13 months

As if right on cue, Potamus stood up by himself (no hanging on hand-holds) two days before he turned 13 months. Typical. He then proceeded to walk all the way across the house with assistance! Jiminy Christmas, it’s happening all so quickly!

Sleeping in his Montessori floor-bed is going GREAT, with me spending much less time in there nightly. We’re weaned during the day and then nurse at night a few times. My goal was 12 months, so to make it for 13 feels excellent, and I don’t have any hard and fast plans to night wean anytime soon. Daycare has been amazing for helping Potamus go down for naps, and we’ve been getting a lot more done around the house!

His food pallet is expanding every day, and he is now loving banana “pancakes.” It is seriously the EASIEST recipe ever: 1 mashed banana and 2 eggs whipped into the banana. You cook it on a griddle like pancake! I spread a thin shmear of peanut butter on it, and he loves it…which is so great because he was eating just a ton of crackers and pasta, so to incorporate some more fruit and other proteins is great! Check it out, it tastes yummy!

My parents were visiting this weekend, so we ventured on up to KidsQuest with them and met up with my brother and Miss A! The kiddos seemed to enjoy themselves!

Little Diggers!

Today was the day we took Potamus to the Little Diggers time at Sandbox Sports! I want to say he “loved” it, but he actually spent quite a bit of time chilling between my legs, with an air of worry about him. I imagine he was saying to himself “what is this stuff? And why is mom making me play in it?” But by the end he was happily scooping with his hands and I was trying to fend off the eating of sand. I would like to think he wasn’t really trying to eat it, but he brushed his mouth and then there was sand in his mouth and he tried to get it out (with sandy fingers) and it all went down hill from there.

We were met by a friend from our neighborhood, so it was fun to catch up, and have mommy talk, while our kiddos played. Definitely recommend this place for rainy Seattle days!

KidsQuest: A Museum Review

If you’re looking for something FREE to do on a rainy Seattle day, then I definitely suggest KidsQuest Museum in the Factoria Mall. Granted, in order for it to be free, you’ll need a friend with a membership who is willing to sacrifice a guest pass to take you! HA! BUT, if you are looking for something relatively CHEAP to do in the area, then, at eight bucks for adults (and kiddos under 1 are free), this is definitely your place! In fact, the yearly membership is something whopping like $80, so it might even be worth it for our family to shell out that kind of dough, cause even if we went 1 time a month, it would pay for itself in less than a year!

I’m dubbing it a “Little Science Center,” as an ode to THE Seattle Science Center that I grew up loving. What makes KidsQuest amazing, though, is that there is a section that is specifically designed for the under 3 crowd, While this doesn’t limit your access to the rest of the area (with supervision of course!) it does allow for our little pumpkins to explore the world around them (ie crawling, toddling unsteadily) without fear of being bulldozed by some 17 year old on a cell phone or even a pack of 7 year olds squirrelling around. I felt great about sitting back for a few moments, catching up with my college pal (who was there with her daughter who’s 1 month older than Potamus), and keeping an eye on the Potamus as he explored. Today’s adventure included shaking several rattles, rolling a blow-up beach ball all around the room (up the stairs and down the wheelchair ramp), staring at the fishtank, and trying to share his toys with other young fellas.

After the tots (okay, the mamas) were thoroughly worn out, we walked around the other parts of the museum that have a more sciency feel to them. There were sensory stations with sand, water stations where you could watch ping pong balls flow down a river (that you could change by adding different logs to the river flow), and various other stations that were occupied by interested kiddos. I loved it, and will DEFINITELY be bringing Potamus back…even if I have to pay for myself this time!