancy outfit.

He's one!

Birthday boy Gator. A whole year of growing hair, and that brush is still pretty much just a prop.

A year ago today...life was about to change, again.

A year ago, I was sporting a rather large abdomen and full of questions about what my baby would be like. I was at the stage of pregnancy when you're uncomfortable enough that labor is starting to not sound so bad, but I could have procrastinated that part a little longer, I think. But someone had another idea...

What, your kid doesn't like to play hide and seek under your belly??

Yes, that freakish bump in the middle was my deformed belly button.

I'd been having contractions for weeks, and they were getting increasingly strong and frequent. If I was on my feet too long, I'd suddenly double over with pains shooting down my thighs. My midwives said those were probably contractions. And the baby was so very low, it felt like he'd drop out if I just squatted long enough. There was one night, a Wednesday I think, when my contractions were regular enough for an hour that I thought we might be having a baby the next day. Then they eased up, which was great, because I wasn't quite ready for him. 

Thursday I had a checkup with one of my midwives. My blood pressure was high and she ordered PIH (pregnancy-induced hypertension) labs. At 37.5 weeks, PIH or preeclampsia wouldn't be nice to have, but at least we could safely deliver the baby at that point. With my first pregnancy, I had PIH for a few weeks before being diagnosed with preeclampsia at 35.5 weeks and was hospitalized for close observation until they decided it was time to induce labor.

Friday I got my haircut and met with my doula. I'd initially thought I could do without since I'd done this before and had great midwives, but an excrutiating kidney stone gave me a reminder of what labor could be like and I rushed to get a doula lined up. Saturday we got a few things done for the baby's room...I think the crib went up. I was going to get my bag packed, but that got pushed off to Sunday. I was trying to enjoy the day with my daughter while she was my only child, and I wasn't feeling that well. I was crampy and starting to think a baby soon might not be so bad after all, because I wasn't sure how many days of that I could take. My stomach started bothering me as the day went on. I knew that could be a sign of impending labor, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I was prepared to go overdue to avoid another induction, as long as everyone was healthy.

I snuggled with my daughter at bedtime, and she went to bed in her room but joined us at some point during the night. I didn't feel great, but what woman who is 38 weeks pregnant does? I have acid reflux when not pregnant, and at that point I needed a complex mountain of pillows plus prescription medicine to make sleep somewhat possible. When Violet joined us, I was in a queen-sized bed with hubster on one side and her on the other. (He sometimes complained about Gator kicking him when he was trying to sleep. Try being right at the source. And having your bladder and other organs targeted. And you're complaining about some cute bumps?)

While I was scrunched in bed between my husband and my daughter, I awoke with an unusual sensation. Something was going on. My exact thought was, "Uh...I think my water broke." 

Our Sunday was about to get a lot more eventful!

Earth Day Deals!

Several blogs and retailers are offering specials to celebrate Earth Day today!

BABYLEGS:  I just ordered some Babylegs for my little ones and for future gifting needs. There are currently three styles on sale for just $2 per pair! AND $1 from each purchase goes to The Nature Conservancy. I was able to order multiples of two $2 styles and splurged on a pair of their new cool, sun protecting legs for summer. (I hate slathering on chemical sunscreens ALL the time, but my pale kids need sun protection even if we'll be outside for a short time, so we're going to give these a try.) I got free shipping on my order, too! I'm not sure if there was a minimum purchase to get that, but I was pretty happy with that shipping price. You also can save 20% on regularly-priced organic products with coupon code "Organic". (Edited to add: My order shipped an hour and a half after it was confirmed! I'm super-impressed!)



LEAKY B@@B:  The Leaky Boob is doing a special giveaway today! They usually do giveaways on Tuesdays, and have funny posts that breastfeeding (and breastfeeding-friendly) readers will appreciate. If you enter their contest, I'd appreciate it if you mentioned Anne @ The Violet Bee sent you...because then I get extra entries too!


AMAZON:  Amazon always has a "Go Green" shop. Go Green with Amazon.com. They are promoting Earth Day today and the Planet Earth DVD collection is one of today's specials. I LOVE watching that.


I'm sure I'll find more to add, but as it is, I've had to stop and start several times, and I want to get these posted!

They're wearing cute planet-lover shirts, but you can't really see them here...

Computering

We've been busy lately. Here's a random pic to tide you over until I sit down to do some more blogging. I have many photos, thoughts, and deals I want to share!

Walk like a man...

My sweet baby Gator is now walking at least as much as he crawls. He's so proud of himself and fearless in his efforts and I can't help but share his excitement.

A fringe benefit of this acheivement is that he is still a slow, wobbly walker, which is a stark contrast to the turbo crawl he's perfected. I don't have to rush quite as fast to get him away from, say, the cat food dish or his sister's potty chair, unless he drops to a crawl. He'll often notice I'm coming after him and gleefully sprint on all fours.

I know he'll be running on two legs before I know it. I'm trying to enjoy this short-lived wobbly walker phase while it lasts. With my second child, I understand so much better just how fleeting some off these baby stages are. My snuggly mama's boy will be running off on his own adventures soon enough.

Overworked and underpaid

Motherhood is a wonderful thing, but I often feel like my contributions are undervalued. Especially by my co-parent. Monetary income is not the only thing that keeps this household afloat, and replacing my nearly 24-7 availability and round-the-clock child care services would cost more than the hubster makes.

I parent all day, and yes I sometimes get to blog or go on Facebook, but I might be interrupted repeatedly. At the moment, I'm supervising siblings at play and ready to jump in any second if my referee commands aren't respected. My internet time usually happens when I'm nursing a baby or have someone asleep on/next to me and I don't want to risk waking them.

Superdork the dad-man gets spoiled when the babes are young and I'm their sole food source. When they start eating solids, he seems to forget that either one of us is equally capable of feeding them. And he has a major advantage when he does parent. Spending time with Daddy is a special thing and behavior is better when the kids, especially the toddler, are with someone they don't spend most of their waking hours with.

There are some days when I desperately want to do something as simple as use the bathroom without having repeated interruptions. I can tell I'm desperately in need of a break when I do things like go to a doctor's appointment and love having the time to myself.

So, how do I go about negotiating some vacation days from this motherhood job? I'll settle for a real meal break or some personal time on a regular basis.

She's growing up so fast...

Little Miss Violet has a lot of crazy toddler moments and frequently imitates her baby brother, but whether I like it or not, she is growing up. I'm happy about that, for the most part, but I suspect I'll be sending her off to kindergarten in a virtual blink of an eye.

She's wearing panties most of the time now. She's still horribly intimidated by public potties, unless they are low child-size ones, but she has pretty good holding capacity. We're very proud of her, and she's very proud of herself, for her potty capabilities. It wasn't that long ago that we were wondering if she'd ever decide to use the potty instead of a diaper. It's a relief that she is potty training, because it's a prerequisite for preschool in the fall.

And preschool...oh, I was going to do a post on it, but I have such a jumble of emotions about sending my little girl off to school that I might save that for later. We are weighing two preschool options at the moment. One is supposed to be a very good program that is hard to get into, but it seems like it might be a lot of preschool for a three year old. I think she'd enjoy it and my hesitations to send her four days a week are probably more about me than her. If she goes when she's three, she's guaranteed a spot when she's four, and we'd love for her to be in this program when she's four.

We've been weighing pros and cons of both programs, and a lot of the differences between then have advantages and disadvantages to them. I don't have a gut feeling about which would be better for her, maybe because my gut is confused by my brain. We weighed several options for traditional two-day preschool programs and I felt very good about the one we chose. But then my little girl was accepted as a typical peer role model at the public school's integrated preschool. The screening period is very short and I was pleasantly surprised that she impressed them while she was there, because she was in quite a mood before we left home that day. She loves new experiences and interacting with other children, which is why ten hours of preschool a week rather than four might be harder on me than on her.

Not this time.

"Daddy, did you have a baby?"

You've got to love toddler logic. The last time Violet had a parent in the hospital overnight, she had a new baby brother.  She kept wondering if Daddy was going to bring a baby home.

She's been very sweet and concerned about her daddy and is so glad he was home to read a story tonight. She has become such a daddy's girl.

The silly girl last week.

What a crazy weekend

Gator's walking in short spurts and is so proud of himself. His eighth tooth just cut through and is still bothering him. He's been lunging at me and biting as I tried to start this blog. A change of venue was required so I could continue without bite marks all over.

My husband, who almost never gets sick, was up pretty much all night Friday night (and kept me up too). He felt awful. When he was going on 12 hours of misery, we got him some medical help. It was a good thing we did, because he had appendicitis. He went from feeling perfectly fine one day to recovering from surgery less than 24 hours later. The workaholic is off work for a week and on other restrictions. We'll see how this goes...

Milestones

My little diva is three years old now. She dressed up on her birthday as we prepped for her party the next day.

We registered her for preschool next year and something about that seems so grown up. She'll be headed off to kindergarten before I know it. And while I look forward to the break from parenting while they are being educated and enriched elsewhere, and she drives me nuts on an almost daily basis, I have a feeling it won't be long before I'm looking back on these days wistfully.

Gator is spending more and more time on his feet. I saw him take a real step for the first time on Violet's birthday. He's repeated the feat several times since then and is practicing standing for longer and longer times. I think he's challenging himself to see how long he can stay balanced.

Today he took three steps! My little boy will be walking before I know it. It seems like he's growing up so fast.

Recent knitting (and Gator the frogger)

This is my primary project at the moment. I was intrigued by a neckwrap pattern in brioche rib and decided to learn it. I was lost after reading a few ways of writing the pattern out, but after watching a video on youtube several times, I got a satisfactory result. I'd love to try this pattern with the right yarn. Which would be something a lot bulkier than what I have, and a color variation that works well with the stitch.

I love having a project that is easy to pick up and put back down after a row or two if needed, or even put down mid-row when needed, without horribly messing up the project.  I've messed up the stitch in several places when loops slipped off my needle, etc. and I haven't figured out how to get them back on correctly. With the exception of one spot where I got really mixed up, the mistakes are small and show it's handmade. If I wanted something flawless and uniform, I could buy something made by a machine. At least that's what I tell myself when it's too late to easily fix a mistake.

My sweet little boy LOVES to play with my yarn. And socks, his sister's leggings, and other things he can hold with both hands and raise above his head, behind his head, and wave all around. One of the wonderful things about using circular needles when you're not knitting i the round is all that extra cable to scrunch your project down on in case a little frogger gets ahold of it. Gator was having so much fun with this colorful yarn that I grabbed my camera instead of stopping him when he grabbed my yarn yet again. After a lot of detangling, my yarn is neatly wrapped into a much less tempting ball, and I have some very cute pictures of my little guy. One happens to show the work in progress, so I can show it to you here.

Gator did get his hands on an embossed heart square I knitted on Valentine's Day and hadn't tied off yet. I don't care how you're supposed to do it...I have to put knots in when I finish a project with the little undoers that live here. It's a good thing I wasn't all that excited by that project when I was done, because he ripped out enough of it that it was a lost cause.

Violet hasn't really frogged a project yet, but she likes to pretend she's a frog. She jumps around and says "RIBBIT! RIBBIT!" and yes, I'm using caps to yell, because she does.

Anyhow, one of the reasons I started this blog post...I just found patterns for alligator scarves and I will have to knit one for my Gator to wear when he is older. He doesn't have much of a neck now, so I have a year or two. Maybe I'll purchase the pattern and work on it over the summer. Or next year. Or sometime when I have time to tackle something complicated. Thanks to Ravelry, I have some ideas for which yarns to use and not use and a few pattern modifications I might want to make.

Gator in a gator scarf. I think it will be so cute! He has just enough gator stuff for it to be fun without getting old.

Gotta love that imagination...

Violet was using the potty, and she likes a little privacy for that. I checked on her and was overwhelmed by the stench. She informed me she'd done a "big dinosaur poop".

Later, as we washed her hands, she sang a song that went something like "I made a dinosaur poop," repeated several times.

She also loves to look at the poop in her BABYBJÖRN Potty Chair - Blue and announce what she thinks it looks like. Today she decided it was a fish.

When she's not stretching my patience to the point of snapping, this kid can be a lot of fun.

We've been busy.

Violet up and decided to start using the potty around mid-January went from almost never using it to almost always using it within days. I figured that would be how she'd do it, because that's how she is with skills, but still, it felt like she was never going to start using the potty regularly. It's very exciting, but it's a pain at the same time. She has some really interesting timing and will insist she doesn't have to go, then have to go RIGHT NOW when I'm in the middle of something.

Toddler ink (potty rewards)

Gator gets into EVERYTHING. He is a fast crawler and turning into more of an extreme crawler every day, climbing over, into, onto, and through things. He can stand up in the middle of the room and others have seen him try to take a step, but for the most part he's happy with his current locomotion.  And with the exception of a recent bout with croup that had him pretty miserable, he's a fairly happy, social guy.

He thinks it's great fun to crawl through the cat gate in the extra-tall baby gate. He'll go back and forth through it for some time...or he'll make a beeline for the trash can or cat food.

We've been busy with some major decluttering/organizing/fixing up the house, and a variety of other personal goals. So much has happened in the children's lives in the past month, and I'm a bit disappointed with myself for not blogging about it more. Because you know mama uses this as a cheat when she forgets to write things in the baby book...and it's fun to look back on the past. I'm hoping to squeeze in a lot more blog posts soon!

He doesn't want to eat what babies should eat...

Mmm, ribbon!

My baby boy is an interesting guy. He's at that age where EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. As his horizons widen, he's actually EATING more of the things he chews on. Sometimes I feel like a forensic scientist when I change his diaper. What on earth did Gator eat?!

So far, he loves to chew (and swallow) all sorts of paper products. Kleenex is a favorite, but paper towels and any sort of paper or cardboard are popular choices as well. If only he'd eat real food with the gusto that he gives tissues.

Like his sister, he will happily sample dry cat food. Unlike his sister, but like the obese kitty that used to live with us, he doesn't discriminate against predigested cat food. That's right. I nearly threw up yesterday as I was trying to get the cat puke off his face and out of his mouth.

And then I wonder why I am being so selective about what people foods I give him? Maybe I should say to heck with allergies, this kid will eat any sort of weird thing he can get in his mouth.

The list of foods he has eaten is an atypical mixture of things we've deliberately given him and things his sister left laying around. I think we may go straight to table foods and skip more purees, since he's far more interested in bigger people food.

He's eight months old today. I'm another year old. His milestone feels a bit more exciting to me at the moment.