Jalen Eats Spaghetti

Jalen has become a real challenge at meal time. He insists on feeding himself with a spoon. If you feed him some food, he may spit it back out. But then if you feed him the same food by letting him hold the spoon and bring it to his mouth, he'll eat it. The pediatrician says that we should let him start to learn how to use utensils but it's just so messy! He also likes to throw food on the floor on purpose. He'll look you in the eye then toss the food overboard from his high chair. We've had to tip a lot more when we go to restaurants.

Jalen Starts Daycare

On Tuesday, Jalen went to his first official day at KinderCare. Actually, we put him in the previous Thursday as a trial day. He cried all through nap time and didn't eat lunch. Then he ate a lot of yogurt and drink juice at snack time. So on Tuesday, I wasn't sure what to expect. I dropped him off around 8:15am and picked him up around 6pm. KinderCare makes daily notes about each child and records what they ate, how much they slept, etc. According to the notes, he slept from 12:30 to 2:10pm. I was very surprised! The way they take naps is on the floor as a group. Jalen is such a restless child that I couldn't picture how he would be calm enough to sleep in that environment. For lunch he ate spaghetti and green beans. I feel hopeful that Jalen will quickly adjust to his surroundings.

Here's Jalen all dressed and ready to go to school!

Jalen goes to Vancouver

Last weekend, we visited my parents in Vancouver. Jalen hasn't been to Vancouver since February. My parents were so excited to see him because he wasn't walking the last time they saw him. It was very hot the whole weekend and Jalen got a fever Saturday night. He was miserable and kept us all night both Saturday and Sunday. He was supposed to start daycare on Monday but we kept him home. His fever is gone now but he still has a cough and his poor nose is all stuffed up.

Jalen's Cousins Visit

Rick's uncles and aunts from California visited Seattle this week. Uncle David has three boys Chris, Niko and Nathan. Rick and Besty took Uncle David's family and the kids to the Ballard Locks.

Jalen is 13 months old and walking!

For the last while, Jalen has been tentative about taking his first independent steps. Even though he could stand on his own and walk, most of the time he would still resort to crawling. But just in the last couple of days, Jalen has started to take more steps. It's so cute watching him stretching his arms around and stumbling across the living room. He usually has a big smile on his face because he's so proud of his new skill!

Jalen Gives Mommy a Scare

Last Friday night, Rick went out with his friends for his birthday so I stayed home with Jalen alone. I put him to bed but he stayed awake and was crying in his crib. When he cries at night, we usually leave him alone and try to check back on him once in a while. He cried and cried and next thing you know, I heard a loud *thud*. I ran to his room and saw him on the floor. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Jalen has a small stuffed toy in his crib so all I could guess was that he somehow stepped on his toy, climbed out of his crib and fell on the floor. He has never done anything close to that before so I was in shock. I could tell that he wasn't hurt but I was still almost in tears. It taught us an important lesson, don't put ANYTHING in the baby's crib and move the crib on its lowest setting. It was quite a scare!

Here's Jalen trying to escape his playpen.

Jalen's One Year Check up

We took Jalen to his one year check up on May 22. He is 23lbs 6 1/4 oz (50-75%) and 31" long (75-90%). Jalen is now drinking whole milk instead of formula. He's eating table food now instead of baby food. We are experimenting with what to feed him. In general, Jalen loves rice, tofu, crackers and cheese. We're having fun feeding him different things and seeing if he likes them. If he gets tired of something, he lets us know by spitting it back out. When he watches us eat, he gets really excited and wants to try what we're eating. He's also starting to grab for the spoon so sometimes we scoop the food for him and let him put it in his mouth. Jalen is still mostly crawling. He can take a few steps but he's not motivated to walk. We haven't taken many pictures lately but we'll post some new videos soon.

Here's Jalen at Katelyn's 1st birthday party on May 17th.

We took Jalen to his one year photo shoot on May 18th.