4/20/10

Mark One Off

In March I blogged about my "Baby Bucket List", the list of things I would like to do with Sebastian some day. A couple weekends ago I got to cross one of those things off the list when we went to the Toronto Zoo with my mom, since she was visiting.

My husband clearly forgot that to hang with me and do any sort of sightseeing, you have to leave early. For some reason he thought leaving the house around 11am would give us plenty of time at the zoo. Major parent fail.

Anyway, we got to the zoo in time for lunch which we brought because we are broke and just can't do the $4.95 for a Beaver Tail thing right now. Even though it was a sunny (albeit a bit chilly) day the kid's zoo section was closed. That was so not cool. We really were looking forward to letting Sebastian touch the animals in that section. So we figured he'd probably enjoy it more when he was older anyway and set off to the Australasia Pavilion. Whoa stinky! Sebastian enjoyed looking at the birds and loved the Wallabies.



We also posed with a willing Komodo Dragon.



"Come here Mr. Komodo Dragon, I will gouge out your eyes for you".



Then we mosied on over through Eurasia which was quite desolate and fairly boring aside of the sleeping Snow Leopards. As you can see Sebastian wasn't so impressed with that section either and took a much needed nap.



Then we finally got to the Tundra Trek section which was the section of the zoo all of us adults were looking forward to. I mean hello, Polar Bears! Sebastian woke up but didn't seem all too thrilled with lazy bears waaaaay over there. The Arctic Wolves were a bit more interesting. At this point Sebastian was hungry so I sat myself down in some tepee they had set up there and nursed him cross-legged on the ground. I kind of felt tribal and all mama power right then. My mom wanted to take a pic of us but Alex said not to. Frankly I would have liked one of that moment. We just sat in there and nursed as people came in and out of the tepee. Who knows if they knew what was going on. Later he decided he wasn't done and I successfully nursed him upright in the Ergo. Awesomeness.

As we were heading into the Africa section we realized we only had an hour before the zoo closed. Such a parent fail right there. Why we started with one of the largest, most boring sections I'll never know. We were going to miss out on all the lions and elephants and gorillas and such. There was no way we'd get through those in an hour, nor did I want to rush through them. So we decided to visit the giraffe house, because they were right next to us, and call it a day.

Sebastian was highly amused by the giraffes. Here were three giant, real life Sophies to gawk at. I hadn't ever been so close to one before and was amazed at their size. What gorgeous animals!



My mom had to visit the gift shop before leaving, of course, and luckily I dissuaded her from buying Sebastian every stuffed animal there was. I mean, he already has a stuffed giraffe, does he really need another?



And just because, I have to share something I saw in the gift shop that made me want to pull my hair out.

As always, virtual cupcakes for the reader who can guess why.



So despite it being short, we had a good day. We'll go back to the zoo when Sebastian is older so he can get more out of it and enjoy the sections we missed. Maybe we'll go next summer when more sections are open.

4/8/10

BLW Update 3/22 - 4/7

This is another small update of new food items. At the end of the month I'll be updating the large list to show all of the foods Sebastian has eaten over our 3 1/2 months of BLW.

Homemade mac and cheese ♥
Cheeseburger
Grapes ♥
Strawberry ♥
Dill pickle ♥
French toast
Cauliflower (both raw and cooked)
Pork loin
Cherry jello ♥
Baked zitti ♥
Tuna salad
Zucchini
Refried black beans
Cheese Enchilada

He loved the strawberry but it made Sebastian, his highchair, and the floor look like a murder scene. I then got paranoid about allergies, which I normally don't, and panicked about letting him try strawberries before age one. So while he was fine and had no reaction to the berry I may wait a month or so before giving him another one.

Easter evening we had some cherry Jello as a dessert. I used a bowl that my Grammy gave me. It was hers for years and I had always liked it as a child because it was so pretty. I had my first Jello out of that bowl and my grandmother would always tell the funny story about my first reaction to it. So, I was looking forward to the day I could make Jello (yes, lame I know) for my own child. Alex was not thrilled with the idea because of all the sugar and junk in there but in the end he realized one bite was not going to kill Sebastian.


What is this silly stuff?


You expect me to eat this?


I love Jello!

This week we went out to dinner at Swiss Chalet. Since it was an impromptu dinner I didn't have a sippy cup with me so they gave us a covered glass with a straw. I wasn't convinced he would get anything out of it but, to my surprise, my 9 month old baby used that straw like a pro. We tried it again yesterday at East Side Mario's even though I came armed with a sippy and he did just as well.



I've been really happy to get feedback (both here and on the message boards) from many of you who read my BLW blog posts and thrilled for those of you who have found success with BLW either by starting on your own or by being encouraged or influenced by our experiences. My husband keeps telling me to start a specific BLW blog but I don't know if that would be overkill. Anyone have thoughts on that?