Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
This week I’m turning my attention on my not so little baby boy.  Tate William turned nine months yesterday.  He has chubby thighs and cheeks, big blue eyes and a cheery disposition.  I look back at those months and wonder where the time has gone and how much he has changed.

Tate is growing into a sweet little guy with a fun personality.  He loves to blow raspberries on his forearm, say words such as dada, clap his hands and watch his brother play for hours.  He is always smiling and exploring the house.  Currently, he is fascinated with bubbles, zippers and blinds. He loves to eat sweet potatoes, shredded cheese and gnaw on apples.  He giggles when he hears music and rides the swing.

Jack has formed a close bond with his little brother.  He is very cautious with him and knows not to let his big boy toys near Tate.  Jack helps to feed Tate, bathe him and most of all demonstrate Superman stunts.  Occasionally there are times where Jack is protective of his belongings, but with a lesson on sharing he eventually comes around.  I adore having two sweet loving boys who share the same upbringing, but are each their own special person.

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
Joe’s cousin is getting married next summer in Italy. Naturally, we have begun to wonder if we will be able to take the trip. Of course it would depend on many factors, the biggest of which is what to do about “the baby.” We could probably leave him or her with my parents or Joe’s, though I don’t know how I would deal with that emotionally. Or, we could be adventurous and set off to Europe with the little one!

I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but it did get me thinking about trips I have taken as a youngster. One of the most memorable is a trip I took to the French Open with my dad 17 years ago. When I was a kid, I played a lot of tennis. At my club, there was a contest posted in which you guessed the winners of the US Open that year, and the grand prize was a trip to Paris.

With nothing better to do between court times, I filled out maybe a dozen of these forms. I entered with the actual winners of the tournament a few times, not because I am a sports betting prodigy, but because Sampras and Graf won that year. They dominated the sport at the time. I had just forgotten about the contest when I got the call that I had won the Fila Grand Slam Summer Sweepstakes. Actually my father won. I was smart enough to put the name of someone over 18 on the entry forms.

So off to Paris he and I went, and it was wonderful—luxury accommodations all the way, and tickets to the famous Roland Garros stadium for the final rounds of the French Open. It was fabulous fun for a tennis-obsessed tween like me. And I also gained one of the best “what a coincidence” stories I ever heard.

One morning as we were settling into our seats at the stadium, a kindly man sat next to me and said something to me in French. Not knowing the language, I was freaked out. He quickly realized I was American and then spoke in English. He was really nice and he, my dad, and I got to talking. We told him we were from the New York area, and he said his son married a girl from New York named Rachel. My father and I said, “Oh, that’s nice” and didn’t think much of it.

Then he said that Rachel’s father was a doctor. That piqued our interest, because my father is also a doctor. The nice French man then mentioned the name of the hospital at which the Rachel’s father worked, and we were stunned. It was my dad’s hospital too. It turned out the doctor the man was talking about had been a friend and colleague of my father’s for about 15 years! I couldn’t believe it. What were the chances of this man sitting right next to us in this huge, famous venue, and us striking up a conversation?

Rachel’s father passed away last week. Several years ago, her brother had taken care over their father’s obstetrical practice, and he will be delivering my baby in the next few days. It is a small world after all.

Editor’s Note: Shortly after writing this post, Neetika gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Our congratulations!

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
The thing about having a limited diet, is you get sick of food pretty fast. If I  listened to everything all the various doctors told me NOT to eat, my diet would be limited to lettuce and meat. Maybe, every so often, some carbs thrown in there for good measure.

But I’m old enough to understand that if I don’t eat fruit, sweet vegetables, carbs, dairy, salt, sugar, caffeine or alcohol, that’s pretty boring. I also
know that if I exist on salad alone, within a week (and that’s giving me a whole lot of willpower credit), I’m going to scream if I see another lettuce leaf.

But try explaining THAT one to a three year old.

My kid used to be an awesome eater. He’d chow down on anything you put in front of him. Except green beans and those little jars of pureed meat that smell and look like dog food… Then one day he woke up and decided most foods were “ick.”

His diet has a few main staples: mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, pancakes, pizza and mini hot dogs. Last month, he decided pizza was “grossey” and hasn’t eaten it since. He turns his nose up at pancakes. Stomps his feet at chicken.

But at least we had good old macaroni to fall back on. Til last week. Now he doesn’t want that either. He’s tired of these foods and is pretty apprehensive about trying new stuff.

Yesterday, he was eyeing another kid’s cheese ravioli with great interest. I brought three different kinds of ravioli last night and sent it into school with him. I was hopeful he’d try it, but part of me knew unless that kid was sitting next to Andrew eating raviolis that looked exactly like Andrew’s, he wasn’t likely to even try them.

This is one of the few times I’m sorry to say I was right.

We do try to get him to try new stuff. But if he doesn’t want to try it, he’s never going to. (See… product of two stubborn lawyers.)

Anyone got any brilliant (or not so brilliant ideas) how to get this boy to try new things?