Uh Oh!

So mom has given Paige a new nickname: "Uh-oh!" As in "sounds like uh-oh is awake."

Even though she's using it a lot now, Paige really does seem to be using her word in context now and then. At the minimum, she is repeating it when we say it, which is something--she's far more reliable in saying it when prompted than she ever has been saying mama or dada, for example. But she's also occasionally seemed to use it when she needs something. For example, yesterday, she dropped her cup off of the high chair, and then decided later that she needed it. She look over the side at her cup and said "uh oh." It was the first time she'd used the word in a while, so it really seemed like she was making a decision to communicate with it.

It's really exciting to see her both being aware of her surroundings and starting to use language to interact with the people around her.

Sometimes she still seems to say in spontaneously, but that can be really funny. Last night, we were watching some sort of home improvement show, and the owners discovered that they had some sort of unexpected problem. As if in response, Paige said "uh oh!"

Language Development

It's amazing to observe language development in a baby. Last December, when she was about 7 months old, Paige would launch into a diatribe of ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, or da-da-da-da-da-da-da, or la-la-la-la-la-la-la. You'd hear that all day for two or three days on end, but then it would change to another option and you'd never hear it again.

Not long after that, she moved onto slightly more complicated noised. "Uhh-Duh!" (emphasis on "duh"), "Ahh-Duh!" (emphasis on "ahh"), and "Umm-Bah!" (emphasis on "bah") were fairly common utterances, but she had a variety of other "words" that she would say. They never seemed to be tied to anything in particular, though. One or two times we thought we heard her say "el-la", which is the name of our cat (after Ella Fitzgerald--she "sang" a lot when we first got her...that, and her previous name was Bella!), and we were certain that she was saying it in response to our kitty walking around. But it wasn't very consistent, and has since (mostly) disappeared from her vocabulary, so I think it was probably just a chance thing.

Tonight was different though. Sitting in her high-chair, Paige dropped her drink. I said "Uh-oh!" ... and Paige said "ee-oh" meekly in return. I didn't think that much about it at first, but then she started saying it time and time again...."eh-oh," "eh-oh," "eh-oh." I said "uh-oh!" back to her, and, looking right at me, she continued to say "eh-oh" over and over again. It really was as if she were trying to say those words!

I might not have thought much about it, but a half-hour later we were playing in the living room and she pushed a toy off of the couch. Again, I said "eh-oh!" And she responded again, a few times, "eh-oh." She had a look of great concentration on her face as she did it, and it always kind of faint--much different from her typical loud babbling. But it's hard not to think that she's really trying to say those words.

Pretty neat. I'm looking forward to seeing if she still will say "eh-oh" come morning.

Two by Two

Paige woke up this morning around 5am. Her usual waking time is closer to 7am. She has two new teeth coming in. It's most likely her first lower molars. She was just screaming and arching her back. We couldn't make her happy with anything. Finally we got her to calm down after Tylenol and Orajel and were able to bring her to bed with us for another half hour or so.

The picture to above shows approximately when each baby tooth should erupt. The odd thing is they always come together. Her mouth is always symmetrical, which means double the discomfort for her.

Sippy Cup Review - Beginner Cups

In the process of Paige making the transition from sippy cup to bottle, we've tried out a variety of sippy cups. Here are our opinions on the cups we've tried to date, from worst to first:

Complete Disaster:

Nuby No-Spill Gripper Cup

We tried this one tonight for the first time. Paige was ready for some milk when we got home from work, so we filled up one of these new cups and gave it to her. She drank at it vigorously, and seemed happy at first. But eventually she started to get inconsolable. We thought she was teething (which she is) and was in a lot of pain, so we tried to distract her with a stroller ride, toys, etc. We gave her a teething ring, Tylonol, and her favorite Sugar Potato Puffs.

Finally, Mom noticed that, despite a lot of sucking, the milk level was almost as high as it was when we poured the cup. It turns out that Paige couldn't get any milk from the cup! We tried it ourselves and had similar difficulties. I couldn't get anything, and Mom only could get it if she bit on the nipple in a very specific way. We transferred the milk to our favorite cup (see below), and Paige drank about five oz in under two minutes. Problem solved, she was happy for the rest of the night.

We have since tried both cups that came in our 2-pack, and neither is effective. We checked the holes to make sure they were punched all the way through, but that wasn't the issue. It just seems like a terrible design. We've seen other posts of people who like these cups, but they don't work for us.

An Ok cup:

Gerber Sip & Smile Spill-Proof Cup 10 oz

This cup is nice because it has a large capacity, and the easy-to-remove Gerber valve. We haven't had problems with the valves falling out, unlike some other reviews we've read. We do note, however, that the valve seem harder to clean than some of the others, as you really have to use a bottle brush to get down into the valve mechanism.

This cup does not have handles. While this does make them more similar to bottles, Paige sometimes has a hard time holding onto this cups when her hands are slippery with food.

It does have a hard "nipple," which results in lots of teeth marks. Paige also had a hard time learning to use this cups when she was transitioning from bottles, as the hard tip didn't seem like a good thing to suck on. Once she learned what to do with a sippy cup, however, she's done great with this cup.

Good cups:

Gerber Fun Grips Soft Starter

This was a good cup for Paige early on, because she seemed to work better with the handles (especially with slippery hands during meal time) and respond better to the softer nipple on this cup compared to some others (still not as good as our favorite, below). It has the easy-to-remove Gerber valve, and again, we haven't had problems with the valve falling out accidentally. We like that it has clear sides, as it's easy to see how much milk/water/whatever she has left. Capacity isn't huge, but perfectly adequate.

As with the Gerber Sip and Smile above, we find that the valve mechanism is a bit difficult to clean adequately without a nipple brush. But that's the only real complaint.

Munchkin Insulated My First Cup

(ours isn't Dora the Explorer, but otherwise is the same)

The coolest (pardon the pun) feature about this cup is that it has a layer of air between the inner and outer plastic layers of the cup, which helps keep liquids cooler for longer. That's very handy here in hot Phoenix. Otherwise, it's a fairly normal cup, with a hard nipple (Paige wouldn't touch it until she was introduced to other cups), and opaque sides.

The handles are nice, as Paige is much more likely to hold onto the cup rather than dropping it on the floor when her hands are covered in food. The valve is much easier to clean than the Gerber valves, though it seems a bit less substantial too. It's also a bit noisy when she drinks, compared to other cups. At this point, however, it's among our favorite cups.

Our Favorite:

Gerber Graduates Sip & Smile Soft Spout Spill-Proof Cups 7 oz

This is our hands-down favorite, especially as a starter cup. It was essential when we were trying to get Paige to learn about how to use a sippy cup a few months ago. She didn't know what to do with the hard nipples of other cups, but when she bit on the soft nipple of this cup, it collapsed and put a small amount of water into her mouth. After a biting for a while to drink, she learned that she could suck on it to get much more water. Since then, she's been able to use any sippy cup, but this is what made that transition possible.

It has other nice features. The handles are great when her hands are slippery with food, as she can still get a good grip and can hold onto the cup even when she gets excited. The slanted base seemed to help her get more out of the cup when she was still learning to tilt back the cup to get all the water or milk out, a skill she just mastered within the past week. And they have the Gerber valves, which are easy to remove, even if a bit difficult to wash. Capacity is fairly small at 7 oz., but Paige rarely drinks more than these cups offer in a single sitting.

There are, of course, many other cups available on the market, but these are the ones we've tried thus far. We'll update this post if/when we try others.

Mimi's Cafe

We have a new favorite restaurant!

Mom, Paige, and I generally try to go out to eat about once a week. Today, for lunch, we went to Mimi's Cafe on Ray Road in Ahwatukee, AZ. They have a nice menu. Dad had an unbelievable meatloaf sandwich with fresh fruit, while Mom had one of their fancy salads. Paige is still young enough at 12 months that we don't order her anything off the menu yet, and instead usually just give her bites of whatever we ordered.

Nevertheless, much to our surprise, shortly after we placed our order, the waiter came by with a plate of food for Paige: a small bowl of Cheerios, a slice of orange, and some saltine crackers, plus a bib and hand-wipe for afterwards. We were blown away. It's such a small thing, but it still was incredibly nice. It can sometimes feel like an imposition when we take Paige to a restaurant, but this made us feel extremely welcome. We will most definitely be back.

Adult TV Choices

One of the things that I'm a bit (probably overly) paranoid about as a parent is the type of TV that our daughter is exposed to. Not so much what she's watching, but what we're watching when she's in the room. Let's take two example programs that just started recently:

• The Next Food Network Star - A show in which contestants compete in a series of challenges to determine who gets a new show on the Food Network. Each week, a contestant or two is dismissed from the show based on her or his performance.

• Hell's Kitchen - A show in which contestants compete in a series of challenges to determine who gets a new high-end restaurant. Each week, a contestant or two is dismissed from the show based on her or his performance.
  

Sound like similar shows, right? They are, at least in premise. But watching them couldn't be more different.

In the Next Food Network Star, contestants are given significant challenges, and are absolutely critically evaluated. One person goes home each week, usually because they perform badly. But the stresses are always about the challenge, and the emphasis is on creating great food, giving a good presentation, learning and becoming better, and having fun. The atmosphere is one that discourages selfish or overly aggressive play, and instead encourages contestants to be as creative and successful as they can be.

In contrast, Hell's Kitchen is far less about the food. Instead, it seems as though it's primary purpose is to allow Chef Ramsay to yell, scream, and humiliate his contestants into submission.
Half the show is bleeped out due to profanity, but that's not the problem. What is left of the dialog in between the bleeps is a ridiculous tirade of personal and demeaning insults that no one should have to experience--even if they're on a TV show, or trying to get their dream job. Perhaps in response to this, the contestants bumble their way through the competition scheming to get each other eliminated while trying not to screw up too much themselves.

As you can tell, I think Food Network Star is a fine show and I enjoy watching it now and then. But Hell's Kitchen is a prime example of what really bothers me about a lot of reality television these days. One of the most important lessons that I hope to instill in our daughter is the importance of treating people with decency and thinking with compassion about how one's actions affect others. But so many reality tv shows these days are, above all, about either a) treating people terribly, or b) doing whatever you have to do to get ahead.

I think these are terrible lessons to be teaching our young children, which is why I really don't want our kid exposed to them...at least, not for a long while. I'd be far more bothered by letting her watch that show than if she were to see a show involving naked people making love (depending on how it's done), or maybe even a show involving a fair bit of violence (depending on how it's done). I'm a pretty open person, and not terribly conservative (most would call me liberal), but I really do think that shows like Hell's Kitchen are dangerous to our kids. I don't advocate taking them off the air (if adults want to watch that stuff, then fine, who am I to deny them that?), but I do think we as parents should be careful about exposing our children to them.

Here are a few other opinions on Hell's Kitchen:

• ParentsTV.org
  
• CommonSenseMedia.org

Ok, she can have just one more bottle

As I mentioned in my previous post, the transition from bottle to cup was going pretty smooth...until last night. I'm not sure how much milk Paige drank during the day at daycare and she didn't have all that much last night at dinner, so it wasn't too surprising when she woke up around 11:30pm last night hungry. So we offered her the sippy cup with cold milk. She just cried harder. She cried and cried and cried. Finally, we caved in. I poured her milk into a bottle. She grabbed it out of my hands, took one sip then tossed it aside. I handed it back to her and she took another sip and then again tossed it aside. She not only didn't want the sippy cup, but she also didn't want her milk cold! Again, I caved in. I warmed the bottle and she sucked down 5 ounces in no time. She immediately fell right back to sleep. I, on the other hand, felt horrible that we made her so upset and was tossing and turning all night. I can't bear to watch her be so upset about losing her friend, the bottle. If this pains me so much, how am I going to handle her not liking the transition to kindergarten? Or the first time her little heart is broken?

This morning was rough as well, but we powered through it. We didn't even attempt to give her the cup without putting her in the highchair and giving her some puffs and peaches first. She threw a really good tantrum, but we persisted. Eventually after a few bites of peaches she was drinking from the cup. The other pretty cool thing she started doing this morning is nodding her head. When she would throw her sippy cup to the side I would shake my head no and say "No drop". She would smile and nod her head yes :)

No more bottles!

I was quite nervous about the idea of weaning Paige from the bottle to a sippy cup, but it was so much easier than I was imagining. We had been getting her used to the idea of a sippy cup for about the last month or so with an ounce or 2 of water here and there. She usually takes a sip and swallows it, but then takes a second sip and spits it all down the front of her. And then she's done with it. So, I was expecting her to do the same with her whole milk.

We're still giving her one bottle in the morning, which hopefully we'll cut out within the next week or so. That morning bottle contains her iron supplement. 7ml iron is a lot to give her straight, but if it's mixed in formula through the bottle she doesn't seem to mind it at all.

After that first morning bottle, she only gets sippy cups. We started this on Saturday and she did really well except for one mini-fit on Saturday afternoon. So all we had to do was put her in her highchair, give her a snack and also the sippy cup. She drank it all down while she snacked. Even the night cup was no problem at all.

We took away the binky around 6 months with no problems, and it looks like the removal of the bottle isn't going to be an issue either. She's my big girl now :)

Baby Birthday Parties

One of the things that I've been most surprised about as a new parent is how much fun kid birthday parties can be. Paige is just, over the past month or two, getting to the point that she's really interacting with other kids. For her birthday, May 19th, we threw her a small party here at the house. Five baby girls showed up, ranging from 9 to 16 months. They all played on the floor and around Paige's "old" jumper (Paige is in the foreground), and seemed to have a great time interacting with the new toys and each other.

Today, we went to a local park to celebrate the first birthday of one of those girls. We brought a blanket, and the birthday girl, another baby, and Paige all sat there (or, in the birthday girl's case, stood from time to time!) on the blanket and played. They crawled around one another, pulled toys out of each others' hands, babbled...in short, we parents had a wonderful time watching them.

I think these parties are the first times that I've really had the feeling that Paige is growing out of being a baby and becoming a little kid. It's exciting.

Welcome to Paige is One!

Thanks for dropping by!

Here's what we plan to do with this blog:

• Discuss what it's like to raise a 1-year old--milestones, challenges, stresses, and fun!
• Write reviews of baby gear or toys that we have found useful (or not).
• Posting pictures and video.

We hope you'll find it as interesting as we will!