My Little Planet

Peanut Butter and Jelly Time

Drew — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:03:36 +0000

It’s an icon of childhood, really. Most of us can probably count the number of PB&J sandwiches that we ate as a kid in the hundreds…I know that I can. At long last, through many subtle manipulations and slow introductions of different food types, I have gotten Adria to eat PB&J. I mean really…who would have ever thought that I’d have to trick her into eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Well, whatever the means….she eats them now, and she loves it…yay!

Adria fixing her own PB&J sandwich

April Photo Album

Drew — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:59:05 +0000

Better late than never, right? Right??

My favorite photos from April are here.

Laughing On The Swing

Drew — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:54:25 +0000

Austin loves to swing…he looks more comfortable in the baby swing, and likes to be pushed higher, than Adria did at this age:

Actually Solid Solids

Drew — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:37:41 +0000

Austin loves to eat. It’s rather delightful, actually, to have a child who will try new foods, appear to enjoy food, eat vegetables, and generally not make dinnertime a dreaded chore. He likes to eat so much that, even though he still only has his two bottom front teeth, it’s quite obvious that he wants to eat more solid foods. And by “solid” foods, I don’t mean pureed peas….I mean fruit, bread, hot dogs, and the like.

Here’s a video taken back on 4/16 of Austin happily munching on a slice of apple. He was very ineffectual for a while, but right at the end he finally bites off a piece, much to his own surprise. That was pretty much the end of the video, and I fished that chunk out of his mouth:

And a handful of photos from the last two weeks of him working his way through some real solid foods:

Austin munching an apple slice

Holding a prized french fry at In'N'Out

He actually did manage to gnosh a few fries down

Eating some bits of pita, blissfully unaware of the pink bib

Getting a bit of that pita to his mouth

With a tray full of macaroni and hot dogs

It's all very slippery...

Believe it or not, but he did manage to actually get some noodles and hot dogs into his mouth and eat them. It won’t be long before I’m fixing the same dinner for Adria and Austin…if he’d only get a few more teeth.

Going for a “Hike”

Drew — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:48:30 +0000

The JPL parents group organized a nature walk near the stream that runs right past the Lab. It was a simple thing…meet some friends in the East Lot after work, bring the kids, and go frolic near the water. Well, Adria loved this little adventure, and requested to go back. So, one Sunday morning when Adria and I were home alone, we decided to return to the stream. I sent Sarah an e-mail to let her know that I’d be up there, and luckily she and Helen were free to meet us!

For a while, the girls tossed rocks into the stream and dug in the dry sand. Then, they dug in the wet sand (which got applied to a big flat rock)…then Adria decided to go elbow-deep in the muck. Here are a few of my favorite snapshots from that “hike” (my camera died about 5 minutes in, so these are cell phone photos):

Adria picking a few good rocks to toss

Adria and Helen "polishing" a big flat rock

The best mud is at the bottom of this tide pool

Eventually, all pretense of staying clean and dry was gone, and Adria just went and did a little dance in the stream (don’t adjust your dial…the video is choppy because I made it with my old cell phone):

Here’s a photo of the same:

Adria doing the river dance

Clap, Clap, Clap

Drew — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:53:20 +0000

In the past week or two, Austin has learned a lot of new tricks. He is extremely agile on the floor: he’ll spin in place, scoot backwards, rock on his hands and knees, transition from sitting to the crawling position, and more. He has just started to wave a very primitive bye-bye, and even makes a sound like ‘bye-bye’ (although we’re a long ways from claiming that as a first word). He will now very deliberately pick up and eat some finger foods, like the baby wheat puffs and small bits of pancake. And, in the last few days, he has started clapping too. Here’s a sample of that:

This is a very exciting time…

Look, Dad, I Can Stand!

Drew — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:33:13 +0000

Oops….no, maybe not.

9 Month Birthday

Drew — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:34:47 +0000

Happy 9-month birthday, Austin!

Amanda and Austin watching Adria in the bounce house

Austin and Drew hanging out while Adria takes a pony ride

Adria and Austin wrestling on the floor: it begins

Easter Photos

Drew — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:00:47 +0000

Easter was…well…in April. But it’s been busy over here, so I hope you’ll excuse me for posting a few Easter pictures in early May. Ivan and Dianne came down to visit us for Easter weekend, and it was quite an adventure. Both kids were kind of sniffly to begin with, and then Adria caught a stomach bug and was throwing up all of Saturday night. She recovered pretty well, but you can even tell in the photos that she’s tired and moving slow on Easter morning.

Adria opening her Easter basket from Gamma and GranD

Blowing bubbles on Easter morning

It has become something of a tradition to go to the Descanso Easter brunch with Ivan and Dianne, and this year was no exception. Sadly, Adria was still recovering her appetite, so she didn’t get to sample all of the good food. I did manage to talk her into a piece of French toast, though, which clearly made her feel much better…

Adria eating gourmet French toast

During and after brunch, I snapped a bunch of photos of the kids in the garden. Descanso is always good for some quality light and color…here are some of my favorites:

Austin with a napkin on his head

Playing peek-a-boo with Campa

Easter bunny Austin

Adria, maiden of the weeping willows

Artsy edit of Adria sitting among the flowers

As is the norm, we sent Grandma and Campa home sick. I actually got Adria’s stomach bug on Sunday night, and then Grandma had it on Tuesday morning. They decided to pack it up and head home Tuesday morning…and by the time they got home, Campa was coming down with it as well.

We’re hoping that maybe, someday, Grandma will come visit Austin and no one will be sick. We’re not going to hold our breath.

More Laughter

Drew — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:07:41 +0000

It never really gets old watching Adria and Austin play together. Here is a video that I took yesterday while the kids were sharing the stroller…Adria was saying made-up words (yes, she’s saying “google,” but she thinks it’s a nonsense word) and flicking her hair, and Austin thought it was hilarious:

And here is Austin demonstrating his rather contagious belly laugh. Again, all that Adria was doing was flipping her pony tail back and forth by turning her head…Austin was just in the mood to laugh.

Does it remind you of anyone?