Still figuring it out

Steven and Knute are still figuring out their relationship. Steven is enamored of Knute and usually wants to walk or crawl to wherever he is and grab for him. Knute is incredibly tolerant, and is testing out how much physically contact to allow Steven, and how much to initiate himself.

I posted these first two pictures to Facebook at the beginning of the month. Steven and Mike were sitting on the couch Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa when Knute decided to come sit on their laps. You can see that Steven's inclination is to grab a fistful of fur, and Mike is trying to teach him to pet the kitty with an open hand.

These next few I took a few days ago:

Steven approaches Knute. Knute contemplates what to do...

Knute decides to flop over in the classic "rub my belly" position...

Knute changes his mind and retreats. Steven looks at Mommy as if to say, "What went wrong?"

8 months

Steven turned 8 months on Monday. He is growing like a weed--just starting to grow out of his 9 month clothes and into his 12 months. He's also starting to chub up a little bit, finally, helped along by the fact that he is an eating machine. We haven't weighed him in a while, but just lifting and carrying him I can tell the difference from just a few weeks ago.

He's made a lot of motor milestones lately, too. He can crawl now and it quite quick about it. It's still not "real" crawling up on his hands and knees, but more of the wounded-soldier-dragging-himself-by-his-arms crawling (which, Mike, is different than the "army crawl" which is also on the belly but does involve the legs taking an active roll). Regardless, it gets the job done and I have a heck of a time keeping up with him. No more running upstairs to throw in a load of laundry and leaving him downstairs in the family room unattended. His favorite things to seek out are cords, so we have to watch where we plug in our laptops, phones, etc. We're also going to have to move our TV into the corner so we can plug everything in behind the console and thwart him a bit more. In the meantime I can always stick him in his exersaucer if I need to keep him contained and out of trouble while I get things done.

I love cords--they are fun to shake!

A few days ago he started standing independently as well. He had kind of done it before for about 2 seconds at a time, but this time it was for about 10 seconds straight. He looked pleased, surprised, and a little apprehensive all at once. He's been practicing every day, and only really falls once he tries to take a step. He'll figure out walking before we know it. I'm glad and scared all at the same time.

Crawling is great--I can get to all kinds of new toys!

Candy making madness

Back when I was living in Iowa City, my friend Anne Marie invited me to join her in making candy to share with friends and family. It was a very fun and busy day and got me hooked on candy making (not to mention supplied me with several good recipes!). This year I decided to go with some old favorites and try some new things as well. Mike's partners and clinic staff will enjoy most of the spoils, but I also packed up some boxes as treats for my fellow bell-ringers at church.

First off was mocha fudge. Didn't get a picture, but I doubled the amount of instant coffee powder in the recipe and it tasted awesome!

Next was Mint Oreo cookie drops, made with crushed Mint Oreos and cream cheese plus a little extra mint extract to really bring out the flavor. I dipped them in green candy melts and drizzled with dark mint chocolate.

Then was peanut butter bon-bons. I had a recipe that I liked but wanted to try a recipe with rice krispies this year to give some extra crunch. After an on-line search I found a few recipes and mixed and matched them with my old recipe to come up with something kind of on the fly. Luckily they turned out great. I dipped them in milk chocolate and sprinkled with chopped toasted peanuts.

  

Next up: cookie dough truffles. These are awesome. The recipe is basically a regular chocolate chip cookie dough recipe minus any leavening agents or eggs, and with sweetened condensed milk to hold it all together. I put in mini chocolate chips and finely chopped walnuts, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with Christmas-colored nonpareils.

 

Then I made two batches of butter pecan fudge (again, no picture of the fudge). I made two because the first batch turned out very crystalline and crumbly and broke into all kinds of tiny pieces when I tried to cut it. Again to the internet to figure out what went wrong (I have made it in the past and it turned out fine, but it has done this before, too). I tried again using a candy thermometer (instead of just timing the boiling step the way the recipe is written) and adding a little bit of corn syrup to the mix to try to prevent crystallization. The second batch was better but not great, so I'll have to take notes and make more adjustments next year.

Finally, I decided to put my new KitchenAid mixer (thanks, tendonitis in my elbow!) to good use and try my hand at homemade marshmallows! I used the recipe and directions from Alton Brown on the Food Network, but substituted almond extract for vanilla and rolled the edges in crushed almonds once cut.

They turned out pretty well, but again I would make some adjustments if I make them again. Alton called for spraying the pan with cooking spray and then dusting with a half cornstarch, half powdered sugar mixture before adding the marshmallow mixture, then dusting the top again before allowing to set. I could taste both the cornstarch and the cooking spray in the final product, so next time I think I would either use butter or no spray (ie use wax paper or similar) and use only powdered sugar for dusting (which is what Ina Garten's recipe suggested), or just use nuts on all sides. Marshmallows are really easy to make with the mixer (you have to leave it whipping on high speed for 10-15 minutes!) but super messy and sticky. Fortunately everything cleans up easily in hot water!

Then I really went overboard and decided to get crafty. I went to Michaels and bought cake boxes (in the wedding section; these are boxes meant for wedding guests to take home leftover cake), which turned out to be the perfect size for six pieces of candy. I made a little guide for the top of the box and a paper band to help hold it shut. I think the final product turned out pretty cute!

After making individual boxes for Mike's partners and my bell gang, I put the rest in boxes and tins for Mike to take to work for the clinic staff to share. We had about 5 or 6 pieces of each kind leftover for us to keep, which is just about perfect. We can't keep all that sugar in the house!!

Scandinavian Smorgasbord

Our church has an annual tradition of having a Scandinavian Smorgasbord in early December of each year. It was started by a woman of Swedish heritage (hence smorgasbord) but soon expanded to all Scandinavian food. We went last year and back again this year. Great food, although since our Norwegian interim pastor and his wife left there was no lefse this year. There was, however, a gorgeous kransekake made by one of the church members.

As I was passing through the buffet line the woman in charge of the event was refilling a bowl with mustard. She said, "I had this mustard sent in from Ingebretsen's in Minneapolis." Sigh.




Of course Steven had to wear his Viking hat to a Scandinavian event. (Yes, we know that real Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets!) He was a big hit and got many oohs and aahs and "how cute"s as we walked in. The woman who puts together our church newsletter was taking pictures during the evening and got a great one of all of us together, which she was kind enough to send to me.

Going Pro

My mom has been telling me for months that we needed to get some professional pictures taken of Steven. When she and my dad came to visit for Thanksgiving she decided to take matters into her own hands. So the Tuesday before Thanksgiving we dressed Steven up (thanks for the cute outfit, Bill, Theresa, and Lissa!) and took him to do the deed. He was such a trooper! We hadn't made an appointment so we had to wait about 20 minutes, then the shoot, then waiting for the photographer to edit the proofs, then viewing the proofs, then picking out which ones to get as prints... all in all it took about 2 hours and I was so glad Steven was cooperative and not too fussy even when he got bored. We got a CD of all the the edited proofs, even the ones we didn't get prints of, so I thought I'd share. Some of the shots were a little more Christmas-oriented, so I think I'll save those for a later post!

This one and the one below cracked us up with his poses and expressions!

7 months!

Steven turned 7 months this past weekend. He's getting bigger all the time. In fact, in three weeks he gained two whole pounds! He had been steadily dropping in weight percentiles and was down to the 10th percentile (for age) at 6 months (we later learned by checking a chart ourselves that he would have been below the 2nd percentile in weight--off the chart low--for his length at the time!), so the MD suggested we start offering him a bottle after each nursing session. Well, he took to that well--too well. He pretty much started weaning himself within a week. He could have weaned himself completely by now if I'd let him, but we're going slowly for the sake of my body and to hopefully give him at least some benefits of breastmilk for a little while longer. We're down to two mommy feedings a day and the rest formula by bottle. I was a bit discouraged at first, but it's not worth stressing about.

In any case, after his gain of two pounds in three weeks he's back up to the 25%, and it's still another week or so until he goes back to the MD for an official weight check. I think she'll be pleased. The funny thing is that he looks just a LITTLE bit chubbier in places, but overall not much of a change. I think that means he's gained more length!

Steven is go go go all day long. He still enjoys playing in his exersaucer, but now his main interest seems to be rolling all around the floor of the family room. He isn't crawling yet and we have a suspicion that he might skip crawling completely and go right from rolling to walking. He gets everywhere he wants to go pretty quickly by rolling, so he doesn't have much incentive to crawl. His other favorite activity remains standing and walking with help from us, but he's down to needing to hold only one finger most often. He can also pull to a stand if the object he's pulling on is at the right height. The edge of the laundry basket must be the perfect height because I put a full laundry basket next to him the other day while he was sitting on our bed and he reached out and stood up in one fluid motion. It took me by surprise! Most of the time he tries to use things much too low to the ground (usually his toys) and ends up in a downward-dog type of position, with his rear in the air.


The other day he rolled into his exersaucer, and became very frustrated when he couldn't roll out due to the curved bottom. He gave up and played underneath it for a while, and then figured out that he could scoot backwards out of it.

He's also a champ at sitting up on his own, and so we've moved from the car seat to high chairs at restaurants.

Not much else new, especially since Mike posted some recent photos in a post a few days ago. Steven did get to experience democracy in action when he came with me to vote on November 6. Due to poor planning on the part of whoever was in charge of the voting in our precinct we had to wait 50 minutes, but fortunately Steven stayed in a good mood throughout.

A Cat-astrophe!

This morning, Steven and I nearly missed church due to feline intervention.

Karen left early to church for bell choir practice. After a 45 minute nap, Steven woke up. I changed him, fed him, and checked his diaper to see if it needed to be changed (it didn’t). With only 15 minutes until church started, and a ten minute trip ahead of us, I then picked Steven up and picked up the diaper bag, and opened the door to the garage. As I tried to step out into the garage, I nearly stepped on a cat.

Knute has been taking advantage of the open garage door lately when we are distracted by Steven.

“Great. Just great,” I said as a turned on the garage light. There, running into the third stall, was a gray tabby. I opted not to open the garage door to keep him in the garage, but left the door to the house open so he could (hopefully) run back inside. I loaded Steven into his car seat, and carefully arranged his toys while I mentally prepared to go wrangle the cat.

Once done, I checked the vehicle, and made sure there was no cat inside. Then I checked underneath, and no cat there, either. I scanned the garage quickly, and again, no cat. So I scoured the garage. No cat.

Thinking I was mighty lucky that the cat chose to come inside by himself, I went into the house. Good idea.

Rounding the corner into the kitchen I could see two nearly identical cats, face-to-face in the family room (I wish I had a picture). One was obviously Knute, and the other I will refer to as Canute.

Canute hissed at Knute, then ran into the sun room under the futon. Knute, curious as ever, followed. Canute then starting hissing again, so I grabbed Knute, who had stopped short of the futon and locked him in the half-bath. I went back to the futon, and Canute was still there. As I went to grab him, he raced past me, through the kitchen and into the dining room. I quickly followed, then ran after him into the living room. We rounded the coffee table and a chair, then into the foyer. Finally, he ran through the mud room into the garage, with me close on his tail.

Will the real Knute please stand up?

I closed the door to the house and opened the garage door, through which Canute finally made his escape. I went back into the house, freed the sequestered cat, and gave him a handful of food to draw him to me. I then checked him over stem to stern, reasonable certain it was truly Knute.

I went back into the garage, where Steven had been sitting in the car the entire time, and saw Canute slowly walking across the street into the neighbor’s yard. After triple checking the garage and driveway for other creatures, we set out for church, barely arriving before the opening hymn.

After church, the cat was lazily lying in his second favorite perch. He has been checked over carefully again by both Karen and me, and we are reasonably certain it is Knute, and not Canute.

Now it's fall

Summer's over, 
Now it's fall;
Just the nicest
Time of all.

- Lois Lenski

One of the benefits to moving to tropical Michigan, is that we are barely further north than we were in Iowa City. In fact, if we had moved to Kalamazoo, we would be pretty much at the same latitude. Instead, we are close to the latitude of Waterloo.

As such, autumn comes later, and stays longer, and spring some earlier, and also stays longer. I can't speak for Karen or Knute, but these are my two favorite seasons (followed closely by winter and summer). I don't like Smarch at all. (Look it up.)

Several weeks ago, when my parents were here, we took a walk and came upon a Wooly Bear caterpillar with a long brown (middle) stripe. Tradition holds that this augurs a long winter. This guy's stripe was the length of a dime's diameter (17.91 mm according to Wikipedia).

And while the family in Minnesota is preparing for winter (and the family in northern Minnesota is starting to experience it), we are enjoying what I recognize as mid-October in mid-November. Today, we took a walk through the school woods near our house.

The woods are a curious mix, with an area that was clearly a plantation red pine (Minnesota's state tree!)¹ with a large area of white oak (Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland)² and some red oak (New Jersey) and aspen (I'm not sure if it is is Populus tremuloides or Populus grandidentata; neither is a state tree). Then there are areas of sumac and other stands of wild raspberries. Local kids have built a number of lean-tos and tree forts in the woods, and I assume Steven will play in those woods as well some day.³

1. The state tree of North Carolina is just the "pine," without reference to species
2. The state tree of Iowa is just the "oak," without reference to species.
3. As I know I will catch it from certain quarters unless I add it, the state tree of California is the "sequoia," AGAIN without reference to species. What an uninspiring trio of states.

Steven's first Halloween

I had originally planned for Steven to be Charlie Brown for Halloween, since he's still practically bald. I bought a bright yellow short-sleeved onesie and some black felt to make a zig-zag. Then two things happened:

1. I found out the forecast called for a high of only 40 degrees on Halloween.

2. My cousin Laurie crocheted the most ridiculously cute Viking hat.

Thus...


Unfortunately the Uff Da bib that we got from Grandma Linda was a casualty in a massive spit-up incident earlier today before I could get a picture, but here's a shot from a couple of weeks ago when he was first trying out the hat...

More pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures my mom sent me from Steven's baptism weekend...

Meeting Aunt Christa:

 Before the Stanford-Notre Dame game:

 Later that day...

A brief non-raining moment. Fortunately it wasn't too cold.

 With Mommy before the baptism:

 And with various groups afterwards:

 Grandpa, take me home with you!