Carrot Face Paint

Today has been another eventful day in our twindom. Dom and Alex both slept through the night (Go, boys!), with Dom waking just a bit before 6:30 and cooing happily in his crib. Dom had a trick up his sleeve this morning. He managed to sit up on his own for the first time! He wasn’t very impressed with his new feat until his dad started cheering for him. Then, he decided that it must be so cool he just couldn’t contain himself and fell over. He practiced sitting up on and off all day today, though he’s still using one hand to balance him in the sitting position.

Dom: Hey! Dad is clapping, cheering and saying my name. I must have done something really cool!

Alex and Dom spent the morning playing on the living room floor (padded with a sleeping bag and comforter to cushion their little noggins when they topple over while sitting), and they surprised us with how well they could teleport from one spot to another when we weren’t looking. In fact, Alex made a break for Mommy using his combined sitting and sprawling skills to cross the floor. Dom saw his brother’s progress and attempted a few push-ups, but when these got him no closer to Mom, he tried another tactic – crying in frustration. With a little balancing help, he then walked to Mom and got to be showered in hugs and kisses along with his brother.

Baby Radar

The boys have definitely taken more notice of their Momma lately. They track where she is, and if they’re hungry and she leaves the room, they let people know that they are not pleased. On the other hand, when she walks into the room, they often give her their sweet grins. They also get huge smiles and kick excitedly whenever their daddy comes home.

Hard Stools

We did have one somewhat unpleasant surprise this morning. Both Alex and Dom pooped, but instead of their normal diaper-filling goo, they had little clumps of poo. Even knowing what they would probably say, we called the pediatrician’s office. We’ve been giving the boys sippy cups of water after their solid food meals, but they’ve been more interested in chewing on the soft sippy part than drinking the water. In an effort to get them to drink more, we resorted to putting water in baby bottles. They drank a bit more, but they were definitely not enthusiastic. I also did some reading online and found that rice cereal can cause constipation in many babies. Sigh. Perhaps that wouldn’t be a good first food to recommend.

Carrots

Today the boys got to try carrots, and it was quite the adventure! Since regular carrots can be high in nitrates, I bought jars of organic baby food for our tots instead of trying to puree carrots myself. (Baby food companies have to test for nitrates.) The carrot goo was runnier than what the boys have been used to this week, and it made for a much more colorful eating experience. Mom and Papa had to be especially vigilant and dexterous to catch any ejected streams of liquid and to avoid the helping hands of our little diners as the spoons approached their destinations with a full load.

Dom (first bite): That is most definitely not sweet potato.

Alex soon tired of eating the carrots, and he avoided Mom’s gaze to look at his brother and out the glass doors. Next, he decided that rubbing his face on his back rest was the cool thing to do, and he tested to see if perhaps the cushion was a more appetizing solid food than carrots. Dom, on the other hand, continued to eat with gusto, and he happily ate his brother’s leftovers.*

The full carrot face paint:

Dom: More carrots!

Alex: I ate carrots, and I have the scars to prove it.

Dom: Women love me! Carrots fear me!

Depending on how the boys are doing, the next food we introduce might be prunes. For some reason, I’m pretty sure at least Dom will like them.

*Some carrots were injured in the making of this blog post.

Goodnight

Now, it’s almost time for Mom to pump and get herself to bed to prepare for another day. While most of you won’t read this until the morning, darkness fell long ago here, and all the men in the house (the young and not quite so young) are tucked away in their beds. It was lovely to see the sun again today and feel its rays energizing my spirits. Even though I didn’t get a morning nap with my boys like usual, I had a surprisingly high amount of energy today. Let’s hope tomorrow is just as grand. There’s a chance – weather and wills permitting – that we’ll have a whole new adventure to report after tomorrow. Sweet dreams.