Tristin and Isabella: April 2008

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Eating crazy for breakfast

There must have been a few dabs of crazy in the cereal today. Tristie was practically jumping off the walls with each bite!

This weekend, we had absolutely beautiful weather. And when I say absolutely beautiful, I mean it in the most relative sense since in the Bay area, for the most part, the weather is always pretty wonderful. This weekend was particularly special because in addition to the usual blue skies and clean, crisp air, we had loads of warm beaming sunshine. So warm, C, T and I all had shorts and t-shirts on. Tristie doesn't have many short-sleeved shirts or shorts since its usually somewhat windy and chilly where we are (since our place is perched right on the water) so I scoured through his closet for the one short-sleeve-shorts he had and it turned out to be a onesie that my colleague at work in Singapore had given to us that had yet to be worn. It has a special message (to be revealed in the pictures below).

Not sure if I mentioned this in my last entry but Tristie, these days, is recuperating from a cold. He's doing much better and is starting to get back to his usual self. As I may have stated in my last entry (don't remember what I said or didn't say) but he's now grabbing both feet all the time and likes to pound his hand on the table or on his waist or on whatever he can pound on. Paranoid mommy that I am, I initially thought that his flailing arm was a sign that something was wrong with him. I freaked out for about 5 minutes wondering why he was making that motion only to be later told that it was a normal development. Hopefully so.

In my last entry, I may have misled T-blog readers to believe that our little pumpkin enjoys reading. Well, he's actually quite uninterested and usually looks everywhere but the book. In fact, the moment we open a book up and try to flip to the next page, he tries to close it. I would like to believe he has no control over his arm and its just him making funky, "uncontrollable" motions but some times I wonder if this is wishful thinking and the "coincidence" is an indication of what's to come intellectually. Oh well, as long as he's happy and healthy :-) . He's still making inroads into the world of solids. We stopped for a week because he developed a rash after eating sweet potato but just today, we started him back & he had his first serving of mushed carrots. Can I get a "yuuuum yum'"?

Hopefully, the good warm weather will continue and we'll be able to get some more fun shots of T outside, exploring the world beyond home.

Teddy, you taste good...

Going for a stroll along the water

On the swing with no neck

Down on the ground

Getting ready to crawl (he doesn't crawl yet...just does these motions)

Superman!

The t-shirt sums it up

Mommy, are those ducks over there?

Up, up and away...

Strolling with Teddy

How many fingers can I put in my mouth?

...only two fingers for now

Still two fingers. What's that?

Getting ready for our photo shoot

Grabbing one foot is for babies. I grab TWO now!

My two feet

Can you grab both feet too?

Are these my toes?

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Six in the City

First of all, apologies for being M-I-A. Since I've gone back to work, I've tried to make Tristin blogging a weekly routine but since I returned from Mexico, lots have happened. Our Au Pair started working with us so there's was a significant amount of invested time in preparing for M's arrival and soon thereafter, my mom left back to Asia, leaving C and I with actual full-fledged parental and house responsibilities. Ack. As a result, I've had to put things less critical (aka: blogging) on hold. Hopefully, it won't take me another few weeks before I post another entry.

Anyhoo, as mentioned, lots of happened since we last "chatted". First of all and most importantly, Tristin turned 6 months! Yes, about two weekends ago, we celebrated his 6-month milestone with some delish cupcakes, a wonderful meal (which Tristin couldn't eat) and some good wine and vodka (slurp slurp). And of course, party hats came out, Tristin's stuffed animal friends danced until the wee hours of the crazy night and pictures were taken incessantly so the night could be forever etched in our minds and memories.

As for Tristin's 6-month milestone --

He is now weighing 19 pounds and 7 ounces (quite a workout to carry him these days) -- 50-75th percentile in weight; 26.5 inches in height (50th percentile) and 43 1/4 in head (50th percentile) -- yay -- he's proportionate!

He's rolling over back and forth and starting to make crawling motions (meaning he gets on his knees and does mini push ups); at times, he'll use his arms to crawl backwards

I can't say for sure that he likes to read (tends to look at everything except the book when reading) but C and my favorite part about reading to him is when he looks up and gives you a cute curious stare as though he wants to know who the person is that is holding/reading/playing with him
His two bottom teeth are out. After many days of hardship, teething pain and difficulty sleeping, the little white pearls have popped out! Yippee! :-)

He's started to eat solids -- officially. Broccoli he loves, avocado (like his daddy) he doesn't, apple he started off not liking but then took a liking, sweet potato is still undecided as he started & seemed to like but got a rash on his tummy so we are discontinuing the veggie for now (that's all we've gotten to for now). Next month, we will start on meats!

He is grabbing things left and right but most importantly and most cute-ly, he's still grabbing his toes. Both sets of feet. It helps him sit up on his own. He's not able to entirely sit up without support but by holding his feet he's able to shift his weight in such a weight that he's able to sit up for a few seconds. Sometimes even a minute.

One last thing -- our fabulous au pair, Monica (M), has started with us. Finding good childcare is one of the most challenging aspects of being a parent in the Bay area. Lucky for us, we found Monica, a really sweet caring Venezuelan who loves babies, has a ton of experience with kids (was a school teacher in Caracas) and wanted to do her second year in the Bay area, near her sister (another Au Pair). It's only been two weeks but so far, its working out great. Tristie loves his Tia Monica and C and I see her as an integral part of the family. Welcome to the family/Bienvenidos a la familia, Monica!!

Now on to the good stuff -- lots of photos to keep you busy for the next 5 seconds..