Week 24 Day 1: Stair master

I think we should start with the breast milk custard. Wait, let me back up. I should preface that by saying this weekend was one of much culinary experimentation. On Stacy's part, mind you, not mine. She's always puréeing something so that Gavin can eat it and trying new things out on him. Healthy things, mind you. Gavin eats such healthy food that his poo is probably healthier than anything you can get from McDonald's. Not that I'm willing to test that theory. Still. So over the weekend Stacy made a remark about how it was a shame that Gavin couldn't drink cow's milk because she would really like to make some custard for him because she thought he would really like it. The first thing out of my mouth was, "Why don't you just use breast milk?" Honestly, I don't even know if I was being serious or not. But Stacy was all for it.

What I've learned about cooking with breast milk: it isn't the same consistency or density as cow's milk. It also smells terrible. In my opinion. I can't help but associate breast milk with baby vomit and I do not like the smell of vomit for some strange reason. Fresh breast milk doesn't smell bad, but the stuff that's been frozen and then thawed does, especially if heated. Needless to say, I didn't eat any of the custard. But Gavin did and liked it very much. Stacy also tried it, and deemed it a success more or less. So maybe there will be more breast milk custard in Gavin's future. Though I wouldn't be sad if that weren't the case.

Stacy also made a strange, viscous pudding-like substance made out of purple cauliflower blended with tofu. The hue of the resulting foodstuff was a greyish lavender. I fed him some of this concoction for lunch today and he gobbled it down. It feels very strange to spoon feed your child something that looks so much like a desert and yet is so, so far away from being a desert. Then again, I've been to Japan and tasted traditional Japanese deserts. So this stuff could totally be a desert in Japan.

Also on the menu: turnip greens. Very healthy, but they taste like weeds. Not a stand-alone food in my opinion. Or Gavin's. They were rejected -- via tears and gagging -- when administered alone, but mixed with yogurt they were welcomed with an open mouth.

In elevation news Gavin can now climb stairs. We went to Stacy's brother David's house, two-story duplex, over the weekend and Gavin took to the stairs like he'd been born on them. We didn't let him climb the stairs unsupervised, of course. In fact, one of us stayed right behind him with our hands around but not quite touching his waist. Because getting up is one thing. As David said, "All babies are born able to get down the stairs." It's the surviving the fall part that's the trick.

And fall he did, but not down the stairs. He fell headfirst into the empty bathtub, something I have been predicting for weeks now. See, he likes to throw things into the bathtub and then reach in and get them. His height poses a problem here because to get something out of the tub he has to lean way in, basically resting his little pelvis against the side of the tub with his toes barely touching the ground. He's a top-heavy little dude so I always discourage this game. Unfortunately Stacy does not and he was in the bathroom with her while she was blowdrying her hair and went after a washcloth and bam! He was fine, though a little shaken up. After all the empty tub does have a pretty loud echo when you drop, say, a bottle of shampoo, not to mention a child headfirst into it. But as Stacy said, he fell slowly, kind of sliding into the tub rather than doing a back flip which is why he's fine.

In sleeping news, Gavin went down for both his naps today without a single whimper or tear. I put him in his crib, he flipped over onto his stomach and pulled in his knees so his little butt was in the air and turned his head away from me, both times exactly the same. And when Stacy put him down tonight he cried for maybe 30 seconds. I'm not sure what's changed except for the fact that he's older now. Weeks make a huge difference at this age. Also I think he's kind of gotten used to a certain pattern and knows what to expect at bedtime. I have been very consistent about his bedtime routine which features rocking to Sade's song "Skin" for 4 minutes and 12 seconds, and then putting him in his crib when "The Safest Place" starts, and then quietly leaving the room. I can't say I'm enormously thrilled with the music, but if you're going to pick music to fall asleep to, Sade is a pretty apt choice.