• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/2 cup diced cooked turkey
• 1/2 cup steamed broccoli, finely minced
• lemon olive oil (you can use plain, too)
• salt
• pepper

Stir rice, turkey, and broccoli together. Heat in microwave until warm. Drizzle generously with olive oil, and add one small dash of pepper and a bit of salt to taste.

Jamieson loved this. And it was delicious enough that I’m going to make it for the big people in the household next time, too; maybe adding a few Katamala olives.

For dessert he had about 1/2 cup of fresh local blueberries. I wasn’t sure he’d eat them so I only gave him a few at a time (I didn’t want a carpet full of purple stains), but he kept asking for more.

In non-food-related news, we were playing with his wooden cars this morning and as soon as I stopped, he looked at me and said, “More vrooom!”

The dashboard and underhood of your car provide a constellation of symbols — much of the iconography is standard. The symbols that aren’t? Sometimes they’re easily understood and sometimes they’re open for misinterpretation. Here’s 20 icons trending toward the hilarious.

What if you were plopped into a car with no idea what any symbol in it meant? You’d probably come up with some pretty funny and really incorrect interpretations. We took a fresh look at some of our cars and came up with these. What about in your car? Anything really weird in there?

Read more!

• “Bello” (for Jello)
• and “e-i-e-i-0″ (very clearly enunciated, super cute)

Doc and I got to go out on an actual date last weekend, thanks to the generous babysitting talents of Kathryn and Brett. We intended to go see “Inception,” since we know someone who worked on the movie (and plus it just looks interesting), but our show was sold out when we arrived. Knowing that we had a limited timeframe to be out on the town, we chose another movie that started around the same time, “Dinner for Schmucks.” Not something we had intended to see in the theatre, but it was funny at times and moderately charming, and at this point I am so starved for movies that it almost doesn’t matter what I go see. It was just nice to be out on a date with my wonderful husband.

Beginning July 30, we had 26 days in a row of heat over 100 degrees. The official recorded temperature was 99 on a couple of those days, but it is always hotter at our house than out at the airport where they record the official numbers. Last weekend was just the worst; the analog thermometer on our back patio registered 108 on both days. Thankfully Jamieson has not seemed to want to go outside as much as usual lately. He’ll look out the windows to the patio and say “HOT.” On Sunday afternoon I filled up his wading pool and let him swim for a while. He also ate a couple of big slices of cold watermelon, perfect for a hot day.

Yesterday the  highest temperature I saw all day was 77 degrees (I was so excited that I checked every hour or so). That’s lower than we’ve had most nights this month.

Anyway, I don’t expect it to last, but it has been a very nice break from living on the face of the sun.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day that this happened, but it finally has.

Lord Emperor Toddler, age 20-1/2 months, has SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! Indeed, five out of the last six nights, he has slept all the way from bedtime (8:30-ish) until 7 or 7:30 in the morning. Occasionally he will cry out for a minute or two, but I can tell by how the cries sound that he’s not actually awake. He quiets down after a minute or two and settles back to sleep.

This happened eleven days after we began the process of weaning him from the first of his two night feedings. We always gave him his second bottle when he woke up for it. I guess he just decided that it wasn’t worth waking up for it anymore. Who knows what went through his little brain, consciously or subconsciously. Maybe he realized that he felt better when he got a long stretch of sleep, and he began to get comfortable knowing that daddy always comes in first thing in the morning with a cup of milk and some banana slices and cereal, so he won’t be hungry.

We had been looking forward to this day for such a long time, with such longing and anticipation, and it even became a running joke between Doc and I (“I know we said this last night, but tonight is actually the night he’s going to sleep through the night.”). Eventually there came a point when I internally gave up thinking/wishing/pining for a full night’s sleep for both he and I, because it never ever happened, and I had learned to get by pretty well with the routine we were in.

And when it happened, I was way less excited than I ever thought I’d be. Angels did not sing, golden light did not shine from above, I did not spring forth from my bed fully rested and ready to take on the world. Which was TOTALLY not the reaction I was expecting from myself.

I guess the potential excitement of that moment had been dulled by months of … well, drudgery is not the right word, but just months of a 2x/night waking schedule with no real signs of Jamie changing it up on his own. And of course, we had to be 100% certain that he would be getting all the nutrition he needs during his waking hours before we pulled the ripcord on the night feedings, so we chose to let it continue for a very long time, WAY longer than I think most people would. But I honestly don’t think that any of us would have been successful with this process even a few months ago.

As I am constantly reminded… every kid is different.

But like I said, overall it’s going very well. It’s going to take time for him to completely settle into this new routine (and of course we are going to yank feeding #2 at some point soon too), and I have to say that I am very impressed by how much patience we, as his parents, are exhibiting throughout this process. We’re both remaining very zen about the whole thing, and focused on the long term. I suppose that’s one benefit to being “older” parents: higher patience levels.

Jamieson doesn’t seem to be any the worse for wear during this process. He doesn’t appear to be more upset than normal during the days, or dreading bedtime or anything of the sort. Getting longer stretches of sleep may be doing him good.

His allergist suggested we take him down to 1/2 his previous dosage of his medication, but he seemed to be a little more uncomfortable at that dosage, so we’ve taken him back to the normal amount. We’ll try the half dosage again in a month or two and see how it goes then.

In other news, he doesn’t seem to dig fake mustaches.

I will definitely make this again, and add more vegetables to the rice — maybe carrots, broccoli, asparagus. We can leave out the cheese sauce and it will still be delicious, and Jamieson-friendly.

Here is my version of Zucchini Rice Casserole with Sausage and Cheese.

• 1 cup Minute rice
• 1-3/4 cups chicken broth or water
• 2 cups diced zucchini and/or summer squash (about 2 medium)
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces turkey sausage, casings removed
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels
• 3/4 cup low-fat milk
• 1-1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeños

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Pour rice into a 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish. Bring broth or water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Stir hot broth into the rice along with zucchini, onion and salt. Cover with foil. Bake for 25 minutes.

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add sausage. Cook, stirring and breaking the sausage into small pieces with a spoon, until lightly browned and no longer pink, about 6 minutes.

When casserole is done, remove from oven and stir in sausage and corn.

Preheat oven broiler.

In the same pot you used to cook the sausage, pour in milk and sprinkle flour on top. Whisk over medium heat until bubbling and thickened, 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 3/4 cup cheese and cook, stirring, until the cheese is melted. Stir cheese sauce into casserole. Top with chopped jalapenos and remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

Put the casserole under the broiler and broil until cheese melts and is beginning to turn brown in spots.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Oh – so this was kinda crazy. We were at Wendy’s for dinner the other night (don’t judge) and Doc was holding Jamieson as we waited in line to order. Right next to us was a signboard advertising some sort of apple chicken almond salad or something of that nature. Jamieson leaned over, touched the word “apple” and said, plain as day, “apple.” There were no picture of apples on the board. Some of his storybooks have the word apple in them, associated with a picture, so I guess that he recognized the shape of the word. I was quite amazed by this. I’m not operating under the illusion that our baby can read, but he’s definitely beginning to remember and recognize words he’s seen before.

In other news, we began weaning him from his night feedings on Sunday. As an aside, I hate the word “wean.” It sounds like cold and moist and just icky. Wean. Wean. Weeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaan.

Anyway. We decided to take this plan in stages. His normal routine is to wake around 11 p.m. for Feeding #1, and around 3 a.m. for Feeding #2. We are beginning by cutting out Feeding #1.

Many people like and employ the Ferber method, commonly known as cry-it-out. We are not fans of this technique. I know that it is fast and effective for a lot of people, but we are not comfortable leaving Jamie alone and frightened to cry himself back to sleep. So we came up with our own modified plan. We will not feed him when he wakes the first time, but we will stay with him, comfort him, and hold him if necessary until he calms down and goes back to sleep (which, hopefully, he will do). If he wakes again after 3 a.m., this counts as Feeding #2 and he can have milk at that point.

The first night was rather brutal. Doc went in at 10:45 when Jamie woke up for Feeding #1 (or should I say, Nonfeeding #1), and rather than handing him a bottle of soymilk like usual, he just gave him back the binky. Fury ensued, the binky was violently spit out and “ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi” style wailing began. Fury continued, broken by short periods of nearly-asleepedness, for somewhat close to two hours before Jamie finally fell back asleep soundly enough for Doc to leave the room. Two hours of Jamie fury is pretty intense, especially because his fury level would intensify whenever Doc tried to sit in the rocking chair with him. So, two hours of standing. Not good times.

He woke again around 2:15. I steeled myself and entered the war zone, armed with a bottle of soymilk, fully expecting him to be furious about what had happened earlier. He took the bottle, drank 3/4 of it, and rolled over and went right back to sleep. I guess he was too worn out to be angry.

Night #2 was different. He slept through Nonfeeding #1, woke at 3:15 for Feeding #2, and it went quickly and easily.

Night #3 was different yet again. He woke for Nonfeeding #1, and cried angrily for about 15 minutes when I didn’t produce a bottle. I kept trying to give him his binky but he’d slap it out of my hands and sob. I laid quietly next to his bed with my arm up over the side so he knew I was there. After the furious crying subsided, he half-heartedly fussed for another 10 minutes or so, in sort of a “Hey, I’m crying here! Anyone? Helloooo?” manner. Then he quieted down, fidgeted around in his bed for about 30-40 minutes, and fell asleep. He stayed in bed the entire time and didn’t ask to be picked up.

Night #4 (last night) went smoothly, with a strange twist at the end. Nonfeeding #1 only took about 10 minutes for Doc, and didn’t involve much crying at all. Feeding #2 happened at about 5 a.m. when I heard him quietly sigh on the baby monitor. He wasn’t moving much so I thought I could sneak in there for a “pre-emptive strike,” since it’s always touch and go after about 4:30 a.m. as far as how awake he’s going to be. If he didn’t wake up much, he might go back to sleep easily. Unfortunately, he decided that he was wide awake after he drank his milk. I was like, uh-uh, mommy don’t play that 5 a.m. game anymore. I laid quietly by his crib hoping he’d drift back off to sleep, but after about 40 minutes of him tossing around in bed, babbling, and thumping his legs against the crib slats, it was clear to me that it wasn’t going to happen. And then he suddenly got very very quiet.

I cracked open my eyes and looked up to find him standing RIGHT OVER ME staring at me. EEEEEK! Freaked me out. He was so silent getting out of bed! How long had he been staring at me?! Anyway, as soon as he saw me open my eyes, he smiled and put his head down on my arm and snuggled up tight next to me. That was heartbreakingly cute but it lasted for all of about 10 seconds before he got up again and made a move for his toy shelf.

By this time I had to pee really bad, so I decided that rather than take him with me to the bathroom, which would basically guarantee that we were both up for the day, I would put him back in bed, shut his door, use the bathroom, and then come back and try to drift into half-sleep on his floor while he played with his toys for a while. So I laid him back down in bed and left the room. As you might imagine, this was not well-received. He began to cry, but not quite as loudly as I was expecting. I took care of my business, all the while watching him on the video baby monitor. By the time I was ready to  head back to his room, he had stopped crying, laid down in bed, and wasn’t moving anymore. So I went back to my own bed, watched the monitor for a bit, and then went back to sleep!

He didn’t wake up again until 7:45 when we woke him up so I could see him before I left for work.

Crazy times. I wonder what tonight will bring.

He visited his gastroenterologist, Dr. Whitney, today. She was pleased with his progress and told us that it’s definitely time to cut out the night feedings. Dr. W feels that he’s waking up entirely out of habit now, not because he’s truly hungry. Between solid food, soy formula, and his vitamins, he’ll get plenty of nutrients during the daylight hours, and will also begin to increase his caloric intake. I couldn’t help myself, I began laughing and said to Jamie, “Sorry, buddy, Dr. Whitney is no longer on your side!” Doc and I are going to come up with our plan of action for tackling this tough task this weekend. I’m not looking forward to The Big Wean, but maybe it’ll be less traumatic (for all of us) than I fear.

Here are some recent photos:

First and foremost, our child weighs 33 pounds now. 33! That’s like 1/4 of what I weigh!! (In my dreams)

But — he is by no means fat. I mean, look at him. He’s a very slender little boy, and the doctor said he’s actually on the lean side of normal for his height. I tell you, though, lifting and carrying 33 pounds around all the time is wreaking havoc on my back and shoulders. I try my best to keep good posture but it’s not easy. I’d let him walk more when we’re out in public, but he’s still young enough that he’s very prone to just take off without a backwards glance.

Anyway, he’s doing very well on his new medication (Flovent, an inhaled asthma medication that he actually swallows rather than inhales). He feels pretty good most of the time these days, and he’s sleeping VERY well. It also could be partly his growing maturity that he’s better able to deal with it when he doesn’t feel well. We’re keeping him on this medication for another three months — but at half the previous dosage — and will then evaluate whether to try taking him off of it.

Also at the end of three months, we are going to try giving him chicken. The allergist felt that this was probably a good way to start reintroducing his suspected allergens. Chicken is probably the least potent of them; peanuts are probably the most potent. We likely won’t try peanuts until he is at least 5.

And we’ll continue the night feedings for a while, probably.

I like having a plan.

His current favorite Jamie-language word: dippa-deeeeee.

We’re transitioning him now from bottles to sippy cups during the day. He’s not drinking as much milk from them as he will from a bottle, but the goal is to get him used to the idea that milk is only available by sippy cup now. Hopefully he’ll up his intake at some point soon. He has taken juice and water from a sippy for months now, but he only wanted milk if it was in a bottle. And overnight, of course, he drinks from a bottle. We also plan to wean him from night feedings soon. THAT will not be fun.

It turns out that he really digs V8. Go figure! So we get the low sodium kind and he drinks it from a sippy or a straw or even from a big boy cup with assistance. I can’t think of a downside to him liking tomato vegetable juice. We also get the V8 or Motts brand fruit/veg juice blends — they taste like regular fruit juice and I’d much rather he drink that and get those extra nutrients than just drink plain apple juice.

This was an enormous and scary decision, but I kept it pretty much to myself, in case I chickened out. I thought about it for a good long while and made sure that Hubby was on board with it (he said, and I paraphrase, “It is your decision and as long as you’re happy with it, I’m happy.”… what a sweet, sweet man!).

I wonder what it is about hair that makes it so nervewracking to make a huge change like this? I’ve said for years that if baldness ever came into fashion for women I would shave my head immediately. I guess this is pretty close to that. So really, this is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time but just now have gotten up the courage and self-esteem to do it.

Where did that courage come from? One word: Motherhood. Over the past year and a half I have explored and pushed well beyond what I thought were my limits, and lived to tell the tale. I’ve reorganized my life’s priorities, learned new ways of picking my battles, and figured out (sorta) how not to sweat the small stuff. I created an entirely new human being, guiding him from his original two cells all the way to eight and three-quarters pounds, pushed him out into the world, and was his main source of nourishment for five months. Good lord, if I can do all THAT…. surely I can cut my hair.