Sunrise Ruby

Saturday was more of the miserable same described in the last post.  But by Sunday, Ben was finally feeling better, so we met friends for pizza at Mangia on Saturday afternoon.  (Ben tried a few tiny bites of the pizza and seemed to like.)

On Labor Day morning I made minestrone with veggies freshly harvested from our garden.  We were listening to a jazz/bluesy mix while I cooked, and Ben danced to a B. B. King song; watching him dance is one of the greatest pleasures of my life so far.  In the evening we had a sitter for Ben, so we visited more friends that we hadn’t seen in a while.  We all watched Red Dawn, a movie from the 80s about a Soviet invasion of small town America during the Cold War.  Holy cats was that a weird time for the collective American consciousness.  Glad I don’t really remember it.

As mentioned in my last post, Ben has his first cold this week. I guess it’s a cold. He’s not used to being sick, I’m not used to him being sick, and it’s been pretty miserable. He’s not eating much, not drinking much, he’s tired but too uncomfortable to sleep much.  Being 25 weeks pregnant and toting around an inconsolable 25-pound 1-yr old all week is a sure recipe for physical and emotional exhaustion. Two visits to the pediatrician this week have been the bulk of the human interaction we’ve had this week. Thank the gods the weekend is here.

Nathan took over Ben care when he got home this evening. Ben is snoozing for now, and Nathan just left to go pick up some comfort food for dinner (spicy thom yum with tofu from Titaya’s on Lamar–*drool*).

I really, really hope our little man feels better soon.

What to do when you have your first cold:

1.  Wear a solid green t-shirt with matching hot pants (so the snot blends in).

2.  Stay home from your usual Thursday play group, and play pots in the kitchen instead.

I made hummus today to take to a group birthday party for a bunch of babies who all turned 1 this summer.

• 4 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 jar roasted red peppers, drained and rinsed
• 5 cloves garlic (which I pan roasted)
• 3 Tbsp. tahini
• 4-5 Tbsp. olive oil
• handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt to taste

I just tossed all the ingredients into the food processor and let it go until it was smooth, like hummus.  It’s tasty, but I think I could’ve added more garlic.  At the party this afternoon I’ll serve it with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and grape tomatoes.  I think it would also be great on a veggie wrap.

I imagine that some of the babies at the party will try the hummus.  For a baby less than a year old, you could omit the lemon juice.  It apparently makes a good snack for preggos, too–I’m using carrot sticks to shovel large quantities of it into my mouth as I type.

Ben’s babbling has seemed much more varied and complex during the last week.  Instead of chains of the same syllable over and over again (’da-da-da’ and ‘ga-ga-ga’), he’s combining different syllables into babblings such as ‘da-ga’ and ‘bo-bo-ga’.  He’s making more and more consonant sounds (I occasionally hear a ’sh’ or a ‘t’), and I think we’re hearing some of his first words, too–things like ‘dog’ and ‘dada’.

Then this morning Ben was throwing a fit when Nathan was trying to put him into the highchair for breakfast.  Nathan lifted him back up before trying a second time and said something like, “Ok, let’s try again.”  Ben, who obviously still didn’t want to sit in the highchair, replied, “Shit!” pretty clearly in a hideously cute, high voice.  Niiice…I’m sure it was just a coincidence, but it was awfully clear and made sense in context.  We, of course, reacted totally inappropriately if that was actually what he said, by exchanging a surprised glance and then giggling.

Ben turned 1 yesterday!  Last weekend we celebrated with a party of family and a few close friends.  In his first journey around the sun, our little bub has gone from a tiny 5-pound preemie to a whopping 25-pounder who’s a little tall for his age.  He’s acquired the ability to eat and breathe at the same time, to smile and to laugh, to crawl, and he’s not far from walking.  He’s fascinated with drawers, books, dogs, and pieces of fuzz on the floor.  He loves being outside, taking baths, and swimming.  He’s very into putting things into containers and learning to feed himself.

The 14th of this month marks not only Ben’s first birthday, but our first anniversary as parents.  I’ve grown up so much over the past year!  Becoming a mother has broken open my heart to new levels of love and compassion not just for Ben, but for everyone, including myself.  Seeing him explore his world helps me to see my own world with fresh eyes.  As I discover who Ben is, I discover more about who I am.

Happy Birthday, Ben!  We love you more than you know.  Maybe more than you’ll ever know, unless you one day have children of your own.

Here’s the obligatory first-birthday-cupcake-destruction photo:

(You can see the whole set of birthday photos here.)

Brianna made blueberry muffins early this morning as I was playing with Ben. While we were waiting for them to cool, I made this photo:

They were so delicious!

It’s official: Ben is now crawling.

(I am so screwed.)

Ben turned 9 months on the 14th. He’s 29.5″ tall now, and weighs 22 lbs., 4 oz. (He’s already breaking into his 18 months clothes–yikes.) He still loves bananas and hates peas. We’re completely in love with him.

“The work we are doing as parents is often on the scale of picking up toys or cleaning scraped knees, yet it is joyous and vitally important.  Our children will shape the world to come, and especially at this precarious time on earth, what is more vital than raising sane children who are compassionate and have an inkling about the world’s interconnectedness!”

-Amie Diller, “Practice at the Hearth.”  In Dharma Family Treasures, edited by Sandy Eastoak.

Ben’s first tooth poked through his bottom gums last night. While he did have some pain, it seemed milder than some of the teething pain he’s had these past few weeks.

In other development, he’s been enjoying lots of rolling onto his belly and shows a strong urge to crawl. With a little balance assistance, he pushes well with his legs and now leans in the direction he wants to go. Also recently he’s become more skillful at reaching for what he wants (and then putting it in his mouth).

We continue to feel amazingly blessed to have him in our lives.