10-ish Months

Gah! How time flies. From the time we left for Texas until we returned home, Ethan practically became a totally different baby. D was blown away by how many new things E was doing when we came back to Louisiana, and we were only in Texas for a week.

To start, he's pointing now. It's... really weird. Suddenly this little baby we've been catering to all this time can kind of communicate with us. He's been shaking his head 'no' for awhile now, too. He says "ba" for bath and "bo" for book, and he started making the "shhh" sound for shoe. One of my favorite things to do while I change his diaper is play the Can You Say game.

Me: Can you say.... book?
Ethan: Bo... Bo...
Me: Can you say bath?
Ethan: Ba... Ba!
Me: Good job! Can you say... juice?
Ethan: Da...dat...
Me: Ok, not quite. Can you say... shoe?
Ethan: Shhh... shhh.
Me: Awesome! Can you say Da da?
Ethan: DA! Da da!
Me: Horray! Can you say mama?
Ethan: (shakes his head no)

Which, yes he CAN say mama. He just won't do it unless he's in distress. When we put him in his crib and he cries, he'll say "Mama, ma... mamamamama!". When he needs a nap and is overly tired, he'll crawl over to me and say "Mama. Mama.". Only in times of need or misery does my name ever come up. Thanks a lot, kid.

ANYWAY! Ethan also dances. I mean this little guy seriously boogies. Any time he hears music, be it from a commercial or a download from the computer, he'll stop, turn in the direction of the sound and start shaking his little butt to the beat, sometimes even moving from side to side. It's quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. The boy's got rhythm, and Lord knows he didn't get it from my clumsy, awkward ass.

His favorite foods these days are organic chocolate-chip graham crackers in the shape of bunnies, cheddar cheese, YoBaby yogurt, pieces of apple, corn and peanut butter on rice cakes. He frustrated me to no end in Texas because I'd go to great lengths to provide him with things he liked, or things I thought he liked only to be pegged in the face with a piece of half-chewed mango or sweet potato. Chicken was spectacular one day, but when I offered it to him the next he looked at me like I was trying to feed him his own arm. I know very well that this is just a very minor taste of what's to come in the toddler years, and let me just say that I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. I guess if the boy wants to live off of peanut butter and rice cakes or freeze-dried corn, that's ok. A baby's body wisdom is something to be admired, really. Even I could survive happily off of Goldfish crackers and yogurt.

Sleeping the last three days has been less than ideal, to say the least. There's been less sleeping and more, oh... screaming, fussing, kicking, again with the screaming, clinging to me for dear life. Sometimes I wonder if there's some sort of boogie man in his room, but I've thoroughly inspected and boogie man-proofed and I found nothing. I do believe he's getting a molar or two, and for now I'm blaming his sporadic night-night behavior on those pearly whites sent directly from Satan himself. Here child, have a molar. Now spread your misery like the plague!

Yesterday's Grub

3x1 omelet on 2 slices lo-cal, hi-fiber bread with 1 slice 2% cheese
coffee with Splenda

medium apple
2 lite string cheese

Egg salad wrap: 1 whole egg + 2 whites mixed with red onion, 1 T. both mustard and lite mayo and piled on romaine in a whole wheat, lo-carb tortilla

1 rice cake spread with 2 T. peanut butter

Free meal:
2- 16 ounce Miller Lites
1 lean beef patty, broiled and topped with ketchup
steamed broccoli and cauliflower

1 fun size package of M&M's
1 fun size 100 Grand
1 Kashi honey & flaxseed granola bar

Total cals: <1,875 (I got lazy and rounded up for the beers and the candy)

Exercise: Power Hour- 60 minutes of total body weight training