We have a winner!

Pears. Zeke Likes pears. He likes them so much that he screams when he realizes we are done with the pears and I'm feeding him rice cereal. He also throws stuff off of his tray, like the spoon and his sippy cup. He's learning that gravity applies to inanimate objects even though he firmly believes he, personally, is exempt. Mike says we should mix the pears with the squash. Then he'll either start liking the squash or start hating pears. I really wanted him to like vegetables. Maybe there's still hope for the carrots.

Jug Band

I am the Primary Chorister at church and I have been having lots of fun thinking of ways to entertain my Primary - er, I mean - teach and review songs. For today I organized a Jug Band to come and help us review the song, "Beautiful Savior". I was very nervous about the event because I'd never done a full 20 minute singing time on just one song - we usually sing 12-15 songs during singing time. But the members of the Jug Band were promised that they would only have to play one song, and that they would not have to attend any practices.
It was fabulous! Here is a picture of some of the band...

You can see our pianist, the guitar player in the back, me (in the green shirt), our flutist, the next guy is the one playing the jug (blocked by the music stand) and our trumpeter. Here is the rest of the band:
Here you see the Jug player again (far right, the jug is on his knee), then the trumpeter, then Mike! playing bongos with Mr. Zeke's help, and Awesome Elder on the end. Awesome Elder played auxiliary percussion, which included kazoo, wood sticks, and the triangle. He often played all of these at the same time, which the kids loved. Each time we sang the song I picked two reverent children, or two children who had demonstrated knowledge of the lyrics of the song, to join the band and help Awesome Elder with the auxiliary percussion. He had three of each instrument so it was mostly delicious chaos.
The band members were paid in cookies, so it was even a professional Jug Band.

Not a Yam

The sign at Albertsons said, very clearly, "Yams", but the two root vegetables I put into my basket, purchased, baked, pureed and then fed to my finicky baby were not yams, but sweet potatoes under a false pseudonym. I was instructed to feed Zeke sweet potatoes only after all the other vegetables were introduced and enjoyed so as not to spoil his palate with something so sweet. Here is Zeke enjoying a bit of jicama:
I am not the only person who has been duped by the yam/sweet potato distinction. Much of North America is lumbering about in darkness on this point:
"The sweet potato is ... commonly confused with the yam in parts of North America, although they are not even distantly related to the other plant widely known as yams (in the Dioscoreaceae family), which is native to Africa and Asia." Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato, 8/21/09.
I also found a picture of a true yam. That monstrosity would not fit into my oven for baking, probably feeds at least 20, and I'm positive I've never seen one in any grocery store or farmers market this side of the Missisippi.

Cloth Nappies

Cloth diapers aren't what they used to be. I was almost 13 when my Mom had my brother, the Treat, and I saw first hand what cloth diapers were. There were pins and plastic cover pants and diaper services. Today I am experimenting with what they call "modern" cloth diapers, as modeled by Z:

This diaper has no pins and is an all-in-one, so putting it on was like using a disposable diaper. There's no diaper service in this experiment - just me and my washing machine. I'm really hoping that today is a non-BM day because I'm probably not physically or mentally prepared for pre-rinsing in the toilet and what to do after. But if the smell from the boy sleeping in my arms is any harbinger...I'm in for trouble.

Squash and Bananas

After talking with a lady at church who is also a pediatric nurse, I decided that it was time to test out the immersion blender and introduce Zeke to more than just Rice and Oatmeal. This is Zeke's first experience with butternut squash:


It really takes video to show the true effect. He uses his whole face (and hands) to show how incredibly surprised and displeased he is with the new flavor. Then he does some fake coughing as if it is truly killing him to eat it and, finally, he spits everything out using his new-and-improved spitting tongue. I even tried cutting it with oatmeal, which he loves, and he gave the same performance.
Next we tried bananas (store bought prepared food) and the reaction is pretty much the same. So I guess his palate is pretty discriminating: he likes plastic, tags on toys, oatmeal, rice, my elbow, and all the flowers and leaves Mike lets him grab and stuff into his mouth.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Zeke has started to flex his independence muscles. He now flips from his back to his belly, can get into and hold a crawl position, and can scootch around in circles or move backwards. (My favorite is when he goes backwards. It usually happens when there's a toy in front of him just out of reach and he struggles and struggles and doesn't understand why he's getting farther away.) But standing up is still his favorite:

At night when he wakes up to eat I usually find him rolled over against the crib bumpers, either feeling things with his hand or trying to get multiple appendages through the crib slats. We had to remove the two stuffed animals we used to keep in the crib because he would find them at night and start a play session. Nighttime is not for playing!