daltonvancharlson
stories

read the current news of the boy

news of the boy - 2003 archives

Friday - December 19, 2003
Snow! And lots of it! Over 5 inches on the ground with more coming down. The Boy is fascinated by it -- he loves watching the flakes float down from the sky, and loves going out and playing in it even more.

Mommy got him a blue snowsuit, which keeps him nice and warm and dry -- and as it always seems with kids, he'll stay out in the snow much longer than we're willing to. Mommy also got a sled, and later today, it looks like the sled will make its first run, hopefully without serious incident.

In the meantime, here are three short QuickTime film clips of Dalton romping (more or less) in the snow:

let it snow
snowplow boy QuickTime file (506kb)	snowface QuickTime file (747kb)	hello snow QuickTime file (755kb)

In other news, Dalton has now grown tall enough to be able to grab doorknobs and pull doors closed. He hasn't quite got the reach or the grasp to turn the knob and open a door, but that can't be far off. At 18 months, he is 31 inches tall, weighs 25 pounds and has 16 teeth.

Those teeth are put to good use as he babbles constantly -- but his "real" words are still all monosyllabic and he clips the end off most of the words he says. Every now and then, he'll string together a couple of words:

"Hi tho!" (Hi there)
"Hi Dat!" (Hi Daddy)
"Bak bak!" (Be right back)

Not only is he getting better at recognizing a few letters (O, I, A, and S), he's learning to count. Sort of.

"Whyyyyyy, toooooo, trreeeeee, niiiine."

One, two, three... nine? Okay, so he doesn't quite have the full concept, and mostly he just counts "one" and leaves it at that, but it's a start (and very cute, too).

The Boy dearly loves his bath time, and has discovered that he can submerge himself in the water. He splashes and plays and generally has a wonderful time in the tub. Dalton also enjoys crawling into enclosed spaces -- he has made the cabinet under the TV into his own personal cubbyhole and has managed to climb up into the dryer, too. When he throws his occasional tantrums, they last for about 30 seconds or so but they aren't bad, all things considered.

 

Thursday - November 13, 2003
Earlier in the week, we all were at the doctor's office to see the ultrasound where we would find out if Baby Kenmore was a Boy or a Girl -- and it turns out that Dalton will have a little sister! He, of course, has no clue.

Dalton is still in the "bumps and bruises" stage of walking; he's getting better each day, but doesn't seem to pay much attention to what's around him. He'll stumble over his toys or bounce off the couch and fall down... luckily, he hasn't been seriously injured in any of these mishaps.

When we ask him if he's hungry, he'll happily toddle over to his highchair if he is. If he's sleepy, sometimes he'll come up to us and say "Bye" and walk to his room if we haven't asked him first. Dalton does throw the occasional fit when he's unhappy about something, but the outbursts are usually quite short, and he's still easily distracted and quickly moves on to something else. How long that tactic will work, there's no telling.

Halloween came and went. We joined Mommy's sister and her family at a "Trunk-or-Treat" party in their church parking lot, preceded by a party inside the church. Mommy had bought a Mickey Mouse costume for The Boy on eBay, but it didn't arrive in time for the Trunk-or-Treating, so Dalton went as a cowboy. We'd been putting the hat on him a lot over the previous couple of weeks, so he'd get used to having something like that on his head. He still didn't exactly like wearing it, but he kept it on his noggin a lot longer than expected. Dalton made a very cute cowboy, of course.

By the time the 31st actually rolled around, the Mickey costume had safely arrived, but we didn't take The Boy out for neighborhood trick-or-treats. He wouldn't have had a clue what was going on, and it was already close to his bedtime. The Mickey costume was a little baffling for him, he had trouble with the mittens and figuring out why he couldn't use his little hands. He gave that up and had a fine time running around the house and the yard as Mickey Mouse. I'm not sure he'll be able to wear it again next year, but we'll see.

We all made a trip to the NC State Fair again this year, although we made the terrible mistake of going on a Saturday -- and a beautiful Saturday it was. However, the fairgrounds were jam-packed by about 10:30 a.m. and it was a struggle to push the stroller through the crowds. We stood in line to get into the Children's Barn, where The Boy enjoyed looking at all the critters. He got to pet a peep, too. Dalton loves animals, and is very gentle with them. Next door was a tent where we could all go in and pet the little goats running around, and Mommy bought some food to feed them. Dalton tried to pick up the straw on the ground and feed it to the goats, too, but they weren't very interested. The fair is fun, but we'll have to remember to go on a weekday in the future.

 

Tuesday - September 30, 2003
Dalton went to the doctor's office for his 15-month checkup yesterday, and got three shots for his trouble. He was rather outraged by it, but he doesn't have to face another one (hopefully) for 9 more months. He'll get shots as a birthday present from the doc when he turns two -- something for us all to look forward to.

He's our "Quarter Boy" as far as his stats go:

• Weight: 23 pounds, 8 ounces (25th percentile)
• Length: 30 1/2 inches (25th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 18 inches (25th percentile)

But he has 13 teeth with two more ready to break through at any moment, and he's a Walking, Talking Ball o' Fire. Plus, he's in the 99th percentile in terms of Cuteness, so that makes up for a lot. He's a Very Sweet Boy and gives us lots of hugs and kisses.

The Boy's latest Quirk is a fascination with telephones. Just about anything he can get becomes a phone in his little hands: a stuffed Pooh Bear, a cup, a rock, a vacuum-cleaner attachment. It doesn't matter what it is, he walks around the house, holding it up to his head saying "'Lo" (Hello) and "'Bye" (Good-bye) and babbling into it. The exception is when we hand him a real phone and try to get him to actually talk to someone -- then he clams up. Go figure.

Out in public, he says "Hi!" and "'Bye!" and waves to everyone without our prompting (earning him further Cuteness Points) and is getting to the point where he'd rather try walking around by himself than be carried or put in the shopping cart. That's going to be a handful very shortly... When he gets the hang of running, we're in trouble.

There's a new movie featuring The Boy at the park chasing some ducks, but it's only available as a QuickTime movie, so if you Windoze users can't see it, go get the software -- it's free.

one little duck one little duck QuickTime file (2.35mb)

 

Friday - September 19, 2003
There was no need for us to get all worked up about Hurricane Isabel when we have our very own Genuine Walking Disaster™ around every day of the week. Plus, we're almost 500 miles from and 3000 feet above the ocean; for us, the day was 75 degrees and sunny and we had a gorgeous sunset, too.

The Boy is definitely getting more and more comfortable walking around. He hardly ever crawls now, but his walking technique resembles that of Frankenstein's monster: arms raised and big (for him) stiff-legged steps. He moves quickly, though, and it won't be too long before he's actually trying to run. Yow.

We recently went to the Mountain State Fair and Much Fun Was Had By All. The Boy got to see and feed all sorts of animals, which he loved -- check it out in the photos section. We looked at all kinds of exhibits, tractors, rides and even a helicopter. Quite a big Sight & Sound Experience for him, all in all.

Over the Labor Day weekend, it was off to Kerr Lake for a picnic and a swim in the lake. It was a great day, and Dalton loves being outside. He still likes the water, which pleases Mommy to no end. It'll be fun to take him camping.

On the Food Front, Dalton keeps on shoveling it in... literally, now that he's beginning to get idea of how exactly a spoon works. It's still a novelty to him, and there isn't much that he can actually eat with a spoon. He tries, but usually whatever it was he had on the spoon ends up in his lap instead, so when he's really hungry, his hands are still his primary tool. There still really isn't anything that he won't eat, which is somewhat surprising.

The Boy is still a charmer -- he always is getting compliments about how cute he is, which is true, as long as you don't catch him while he's throwing a fit. It appears that the "Terrible Twos" may be starting several months early, but thankfully those episodes have been rare. We don't give in to him, so he's learning that screaming won't get him anywhere.

"No" is one of his favorite words, but right now it's very, very cute when he says it:

Daddy: "Are you sleepy? Do you want to go to bed?"
Dalton: "No."
Daddy: "Too bad, Boy -- it's bedtime. Off you go."

He's taken to saying "Bye" when we put him in bed at night, which is also very cute, and he likes to chase (and smush) bugs, which Mommy doesn't think is quite so cute.

He's a Good Boy.

 

Thursday - August 14, 2003
Well, true to our motto here -- "We Promise, We (Usually) Deliver™"-- there is a (very short) video clip of The Boy walking (more or less) available for your viewing enjoyment.

You'll want to play it again and again, especially since it's so short. We tried to keep the filesize down for those in the audience who are still living with a slow old dial-up connection (you know who you are), and we kindly provided the clip in two formats for our Mac and Windoze users. It's a cute clip, and will definitely leave you wanting more. We'll see what we can do about that. And now....

he walks
he walks Windoze AVI (2mb)	he walks QuickTime file (532kb)

 

Wednesday - August 6, 2003
Our Top Story: The Boy Walks! Yes, it's true -- Dalton has finally taken an interest in walking. We've known he could do it for quite some time now, if he'd only wanted to. He's been standing on his own, pulling himself up and cruising from chair to couch to chair for several months, but every time we tried to hold his hands and get him to walk, he'd do his Rubber Baby impression and just sag down to the floor.

Well, on Monday, he seems to have decided that the idea of using just his legs to get around might work out better than crawling everywhere, and since then he's been toddling all over the house with assistance from us. It won't be long until he's strolling around on his own, and the Bumps and Bruises will surely follow.

The summer has been a busy one for The Boy -- last month he headed Up North to Wisconsin to be baptized with his Great Grandmother in attendence, which was a fine celebration. On this extended trip he met a whole batch of relatives for the first time and spent some Quality Time on the Tree Farm. Considering the amount of travel, and how disrupted his schedule was, he was an incredibly Good Boy -- better than we expected he'd be.

We'll have pictures and perhaps even some video of the Walking Disaster available shortly.

 

Wednesday - June 25, 2003
Yesterday Dalton was one year old. Time sure does fly... it really doesn't seem all that long ago that we were bringing a Wee Little Boy back home from the hospital. But he's growing up so fast now -- he's on the verge of walking -- and before we know it, he'll be leaving home and going off into the World. But right now, he's tearing around the place, crawling like mad, climbing up on anything he can reach and getting into any kind of trouble he can.

We had a little party with our friends, and Dalton devoured his chocolate Birthday Cupcake, even after a good-sized dinner (more pictures and possibly video coming soon). He'll score again this weekend with a party for the Southern Contingent of relatives, and again next month with the Northern Contingent. The Boy is going to make out like a bandit with this "extended birthday" thing he's got going on. Of course, you only get one first birthday, so he better enjoy this while it happens -- it's not going to be like this in the future!

The Boy has an impressive vocabulary now; he can say several words, including the usual "Ma-Ma" and "Da-Da," but a lot of the others sound the same -- we have to determine what he's actually saying through the context of the situation. "Car" and "Cup" sound the same ("Cah"), as does "Ball," "Bye," "Box," "Bear," "Bug" and "Bath" (all sound pretty much like "Bah"). He knows "Apple" and "Banana," two of his very favorite foods (Apple = "Pah", and Banana = "Bah" again). According to Mommy, Dalton has said "Dog" and "Duck" once -- "Dah!" -- but hasn't said those since; he usually just signs when he sees a dog. The Boy loves his books, and has said "Book" a few times, very tentatively ("Buh" without the "K" sound at the end). And of course he babbles incessantly, making all kinds of different noises and sounds.

He knows what the Lion says ("Rah!"), the Sheep ("Bah!") and the Elephant ("Ppfff!"). The Cow currently just hums ("Mmm"), since The Boy is not big on the "O" sound yet. Old McDonald is missing his "O" too -- but the "E-I-E-I" part is here to stay.

Dalton is quite the little communicator with his signs, having mastered quite a few of the simpler, one-handed signs. The "baby sign language" is definitely paying off -- it's much less frustrating for all of us when he can tell us what he wants. He doesn't make any of the two-handed signs yet, but "Dog," "Up," "Eat," "Potty," "Bye-Bye" and others are used throughout the day. He's also learned that the "Grunt-and-Point" method works very well for him.

He loves cars and trucks, and says "Cah!" every time he sees one. When he gets bored in the house, he'll either point or crawl over to the door and say "Bye!" (Bah!) -- he knows that when people say "Bye" they go out the door and off to somewhere else. When somebody leaves, he won't say "Bye" back to them until they've actually left and then he'll call out "Bah!" and wave. That doesn't do any good, Boy -- you have to tell them while they can still hear you!

Two days ago, Dalton took what appeared to be his first "real" walking step -- just one -- when Mommy teased him with the remote control, which he loves to get his little hands on. She held it out as he was standing up against a chair nearby. It was too far away to make a lunge for, so he took a step and then promptly fell over. I guess if we want him to walk, using the remote is the premier incentive. In any case, it won't be long until he's a genuine Walking Disaster.™

 

Wednesday - April 23, 2003
Dalton is entering the "cruising & bruising" stage, where he's able to pull himself into a standing position with great (well, mostly) ease and if there's another nearby object available, he'll grab that and move. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he "fall down go boom." So far, there haven't been any serious injuries -- mostly just little scrapes and bruises. Dalton's doing more actual "crawling" (up on hands & knees, belly off the floor) and relying less on the "commando crawl" (fully flat on the floor) to get around, though he still makes his best speed commando-style.

We think we've taught him the word "ball" -- either that, or he's really being a good imitator. Dalton will pick up or look at a ball, and we'll say "ball" to him and he repeats it. It sounds like "baw" coming from him, but he'll toss the thing down and crawl after it while saying "baw, baw, baw." He's still saying Ma-Ma and Da-Da along with all the rest of his babble -- he's a real chatterbox.

On the Food Front, Dalton is still chowing down -- and, for the most part, eating what we eat, too (which amazed the Doctor). Speaking of the Doctor, Daddy was remiss in not providing The Boy's latest vital statistics from his nine-month checkup:

• Weight: 21 pounds, 1 ounce
• Length: 27 1/4 inches - he only picked up a half-inch over the past three months
• Head Circumference: 17 1/2 inches

Back to the food -- Dalton hasn't been interested in "baby food" for quite a while now, and is now at the point where he doesn't really want to be fed by anyone if what he's eating is something he can hold himself. So while he's willing to accept being fed a spoonful of yogurt, he wants to pick up his own cracker, cheese, or hunk of chicken and eat it himself. Yes, this is messy. But it does make it a lot easier at mealtimes. He just gets (a smaller version) of what we're eating. This can even include munching on some baby back ribs. We gave him one just to see what his reaction would be, and he was delighted! It wasn't a fluke, since he was just as eager to eat them when we took him to the Outback Steakhouse a few weeks afterward. The Boy definitely likes meat: chicken, ham, hamburger, whatever... he loves it.

Finally, Dalton has definitely discovered the television. When Sesame Street comes on, he'll usually look at the Muppets -- he's not much interested in the "real people" on the TV, and he doesn't just sit and watch. While he's playing with all his stuff, he'll stop and look every once in a while, especially if a noise from the show catches his attention. He likes Elmo a lot.

He also, God help us, likes the Teletubbies. I guess it's the bright colors and the "non-human" costumes, but whenever the Teletubbies are on the screen (again, he doesn't seem to care about the little "real people" segments) he usually watches them bounce around. The "baby sun" thing is another of his favorite images. If you don't know what we're talking about, consider yourself fortunate. Daddy refuses to even consider giving him a glimpse of "Barney," however. No way.

 

Friday - March 14, 2003
Not only is Dalton scooting around the house with ever-increasing agility, he's engaging in some two-way communication now. At about 6 months, we started using three simple Baby Sign Language with him: More, Eat and Milk. A couple weeks ago, he seemed to catch on to making the "More" and the "Milk" signs -- only occasionally, but he does make them and he also responds when we make them. Now that he's starting to figure it out, we'll introduce some other signs to him. It should make the next several months much less frustrating for all of us, if Dalton can tell us what he wants instead of just wailing and grunting.

He also said his Official First Word(s) a few weeks ago, too, but we didn't realize that he actually knew what he was doing. The Boy has been making various noises for a long time now, and so when he started saying "Ma-ma-ma-ma" and "Da-da-da-da" we figured they were just more of his usual babble. Yes, it was cute that he was making those sounds, but we didn't think he attached any significance to them.

Well, The Boy knows what he's saying and what those sounds mean. Dalton will crawl towards his Mom, saying "Ma-ma-ma" or see me walk in and say "Da-da-da-da." If he's playing by himself and wants Mommy, he'll say so. Dalton also tries to repeat things that we say. If he just made those sounds on his own, they'd be unintelligible, but when he does it right after we've said somthing, it's obvious that he's trying to say those words.

He'll be walking and talking before we know it...

 

Monday - February 24, 2003
Dalton is now officially "Mobile." On Friday, he finally figured out how to crawl and though he's not especially speedy or graceful about it, he definitely can make forward progress across a room. Life As We Know It has permanently changed.

The Boy is also now able to sit himself up. He's done it three or four times now, so it's obviously not something he's done by accident. If he's on his belly, he bends his legs and uses his arms to push until he's upright. It looks a little painful, the way his legs are bent when he does it (and if I tried to use his method, it would be!), but I guess it's not for him.

Daddy got his first full night alone with The Boy this weekend. Mommy was off at the hospital staying with Grandpa Billy, and Daddy gave her a much-needed break by taking Dalton off her hands. He was a good boy, and Mommy put him to sleep before she went off to the hospital. Dalton woke up about 12:30 a.m. and started fussing enough that I knew he wasn't just going to drop back to sleep on his own. I gave him a bottle of juice, which he gulped down immediately, so figuring that he would like some more, I filled the bottle again. Of course, he took a few sucks and decided he didn't want it. I put him back to bed and he fussed and rolled around a little bit before he finally dropped his head down and went to sleep. The Boy woke up again at 5:30, and though he might have been ready to get up, I certainly wasn't, so I got him to sleep again for another hour before we started our day.

We had a fine morning, and Dalton was happy to see his Mommy again when she finally got home. Things might have been different if he'd been really grumpy, but luckily he was a Very Good Boy for his Daddy. Thank you, Boy.

 

Tuesday - February 11, 2003
Dalton has been busy the past few weeks. He's had a pair of top teeth come in, giving him a fine matching set -- two up top, two below -- and he's good to go for some serious biting now.

The Boy is on the verge of crawling. We keep expecting him to figure it out any day now, but he hasn't quite mastered it yet. The "baby pushups" are there, as is the rocking back and forth on his hands & knees, but when he does move, he goes backwards. Dalton can rotate around on his tummy to face whatever direction he wants, and when he couples that with a good roll to his right or left, he can end up several feet from where he began. We're going to have a Mobile Boy on our hands very soon, and given his penchant for playing with items that are not toys, we'll have to keep our eyes on him.

His Mom bought him a couple new toys to play with, including the timeless classic "Brightly Colored Rings on a Pole," which he loves. I wonder how many sets of those have been sold? We both had 'em when we were munchkins...

The Standing Up routine is coming along nicely -- he loves to do it. Of course he wobbles, so if we don't keep a hand on him to help The Boy balance, he can't stay up for long. It wouldn't be too surprising if he ends up walking (with help) before he figures out how to crawl at this point.

We got a bunch more snow, and Dalton went out into it for a little while. The Boy is all about the Mouth right now, so he had to sample some of the cold white stuff (and since he's too young to be aware of the "yellow snow peril," Mommy closely supervised his efforts).

On the Food Front, Dalton continues to pack it away. He's very interested in whatever we're having, and usually gets some. He's a big fan of chicken and fish, graham crackers and Nilla wafers (both of which he holds and eats himself), starches (potatoes, rice, breads, etc.), sweet potatoes and other veggies. There really isn't much that he's flat-out refused to eat. He's recently discovered the wonders of Grape Juice. Dilute it with some water and The Boy will put a hurtin' on a jug of it.

And the beat goes on.

 

Tuesday - January 21, 2003
Yesterday we all went down to the Y to play in the pool. Mommy signed The Boy up for "Water Babies" (or whatever it's called), and Dalton has been going for a couple weeks now.

The Boy usually likes being in the water (unlike his Dad, who, although he's a decent swimmer, prefers being near the water, or on the water in a boat, as opposed to actually being in the water. It's usually just too dang cold. Now, toss Daddy in the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean, and he's happy to go swimming...). Dalton was introduced to both a swimming pool and the (warm) ocean in Key West at the age of two months. He liked it a lot then, and he likes his bath time, too. For some reason, though, he doesn't seem all that excited about being in the water here.

Perhaps it's that the water in the big pool at the Y is a little cooler than what he (or his Dad) would consider appropriate. Or it might be that he's just so distracted by all the other things going on around him -- lots of yelling and splashing and other kids and things to look at. There's plenty for him to do besides pay attention to his Mom and Dad (who he sees all the time anyway) as they play around with him in the water. Maybe he's just a little grumpy on the swim days -- after all, when he gets in the pool it is late in the afternoon, and The Boy is usually winding down some for the day at that point.

Dalton does have fun while he's there, and we get him to smile and play with the water every now and then, but he's not laughing and splashing around a lot. He's mostly a passive little lump that we tow around in the water, bobbing up and down like a beach ball.

Mommy, who adores the water, is hoping against hope that The Boy will take after her in this matter, instead of avoiding cold water like his Dad does. We'll see.

 

Tuesday - January 7, 2003
Ah, how time flies. It was time for The Boy to have his "6 month checkup" today, so off we went. Braving the slippery backroads after the wintery precipition we had yesterday, we arrived at the doctor's office where Dalton promptly took a poo. Something about going to the doctor, I guess... At least he didn't wait until he was naked on the scales.

Anyway, The Boy's six-month stats are:

• Weight: 20 pounds (75th percentile, down from 80th)
• Length: 26 3/4 inches (50th percentile, up from 25th percentile at 4 months - he grew an inch and a half over two months)
• Head Circumference: 17 inches (25th percentile)

The doc said he looks good and gave us some info on what we could start feeding him when. Mommy asked about giving him Cheerios and other finger foods, and the doctor said in another month or so we could start him on those. In the meantime, we could give him some "Biter Biscuits," which we did last week. Of course, when she bought them, Wifey was laboring under the impression that they were called "Bitter Biscuits," and couldn't figure out why anyone would want to feed their kid something that tasted icky ... She has Reading Comprehension issues every now and then.

When the doctor checked Dalton out he observed that The Boy had "some impressive thighs."

"Kinda looks like a speed skater," I said.

"...A little more 'dough-y'," the doctor replied.

Well, yes -- The Boy's legs do look more like the Michelin Man's than Eric Heiden's. But don't tell him that.

The visit ended on a low note (at least from The Boy's perspective), as he got four shots -- two in each "dough-y" thigh. He seemed to take the first one in stride, but numbers two through four caused some serious screaming. We were able to calm him down quickly, though, and he was his usual self well before we left the office. Unless he gets sick, he has a three-month reprieve, then back he goes.

 

Thursday - January 2, 2003
It's a spankin' new year, and it's time to add a little more variety to The Boy's culinary experiences. He's been eating some solid foods for almost two months now (and when I say "some," I definitely mean "some" -- he has yet to eat more than a half jar of whatever food he's given at one sitting. He gets full pretty quickly for such a big Boy.)

What's THAT stuff?	Open wide, Boy...
Mmmm, good! Want some more?

Dalton has tried a bunch of things, and he doesn't really seem to hate anything (though he has some clear favorites) so far. He makes faces at the first couple of spoonfuls of whatever happens to be on his menu, which was a little worrisome at first until we saw the pattern. Give him the initial spoonful of, say, sweet potatoes and The Boy screws up his face like he has just eaten a mouthful of freeze-dried grubs... but he swallows it, then opens his yap for more. After making another face or two, he's happily chowing down (at least, for half a jar's worth).

He's still not real happy about getting any food that's on the cold side -- something directly from the refrigerator won't cut it -- and Mommy has avoided giving him too many fruits, for fear that The Boy will henceforth reject all vegetables as "nasty." That philosophy obviously has some merit, since when Dalton does get banana and/or apple, he really likes them, and would probably choose those over peas or green beans in an instant. Mix in a little applesauce with his rice cereal, and you have one Happy Boy. The other day he discovered the Joys of Oatmeal, and he likes that a lot (he should, as his Mom & Dad are oatmeal fiends themselves).

Carrots are also a current fave of his, though after the first jar, carrots have become a "Bib Strictly Required" food item. Orange was everywhere, and I don't know if the stains came out of everything or not. Lesson learned.

We were also surprised when visiting Granni and Grandpa that The Boy could really chow down given the opportunity. Granni Bobbi was feeding Dalton his rice cereal one morning, using a regular stainless steel spoon and just loading it with food. The Boy was gobbling it up nice as you please, never mind that until then he'd been getting Leetle Bitty Bites of food on the end of a Leetle Baby Rubber-Coated Spoon from his Mommy. In the past, if Mommy put a lot of food on the Leetle Spoon, Dalton would start gagging on it -- I guess he was used to the small amounts and could swallow those right away. When a big glob suddenly would appear in his mouth, he wasn't expecting that and would also try to swallow it all at once -- thus the resulting coughing and choking. Evidently, though, if he knows he's due for some big ol' bites of food in the first place, he can handle it.

Under Mommy's close supervision, The Boy got his first whack at a Baby Teething Biscuit yesterday. The thought was that it could be a good thing to give him if we're out someplace and he's getting hungry. He could chew on the biscuit and keep himself occupied. Well, nice theory, but as he gnawed on the biscuit with his two teeth, he also drooled all over it, which began to break it down and in the end made a huge mess. Crumbs and smeared biscuit-drool mix went everywhere. Mommy promptly stripped The Boy down and deposited him in the bathtub. The new theory is that he can eat them in the bathtub, thus minimizing the mess in the middle of the process.

We have a mini-food-processor-thing that works well for making our own baby food (no sense in paying 50 cents for a jar of mashed peas and water when Mommy can do it for a fraction of that, eh?). Courtesy of that machine, The Boy got his first taste of home-made Chicken Pot Pie the other day, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Way better than the vaguely dog-foodish "turkey-in-a-jar" he got for Thanksgiving. Sorry about that, Boy -- we'll fix you up with something a little more special next November.