Does your baby have a favourite song or a favourite commercial they totally light up to? Well, for Natasha it's definitely the Mini-Wheat commercial. Whenever the song comes on TV, she goes absolutely nuts and starts jumping up and down. It's hysterical to watch her! So I found the song on YouTube and made a little video from it... enjoy!

Mini Wheat Vanilla Commercial

My little story takes place on a tropical villa 
I fell in love with a flavour, yes it was vanilla 
Mini.......wheats wheats wheats, I want the vanilla for so long 
Mini wheats wheats wheats, its high in fiber you can't go wrong 
Vanilla flavour mixed with wheat, put em together you can't be beat 
Vanilla flavour mixed with wheat tastes so good, what a treat.

This post is about a bunch of different things!

Today I put Natasha to sleep and when I went into the nursery to check on her two minutes later, she was in a sitting position and totally proud of herself. She's been able to pull herself into a sitting position for several months now but it never happened in the crib. Not until today... Of course I freaked out a bit because her mattress is pretty high up and so she might have taken that extra step and leaned over the railing and who knows what could have happened next. So I am considering lowering that railing because sooner or later she'll be pulling herself into a standing position too...

On a different note, she cut tooth #4 just days ago, a bottom one, and currently working on #5, the second of the two top incisors. That tooth seems to be causing her a lot of problems because she was extremely cranky most of the day yesterday and only after I gave her some Tylenol and Orajel did she finally calm down. It's really funny to watch her consume the Tylenol because, being cherry flavoured, she thinks it's juice or candy and once I give her the 1ml requirement, she starts begging and whining for more and obviously I cannot give her anymore... silly child!

On Thursday we also took her to the swimming pool for the very first time. My building has an indoor swimming pool downstairs which is usually empty during weekday afternoons. And even during the evenings there are hardly ever more than 3 people swimming. So my mom and I decided to take Natasha there and see if she'd enjoy it. And Boy did she enjoy it... At first we only wetted her feet and she started crying because the water was cold, but after about 3 minutes her body got used to the temperature and we immersed her completely. She has a yellow floater that she used in both Lake Simcoe and the pool and I totally recommend it! Natasha absolutely loved being in the pool and didn't want to come out! We'll definitely be taking her again.

I am really excited for next month because we've book a professional photo shoot for Natasha. It's going to be her 1-year photo shoot although the date we've reserved falls at the end of August. Weekdays are somewhat cheaper than weekends and since I am returning to work on September 4th there is no way we could do a weekday around her birthday on September 18th. So a little earlier but I am assuming no biggie. Anyhow, we're going to Portraits by Josee and since I am really impressed with her online photo galleries, I have rather high expectations for this session. Matthew and I have considered the cheaper alternatives such as Wal-Mart or the Superstore but even though they normally do a decent job, they photos are not touched-up or edited in any way and I really wanted something extra special for her upcoming first birthday. Also, I've heard really mixed reviews about department store studios and didn't want to get disapointed. We've reasoned that since we didn't do her newborn photos nor her 6-months ones that we can put a little more and get something special for her first birthday.

The photographer seems pretty decent - she told me we can also get a few family portraits but the focus will be mainly on Natasha. She'll have some pictures taken in a diaper only so I am on the lookout for some cute diaper covers. Otherwise, she'll be photographed in light coloured clothing such as white onesies or maybe light summer dresses. Patters, logos, and fancy colourful designs tend to distract the viewer from the person and focus on themselves instead which isn't what we're looking for. Anyway, I am really looking forward to this, and hoping Natasha behaves!

I might have mentioned this before, but Natasha is a very "musically inclined" baby. She absolutely loves all kinds of music, from fast rock or pop to classical music, Church hymns, and movie soundtracks. And whenever Matthew plays any iTunes on his computer, Natasha immediately starts jumping up and down on our bed and waving her hands in the air. It's the funniest thing... She started doing this a couple of months ago but now that she's gotten bigger and stronger our entire bed shakes from her bum jumping up and down. Of course Matthew and I find this slightly strange because neither of us are dancy people at all so she must be getting this from her extended relatives some of whom happen to be very dancy people as well. About a month ago we recorded a video of her in action....

But the best thing is what Natasha started doing only about 3-4 days ago and that is clapping. I've been teaching her to clap for close to a month now but she just couldn't figure out how to bring her hands together and make the "clapping sound". But she finally learned and now she's clapping all day! Whenever anyone claps, she sees clapping on TV, or when I say "ladushki" which is a Russian word for clapping, she brings her hands together and claps. It's the cutest thing ever (to me, anyways) and she has this proud look of achievement on her face... the best!

I know I've been somewhat slacking off in the posting department but that's mainly due to me not being home for the past couple of days, and also since nothing overly exciting has been happening. Natasha turned 10 months yesterday (where did my baby go?? ) which also coincided with her 10-month doctor's checkup. Here are her latest stats:

Length: 31.5 inches > above the 100th percentile 
Weight: 16.75 lbs > between 5th and 10th percentile 
Head Circumference: 17 inches > between 10th and 25th percentile

Her doctor indicated she's gaining weight rather slowly but due to her height it's not necessarily a bad thing. Otherwise, she's doing just great. Ears, nose, teeth, lungs all indicated no problems which was great. The Pedi told me to continue feeding her lots of cereal, yogurts, cheeses, meats, veggies, and fruit, which I am already doing. He also suggested some silly combinations to try and get her to consume formula, such as mixing it with veggies. I know Natasha would hate that, but I suppose it's worth a shot at least. She is starting to prefer table foods over baby foods and opens her mouth for anything I give her off the table.

Aside from this, I spent the past two days at Lake Simcoe with my parents. Both of them have this week off for vacation and so we went to Sibbald Point which is a Provincial Park along the beaches of Lake Simcoe. It's a 50-minute drive from Toronto, but the air there was so fresh and clean, the water crystal clear, and it was a great way to cool off and spend the last two hot days at. It was Natasha's first time swimming in the lake and she loved it! In fact, she was so overtired she slept through the night without waking up at all. The only downside is she hated the long drive strapped in the captivity of her car seat; I had to keep her entertained by feeding her numerous Gerber Puffs and dangle random jingly toys in her face. And today is a rainy day so we're staying indoors. Blah.

Matthew, on a different note, has been feeling somewhat envious of my lake getaways. He just doesn't understand why he gets to sit in an office all day, coding infront of the computer, while I get to go swim in the lake and get paid for it. Well, Matthew, that's the way life works! So suck it up  In 1.5 months I will be back to the office as well and my lake days will be over!

Finally! It's here! The 3rd incisor, that is. Ugh. Natasha's 2 bottom incisors popped out at 5 months, within 2 days of each other. She hasn't had any teeth come out since those and I started wondering if she'll hit the one-year mark with her two bottom teeth only. Well, she isn't! Today, while my mom fed her some lunch, she tapped the metallic spoon against Natasha's upper gum only to hear a loud and clear "clink-clink" type sound. And of course, a tiny corner of the top left incisor is out. Hooray! They say baby teeth come out in pairs and so hopefully the right one will cut through in no time as well. It's about time, baby!

We had a really fun day yesterday; my mom had most of the day off of work and so we took Natasha to Centre Island. The island is only a 15-minute ferry ride from Toronto's harbour and consists of a huge parkland, an amusement park, and of course a lot of beaches. We thought Natasha would really enjoy the fresh air the island has to offer as well as an opportunity to see something else beside the park in my neighborhood I always take her to. And Boy, did she enjoy it!

We arrived on the island around 11am and left on the 4:15pm ferry ride back to the city. It was a weekday so it wasn't overly crowded and it was really breezy there compared to the high humidity and 30C+ degree weather in the city. We took a long walk along the beach area, on the docks, and Natasha had a chance to watch the wild geese and ducks catching some fish from the water - it always amazes me how such simple things I would normally take for granted can be so amusing and fascinating to her. We also let her wet her feet into the chilly lake water; initially she was scared and started crying but once she got used to the water's temperature she had a blast and didn't want to come out of the water! A lot of people were swimming, or more precisely, walking in the water because it was so shallow there...

Natasha had her lunch of sweet potatoes, but also got to lick some of our ice cream, tasted a pepperoni pizza, and had bits of cookie. Seriously, this child likes anything I place in her mouth, considering it comes off the "big people table". And since she only has 2 bottom teeth, she cannot chew the food very well, so she holds it in her mouth until it gets really soft and then swallows it. Poor kiddo, I hope those teeth come in soon.

All in all, we had a great day. My mom got burned while I got a nice tan. Natasha has my skin colouring so she got a mini-tan too, even though we kept her in the shadow most of the time. The only downside is that because she was so excited to see everything, she only slept for 25-minutes between 6am and 6pm which isn't good. But she totally made up for it by sleeping from 6pm last night to 6am this morning. She is now sleeping again from 7:30am and it's already almost 9:30! We're planning on taking her someplace else next week, maybe to swim in the lake!

I hate to admit this, but Natasha is projecting an obvious daddy's-girl behaviour. Not only in how she behaves and reacts, but also in her character and personality.

For instance, if you know Matthew then you also know that he doesn't eat a lot. But the fact that he doesn't eat a lot does not imply he doesn't eat well. Whenever we're downtown Matthew tries to avoid the food-court as much as possible, and would rather eat in a funky Indian restaurant, Swiss Chalet, Boston Pizza, or the Keg. He'd order himself a large portion (i.e. ribs, French fries, Caesar salad, and a large coke), and then only eat a 1/3 of his entire order. Of course this drives me nuts because paying $15.99 just doesn't justify such ridiculous eating habits, but Matthew argues that it's worth the quality of food and the food-court food, although way cheaper, tastes like crap. He sort of has a point, but so do I.

Anyway, the above is just some background to explain the following. When Natasha was 4 months old she got her first taste of cereal. And once that happened she slowly but persistently started refusing her bottle. By the time she turned 5 months old she wanted nothing at all to do with the bottle and wanted to be spoon-fed only. And nothing we tried to change her mind worked. She's now 9.5 months old and cereal has been going okay until recently. It's recommended at this age to start giving babies taste of table-food (whatever the parents are eating) so the baby slowly starts getting used to 'adult-foods' and becomes familiar with them. And so we've been giving Natasha tastes of spaghetti, Lasagna, rice, salad, mashed potatoes, etc. Just like we're supposed to...

And what has this led to??? Natasha not wanting her cereal. Grrr. This was our only means of getting the formula into her! And now she makes an angry face, closes her lips really tight, and shakes her head whenever she sees a spoonful of cereal coming her way. Of course, she obviously wants the better stuff and in a way I cannot blame her because baby cereal really doesn't taste that good, compared to something like... Lasagna.

And Natasha is a skinny baby, too; she doesn't overeat like a lot of babies her age, she's not a piggy at all, but she does recognize the difference between better and worse tasting foods and she knows how to demand for it. She's way happier getting 5 spoonfuls of rice than a plateful of cereal. Again I say - like father, like daughter.

Today is July 4th. Only two months left until Tuesday, September 4th - my first day back at the office.
But I am also really happy right now because tomorrow is Big Brother 8 season premiere! It's on CBS at 8:00pm (in case you wonder)  I am making Matthew watch with me. He got me hooked on the show since season 3, so no escaping that one, Matthew!

Here's my Meez. Get yours!

A few weeks before Natasha was born I bought a book at Chapters called First Meals, by Annabel Karmel (see picture), but haven't really used it until now. I've referred to it on a few occasions because it offers some great advice on breastfeeding vs. formula-feeding, storage of milk, etc. But it also has a huge supply of baby food recipes, starting from the very first tastes (4-5 months) and all the way to 7 years. The amount of recipes is endless! And the best part is that the writer combines the ingredients in ways I would never think of, which is fabulous, because all the recipes are divided into sections by age and are very easy to search and browse through. The reason I haven't paid much attention to this book until now is because I wasn't making my own homemade food. So far Natasha ate very basic veggies and fruits such as sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, apples, pears, peaches, etc. and I found that those are way faster to buy than to prepare yourself and freeze. But now that she's older she's ready to try more exotic tastes and combinations of ingredients that are not sold in little jars, and so now I am finding this book way more useful. And the book also has a huge family-recipe section with recipes such as lasagna, casseroles, and pies that are children friendly and can be used down the road. I really recommend this book!

Today I've attempted blending a papaya - the fruit tasted great but there were more seeds than flesh in there.
Here's a photo of a blended butternut squash, sweet potato, and a red papaya. Natasha's menu for tomorrow!

We've also attempted another new procedure today - we brushed Natasha's teeth! I've read that it's important to brush baby's teeth as soon as they come out and Natasha has had her bottom two incisors for 4 months. Yes, we're late. So we finally bought Gerber's Tooth and Gum Cleanser for Infants; it comes with safe-to-swallow toothpaste and a rubber finger toothbrush which is very soft and also good for massaging baby's gums. And Natasha loved it! She allowed us to brush her 2 bottom teeth and then to massage her gums. We are planning on making this a regular nighttime ritual.