Author: evancparker
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who’s feeding whom?
at the beginning of sparklet’s eating career, she was a bit of a streaky eater. first she would only squash, then she would only eat sweet potatoes, and then she’d only eat pureed garden vegetables.once she got onto solids, it was the same thing — first she would only eat sliced avacodos, and then she would only eat bonbel cheese wheels, and then she would only eat black beans (keeping Pollo Sobroso, our local Peruvian chicken place, open).
fortunately, she’s started mellowing out a bit.
we’ve working in eggs, apples (more about chewing then actually swallowing), bananas, yogurt, some little spinach things and lately sliced mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil — all while keeping the previous staples in the mix, too.
and, just when a (relative) decline in black bean consumption started looking bleak for Pollo Sabroso’s bottom line, sparklet has started consuming large quantities of Peruvian chicken and rice.
so, it looks like we’ve got a lead on figuring out the whole eating thing — which is exactly what the doctor said would happen fully swapped over to milk. (she’s only gets formula right before bed now, and even that’ll be gone in a month).
now if we can just get that whole sleep thing straightened out, we’ll be home free.
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one year checkup
sparklet went in for a checkup this morning, and she’s still ginormous — weighing in at 25.4 lbs (94th percentile) and standing almost 32 inches tall (off the charts at 97th+ percentile).two notable developments.
first, we got an official diagnose from the doctor on sparklet’s mental state, when she was careening around like a lunatic, trying not to get measured:
wow, she really hates not being in control — doesn’t she?
(yup, thanks for the newsflash.)
second, sparklet got four vaccinations — bringing her total lifetime count of shots up to thirteen — and had two vials of blood pulled by D.C. to test for lead and tuberculosis.
there was a lot of screaming and yelling, but it quickly subsided once the needles went away — enough that she was clapping along to the music in the car ride home.
no harm, no foul.
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guestbook: nancy and aunt melissa
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
guestbook (2009-10) -
the pizza garden
our nanny share nanny doesn’t speak english. the lady sparkler and i haven’t spoken Spanish since high school.if that’s not a recipe for a laugh-track worth sit-com, i’m not sure what is.
about six weeks ago, our nanny started saying how much sparklet loves running around “the pixa” — “the pesca” we ask?
“no, the pixa” she she replies. “pixa! pixa!”
“oh, of course — the ‘pixa!’” we finally replied, without an ounce of comprehension. “boy, does she love that!”
over the next six weeks, we proceeded to ask every native Spanish speaker we’ve ever known what “pixa” meant en Español.
not a clue.
i Google translated about a dozen different spellings — pisca, pixa, pitsa, pesca, pixza.
nothing.
we finally decided that she meant either “pesca” which is Spanish for “fishing” or PISCA which is the Paranormal Investigation Society of Central Alabama.
we were pretty confused about where they could possibly go fishing in northwest D.C., much less the intricacies of travel to Central Alabama, so we gave up and called it a day.
fast forward to yesterday, when our beloved nanny share partners came to the zoo for sparklet’s birthday, and they said:
hey, have you guys been over to the pizza garden yet? it’s a giant pizza that the kids can climb all over. maria says that they really love it.
pizza. pixa. pizza = pixa.
(cue laugh track.)
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
the pizza garden, national zoo, washington, dc
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emily has started (a) not running away the moment that sparklet makes eye contact with her, and (b) occasionally putting herself down in front of sparklet in such a way as to imply that she might actually not mind being pet.
sparklet, for her part, has learned how to run her hand through emily’s hair without ripping any out. hard to call that petting, but it’s a start.