A time for Firsts

First food! About 5 days before his 6month appointment...we gave Seth his first food- rice cereal. He did really well. More on him that in him, but still...it's a learning experience. We put him in Keith's old highchair. It's the classic 70's version with the metal tray that your mom would warn you over and over to lift your arms up and out of the way so that your fingers would not get pinched as she slide the tray into its spot. And the print is also classic 70's with bright colored bunnys and poodles in a circus theme. We had to roll up blankets and tuck them in on either side of him to prevent him from slumping over because he was too small for it. Over the next couple of days, we experimented with making the rice cereal a bit runnier or a bit thicker, heat it up,etc....trying to make it somehow more edible. Yeah, he was soooo on to us. After about a week of that, it was apparent that he was not going to eat plain rice cereal anymore. So we started by blending in small amounts of pureed carrots and then squash. He loved them. We're hoping that this is an early indication that he is not going to be one of those picky eaters. I'd also like to think that somehow the fact that I ate such a variation of foods while pregnant with him, that he will be more opt to trying different things.

So for the past how many months...hmm maybe 2...Seth has been chewing on his hands, dribbling up a storm, and basically giving us all the signs that he was getting ready to teethe...but no. It got to the point where we would just thrown on a bib with every outfit so as to prevent his shirts from being soaked by the drool. Then.......one night...09 November...he started acting fussier than usual and chewing on his gum line. So we gave him a couple of doses of baby orajel throughout the evening and that seemed to solve the problem. Next day, 10 November ,he spent the day with Nana Alice. When Keith picked him up, Alice asked if he knew about Seth getting his first tooth?! So that day when I came home from work, Keith showed me our son's first small nubbin' of a tooth. It looked like 2 tiny sharp ridges busting thru his lower front gum. I was soooo proud I teared up and then ...a bit of fear took over....I am still breastfeeding...suddenly all I could think of was "please don't bite me."

Halloween

Ok, so there's a bit of a story surrounding Seth's costume this year. Keith's sister Christina sent us a bag of clothing, a johnny jump up (that looks like Tigger- so cute....has his tail on the child's butt side- sweet!) , and a pumpkin outfit- all items Oliver has outgrown. Well right then and there, Keith had planned on Seth dressing as a pumpkin. Me? Not so much....it just seemed so typical. Hey, nothing against other moms out there...I just wanted to dress Seth a little bit different- no peapod, hotdog, or dalmation. I had big plans....and I won't talk about that too much since it is his "definite" outfit for next year. Let's just say he'll be green and munching on cars. Ha! So back to the pumpkin outfit. Well...we went to this year's consignment sale at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Couldn't beat the admission price- a buck $. We went on Saturday so a lot of the sought after items like cribs, highchairs, and cloth diapers were wiped out. We did manage to find a few fun blocks, couple of books, and then Keith found the best item of all.....the skunk outfit! It was absolutely cute just sitting on the hanger. It was a fuzzy black outfit, puffy, white streak from head to tail, and simply the cutest thing. 5$. Well that was the moment Keith decided Seth was going as a skunk. We took him to the Commons (mall) on Halloween. All the stores pretty much close down while they pass out candy to the kids for a couple of hours. We like to go just to check out all the great outfits parents come up with and also to see what costumes are popular each year. No surprise that there were a lot of little girls dressed as Cheerleader Barbie, Hannah Montana, and princesses. For the boys..ninja, comic book heros like Spiderman and Batman, and pirates. We did spot infants dressed as lions, Carebear, and lambs....but none came close to how cute our little stinker was!

Seth also got to visit the pumpkin patch for the first time. We went down to the pumpkin field across for the Kent Dairy. It was a chilly day outside so we kept it brief. We'd dressed him in the pumpkin outfit which I thought was more befitting than Halloween. We took turns posing with him amongst the pumpkins and wooden cutouts of spooky cats and critters. Just so you know, we quickly put his jacket back on each time to ensure he was kept nice and toasty. We didn't buy a pumpkin this year since Seth's cousin Levi had given him a teeny tiny one while they were up visiting. Maybe next year we'll get one that he can finger paint.