Vegan Goodness:
Today we ate:
- Breakfast: Blueberry-coconut milk smoothies and steel-cut oats.
- LP snacked on an apple at playgroup. Mom had a bowl of cereal
- Lunch: Leftover snow chili for Mom and LP. Pita chips and hummus for Dad
- Dinner: Peanut Pumpkin Soup (from Color Me Vegan) and Collards with raisins and a bit of orange juice. Yum!
- Mom and Dad had some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert.
Money Matters:
Today we spent the following:
- $10.00 on a Groupon for Veggie Galaxy!
Thursday Baby Update:
IP simply adores her big brother. When he walks into the room her face lights up. When she is nursing and he starts talking she whips her head around (sometimes in an “ouch” moment for me!) When he wants to hold her she will sit in his lad and gaze lovingly at his face. It is truly a sight to behold.
All these moments make me really appreciate having two kids. I have already seen how much LP get out of the relationship. I have watched him develop an awareness of his sister (and how he has to be careful around her, how he wants to take care of her, etc.) in a way that seems to promote his development of empathy. With IP I see how she is given way more opportunity to interact with people than LP ever was at this age. When LP was a baby it was mostly him and me, at home. Sure, I sang songs (mostly from Glee at the time) and played with him, but there is only so much entertaining Mom can do. With IP she has a built in entertainment system, and even when we aren’t interacting with her directly she is watching us interact with LP.
I wonder how much of this has contributed to IP’s social development. Already she is way more social than I remember LP being. She smiles, coos, looks around at people and responds positively to direct interactions. I’m sure this is a combination of her personality and the environment she is in. It is interesting to watch this development and see the synthesis of nature and nurture (yes, that is an and, not an or) in action.
On a bit of a side note from these musings, IP is also getting better at manipulating objects. She can grasp toys and put them in her mouth with some effort. She has been playing with a musical flower-pot that will keep her entertained for several minutes (and requires her to whack some flowers). She also has started reaching for things like LP’s toys and Mom’s food. I’m not quite ready to share my vegan marshmallow treats with her though – she will have to wait a bit for that!
