Change the baby, change the world, change the diet.

For those of you who don't know my father, he is old school. A very smart man, but ultimately a man whose intelligence comes from his experience. My father has always belived his grand child would get to vote for a black person for president one day.

He just never believed he would live to see it happen.

That was a great way to celebrate a great day. For those who don't remember, Jordan was sprung from the big house 365 days ago (It was the 25th, but this is a leap year). We all celebrated the one way we couldn't a year ago. We slept through the night. We also went to see the doctor because we were supposed to and he has a boat payment to make. Jordan is 31 and a half inches tall which is pretty normal for kids born when he was. He weighs just under 21 pounds - 95% of kids born the same time as him weigh more. Also, we get to start with cow's milk! We aren't going to have to buy any more formula and we should finish what we have over the weekend. I remember growing up my mom used to complain how much milk my sister and I drank. Now that I'm the parent I can honestly say TOUGH LUCK! Cow's milk costs about a third as much as formula and she didn't have to pay three and a half bucks a gallon for milk. Also the doctor said to avoid fish (probably would have anyway at 7 bucks a pound for a kid who eats carpet lint), and chocolate and peanuts in case of allergies. Otherwise we can feed whatever he'll keep down. Finally, I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but Jordan is able to stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. He is so funny when he stands. He does his best standing when he doesn't know he's standing. If he picks up a toy from a table with two hands and starts waving it in the air, he stand fine and doesn't think about it. If you hold onto him and let go, his arms go out to the side and he gets almost into a crouch as if he were on a tight rope. I will definitely post some pics of that next week.

Eating, Sleeping, and Walking

My boy has really changed his eating habits. First of all, he doesn't like to be fed. He loves to eat, but usually tries to take the spoon out of your hand. Most of his food is the consistency of applesauce so it leads to big messes, but he is proud of his messes. He would rather lick the food off of his hands than eat a spoonful given to him by someone else. I don't know if I mentioned before, but he now has 4 teeth – 2 on top and bottom in the front. Not enough to eat a lot of real food, but I will admit it is sometimes easier just to give him my scraps rather than fight him over some Gerber mush. We went McDonalds and bought him some apple slices which he loved. Of course with only 4 teeth and no molars it took 10 minutes to finish 1 slice. He just kept gumming the poor thing until it just gave up. Saturday night we were at a birthday party and he had a small bottle and my leftover pizza crusts for dinner. He acted like he was mad at the pizza and wanted to teach it a lesson.

We have been trying to get Jordan to walk for months now. That was probably an error. We have trouble keeping up with the current crawler. I have spent last week baby proofing parts I didn't think we would have to worry about so quickly. Our cabinets don't have handles so I thought that might slow him down a bit. Our pantry has folding doors which I thought worked in our favor. I also thought that the baby would one day learn to climb out of the playpen. Well he can open everything in the kitchen without a lock including the fridge, and he hasn't let anyone even put him into a playpen since Labor day.

When people who haven't had a kid ask what it's like for the new parent, I tell them the following story. After months of trial and error we now know exactly how to put the baby to bed. We have a system and the system works. If the baby gets a bath, you start with that. When I'm home alone, he doesn't always get one. Then dress him in the Pjs. Close the door to the bedroom and don't open it again. Then sit down on the bench with him on your lap and give him a sippy cup with formula while you read him a story. After the story, turn him around, give him a pacifier, turn out the light and he will fall asleep on your chest. Yes it's adorable, yes it effective, but it is ultimately flawed. The baby goes to sleep with food, a pacifier, and his parents holding him. It took most of a year to give him all of that so he could get to sleep, and now as parents we have to take it all away. However, what do we take first and how do we do it? We have already started making some changes, but this story is a perfect example of what it's like to raise the baby. As part of growing up we parents know we have to make these changes, but ultimately Jordan will be making the calls.

OK, I admit that he was a little too close to the lens when I took the pic, but the drool is adorable.

I was recently asked if Jordan has lost interest in standing.

The dictionary definition of standing involves to stop or remain motionless or steady on the feet. By that definition, he has lost all interest in standing. In fact, he doesn't seem to remember how to sit still for more than 10 seconds. Take a look...

Have you thanked your parents for raising you lately? I know I have joked in the past about eating the camera, but had I left the shot going another 5 seconds, you would have seen his tongue. Jordan has really taken to eating pretty well this month. We have officially moved him up to cheerios. Unofficially, we have tried a couple of other things, but his grandmothers read this blog and I don't want to give them any ideas. Also his mother reads this blog and I have to be careful of what she knows. The mama Ali works late 3 nights a week which means I have him all night until his bedtime. Let's just say that I know a lot more about Jordan and his abilities (or durabilities) than I can safely admit. I will say with pride that nothing I have done with him has ever resulted in the breaking of skin. I will also say that sometimes he thinks he's a toddler, but he still has a few months to go.