Shop local, buy on line.
Babyshere.com a local Arlington Virginia company that offers environmentally friendly baby announcements, shower invitations and thank-you cards on 100% recycled paper is working with Arlington Baby Community to sponsor a give-away. The winner will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to Babyshere.com.
Send an email to Carolyn@arlingtonbabycommunity.com and include a valid email address to enter the lottery.
The winner will be announced on October 19, 2008.
We had some family pictures taken by A.B.C’s expert photographer, Danie Smallwood at Echo Park. Despite the heat and a subject who won’t sit still for a nanosecond, she got some great shots. She even put a few of them together in a collage so I could have some gifts for the relatives.
My family: clarkfamily.jpg clarkfamily.jpg
For the first time in almost a year, we took Peanut out to lunch. I am not sure exactly which experience prompted the “we are never going out to eat with the baby again” mantra in our house. The diagnosis of his food allergy or the fun time at Tandori Nights when he managed to climb out of his high chair and onto the table while we were eating.
I am, obviously, proud to report that it was a success. A giant bowl of strawberries, a sippy of water and juice, a cell-phone and sitting next to Daddy did the trick. We even received a compliment for such a well behaved 18 month old. If she only knew.
At home, Peanut is a genius. He tries to imitate everything we do. He is a problem solver and figures out how to get or do what he wants when he wants. He rarely never gives up.
O.k., it is true that his vocabulary is rather limited. I am “Da” rather than Mama, all animals are “woof-woof’s”, and he still has not cracked the complexities of yes and no. But, we applaud all of his achievements as if he had just won the Noble Prize.
When we were visiting Peanut’s grandparents, he ran around the house chasing the “woof-woof” (cat) for hours chanting, “woof-woof”. One morning, Peanut saw Grandpa play with the cat with a piece of string. Later that day, when Peanut finally caught the “woof-woof”, he knew just what to do. He picked up the string and dangled it in front of the cat to play with him just like Grandpa had done. We could not get over how astute this was for a 16 month old. He saw what Grandpa had done to play with the cat and copied his actions hours later. I would be lying if I did not admit that the word Harvard was thrown around. More than once.
The following week we were at our friend’s house where their 17 month old daughter sounded out most of the letters of the alphabet on command. She could tell me what an A sounds like, what a B sounds like, etc. Suddenly dangling a piece of string in front of a cat while calling him a “woof-woof” didn’t seem all that impressive. The imaginary ivy league applications were put on hold.
All confidence in my son’s intellect was restored later that evening at home when my husband called out that Peanut had managed to put the bedroom television on himself. This is no small feat. The installer did not set up a universal remote for this t.v., and, in order to turn it on it is necessary to push the right buttons in the right order on the right clickers facing the right direction with the stars alligned just so. As I ran in and saw that he had indeed successfully turned on MSNBC, any lingering doubts of Peanut’s intellect were put to rest. My husband and I looked at each other and whispered at the same time, “brilliant.”
It is that time of the year to stock up on books, books and more books.
You will find books on cd, children’s books, cookbooks, videos and much more at ridiculously low prices.
Friends of the library ($15.00 at the door) may shop Thursday, April 10th from 5:30-9 pm. The doors will be open to the public Friday and Saturday, April 11th and 12th, from 10-6, and Sunday from 12-6 when everything left will be half off at the Arlington Central Library underground parking garage.
For more information on becoming a friend of the Arlington library see, http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Libraries/LibrariesSupporttheLibrary.aspx
Update: Survival and the power of the portable dvd player. When I was pregnant, I said that my son would not watch videos until he was atleast 2 years old. Apparently, I was wrong. We made it to Grandma and Grandpa’s house on the train with limited tantrums thanks to Baby Neptune.
I have decided to bring Peanut on the train to visit family in New Jersey. Just the two of us. On the train. Alone. My son on the train. My son who won’t sit in his high chair long enough to finish dinner (not even for the strawberries). I can not explain my decision to embark on this journey and it as occurred to me that rational people do not make these kind of decisions. I want to be one of those moms that just picks up baby and goes. A toddler in tow, no big deal. There has not been one moment in the past 15 and 1/2 months that I have been this mom. But, tomorrow, well, maybe that will be me. Or, I could become that woman on the train that I have always despised. The one with the uncontrollable child screaming his head off that she can not seem to hear as busy as she is reading a trashy magazine and talking on the phone. Wish me luck.
I thought I was being so careful. Diligently scrutinizing the ingredients of any food or products that I gave Peanut. He never touched any piece food if we didn’t know what was in it, how it was cooked and where it was processed. patiently watched Peanut go through all of his toys and tear apart his room, rather than nap this afternoon, I mindlessly picked up his toothpaste and read the ingredients. And, there it was, Ingredient #10 “lysozyme (from egg)”.
My latest obsession: the reverse pregnancy calendar.www.mymonthlycycles.com/whencalcct.jsp?calctype=rpc
Plug in the date you want your baby to be born and it tells you the day that you must conceive. How convenient! You can schedule your baby’s birthday.
Having trouble deciding on your baby’s birthdate? First, head over to www.babiesonline.com/horoscope/ and pick your baby’s desired personality. Then, plug in the the dates for that sign into the reverse pregnancy calendar and mark your calendar.
This is how it works… Life does goes as planned, right?Well, this is my latest past time, atleast. Just don’t tell my husband. We are not even thinking about talking about having another baby any time soon.
