Ania is in daycare two days a week now and I think she has her first crush.  Lukey is talked about nonstop at our house, and she always looks for him when heading to “school.”  I’ve tried to remind Ryan that Lukey is just an infant, but I think Ryan is still secretely plotting against him!

More later…

Halloween 2008

As a new parent you find yourself wanting to give your child everything you think they deserve (and then some). Most of all, you want to give safety and a good future. Often the urge to spoil your child conflicts with this desire to protect. One could easily shower their offspring with a wealth of toys and in fact our culture encourages us to do so. At the same time, you cannot turn on the news or read a newspaper without hearing about the latest toy recall. Mostly, the toys being recalled are those made in China. Lead based paint appears to be the main problem, but if you dig down deeper you come to discover the root of the problem exists in our own demand for guaranteed low prices. It save the American family a few dollars, a lot of corners are getting cut. That is unless you consider the added cost of medical bills due to a defective toy harming your child.

We never wanted to spoil Ania. Over and over we’ve told people that she’ll grow out of these toys, sooner than you’d think. We ask people to consider what they’d spend on her and then half that number. Take half the money and put it in a savings bond and spend the other half on toys. I’ve yet to read about one savings bond getting recalled due to lead based paint. (As for the declining value of the American Dollar, that’s another issue). When she’s older she’ll appreciate those bonds and if she starts out getting a limited amount of toys she’ll never come to expect a large quantity.

What we really want Ania to learn is quality over quantity. One really good gift, something that she’ll play with for a long time trumps ten trendy items that come and go like flavors of the month It seems that every where I look there’s hundreds of new, must-have toys, most of them made of plastic and electronics. I know I sound old fashioned, perhaps even unAmerican, but what ever happened to toys that required some imagination?

Thankfully, we’ve found some. They are mostly made in Europe, but you can get them through an American company called Oompa Enterprises (or Oompa for short). They are out of Madison, Wisconsin and that means that when you buy from them you are supporting a local business or at least a business that is local to Ania.

This year, if you are looking to get Ania something we highly encourage you to shop through Oompa. We’ve even put together a list of things we think Ania could use. Though, honestly, she’d be happy with just about anything age-appropriate from this site.

Ania’s wishlist.

We had a lot to be thankful this year, but the number one reason we had to give thanks was surely Ania.

Here she is enjoying her first Thanksgiving dinner. Sweet potatoes. Stuffing. Tofurkey – because daddy doesn’t eat animal products. Not pictured are a salad and glazed carrots. Wash it all down with a nice class Chardonnay* and you’ve got one yummy meal.

A plateful of pictures can be found here.

*I’ll be thankful if child protective services can take a joke. Ania actually didn’t have anything seen in this picture. In fact, she had bananas for Thanksgiving and this was exciting because it was her first fruit.

We’re, back. I know, I know. Everyone has been asking, “Where are the updates?”, “Where are the new photos.”

Well, the photos have been getting updated slowly, but you had to scroll down the side of this page to the Shutterfly link to see the newest photos. As for standard updates we really have no excuse, other than spending time with Ania.

This week, we helped Ania celebrate her first Halloween. I don’t have any clue as to whether or not she understood why people kept coming to our door or why she was dressed up like a pink leopard. One thing we know for sure, and it’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on in the future, Ania likes candy.

You can find the rest of the Halloween photos here.

Other recent items of interest include a return visit from Grandma and Grandpa Sarnowski. This time, they brought Great Grandma with them and Uncle Adam flew in from Washington D.C.

Lots of photos from that visit can be found here.

Finally, Ania has started on solid foods. At first she didn’t like it, but now she loves her rice cereal. We’ll post video soon of the first few failed attempts.

Remeber, you can see all of Ania’s albums at http://oodiedoodie.shutterfly.com/

Before we had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, we had to have a fashion show to  parade Ania before the camera in the onesie we picked up at Polish Fest and outfits gifted to us by women that work with Grandma Sarnowski.

“I’m a little pierogie”

Red Ruffled Rugrat

If she’s anything like her Grandma, who is notorious for spilling her food, Ania is going to need big bibs like this one. 

Bootlicious! 

Baby Bling-Bling 

What’s funny bunny? 

For the most part Ania was a good sport. I imagine it won’t be long before she’ll be wanting to play dress-up all the time. Right now, she just looks us with bewildered eyes, wondering why we keep dressing and undressing her and refusing to let her get comfortable.

For the complete fashion spread check-out Flickr and Shutterfly.

Speaking of farmers, we took Ania and the grands out to the South Shore Farmers’ Market this weekend. It was the first one of the year and the place was swarming with all sorts of edible goodies. Not to mention that the park was full of other couples toting around tots of all sizes. Though, our little peanut was by far the tiniest one there. If not the cutest.

Grandma Sarnowski samples the crepes.

Where did the grandparents go?

Grandma got another crepe. Don’t spill it on the baby!

Daddy takes a turn with the stroller (so mommy could sample some food).

Next time I think we’ll try taking the baby carrier instead of the stroller. It’s not that big of a stroller, but still there are a lot of people there. We also saw a lot of dogs there. Even though the park has many “No Dogs Allowed” signs. Still, I don’t think we’ll bring Mabel. Way too much stimulation and food. Right now, we’ve got our hands full with baby and groceries.

I think that Jen would agree with me or perhaps its really I agreeing with Jen when I say that late May or early June is the best time to have a baby.

More photos from the Farmer’s Market on Flickr and Shutterfly.

Around 11 AM on Friday when we expected them to be calling from the airport to say they had arrived we heard nothing. Then it was noon and we got worried. Phone calls to Grandma Sarnowski were immediately diverted to her voice mail. Was she on a plane with her phone off? Did she leave her phone in Tampa? Had they missed there flight, like they did when they came up for my graduation? Were they dead in a ditch somewhere? Am I thinking like this just because I’m a new parent? Is this how I’m going to worry about Ania every time she’s out of my eye sight?

Finally! A phone call. They have arrived. They didn’t miss their flight. They just gave me the wrong flight information. I pick them up at the airport and off we go. You can feel the urgency as we drive to our house. Its as if Grandma is willing each stop light to go green. This woman needs to see her granddaughter.

At last we make it home. “Leave the bags in the car for now, I want to see my grandchild,” says Grandma. And see her she does.

Grandpa seems to like her too, but as long as Grandma is around, everyone else is going to have to wait their turn if they want to hold Ania.

More photos of the Grandparents meeting Ania on Flickr and Shutterfly.

And get out we did. Ania, Mommy, Daddy, and Mabel all went on their first stroll around the neighborhood. We ventured one block south and four blocks east. Then we showed off Ania to our friend Regan Golden-McNerney.

Regan was then kind enough to snap a photo of the whole family (sans cats).

Then we headed north, but we only got a block before Mom and Ania had to head home. Ania’s crying precipitated this split-up. Daddy and the dog continued on because without some exercise our house is never safe from the wrath of Mable.

For Jen it was good to get out of the house. For Ania it was an adventure, one she’ll hopefully learn to like in the long run. For a start, this was a pretty good one. Boy, are we glad we had her in the summer as opposed to the winter when we’d be cooped up in the house or forced to go to a mall to walk her in a stroller. I’m hoping we can forgo introducing Ania to a shopping mall for a few years, perhaps decades.

When she wasn’t cooing over the baby she was helping around the house. She scrubbed the kitchen floor, vacuumed the carpets, and cleaned the whole bathroom; all those things new parents have little time. Perhaps, if carpets learned to cry and if shit just lingered in the bathroom waiting to be changed new parents would not out off these weekly chores.

As a new parent one of the ‘big’ things you have to consider are your baby’s firsts. Baby’s first movie, baby’s first musical event, baby’s first dinner out. These are all seminal events. Who knows what profound influence they may have on your child’s growth and development.

Deciding such influential moments is a task both daunting and exhilarating. But, as for baby’s first meal out the solution is rather simple – Sushi!

Ania, of course, can’t actually eat sushi for sometime, so perhaps it is her parent’s desires that are making this decision. Poor Jen went 10 months without sushi. Why wait until the kid is on solids to go out for some fine, fresh fish?

Still, if you come to think of it, a sushi restaurant is a good destination for new parents. Thanks to pre-sliced servings and chopsticks a mom or dad can hold baby in one hand while eating their meal with the other.

Then, when Ania is older and able to eat solids you can go back and get her vegetable rolls or tempura. Both work well as finger food or with chopsticks. Plus, there are now several companies that make various, easy-to-use chopsticks for kids.

First there are Farm Sticks seen at the beginning of post. I like the cow. Fitting for Wisconsin, eh? There are also Chopstick Kids sold at ModernTots. On that same site you can also find a wooden sushi box, so your child can play pretend sushi. I like that idea far better than one of these McDonald’s play-sets I’ve seen for sale.