The Gaga Diaries

Keeping The Doctor Away

Thu, 31 May 2012 23:27:57 -0400

Today was a big day full of some big boy firsts. It started with Baby Gaga climbing up on our living room couch entirely on his own for the first time. He’s been able to get down on his own for a while now, but climbing up hadn’t happened until today. Then he realized he was at the perfect height to reach into our fruit bowl on the counter behind the couch — not going to argue with him on that one! Next he proceeded to say “app-ul,” which I don’t think I’ve ever tried to specifically teach him, and pluck one that was pratically the size of his head from the bowl. Usually I cut them up in slices for him, but his patience (or lack thereof) wasn’t going to stand for that this time. He wanted that apple NOW! And given all he had accomplished to get it, I figured I would just give it a quick wash and return it to his hands as fast as possible. He seemed to appreciate all the effort it took him to get it as well because he almost blew a gasket when I had to take it away for a few seconds to be washed. Once he had his prized possession back in his two tiny little hands he ate at least half of that apple, skin and all, and you would’ve thought it was cotton candy by all yummy “mmMmMMm” noises he was making. Such a big boy! Where has my baby gone?!

Not to brag or anything, but my 17-month old has figured out on...

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:43:06 -0400

Not to brag or anything, but my 17-month old has figured out on his own how to handle a pair of chopsticks better than many adults I know!

17 Months Old

Tue, 29 May 2012 23:43:00 -0400

Dear Baby Gaga,

This fuzzy iPhone picture is going to have to serve as a placeholder until I can replace it with something better. You are hard to capture these days! It’s hard to believe it hasn’t even been quite two months since you started walking, but you are already such a pro at getting around on two feet and manage to run us ragged every day.

I’m going to save the big update for next month — your half birthday!! — since that is also when we will have stats from your well visit, but in the meantime, there are still a few things I can’t help but highlight. It’s been a pretty big month. Over the past several weeks, I’ve really started to notice exactly how much you are understanding and connecting conceptually in the world… and it’s a lot! Some examples:

You understand and clearly follow so many instructions: “turn off the lights,” “time to clean up,” “let’s go outside,” “grab your shoes,” “bring me your ball,” “time for night-night,” “spin,” “let’s brush our teeth,” “do a somersault,” “give so-and-so a kiss,” “time to get in your highchair.”
When you bring me someone’s shoes (yours, mine, Daddy’s), you always bring the correct matching pair.
When your Dad was singing “Wheels on the Bus,” you went into the other room, grabbed your bus toy we’ve hardly ever seen you play with, brought it back to us and pressed the button that makes it play that song. We didn’t even remember it could do that!
You love to play the game where you identify body parts. I didn’t even know I had ever taught you half of them.
You are also getting quite skillful at puzzle-like toys such as your shape sorter.

It feels like your vocabulary is expanding by the minute too. Some especially cute, new favorite words of yours at the moment include: bubble (buh-bul), Mimi (your grandmother), shoe (shhh-ooo), on (ah), off (ah), more (moh), banana (manana), teeth (tee-eeee), ball (bah).

At least once a day, usually while the three of us are sitting around the table after dinner, your Daddy and I will stop to remind one another how incredible it is that we created you and how we can’t believe how much we still have to learn about you. I guess nature knows what she is doing because as much as we can’t bear the thought of you getting older, we also can’t wait to hear your voice, your sentences, your thoughts mature as you grow up. Just when you think things can’t possibly get any more fun, they always seem to find a way.

xoxo

Love,

Your Mommy

Memorial Day 2012

Mon, 28 May 2012 23:01:00 -0400

With a living veteran in our family (we love you, Bampi!!), we all know and respect the true meaning of Memorial Day. While we have not lost any immediate loved ones in combat, we empathize with those who have and are so grateful for their ultimate sacrifice. The ladies in my family have a longstanding tradition of visiting the cemeteries of veteran and non-veteran relatives over Memorial Day weekend to honor them and decorate their graves. After this, another nice use of the extra day off is to enjoy spending time together as a family.

This year’s holiday weekend was filled with cousin sleepovers, lobstah at the beach, playgrounds and parks, fireworks (Baby Gaga *DID* inherit my fascination for them!!), grilling, and lots and lots of soft serve.

Looking forward to lots more of all of the above throughout the rest of this summer!

We All Scream for SOFT SERVE!

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:35:00 -0400

I’m not sure who in our family was more excited to see the ice cream truck drive by the park this past Saturday when the humidity was off the hook. OK, who am I kidding? It was definitely me. But for good reason. This wasn’t just any old ice cream truck. It was a SOFT SERVE ice cream truck. I’ve never heard of such a thing before, but I instantly thought it was brilliant and Baby Gaga soon did too. He went from exhausted to completely reenergized and focused on devouring my cone (I knew we should’ve gotten two!). At one point he actually just threw in the towel on walking back from the truck to the playground and sat down in the middle of the path to savor every last drip. Ahhh life is good!

I can’t claim any credit. He gets all his smooth...

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:29:00 -0400

I can’t claim any credit. He gets all his smooth moves from Papa Gaga.

An Open Letter To Trader Joe's Employee Dude

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:07:00 -0400

Dear Trader Joe’s Employee Dude,

Little did we know that a quick trip into your store to pick up some oatmeal after a morning romp at the playground would turn into such a life-changing experience. There we were standing in the freezer section, trying to decide if we should also splurge on calories and get something special for dessert that night, when you walked up to us and said six simple words, “Can I help you with anything?” To which I replied, “Oh, maybe just making up our minds about which frozen treat we should indulge in tonight.” And that’s when you offered to open any of them up for us right there in the middle of the aisle to try on the spot. At first I politely declined, a bit flustered and in shock. I’d never received such an offer! Then with a bit more coaxing from you we chose the Mini Mint Ice Cream Mouthfuls. Whoa baby!! And it was with that simple gesture that you not only made one little redhead incredibly over the moon to be eating ice cream for second breakfast, but you also made ~~a best friend~~ two best friends (and loyal customers) for life.

Now forever addicted to Mini Mint Ice Cream Mouthfuls,

Mama Gaga & Baby Gaga

Interesting. So apparently our “Mom Enough” cover girl, Jamie Lynne Grumet, thought...

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:11:00 -0400

Interesting. So apparently our “Mom Enough” cover girl, Jamie Lynne Grumet, thought that TIME was going to go with this more natural, nurturing image of her son falling asleep while breastfeeding for their cover. Do you think it would have made a difference in the public’s response if they had?

Are You Tolerant Enough?

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:03:00 -0400

I know this Time Magazine cover is pretty much old news by this point, but I was under the weather when it first came out and I’d still like to discuss it. In general, this blog is a digital baby book dedicated to my son. But every once in a while I feel the urge to speak up about certain parenting topics that are important to me, and this is one of them.

Kudos to Time for getting everyone talking about this issue, analyzing everything from the cover’s provocative headline to the smug expression on that young, fit mama and her skinny jeans. But how many of us have actually bothered to read a bit further and hear what the article or this mama actually have to say?

I, too, am guilty of drawing my own conclusions before I read anything inside the magazine. My first reaction was “Who cares?” followed by, “Hmmm… we have enough trouble trying to get social acceptance of moms breastfeeding beyond six months in this country; maybe we shouldn’t push it with the in-your-face image of breastfeeding an older child.” But the more I thought about it, I came back to just not caring. I don’t know if I ever see myself breastfeeding a 3.5 year old — to be honest, I just haven’t thought that far ahead at this point — but I’ll never say never. And I’m sure there are plenty of others out there who have seen me breastfeed my son throughout the past 17 months (although these days it naturally just happens to take place in the privacy of our own home) and find that unusual for whatever reason. But if I don’t want them judging me for making choices I think are in my child’s best interest, then who am I to judge any of them?

The more I read on about Jamie Lynne Grumet, the “Mom Enough” cover girl, the more I liked. Time Magazine came up with that instigating headline and it actually seems so far removed from the woman they attached it to. In her featured Q&A, I think she summed this discussion up best by saying:

“There seems to be a war going on between conventional parenting and attachment parenting, and that’s what I want to avoid. I want everyone to be encouraging. We’re not on opposing teams. We all need to be encouraging to each other, and I don’t think we’re doing a very good job at that.”

I couldn’t agree more. At the end of the day, most of us moms and dads just want to raise the happiest, healthiest kids we can. It’s inevitable that we’re going to make different choices from one another and go about our child-rearing in different ways. And that’s fine. It doesn’t matter how you or I or anyone else gets to this goal in the end as long as we all keep striving to get there. Rather than cutting down fellow parents and comparing how we measure up against one another, I think it’s time we put the focus back where it belongs — on our children. So am I offended when challenged by the question “Are You Mom Enough?” Not at all. You know why? Because I have an adorable little redhead sitting right next to me happily bouncing up and down whose big toothy grin tells me everything I need to know, and that is all that matters to me in the end.

Sixteen months going on sixteen years, I...

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:41:00 -0400

Sixteen months going on sixteen years, I swear.

Up until now, Baby Gaga hasn’t been too interested in...

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:36:00 -0400

Up until now, Baby Gaga hasn’t been too interested in stuffed animals. He’s done this really adorable thing for a while where he will talk to them, and only them, in this super high-pitched voice. But beyond that, he has never really been too interested in snuggling or sleeping with any sort of stuffed animal. But recently he’s taken a sudden interest in Spot, a stuffed golden retriever his Austin grandparents gave him. I wonder if he recognizes that it’s supposed to be the same dog featured in many of his favorite lift-a-flap board books? After a nap this afternoon, I spied this sweet moment where the little guy was reading to and sharing some of his water with an apparently very thirsty Spot. My little nurturer. I can already tell he’s going to make a great daddy someday!

Mother's Day Week

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:15:30 -0400

Mother’s Day 2012 was spent up north with Baby Gaga’s Texas grandparents who have decided to spend half the year much closer to us in Maine. Woohoo!! It was really fun to catch up with them and see them marvel at how much their grandson has grown since they last saw him in March.

As for the details of my sophomore Mother’s Day itself? It was both the best and worst yet. The worst because it was the day I started coming down with this nasty, seven day-long GI bug. No bueno. But in the morning, before that hit, it was so special to be able to share a few moments with my little guy who seemed so excited to crawl up into my lap and help me “read” the special, sweet cards he and Daddy picked out for me. We also managed to squeeze in brunch with Baby Gaga’s grandparents at a scenic lobster house (if only I had known what was coming!) in the calm before the storm.

Mother’s Day this year was also extra special because this was the first time I have really needed to rely on others to care for my child all week. I was *that* ill. This has never happened before and kind of caught me off guard. I couldn’t prepare his meals, change his diapers… when my head wasn’t in the toilet, I could barely lift it off the couch (sorry, TMI!). It was so reassuring to see my wonderful husband, albeit being busy with full-time work, step up to the plate and do whatever was needed to make sure our little family kept running smoothly. Runs to the store for Gatorade, Italian Ice, and saltines during the baby’s naps. Preparing three nutritious meals a day, plus snacks for Baby Gaga. Changing all the diapers. Handling every 6:30am wake-up call without any complaints, despite staying up late the nights before trying to catch up on missed work. Then my own mother intervened later in the week and spent two nights doing the same.

Mother’s Day turned into Mother’s Week. As much as I wish all that “pampering” and bedrest could’ve been under slightly better, happier circumstances, and that breakfast in bed every morning was something other than crackers and Gatorade, there is still nothing like knowing you can count on the ones you love to take care of you and your most prized possession when you need it most. Best Mother’s Day gift I could ever ask for!

Baby Gaga teaches Daddy how to...

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:16:00 -0400

Baby Gaga teaches Daddy how to lift 4 lbs…

*I <3 the grunts.

Update

Fri, 18 May 2012 22:35:56 -0400

Holy eternal GI bug. Don’t worry…we will return. Someday. Hopefully. Blahhhh.

What Does It Mean?

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:09:00 -0400

Growing up my mom always talked about the “frog in the pot” concept, but she never mentioned the “baby in a pot” one. Hmmm. Any theories?

Can anyone translate baby? I’m stumped by this one...

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:35:00 -0400

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Can anyone translate baby? I’m stumped by this one tonight…

Strike A Pose

Sun, 06 May 2012 23:28:00 -0400

Recently this has been Baby Gaga’s go-to pose when he spots a camera in the room. You. Snap my picture. Now. It’s like he’s giving whole new meaning to the phrase “point & shoot”.

Cinco de Mayo

Sat, 05 May 2012 23:23:00 -0400

Did you know that Baby Gaga is Mexican? Well, if you want to get technical, he is Mexican by relation. You see, his two cousins came to our family through adoption and are full-blooded Mexican-American. Naturally my whole non-Mexican family has decided to adopt this heritage as our own since that’s just how we roll. We are a family who loves any reason to celebrate, remember? So this weekend we threw our first Cinco de Mayo fiesta NOT to celebrate Mexican Independence Day (that’s not until September), but to celebrate the victory of the outnumbered Mexican army over the French in the David & Goliath-like Battle de Puebla in 1862.

There was authentic (and some not-so-authentic) food like enchiladas, pozole, guacamole, Mexican casserole, tres leches, sombrero cookies, and of course, margaritas. None of those for Baby Gaga though!

A piñata.

Games like “General Zaragoza Says.”

And best of all, a real-life Battle of Puebla reenactment where the little people played the Mexican army and the adults played France. Don’t be surprised if the authenticity of this reenactment lands it on PBS or something someday soon! *Note: in the video, I meant to say the army on the right is FRANCE, not Mexico twice.

¡Viva México!

Carbo-Loading

Fri, 04 May 2012 21:24:00 -0400

At 16 months of age, Baby Gaga has yet to master the ‘spaghetti spin’ with a fork and spoon, but he still manages to employ his own efficient methods for downing the starchy goodness.

If Baby Gaga comes over to you and sticks his rump in the air,...

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:06:00 -0400

If Baby Gaga comes over to you and sticks his rump in the air, here’s a hint about what he expects you to do next. Future Olympic tumbler?