Monday Update

What we were up to today:

1. It got cold! I have the cutest little fleecy poncho for Julia, which is perfect for getting her in and out of the car since I can get her buckled in underneath it. I still don't have a good cold-weather car system down yet but we definitely got our practice today!

2. We tried to go to the Magic House but it's closed on Mondays during the school year. Of course I didn't realize this so we found out when we were actually standing in the empty lobby. Poor Julia was so upset that we had to leave. I salvaged the afternoon somewhat by going to a nearby library instead, but then all she wanted to do was play on their computers instead of look at books or toys or a puppet show. Girlfriend is drawn to technology like a moth to a flame.

3. Chocolate milk seems to be a success around here lately. J drank about 4-5 ounces of chocolate milk out of a straw cup today. It might be the key to both formula- and bottle-weaning for us. Am I lazy and a bad mom for taking this shortcut? Probably, but I don't care. She gets virtually no other sweets in her diet so a little bit of chocolate syrup is okay with me. (I probably will switch to Carnation Instant Breakfast or something a little healthier if this continues to be a hit.)

4. Julia decided to start eating with a fork today. She would occasionally use a spoon if I pre-loaded it with food, but she showed almost no interest in utensils until today. And she's been watching us, because she picked it up almost immediately. She needs a little help stabbing the food with her fork but otherwise totally gets it. A lot of my baby books talk about introducing utensils earlier than this, and I'm sure we could have pushed the issue, but today was definitely a score for Laid-Back Mom Letting Her Daughter Develop At Her Own Pace!

Here are a few fork photos (cell-phone pics from lunch today):

And here's a pic of her wearing her pink sparkly Toms that my friend S got her for her birthday, just because she's adorable.

Also, I feel like a total mom having my grocery list written in crayon. Hilarious.

5. We were inspired by my dad and his dog to get a reindeer headband: