Then and Now

In honor of Robby's 18 month birthday, I thought I would post some pics to show how much changes in a year . . .

Just learning to sit up! (February 2008)

First haircut (February 2008)

First time to go to the park (we go several times a week now)

(February 2008)

Brushing his teeth with Mommy's toothbrush

(February 2009)

Playing in his tunnel from Grandpa and Nana

(February 2009)

Throwing a ball through the tunnel is fun!

(February 2009)

I Wouldn't Quite Say Gloating But...

So, to understand this story, you really need to know three things:

1. I am unfortunately a fairly (okay, very) picky eater, and there are many things that I do not enjoy that my husband claims as proof that I am probably a Russian spy such as apple pie, ice cream (except for one flavor at Cold Stone), chicken fried steak, etc.

2. The thing that I hate that sets me aside from all others though would have to be my lifelong dislike of all things potatoes. Yes, that includes french fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato salad, hash browns, tater tots, scalloped potatoes, and any other kind you can think of to ask me. I tolerate potato chips, but that is as close as I get.

3. My ongoing dislike of potatoes has always been met with great shock and often disbelief by those who learn this fact for the first time. I am not sure why it is more strange to dislike potatoes than, say, tomatoes, but the fact remains that this has singled me out as weird for my whole life (as if I didn't already know this people).

Okay, fast forward to this Sunday. During Sunday School, while of course paying complete attention to our story in Acts, my mind wandered to the inevitable question that I get every Sunday as we drive home: "What should we do for lunch?" Instead of the normal back and forth of "I don't care, what do you want" that we usually play for a good half an hour or so, I decided to be proactive and came up with a plan. We would share a meal from Boston Market. It is very Southern Baptist traditional Sunday lunch fare, and it is directly on our way home. So, we loaded up with half a chicken, mashed potatoes, and some mac and cheese, and the three of us went home to eat our lovely meal.

We got Robby out of his nice shirt and put some of each of the items we purchased on his tray along with some apples and gave him his baby spork. He happily ate the mac with his spork and messed with the chicken (I wouldn't necessarily call it eating the chicken, but he moved it around a lot). He got tired of the spork about the same time he turned his attention to the mashed potatoes. Before ever trying a bite, he enjoyed squashing them in his hands to feel the interesting texture. Finally, he was ready to try a bite.

Both Bryan and I were watching this moment with interest to see if he would take after his Mommy or his Daddy. The potatoes went in the mouth and immediately came back out with a vigorous head shaking indicating a clear dislike of the food at hand. I was pretty happy with this, but he has done the same thing before only to be contentedly munching on the same food a few minutes later, so I was not ready to claim clear victory. Then, something entirely new happened. He held out his hands to us, clearly indicating that he could go no further with his meal until the offending potatoes were completely cleaned off.

Oh sweet boy, how truly I understand that need. There is nothing worse than a container of perfectly good mac and cheese ruined by my husband's potato fork dipped carelessly into the mac leaving behind small bits of potato just waiting for unsuspecting me to put them into my mouth expecting nothing more than a nice bite of mac. Upsetting to say the least. Hands covered in potato would definitely contaminate any other bites that might be ventured. Needless to say, I washed them right off for him.

Thus, I am proud to say that I am not the only person in the family who naturally dislikes potatoes though whether or not my husband's persuasive skills will one day convince Robby to go to the dark side remains to be seen I fear...

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Yesterday was Robby's 18 month birthday (or as I like to call it Half Birthday). It started with a couple of renditions of "Happy Half Birthday to You" when he woke up and then progressed to a fun dinner with tah at On the Border (love restaurants that give him balloons!) and was supposed to end with a cupcake, though the birthday boy was just a bit too tuckered out so we will save that treat for today.

But, I wanted to make him a special, "big boy" lunch for his birthday, and after careful thought, here is what I ended up with: peanut butter jelly sandwich, sun chips, string cheese, and yogurt. Now, when I was growing up, this meal was the all American childhood sack lunch. There was nothing exciting or interesting about it. But that was then.

We now live in the days of peanut butter terror. I am convinced that no other single product out there is the cause for as much debate or concern as peanut butter for a child. Peanut allergies are on the rise across the nation, and doctors just aren't sure why. The prevailing theory is that the earlier you expose your child to peanut butter, the more likely they are to develop the allergy. When we were pregnant with Robby, the general advice was no peanut butter for a year. So, that was our plan. On Robby's first birthday, he got one mini Ritz peanut butter cracker, just as an experiment. But then, people started telling us, "No, wait until he is at least three to give it to him. The longer the wait, the better."

This advice runs counter intuitive to everything I have been told about allergies, however. Books and doctors tell me that the earlier children are exposed to dust, grass, animals, etc. the better that their body will be able to build up a tolerance and the less likely the child is to develop asthma or other allergies. So why would this not be true of peanut butter? So, I have been a closet peanut butter giving mom. My intuition says that now that he is over a year old, peanut butter is fine for him, but I didn't want people necessarily knowing this fact...

Then, this week I read in one of my magazines (Parents, Parenting? how to keep these two separate?) that studies are now showing the same thing I have felt. The longer a child is kept from peanut butter, the study says, the more likely they are to develop an allergy. The bottom line, I think, is that they don't know what is causing the increase in peanut allergies, and as parents we have to do what we think is best for our children. I have now openly crossed the line to stand in the camp of those who feed their children peanut butter. I sent a PBJ to daycare.

And to think that this diatribe did not even touch on the salmonella scare (we stayed away from peanut butter products, but actual jars of peanut butter were never listed). Of course my favorite brand went off the shelves for about a year due to its own issues several years ago. As I said, peanut butter is no easy product to contemplate for parents of young ones today...

Birthdays

So, I feel like I haven't posted about what's been going on in our world in a while, so I thought I would update. Of course, I could really sum it up in one word: birthdays. We have been celebrating birthdays for the past four weekends in a row. It started off with Bryan's brother Michael's 30th birthday, which was on January 16th. All of the siblings went to Waco to surprise him, though Robby and I were unable to go. We went to Eastland for the night instead. By all accounts, it was a fabulous weekend.

The next weekend was Bryan's birthday, which was pretty low key. My friend Minda came over and watched Robby while we went out for a night on the town. Turns out we are pretty old though because after dinner at Ghengis Grill, walking around Sundance Square, and then dessert at Simply Fondue, we were tired and ready to call it a night! Bryan got an iPhone for his birthday, which has quickly become his favorite toy. Of course, we already had to replace the first one he got after the screen got cracked. Thanks Apple for taking such good care of your customers and replacing it for free!!

Then, Bryan's niece Lucy turned one on January 31st. She had a birthday party with another little girl who also turned one on the same day, and it was a blast! They had a bouncy house, two cakes and cupcakes, and lots of good people and conversations. We took 165 pictures, so I thought I would share a few:

Then, this past weekend we went to Houston to celebrate Bryan's dad's 60th birthday, which was also really fun. We got to play several sweet mafia games, eat tons of good food, and Bryan and his brothers have invented a new game called Soccer Tennis that they played all weekend and promises to be sweeping the nation very soon. Over the weekend, Robby apparently determined that there is nothing so important to him as a ball (always of great importance but now of utmost importance). If he is not playing with a ball, he is looking for a ball. The whole way home (over five hours thanks to wreck traffic), Robby would periodically cry for a ball. Once Mommy climbed over the backseat and got him one from the very back. He promptly threw it behind his head into the back again. There were no more ball retrievals after that.

Okay, super long post. I apologize. But, I will be out of town most of this week for work, so maybe this will last until I have time to post again :)