Monkey Lost His (Rat) Tail- First Haircut 8/18/12

we figured it was time for a haircut when baby mullet > baby curls

he stayed perfectly still! couldn't have been sweeter and more cooperative.

it helped that he could sit in my lap. he was curious, looking around at all the shiny things...

we went to robb's hairdresser who he's been seeing for years. she was WONDERFUL with henry.

finished product. very dapper dude. he looks a lot older!

The Zombie Apocalypse is Now: Are You Prepared?

henry got bitten for the first time today by one of the little bastards at daycare. it left a mark but did not puncture skin. so we don't have to worry about rabies, i think.

it's really not a big deal. it will happen again. and i'm sure at some time we will be on the other side of things.

apparently the kid is a menace, though. when robb was picking up henry and getting the run-down on the event, the child was right then biting another victim in the room. so the poor care-takers had to write up ANOTHER incident report.

i think they might need to get that child a tiny 'silence of the lambs' mask cage thing. just until he gains some control. :)

Fourteen Months Young

monkey is 14 months old today. he had a rough night last night. robb and i both seem to have a flu right now, and i'm guessing henry has the same, but can't verbalize his complaints of chills and aches, so just thrashes around and screams unless his (very ill and cranky) parents walked around with him for hours on end. :(

but then this morning, he came up and kissed me without being prompted, for the first time. a proper kiss with no teeth and no drool and even a little *smack* noise. adorable.

so all is well. :)

he is so verbal lately. it's a riot. he says and signs "more." he very clearly says "mia," the dog's name and has started repeating what you say to him. and his first 2-sylable word is "cracker." i think it's a judgement on us more than the name of a food item, but i have no proof. he also does a few animal noises. we bought him a fisher price barn w/ all the animals at a garage sale down the street, so we've been learning our animals and their noises.

he's walking without difficulty now and even running some without falling. he will chase us around the house and play large scale, full contact games of peek-a-boo. he gets all giggly when we're "coming to get him" but hasn't yet figured out to run away from us.

he has something like 12 teeth now, although i can never be sure because he is wily and very bite-y. a few are still working their way up.

we're hoping he's gaining weight. we've been adding full fat coconut milk and seed butter and oils to everything. he's definitely lengthening. there are parts a-plenty flying all over the place when we try to sit with him in the rocking chair.

and we are totally weaned from nursing. i still have a small frozen supply, so i'll try to stretch that out so he gets some breast milk for fat & immunity every couple days.

weaning went ok. up until last night, he's actually sleeping better, i think because there's nothing good to wake up to so why bother? :) i started the full birth control pill again and i think that's helped me transition easily from my end. it dried me up and i haven't had any pain or leaking or issues like that.

and just to prove he's a big boy for reals, he is scheduled for his first hair cut next week. i will, of course, post pics.

toodles!

It Walks!

henry's been tottering around for over a month, but now he can change directions mid-stride and right himself when tilting (usually). he's running up and down the hallways in our house and truly tormenting the poor dog.

it's awesome. enjoy!

Fat Actress

well, like renee and charlize before him, henry is in the business of needing to pack on the pounds.

i took him in to the peds office this week because he has another respiratory virus with some wheezing (=nebulizer treatments again, considered "pre-asthma" at this point AND getting 3 teeth right now, poor fella) and he isn't gaining as much weight as he should.

the pediatrician isn't very concerned- he's in constant motion, burning calories at a high rate. he eats fairly well, but obviously not enough/the right stuff to catch up with all that activity. so we talked about ways to get more fat into his diet. she was very encouraging about the dairy-free vegetarian thing. i was ready to scrap all of our health platforms and get the kid a cheeseburger asap, but she didn't think it was necessary.

i did, however, go directly to trader joe's and buy chips and guac, cookies, and chocolate covered bananas. we've started making him these super high fat, high protein smoothies that he happily slurps down, and are giving him fried eggs, coconut everything and avocados constantly. we're avoiding nuts for now, at least until he's 18 months for the potential allergy. i made a healthy, fatty vegan alfredo sauce tonight with pasta that he liked.

covered in chocolate and chip dust #getinmybelly

but in truth, all he wants is fruit. all the time. we have to eliminate all sightings of oranges and bananas in the room before he'll eat anything else. and if there's even the merest mention of a blueberry? forget it. i've taken to dipping strawberries in sunflower seed butter. and 'buttering' (coconut oil) anything and everything. he's going to grow up thinking all foods are slippery and must be wrestled into submission. we're being creative to get in the needed fat and protein and everything. but i am glad he likes fruit.

the gall of us asking him to eat not fruit.

from what i've read about vegetarian, dairy-free diets, kids on them can (and should, often do) get huge from this plant-based, whole-food diet. i just think we haven't been focusing enough on the fat. so now we're gonna fluff him up like a Christmas goose! or, you know, Christmas tofu-goose. here is a great blog post from a vegan mom on the subject. 

this is the kind of thing we eat regularly- dinosaur kale wraps w/ quinoa and beans plus lots of veggies and a sesame sauce. henry can totally eat this kind of thing, we just have to roll it in cake mix and deep fry it first. :)

How We Do Chocolate Mousse, Vegan Style, Yo

yum. so i got this cookbook called "the complete guide to vegan food substitutions" by steen and newman. it's pretty good. (uses peanut oil a lot, but can obviously be subbed for allergies).

i was leafing through it the other day and henry went "mmmmmm" and pointed when he saw a picture of BBQ beans. so i made them. and made a whole summer meal around them (with dill capers tater salad, vegan coleslaw, and veggie burgers). needless to say, beans of anticipation turned out delicious but were too spicy for monkey and they were spit out among so many tears of unfathomable sadness. in the same leafing through cookbook episode, we BOTH went "mmmmm" and pointed when we saw a pic of chocolate mousse.

so i made that, too. henry won't eat it, either. but that's no judgement on the mousse. it's more because he's boycotting food because his face hurts and he's trying to give me an ulcer paired with a psychotic break.

anywho....where was i?

oh, right? mousse.

here's the recipe. quick, easy, healthy and vegan, allergen free and so freaking good.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

ABC Mousse Topper page 244 (sweetened w/ fruit and no added refined sugar, other than what's in the chocolate....this can be used as a cupcake frosting, or chilled, as a mousse. i served it like mousse with some vegan whipped cream on top).

1.5 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks
1/4 c coconut milk
2 large ripe bananas, sliced
2 small ripe Haas avocados, pitted and peeled
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract
1/2 tsp pure orange extract
1/4 tsp pure coconut extract
pinch sea salt

i did not have all those fancy extracts, so i just kept adding more vanilla until it tasted right. i did add a titch of maple extract, because i had some and i was feeling left behind.

1. melt chocolate in microwave/on stove.
2. put milk, nanas, cados, extracts and salt in food processor and blend until smooth
3. add the melted chocolate and process until smooth, scraping sides occasionally (here the recipe recommends only putting in 1/2 the chocolate, so that you can later swirl the remaining in to make threads of melted chocolate that will get crunchy as it cools---i like smooth mousse, so i just dumped it all in).
4. transfer to large bowl or individual serving dishes. chill before serving.
5. again, we just gobbled it up, but by the next day after being chilled over night, i could see how it could be a great frosting for cake. will try at some point.

He's That Kid (Again) and Growed Ups Only Beach Vaca

so apparently all the super fun games we've been playing with henry where we steal something from him and say "mine!" to make him laugh weren't maybe the best thing to teach a toddler.

he's been saying it at daycare. a lot. and applying it to all the things he covets/takes. and he's teaching the other kids.

next week he'll be telling all the other 1 and 2 year olds about how sex works and the week after that, that there's no santa clause.

(if you're reading this, kristen or robb, i'm just kidding. there is definitely a santa clause, honey).

in other news, robb and i got away for an overnight to the beach while my (wonderful, awesome, amazing, superb, generous) parents watched the monkey.

it was bliss. we talked about henry a lot and gazed at cell phone pics now and then, but we didn't pine for him or leave early to come back or anything. and really it was just grand to be just the two of us for a while. and it wasn't 'like the old days' because i think we didn't take one second of it for granted (like we would have before we knew better). we just talked and talked and laughed and swam and drank and all things whilst not listening for anyone to wake up across the hall. we even slept a whole consecutive 8 hrs.


this was our first time away together. we didn't really mean to wait this long, it just happened. and henry did just fine without us. of course he's getting molars now, so he's in beast mode all the time, but he and my parents survived each other beautifully. our 10th anniversary is in the fall. we're thinking of traveling sans baby monsters again.

what else is new? temper tantrums a 'plenty. full on fists bunched, howling, boneless to the floor. now that he's officially walking (video soon), he wants to walk ALL the time and woe unto anyone who tries to pick him up. he also just started giving kisses. he blows kisses when leaving and kisses his stuffed animals audibly. the only kisses i get are still all open mouthed with teeth and tongue (eww), but we're working on it. :)

toodles for now!