24 February 2007 12:05 pm
Macaroni & Cheese and Meatballs
Andrea ate food from a restaurant for the first time yesterday evening. We went to Noodles, which is one of Dylan's favorite restaurants. He ordered his standard "Wisconsin Mac & Cheese" with grilled chicken. Geoff and I decided to let Andrea try some of Dylan's mac and cheese; we also brought plenty of other food for her to eat. Dylan ate his flatbread, drank his milk, and had a bit of his entree. Andrea started with some mac and cheese, pieces of banana, and some bagel. She kept taking one piece of food at a time, eating it, and doing a little dance in her chair. Dylan got antsy at one point, so he and Geoff left for the library, which was our plan for after dinner. A half hour later, Andrea had finished the mac and cheese (!). Andrea ate more of Dylan's mac and cheese than he did and ate nearly an entire banana. I was amazed. At least two-thirds of the serving was put in front of Andrea. Now, all of you experienced parents out there are thinking, "Aha! I know what's coming next - the floor..." But, sorry to disappoint, there were only 5-10 pieces of macaroni on the floor and in her bib. We're still not sure exactly where she put it. But we know that we have a winner.
Andrea's mac and cheese incident reminded me of the Meatball incident with Dylan. I don't think that I wrote this one down at the time, but if I did you can check my recollection. I made a little more than a pound of meatballs one night, with the intent for us to eat them for two dinners. Dylan was probably between 18 months and 2 years old at the time. We cut up a couple meatballs for him, and started to eat our dinners. We continued to cut up meatballs as he ate them, and before we knew it, he'd eaten 8 or 9 meatballs! Now, these were not mini-meatballs. They were solid inch-and-a-half in diameter meatballs! At the time, I counted how many meatballs I made, how many Dylan ate, and determined he'd consumed just shy of a half pound of ground beef for dinner. We never did figure out where he hid them all... and he's not eaten that many in one sitting again. Needless to say, we had to come up with an alternative for dinner the next night.
A couple of footnotes: (1) Andrea got her third tooth (upper right) on Thursday of this week; her fourth tooth is probably minutes away, and (2) within the last two weeks Andrea has learned to turn around at the top of stairs to crawl down backwards.
9 February 2007 2:25 pm
First Patent Application
Yesterday, an application for a patent was filed with the U.S. Patent Office on which the authors are "Schmit et al." This is the first invention that I have been involved with which we have decided to patent. I expect that it will take a few years before the patent will be issued. However, when there is any information about the invention in the public domain, I will share.
3 February 2007 8:51 pm
Three Years. Nine Months.
Dylan recently (January 18) reached his third birthday. The following day, Andrea reached the nine-month milestone. Hard to believe that much time has passed in both cases. We visited the doctor on January 24th and both kids checked out well.
Dylan is now 38 3/4" tall and weighs 34 lbs. This places him at the 75th percentile for three-year old boys on both accounts. Instead of a head measurement, he had his blood pressure taken for the first time (70/52). I was surprised to learn that normal blood pressure for a child is quite different than that for an adult. According to our pediatrician, it will rise steadily until around age 11 or 12 when it will be comparable to that of an adult Another first: Dylan got to pee in a cup to provide a urine sample.
Andrea measured 18 lbs. 6 oz. and 28" long. Her head was 17 3/4" in circumference. For weight, she is right at the 50th percentile. For height, she is between the 50th and 75th percentiles. For cap size, she is slightly above the 75th percentile. Going in to the appointment, I was curious whether her measurements would indicate she is growing well, since she has really slimmed down. Oma or Opa used the word "pixie" to describe her features recently; yes, someday there will be more pictures so you can see for yourself. No concern needed, though, as Andrea is growing just fine. Perhaps it was just my perspective. It is interesting to note that Dylan was already 18 lbs. 10.5 oz. by the age of six months and was 1 3/4 inches longer at nine months than Andrea is. Dylan had achieved Andrea's current head size sometime between four and six months.
First Tooth! Andrea's first tooth surfaced on Dylan's birthday. Her second appeared today. Eighteen more to go. These didn't seem to bother her too much. Let's hope that the rest go as smoothly!
Less naps for Andrea, which means she has started to take only one nap a day. When she takes a longer nap, of about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, she does not seem interested in napping again. And, she actually seems to still function quite well. Dylan, on the other hand, is not ready to drop his one and only nap. This past Wednesday, he had his first day ever with no nap. He's previously had short- (~30 minute) nap days, but never none. And it showed. When I picked him up at school, his eyes looked glazed over. He fell asleep on the drive home, awoke only to move to the couch and subsequently to bed. He didn't wake until morning which was 12 hours after leaving school. Let's hope he doesn't try that again any time soon.
Keg of milk! If you've read this far, then you probably know me pretty well. So, it won't surprise you that I have a spreadsheet that tracks the milk that I pump for Andrea. According to this spreadsheet, I surpassed the keg (15.5 gallon) mark on January 17th. Andrea has not quite yet consumed the equivalent of a keg of milk from bottles, but is not far from that milestone.
