Magglio often reminds me of how big he’s getting. A few months back, he started refusing to be spoon fed. He wanted to pick up his food all by himself. Now he’s back to eating certain foods that require a spoon (like yogurt or oatmeal) but every now and then he grabs for the spoon and triumphantly waves it in the air. As you can imagine, this usually causes food to go flying and also plop on the floor.
But over time, he learned how to make a connection with the spoon and his mouth. The amount of success is always dependant on how hungry he is.
Such a big boy!
I sincerely apologize for my absense these past two months. Our laptop died and I haven’t been able to upload photos. Since I missed some major celebrations – Magglio’s 1 year birthday and Christmas in Michigan – I have a lot to catch up on!
Let’s start with Magglio’s first birthday, which was December 14th. My boy is now officially a toddler! We had a small party at our place and invited all of my friends and their children. It was a tight squeeze, but we had a great time. Here are some pictures of Magglio on his big day:
He wasn’t too thrilled with the commotion at first, but he eventually warmed up to everyone. He even let a few of my friends hold him while I played Hostess.
But the best part of the birthday party was that I had a professional photographer come and take pictures. You can view her pictures on her website. Click where it says “client proofs” and you’ll see Magglio’s birthday party. Enjoy!
Moving on to our Christmas celebration in Michigan. We spent time with both sets of Magglio’s grandparents, and he LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. I’m telling you this kid was in heaven from all the attention.
Oma and Opa’s house
Playing at Grandma and Grandpa’s house
We’ve had a busy holiday season! I hope your holidays were wonderful and warm. Love and hugs from the Salinas family.
The best shots of Magglio are usually taken when he’s in his high chair. I think because he’s contained and he can’t crawl away!
And he stands up and watches Chula on the porch. I’m sure he’s thinking, “Let me out! I want to get dirty!”
And by far, his favorite past time is to remove all of daddy’s DVD’s and Playstation games from the shelf, one by one. I’m serious, he does this at least once a day, sometimes twice. He loves making a mess!
He crawled away before I could get a picture of his mischievious grin. Lil’ stinker.
My mother – we call her Oma, which means ‘grandma’ in German - came to visit for Halloween. Magglio was a frog. His frog hat didn’t stay on for very long, but I was able to snap a few pictures…
….and then he took it off…..
….I tried to put it back on…..
and tried again….
…and it finally worked!
All in all, Magglio had a fun time at the Halloween party.
In other news, we think he’ll be walking within a month or so, since he’s already a pro at standing.
And he’s still very handsome (of course):
And here he is spending some time with Oma:
That kid loves his books.
On Sunday, Magglio and I attended a birthday party for his friend Mia. Mia turned 1 year old. Mia’s mom, Michelle, is a good friend of mine who I met here in Miami. There are a group of us who hang out quite a bit. They are the same moms who come over for playdates and who attend the baby sign classes. Here we are, holding our darling babies:
(l to r: Meg holding Amina, Tammy holding Oscar, Me holding Magglio, Alexandra holding Sayer, Michelle holding Mia)
Magglio’s favorite part were the balloons. Magglio loooooves ballons! He kept squeezing them, swatting them and biting them. Luckily, nothing popped.
Because it was 85 degrees and we were outside in the hot afternoon sun, I had to unbutton Magglio’s shirt, Miami Vice style.
He didn’t mind, as long as there were balloons to play with. Here he is again, doing his baby model pose.
And here’s Magglio and I with our neighbor, Carolyn, who Magglio adores:
All in all, a very fun day. Here is a picture of Mia, the birthday princess! Happy Birthday Mia!
Magglio has SIX teeth now – his top two came in about a week ago. Six teeth! My apologies for not posting lately, but last week was super stressful (more about that below).
Magglio had his 9 month appointment on Sept 14th. He’s in the 50th percentile for weight but in the 90th percentile for height! He’s grown over 3 inches in the past three months, which explains why I’ve had to cut the feet out of all his pajamas.
At his 9 month appointment he also got a vaccination (I space them out) and we think he had a reaction to the shot. Two days later he was running a fever of 103.5. Both he and I were miserable – I just felt bad for my poor guy and there wasn’t much we could do other than give him lots of Tylenol and breastmilk. After a few days, he was back to his normal bubbly self. Of course, then I got sick and had a fever of 102 which lasted for three hellish days. I suspect it may have been H1N1, so hopefully now we’re vaccinated for life.
Here are some new pictures of Magglio that I took today. You can see his chompers in all their pearly white glory:
He was eating a ham and cheese sandwhich ALL BY HIMSELF. So, please excuse the food, but these pictures are cute!
And he’s such a big boy, he drinks from his sippy cup.
Another picture, slightly unfocused, but a good shot of his new teeth:
And then in this picture he was thinking, “Mom, you’re a NUT!”
*Crib is slang for “home”.
On Friday I hosted a playdate at our apartment. Four babies, four mamas. LOTS and LOTS of fun!
The only thing more fun than hanging out with Magglio is watching Magglio hang out with three other babies. He’d make a great big brother…(not yet, everybody, calm down.)
And of course once mommy started snapping pictures, Magglio had to ham it up for the camera.
That’s my boy!
When I eat a peach, I give Magglio a few bites to nibble on. Today, however, he wanted the whole peach to himself. I placed it on his highchair tray and he wouldn’t let it go. He sucked and gnawed on the darn thing until it was reduced to pulp. It was like his own personal sweet and sticky teething ball!
Once he got the hang of it, he really started to chow down.
And then he squeeeezed it, and got super messy!
Up for some air and to smile at the camera…
… And then back to business.
The aftermath of Magglio and The Giant Peach. (now do you understand why I usually feed this kid when he’s naked?)
And then a quick giggle because he knows how much mommy *loves* to clean up peach pulp all over the place!
So today we went to a baby “Sign, Sing and Play” class. The class is supposed to teach children basic sign language so they can effectively communicate before they can speak clearly. Basics are eat, drink, more, all done, milk, sleep … you get the idea.
There were 4 other moms with their babies, and all were within about 2 months of age. The kiddos were so active! They crawled, flopped, pushed, played, poked, screamed and drooled all over everything. We moms looked on with such pride!
Probably the coolest part was the armless bear. Yeah, really. The teacher sticks her arms into the bear’s shirt so she can demonstrate the signs. Magglio wasn’t a fan of the bear at first. But he eventually warmed up to him and even crawled over to inspect him.
And then he got a *little* bit closer:
Finally, he conquored his fear and looked the armless bear right in his face!
And after that confrontation ended peacefully, the bear was old news.
Then it was time to crawl around and explore:
But mommy is the best toy of all! (and mommy’s camera.)
********** News flash: I cut my hair! **********
It needed to be done. It’s not really smart to have hair down to your waist in 90 degrees weather.
Right after my $15 cut (thanks Gigi at The Hair Cuttery!) I snapped these pictures, and all I can say is - I look like a mom! (which is a good thing.)
Now all I need are some high waisted jeans, a grey hoodie and some Keds. JUST KIDDING.
one more Glamour shot:
