Mr. Baked Bean face

Today, my little man turned 16 months old! Except for his eating orally he's doing wonderfully. Not much of a vocabulary, but for the most part he gets his meaning across. Points, grunts, fusses and his favorite, mamamamama. He's getting better with the cats. Today Eric walked up to the chair Monster Kitty was snoozing in and started patting him on the head, a little rough but not too bad. He did go for the paws once, Monster lunged for him. I warned Eric he better back off the paws, so he went back to patting, a little harder. Finally I told him that too much petting by him isn't so good. He smiled and came running to me before Monster could take a chunk out of him. Still have problems with the fur grabbing, especially Kalamazoo long fur.

Since I started adding baby food to his g-tube feedings this past month...reflux has gotten much better (yes!), he's actually asking to taste food (before it was take the opportunity of an open mouth and shove food in and hope he swallows). Doesn't eat much, but we will take that, it's a start. We know it's going to take a while. Eric has tried different things like pickle juice, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, cheese sauce from mac and cheese, yogurt and ice cream. He's even swallowed a small piece of ham, pickle and hot dog, without gagging! His current favorite is baked beans. Here he is on Monday (7/28) with his beany face...


Proof that he actually went for the spoon...

What a cute messy face...

Tonight we went to Maggiano's Little Italy for just some calamari. He ate quite a bit of the marinara sauce, well for him it was quite a bit. He also loves iced tea, so he sipped daddy's tea and mama's water. Later, we had some Chik-fil-a and we were giving him a little bit of ketchup and BBQ sauce. He suddenly reached and dipped his finger in some ketchup and put it in his mouth. We were like yeah, alright. He was tasting it on his own! Woo hoo!

Here's a video of our little boy who's full of beans...

My Baby's Growing Up!

In the two months since we got back from Myrtle Beach Eric made quite a few first, well I think he has. I try to record as many as possible just so I can see his progress, the next kid probably won't be as well documented. Which reminds me, our application for #2 has been approved. So, starts the paperwork, once we find out what all we need to do. Anyway here's the list of Eric's accomplishments since Myrtle Beach...

May 25...pulled to standing using Grandma's coffee table
May 26...found him standing in his crib waiting for me to get him up in the morning
May 27...stood up in his crib like a pro
May 29...started "cruising"
June 1...starting to hold on to just one hand when one "walks"him
June 2...puts his head on the floor, butt in the air and looks between his legs
June 8...took steps on his own between Grandpa's chair and the love seat
June 11...the two of us were hanging out and playing upstairs, I was on the floor reading when he came over and just stood up on his own
June 17... walked about four feet. Fell and got a bruise on his cheek when he hit the birdseed tin can.
June 18...walked about 6'
June 19...walked about 12'. Mamamamama has become our favorite thing to say.
June 20...had his picture taken at JC Penny. He just took off walking and went about 15'
June 21...he "tripped" crawling while Grandma and Grandpa were watching him at their house. Got a slight bloody lip. I couldn't tell anything happened.
June 25...he's very into going "bye-bye", that pretty much means he wants to go outside for any kind of walk, especially in the stroller. My mom was at our house, he picked up her sandal and threw it on her lap. He knows you have to have shoes on to go "bye-bye." Then he gets her to walk him around, holding his hand. They make a lap around the great room. Stop at the gate, waves "bye-bye." Keeps walking, stops and picks up her sandal, walks back to the gate and waves "bye- bye." He ain't no dummy. Too cute!
June 27...really starting to walk. More walking than crawling. Has just taken off!

Myrtle Beach May 21, 22, 23

Our last day was spent wandering around 'Barefoot Landing,' a shopping entertainment complex like the one closer to where we were staying, 'Broadway at the Beach.' I got a few more souvenir pennies (squash a penny with a design on it). Eric got a pirate rubber ducky to add to his collection of ducks. Here he is outside the store (in his pirate outfit I do believe, co-ink-e-dink)...

We took him to the pool after his nap...

We had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse called "Rioz." Very good! One set price, not cheap, but all you can eat, so if you ever go, go hungry. It had a salad bar with veggies, shrimp and cheeses, besides the green stuff. Sides were brought to the table, I liked the fried polenta and mashed potatoes. But I mostly was a carnivore and pigged out on all the meat. They had lamb, beef, chicken and pork, different cuts and seasonings. Cooked on a large skewer. You have a card that's red on one side and green on the other. When you want some meat have your card with green side up and they will come around with the various meats to try. They'll tell you what it is and you can say yes or no. They slice it off or slide the meat off if it's chucks. Leave the card up and wait for someone else to come around. When you don't want any more turn it over. Want more flip it back to green. This was our anniversary dinner, four days early.

The next day we headed to Virginia for a one night stop at Paul's dad's. Dinner in Tazewell at Hardee's. We met Alex's new puppy, Bruno. He's a "Dorky." Part dachshund, part yorkie. Cute as can be, although a bit hyper. He loved licking my ears, they were clean inside and out! Here he is the following day...

And here is Eric and Bruno...

Here's a video of the wacky puppy. At this point he wasn't sure about Eric. He was only allowed in the kitchen and family room. Eric and Belle were siting in the doorway between the two, so he was trapped!