Merritt's 16 month appointment

Merritt's weight is in the 25th percentile and he grew taller since our last visit in April so his height is in the 50th percentile. Neither his pediatrician nor I mentioned his prematurity today, which feels like a worthy milestone. He's just yer average 16 month old.

I had the rare opportunity to observe Merritt in his natural habitat, as Andy would say, without the variable of big brother in the picture because my sister offered to hang out with Roscoe in the waiting room.

In an environment of relative peace I observed Merritt maneuvering around our tight-quartered patient office and then when he sat down, how he coolly turned the pages of a book with his little fingers full of intention and ease, his curiosity engaged to explore each page, and his effort to catch my attention so that he could show me that he knew the animal or the sound that it made. The whole scene suggested that we've comfortably entered into whatever comes after the baby phase.

Just like that. (In hindsight, anyway.)

A warm sense of dumbfounded relief washed over me because I love this age, between 1 and 2, and our experience with Roscoe was that around this time we hit a new stride that felt easier than what came before. I'm not 5 months pregnant right now, like I was when Roscoe was this age, so we're primed to actually get to experience and enjoy the happy progression of independence that has just recently commenced. 

Merritt uses his words, a video clip

At this age communication is like a word game. Check out this little video of Merritt eating his dinner at the end of a long cranky day. I'm just trying to guess my way through and this was the first time I heard him say the word corn.

Painting with Pudding

If you want to avoid boxed pudding mixes, we've enjoyed this homemade chocolate pudding as a snack and for dessert--it's definitely not just for painting with!

Speedy Chocolate Pudding (adapted from The Family Dinner cookbook)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 cups regular milk

4 ounces milk or semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir the sugar, cocoa powder, and cornstarch together in a medium-size saucepan. Gradually stir in the milk. Heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil and thicken, about 10 minutes.

Add the chocolate. Turn off the stove. Gently whisk until the chocolate is completely melted.

Stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour into small custard cups if you're going to eat it, or onto a plate if the kids will be painting with it.  

Can be served warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

*My camera is at the Nikon repair center, because Merritt pulled it off a counter by its strap and the LCD screen is broken.  These photos were taken by the kids' nanny.  

Feeding the birds (and the squirrels too)

You know the classic pine cone bird feeder, made by coating a pine cone with a slather of peanut butter and a generous coating of bird seed?  We couldn't find any decent sized pine cones in our yard so we decided to use twigs and sticks instead.

We started out using our hands to spread the peanut butter but it was a little too messy so we switched to a small spatula, which did the job well. 

Roscoe lost interest in the spreading once he tasted the peanut butter, so he ate while I finished up the base coats.  He was happy then to add the seeds.

We then pushed our little bird feeders into the dirt and admired them.

Later in the afternoon a family of seven crowded our feeder with their squirrley antics while we spectated from inside.

Roscoe's Turn

After so much attention on Little Sears this week, Roscoe had his 15 month appointment this afternoon--even though he just turned 16 months.

We arrived early and played outside in the (hot) sunshine for 20 minutes. Then on our way inside Roscoe tripped and cut his lip so we made a grand, bleeding entrance. After stickers and snacks he was feeling much better but his little wound continued to bleed for most of the visit.

We got to see yet another nurse practitioner that I did not care for. Do any other moms nursing toddlers get the side eye when breastfeeding is brought up? I do not get it. Otherwise, Roscoe got his vaccinations, and a flu shot--and they gave me mine too, which was convenient!

He's now in the 43rd percentile for weight, and 11th percentile for height. Little Shorty!!

First casualty

Roscoe loves his Little Chubbies. Santa gave them to him as a gift on his first Christmas. Almost six months later he's perfectly content pushing even a block or stick around as he produces a convincing "brrrr", but a chubby is so cute, and small, and hooks together with its other little chubby friends.

Maybe it's possible that I love them even more than Roscoe does. Perhaps. Either way, it was a loss when I ran over a little blue chubby truck as we left for the store the other afternoon. Poor chubby.