Dictionaries, Naps, Me, and Food

I've been meaning to write a catch up post on things around here, but the days just fly by it seems.  My priority now is to "record" Keller's crazy increase in talking over the past month...simply amazing to me!  He went from the basics of "nana"--banana, dada, and Bobo, and "buh"-book, to then pointing and calling everything "dat"...It was kind of odd that he went from having some words to then not naming anything, then all of the sudden he was like a word explosion!  While he doesn't quite have "nana" back, he has so many other words going on, it's okay:)  Here's a rundown of what comes to mind:

up

buh  (book)

oh-raaaange (orange...but really a clementine...loves these little things)

bli-bli-bli  (blueberry, also refers to raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and cherries)

ca-kah  (cracker)

cooo-kee  (cookie...can be used interchangeable with cracker...even points in books to "cookies" and names them)

man--(snowman, gingerbread man, and nutcracker man)

teeee  (tree)

bur  (bird)

duh  (duck...in fact, while shopping in a big antique center, he was quietly riding along in his stroller and all of the sudden after turning down a new aisle he starts screaming, "Duh, duh, duh!! and pointing straight down the aisle to these two big wooden ducks...very cute)

bah  (sheep)

nee nee (ie. neigh, neigh...for horse)

moo  (cow)

bok (block)

ha-ha (hot)

bwwww (brrrrr...for cold)

doh-geeee  (doggy)

ki-kah  (kitty cat)

squeak squeak (he makes the noise---mouse)

bah-by (bye-bye)

nah-night

hah  (hat)

beebee (baby)

blib-blib (boobie:) yeah, we joked earlier on that if you can ask for it, your too old for it, but alas...a couple more months through flu season and we'll be done...)

Mah--meeee (my favorite for now at least...took awhile, but he finally says it)

Da-da

owt (out--says this when we go in to get him from his crib or when he's done in the high chair)

tee-tah  (tick-tock, for clock or watch)

 

And how can I forget his favorite:  MORE... and he says it with a Long Island accent, like Mow-ah...this goes mostly for food since I would always say "more" to him when I gave him more of whatever.  He says this when he's hungry, too, or he'll say "oh-range" and point in his mouth.  After one of us says, "Are you hungry?" to him, he'll respond, "Huh--geee"---he definitely emphasizes the second syllable, especially if it's an "eeee" kind of syllable:)  

He seems to love new words and learning to use words to get what he wants and has even put two words together...Mow-ah crah-kuh...or sometimes he'll say "Peeees" (please)...it's neat to watch him try to figure out what to say---sometimes it's more, sometimes it's the food name, sometimes it's please and yes sometimes it's still that "ehhhhhh, ehhhhhh, ehhhhh" whine...ugh!  We are under strict orders in this household not to feed him when he whines...which makes sense, especially since we know he knows the words now.  

Then there's his receptive language which has impressed us for awhile now (because we just think he's this little baby when really he's a big boy now...what do we know!!?)  He'll point to his eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears (both), head, elbow, legs, hands/fingers, toes/feet, chin, beard.  And he's good at responding to "Get Mommy the _____" or "Give the _______ to Daddy."  And I'll stop there, I've just been meaning to get all of this in writing since there's no "baby book"---

Napping update.  Mommy got gypped.  I can't help but feel that way a little.  I have a delightful, healthy, happy, kind-spirited little boy who only sleeps 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour in the afternoon (not always).  I keep thinking and hoping, but I really just need to accept this and move on.  I do really feel like I have time issues because of this, but I guess rather than "fretting" I should just figure out ways around it, and just get used to getting more done with him literally under my heals...

Me Time.  I desperately need this.  I think that is why I brought up the nap thing.  I think my plan is going to be to join a gym again.  He's old enough now where I'm not as worried about him swapping germs in the daycare room for an hour here and there...I need that feeling of independence for a little bit, and probably more importantly, I need the exercise.  Exercise has always been an important part of my life and over the past year plus, it's been totally on the back burner.  I need it to help me feel good about me---it's my shut my brain off time--and it's good for you.

Eating Better.  I've been reading the book "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan and it has really reminded me of what I've been struggling with for awhile now...He says eat food, not too much, and mostly plants.  By Eat Food, he means the real food that people used to eat, not the processed pre-packaged crap that us westerners have come to regard as food.  I've been struggling with feeling like I eat crap everytime I eat "fake chicken" or whatever other meat-replacement we eat around here.  Especially in thinking about raising Keller and teaching him about food and food choices, I don't want to feed him crap and so why should I be willing to put it into my body on a regular basis?  This author also spends a lot of time explaining what a disservice it was to our diet once the food industry started breaking food down into individual nutrition components--meaning refine the crap out of your bread so it's pure and white and fluffy, but then "enrich it" by adding back some iron, niacin, etc. (that was in the whole wheat flour in the first place)--because he claims that the benefits of "enriched" foods are far less than when we consume the whole food in its natural form.  Makes complete and total sense, yet why is it so hard to follow this diet...Let's see, I'd actually have to plan ahead and Cook, which I'm very bad at and don't really enjoy at all...that's what it comes down to mostly for me.  But that's no excuse.  So I told Travis that our New Year's Resolution in this house needs to be to eat more veggies (although we probably eat plenty more than mainstream America--still, we need to eat a bigger variety and really we tend to only eat our veggies at dinner...)  Are we getting our minimum requirement of 5 fruits and veggies a day?  Are you?  So many benefits to doing this, really there's no excuses...So more fruits and veggies for us AND whole wheat pasta "most" of the time...we were doing good with that for awhile but somehow slipped back into the plain old white pasta...at the very least we should give the protein "enriched" one a whirl...

And so there it is ladies and gentlemen.  An update.  While my baby boy sleeps on his daddy--for at least an hour I might add--sleeps good and long ON someone, but...

The shoveling is done thanks to the neighbors for helping and post-nap and lunch, we'll hit the snow with our new (used) sled!!