Loving Life

MJ remains a happy, sweet baby. I feel like the luckiest mom in the universe because he's just plain happy. He gives us great big, gummy grins when he sees us, he shrieks with laughter when he's picked up and twirled around, he giggles when we make him jump, and he blows raspberries with joy.

Here is MJ just happily rolling around on a blanket that we spread out on the floor for him.

Grandma Josie was making money come up and kiss MJ. MJ was shrieking with joy!

Basketball with the Cub Scouts

CJ is a Cub Scout Tiger. This year has been a whirlwind of activity to make sure that all of the boys complete all of their activities and graduate to Wolf by the time they're in 2nd grade.

A couple of weeks ago, the boys played basketball during the monthly meeting. CJ said he loved it, which made me happy because he got introduced to a new sport and he liked it. Even if CJ does not become super athletic, it's nice to know he's getting introduced to new things in school, especially since neither Maki nor I are sports-oriented.

We know that we need to do better and now that the weather is nicer, I'm trying to figure out how to get outside more and teach CJ basic skills like throwing a ball, batting, catching, kicking, etc.

First Vegetables and Fruits

MJ is now getting 3 meals a day: rice cereal mid-morning around 10am, a fruit or vegetable mid-afternoon around 3pm, and a fruit or vegetable before dinner around 6pm. He's still getting mom's milk 5 times a day: 8am nursing (or whenever he gets up), at 12noon, 3pm, and 6 and 9pm nursings.

Maki jokes that MJ is getting the best food on earth: mom's milk + organic rice cereal + organic baby food. Does it getter than that?

So far, MJ has gotten sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, apples, bananas and pears. He seems to like sweet potatoes and pears the best. He actually didn't like apples at first, but that's changed and he now eagerly eats everything we put on his spoon.

In fact, MJ is clearly very interested in eating. He stares at us when we're eating and he sometimes cries when it's close to his solid food time and he sees someone eating. You know MJ is hungry and ready because he calms down when we put him in the high chair and he's got his mouth wide open when you put the bowl of baby food down on the tray. Fun times!

The Cutest Boys in the Universe

CJ loves his baby brother. He says hello to him when gets home, talks to him, sits next to him on the couch, read stories to him, even help give him a bath.

Sure, there are times when CJ is whiny because his activities are constrained by MJ, but we have tried very hard to give CJ his own time and not change his schedule too much.

Here are some adorable photos of the boys. I feel very lucky that they seem to genuinely like each other. We'll see what happens to their relationship as they grow up since there is a 6 year gap in age between them. There will likely be a period when MJ is just too young for CJ, but we'll see.

CJ asked if he could hold MJ so we handed the baby to CJ and this is what I got.

I was taking photos of MJ on the blanket and CJ ran to be in the picture.

Adventures in Solids

We started MJ on solid food at the end of January, when he was 4 1/2 months old. Because of the history of allergies in my family, I was hoping to wait until he was 5 months old. But his great sleep pattern was changing again, and he was getting up earlier than usual. He also seemed really, really interested in when we were eating: he would stare intently at us and he would make smacking noises with his lips.

So on January 30, we gave him a bit of organic rice cereal with mom's milk. It was just a couple of baby spoonfuls on rice cereal, but he seemed to like it. The expression on his face was hilarious as he explored the taste and texture, but he was into it.

Oh yeah, to get him going, Maki sat next to me and started eating his apple. That gave MJ the idea and it worked! Good old Maki!

Over the next few weeks, we gradually increased the amount we give him and the frequency.

MJ is now nearly 6 months old and he's getting rice cereal 3 times a day: mid morning, early evening and right before bedtime. He's nursing 3 times a day: first thing when he gets up, when I get home around 6 and before bedtime around 9 or 9:30pm. He also gets 2 bottles a day: at noon and 3pm. So far, so good. In the next couple of weeks, we'll start him on baby food. We started CJ on veggies at first, so I think we'll do the same with MJ.