This Can't Continue

The baby is surviving on carbs and applesauce, people. (And now that I think about it, apples are pretty much the carbiest fruit. So really he surviving solely on carbs. Great.)

He rejects all vegetables, except for Trader Joe's Veggie Sticks WHICH ARE NOT ACTUALLY VEGETABLES. They are POTATOES with carrot and spinach FLAVORING. Trader Joe's, you sell me nothing but LIES. Lies and potatoes.

I tried to trick him tonight by dipping one end of a Veggie Stick into a tiny bit of hummus. It worked, in the sense that he put the hummus end into his mouth. But then the hummus touched his tongue...and he decided I was trying to poison him and he made crazy, crazy faces and spit the hummus all down his shirt. So that was pretty much a fail.

So he rejects vegetables, he rejects hummus, and he also rejects animal protein like chicken and turkey, OR SO I THOUGHT. It turns out there's s one other thing that he WILL eat, but I am almost too ashamed to mention it here. Then again, since no one really reads this, I can confess. He ate cat food tonight.

CAT FOOD.

FOOD CREATED FOR CATS.

I'm serious. After he had rejected the nice healthy dinner I prepared for him (except for the applesauce and Veggie Sticks, which he ate with relish once he decided there was no further hummus around to torture him), I put him down on the ground to crawl around while I rinsed off the highchair tray. He said "hi" to the cats in an excited voice, and crawled towards them. "How nice," I thought to myself. "He's going to pet the cats. He's getting so good around Magnum and Phoebe, so sweet and gentle to them." Then I turned to watch, just to make sure none of the cats tried to swipe him (which they almost never do these days).

They didn't. But he swiped food from them.

Yep, Gabe had one hand in Phoebe's bowl and one hand crammed into his mouth, shoving cat food down his gaping maw as fast as he could. Oh. My. Goodness.

I ran over to him, tried to force the chicken pellets from his mouth (FAIL), and forced open his fist to remove the uneaten pellets from his hand (SUCCESS). He got pretty mad at me for taking his delicious chicken pellets away. Crying was involved.

So basically the $7 organic free-range chicken breast from Whole Foods = REJECTED.
The disgusting chicken and rice cat food pellets from Centinela Feed & Pet Supply = YUM.

I need a glass of wine. I also need to lay off the ALL CAPS, probably.

Traveling Man

Gabe very much enjoyed our trip to Arizona this weekend. We were in Scottsdale for four days to visit my grandparents and my uncle Steve, and the whole trip was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. There was much laughing and many hugs and an excessive amount of food was consumed by all (including about twelve pounds of spicy salted almonds).

Here are a few of the highlights:

Gabe Attempting to Pull the Hair of the Woman Sitting in Front of Us On the Airplane

Gabe Enjoying Complimentary Waffles at the Hotel nom nom nom

Gabe Experiencing Culture at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, Figure 1


Gabe Experiencing Culture at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, Figure 2

Gabe Partying at the Hotel, Rock Star-Style

Gabe Exhausted After a Fun-Filled Weekend

Gabe, Loved

. . . . .

On a terribly serious note, please say a prayer for the family of the beautiful and charming Madeline Alice Spohr, who passed away last week at the age of seventeen months. Her mom and dad are awesome and fellow Trojans, and my heart breaks for them. If you have any money to donate to charity this year, please consider donating to the March of Dimes in Maddie's honor.

Guess Who Turns One Very Soon!

G!

A!

B!

E!

Woo woo woo woo Gabe!

Things I Have Noticed Recently

1. The cats have recently gone from "slightly chubby" to "borderline obese." I think this may have something to do with the fact that a Certain Baby Who Shall Not Be Named has discovered the unending fun of throwing food off of the highchair and onto the floor, where the cats wait in near-breathless anticipation to swallow the castoffs. Although a Certain Baby continues to be quite picky about what food he will (grudgingly) consume, the cats have no standards whatsoever. Half-chewed grilled cheese sandwich pieces, graham cracker bits, mashed-up peas...they eat it all. With relish. Phoebe has become particularly fond of waffles.

2. Our condo is fully staged and beautiful, although no one has bought it yet. Please buy it. It has been three whole days since it went on the market, so you should buy it. Seriously, it's awesome here, and we found a house we want to buy in Studio City. (Our commute would go from 45-plus minutes to approximately 9 minutes, for those of you who are counting.) But don't do it for me. Do it for the children. Well, the one child, anyhow. The one child who is tired of riding in the carseat all the freaking time. (At the very least, check out the awesome job my mom and the stagers have done: www.1021nineteenthst.com.)

3. Gabe is Featured Artist at the Children's Center right now, which is SPECTACULAR. He actually seems to enjoy painting these days, and will cheerfully paint anything and everything, including paper, the table, his tummy, his nose, and other children. This is a big improvement from his previous reaction to art projects, namely whimpering and crying when his pudgy fingers touch the cold, horrible, slimy paint. Here's his display:

Gabriel, Featured Artist Extraordinaire

(Sorry for the poor picture quality; this was taken with my iPhone as Gabe pulled to a stand by digging his dragon-like fingernails into the flesh right above my kneecaps. Ow.)

4. If you ask Gabe how big he is, he will now stretch his arms straight above his head to indicate that he is "SOOOOOO BIGGGG!" This may be my favorite trick to date.

Soooooo Biggggg!

5. Keeping the house perfectly clean for potential buyers is very exhausting and challenging when an eleven-month-old baby lives at your house. Take it from me: eleven-month-old babies have zero respect for vaccuum marks on the carpeting and perfectly fluffed throw pillows on the couch.

6. This post is kind of lame, but I am tired, so good night!