Monthly Archives: January 2015

What’s She Doing Wednesday: My House is a Battlefield

Blog Post House is a BattlefieldSo in an effort to publish mid-week posts on this blog, I figured I’d give a shot at “What’s She Doing Wednesdays” to write about new little quirks, developmental milestones, likes/dislikes, funny behaviors, etc. So here we go:

What’s She Doing Wednesday – My House is a Battlefield

In the short few days into this first full week of 2015, Jia has managed to really show me a new and growing side of her. This week I really felt like I was starting to raise a toddler. Oh boy.

Here’s what I’ve experienced in the last (maybe not even) 48 hours:

  • I put safety gates at the top of two sets of stairs, not bottom. We decided to wait on the lower gate to see if Jia would actually climb them. Tonight (Wednesday) I turn my  back to load the dishwasher real quick and was away for MAYBE one minute and return to find Jia already climbing up on the 3rd stair. I supervised her while she successfully climbed the remaining 4 steps to the gate. Time to get a bottom-of-the-stairs gate. This was definitely THE week to get the safety gates installed. Thank goodness I ordered them Saturday and PRIME delivered them by Monday. Patting myself on the back here.
  • She has decided she doesn’t like smashed food. She was a fan on Sunday. Not after. Unless it’s breakfast and she’s eating mixed berries with oatmeal. Turns head violently away from the spoon and refuses to look back at me til she can “feel” that the spoon is nowhere close.
  • We found the first food she disliked: Yogurt. HATES yogurt. And it’s great that I got a huge tub of Plain Organic Whole Milk yogurt, since that was a waste. Thank GOODNESS she was a fan of the (yogurt) chicken I baked tonight and scarfed down an entire mini-chicken breast! (recipe is below). This kid loves (loved, because who knows now): black eyed peas, spinach, pumpkin, quinoa, lentils, all fruit, brussels sprouts, green beans, avocado, beets, carrots, butternut squash, peas, fig, kale, persimmon, salmon, chicken, turkey. Yogurt really took me by surprise. 
  • She’s found she can command the doggies by dropping food on the ground. She gets a huge kick out of this (look at the picture above), in between screaming because she doesn’t feel like eating the food she used to love.
  • Threw her head back in annoyance that she wasn’t allowed to drink from her sip cup until her spinach/sweet potato-smothered face is cleaned off.
  • I can no longer dump a handful of Happy Baby puffs to keep her occupied while I prep her food/dinner/clean dishes. She now eats a small amount then drops them one by one to Mei Mei. Then laughs her head off.
  • As I’m typing this, she’s flicking the cords behind the TV and peeks around the corner at me with a VERY mischievous grin on her face as she cackles.
  • Discovered and loves trash cans. This includes the bucket we keep her dirty soaking poo cloth diapers. Ewww.
  • Doggie water bowl? Fantastic place to clean my hands” (I’ve had to run and pull her away from it twice since starting this post)
  • She discovered the unending fun that is toilet paper. We keep a roll of the “good stuff” in her changing table area, in case we get a real hefty poo in a cloth diaper. 

But thankfully, here are some beautiful and adorable new things we’ve seen: Continue reading “What’s She Doing Wednesday: My House is a Battlefield” »

My Take on the New Year

New YearsWow, after a two-week hiatus from Little Sproutings, it’s time to start up again.

The holiday flew by and it feels like it was over before it even began! We had a really nice time in Charleston, SC celebrating Jia’s First Christmas at my parents’ house, along with Jeff’s parents. We spent 8 days eating good food and dodging lots of rain storms, but it didn’t feel nearly long enough. It was actually our first Christmas with both sides of our families together, which made it even more special. Even though it is always nice to go down South to be with my parents, I was really glad to be back in the comforts of our home with Jia back in her big crib and us back in our routine. 

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I don’t ever make good on them. But, for this year I wanted to make goals for self-improvement.

I think that this year is more important than other years prior because I’m a mom. I’ll eventually be a role model for Jia, though she is already building her perception of the world and interpersonal interactions from what she sees at home with Jeff and me. So, it will become more and more important to self-reflect and make myself a better version of what and who I am. These characteristics, values, and behaviors are what Jia will use to model her own behaviors as she grows up.

This week’s post isn’t so much a topic-specific health post, but more of a spiritual, reflective, and introspective therapeutic one.  Continue reading “My Take on the New Year” »