No more dummies!

So, Owen has now been 2 weeks without his dummy (pacifier to you Americans). Yes, I know that he's almost 3 years old and that we should have gotten rid of it AT LEAST a year ago. But, he loved it in a serious kind of way (you should have seen his eyes light up every night in between brushing teeth and story time when he exclaimed "it's dummy time!" and ran to the kitchen to get one), and it seemed like such a daunting task to rid him of it. We knew we needed to take the plunge with both a whole weekend ahead of us with nothing major planned and at a time when we hadn't just (or weren't about to) faced anything life-changing or disruptive (eg, new baby, travel). Somehow it took us until a few weeks ago to finally give it a go.

Turns out we probably made a bigger deal about it than necessary (typical of most parenting dilemmas I think, at least for us). We are most definitely not above bribery - he received several little "Cars" movie cars and a play mat that looks like Radiator Springs the night he agreed to first sleep without the dummy, then after one successful night (and a naptime) we went to the Disney store and he got to pick out another present (Cars themed again of course). The biggest problem was convincing him that he wasn't going to be getting presents EVERY time he slept without the dummy. Oh, and that he wasn't just giving it up for a night or two, but that there would never, ever be another dummy at bedtime or naptime either at home or at nursery (day care).

He has become what I would call a more "needy" kid at bedtime now - he needs us to lie down with him for a few minutes and cries sometimes for us to come to him and when we ask him why he needs one of us he says "because I just do". But, really it's not that bad, and after the first week, I'm not sure he ever mentioned the dummy at bedtime again.

I have to say, when I started writing this a few minutes ago, I was sure he was at the 3 weeks milestone, but according to my post on Facebook after the first night it's only been 2. Amazing how it's like he never had such dependence on it...

What's going on

For those of you dying to know what I've been up to, and why I haven't posted anything recently, let's just say that having two kids under 3 is exhausting. And I've still got Owen in daycare 3 days a week! I don't know how full-time stay-at-home moms do it.

Anyway, here are a few pictures to show you what we've been doing lately.

Pureeing, and more pureeing...

...because this baby LOVES to eat!

 And just a few more for fun...

I have another now completely unseasonal food post 99.9% ready. Look for it sometime later today or tomorrow.

A solid adventure

My Claire-Bear is 5 1/2 months now, and last week she got her first taste of "solid" food. She was sitting on my lap at dinner and kept lunging at my plate, which contained some roasted sweet potato. I figured sweet potato is a pretty traditional early food, so why not? I cut off the outside to get rid of the salt, pepper and oil, and let her have a go at it. Aside from my worries that she could get a piece off and choke on it, it seemed harmless enough. She loved it so much that we decided then and there to give her a bowl of baby rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, and she's been loving that for the past week. Tomorrow we're going to try carrots. Exciting adventures (and a lot more work for me) ahead!

I know the current guidelines say that you shouldn't give anything but breastmilk (or formula) for the first 6 months, so I was kind of on the fence about introducing any food "early". Interestingly, although they said the same thing two years ago when Owen was a baby, I was more or less asked by a health professional (our health visitor) "why haven't you started given him any solids yet?" when he was about 5 1/2 months. Claire was really just over 5 months, but she definitely seems to have all the signs that she's ready, and she's taken to the food really well, with one exception (**TMI baby poop discussion warning**): she hasn't managed to poop in nearly 2 weeks. This isn't really anything new for her, as she's gone ages without pooping previously, but of course I'm now worried that it was too early, rice wasn't the best first food, etc. etc. Anyway, we're off to the doctor this afternoon and will see what he says. Hopefully I don't get too much of a scolding for having already started her on solids.

A brief note if there is anyone out there reading this who hasn't weaned a baby yet and someday might. I really wanted to keep her to all breastmilk (no formula) for as long as possible, but I have found that baby rice does really weird things in breastmilk that it doesn't do in formula. Basically, it turns completely liquid, so that what starts out as a bowl of cereal with a good thickness for an infant turns into something so thin you can't spoon it. So you end up adding more and more cereal. I have no idea why breast milk does this and formula doesn't. Enzymes? Anyone happen to know the answer to this?

Home sweet home

Oh, right. I meant to tell everyone I was taking a bit of a holiday (a whole MONTH in good ol' Tejas). Thing is, I thought I'd be able to do some blogging from my parents' house in Texas, but it turns out that even with grandparents around, having both Owen and Claire all day every day is more work than it is having Claire at home by myself. Thank God for those 3 days a week Owen goes to nursery when we're in London! On top of that, my parents' internet went out a few days after we arrived and it took Verizon TEN DAYS to come out and fix it. They blamed all the new university students back in town, but I'm not buying it.

Anyway, we are back, but I'm not promising anything in the way of exciting content for a while (or ever, ha!). I have a thousand things that need doing here (sorry my internet friends, but having reliable hot water and a working clothes dryer, and buying winter coats for the kids - yes, already - are higher priority than you), and we're still fighting some residual jet lag or insomnia or something with Owen. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Claire isn't going to be a sleeping ball of cute much longer - this child has started demanding attention, and seriously wants to move. C'est la vie.

Daddy said I could

Owen climbs up on a chair and is eying this clay pot we got in Morocco last year.

Owen: I want to play with this.

Me: No, better not.

Owen: Why?

Me: Because it’s breakable.

Owen: But daddy said I could.

Really? They can play this game already at 2 1/2?

The kids' room

Personal family update:

Tonight is the first night that baby Claire (almost 12 weeks) will be sleeping in the same room with big brother Owen. She is just far too big for her little basket now, and I'm sure will be much more comfortable in her big crib. We've been prepping Owen on this for several weeks now, first setting up the crib and calling it the kids' room rather than Owen's room, then asking him how he would feel about Claire sleeping in the same room (wouldn't that be fun?), and finally having her sleep there during naptimes. Here's hoping this is a smooth transition - wish us luck!