Some Funny Observations

Ever since Felix has been eating solids I've been feeding him all kinds of strange vegetables, like edamame and cabbage and brussels sprouts, and he's been eating them without a fuss. Each time he swallowed without making a face it reinforced my belief that I had really struck it lucky in getting a *special* baby who liked veggies. He would eat peas by the cupful, and snack on broccoli spears like they were a treat. Only I knew that it wasn't normal...

But then a week ago, when we were babysitting overnight for a friend, he changed his mind--and at a very inconvenient time too. We had just sat down to dinner, and I unveiled the vegetable: brussels sprouts. YUM. The two little boys (ages 5 and 4) let me know right away how they felt about the small cabbages, and so I said, "You only have to eat one each. But you might like them. Here, watch Felix, he loves them". I served Felix some cut up sprouts. He dutifully picked one up, put it in his mouth, and then, (gasp) made a face, took it out of his mouth, and deposited it on the floor, where it apparently belonged. Somehow I did get the boys to eat a few, with some help from Mrs. Salt and Mr. Pepper.

But Felix has kept up the newfound aversion, much to my dismay. Luckily it isn't all vegetables though. He'll still eat a little sweet potato and green beans, and other veggies when they're mashed up and mixed into stuff. And for some reason, he'll still eat mountains of peas, and fruit too, so I'm not too worried about him becoming vitamin deficient, just annoyingly picky...

But the funny thing is that he'll still eat any kind of vegetable when he can beg it off of me, no matter the form. It seems like he likes the treat of eating some of mom's food. I thought this was funny until I realized that I kind of do the same thing: For example, I'm a big fan of Whole Foods. OK, to be honest, I'm more of a fan of their ridiculously generous sampling policy. (Secret: sometimes Felix and I pretty much eat lunch there. Don't tell.) But I eat samples of things I probably wouldn't eat on my own, because things seem to taste better in small bites I guess. So I guess Felix is just becoming more normal. Really, I need to face the truth: normal kids do NOT like cabbage!

Another thing I've noticed is that he's a snacker. I've been a little annoyed by this, because it seems like he barely finishes a meal before he's begging for something I'm eating. How can he be hungry so soon?? But did you catch the clue? He wants what I'm eating, because I'm a snacker. I'd rather eat six or eight (healthy) snacks a day than have meals, especially because Brian hasn't been home for any meals for a couple of days now. (Betcha didn't know that part of the objective of business school is to fatten the students up with lavish meals, but apparently it is. It doesn't work on Brian though, probably because he uses recruiting events as lunch. And dinner. Then brings home the extras for me!) Anyhow, I've decided that if I don't want Felix to snack his life away, I'd better stop doing it.

OK, one last funny observation: I finally went running this morning, the first time in about a month. I've been itching to go ever since Ann Arbor became a tropical paradise (ie, reached 34 degrees), but today was the first day this week that Brian didn't have to be at school at 8:00am. This morning as I was jogging, I thought about how as a mom I need to find more efficient ways to exercise, because it's not always convenient to wait for the one day Brian has some time off. So I decided maybe I should stop driving to Kroger (it's all of a quarter mile away), and hovering around parking lots for 10 minutes trying to get a close spot, as if I'd die if I had to walk 20 more feet to the entrace of a store. I'm sure I could think of some other ideas too, like going on more walks with the Fe Man, and maybe even walking to the business school to meet Bri for lunch once in a while. Wow, those wheels are starting to turn! Now let's see if I can turn those thoughts into action.

Anyhow, that's enough rambling from me. Here's some pics of the Little MAN!






More soon!

One Night in The City That Never Sleeps

For Brian, job-searching hasn't followed the typical MBA routine: 1) resume drop, 2) interview on campus, 3) second round fly-back interview 4) offer. Since he's bound by his dual Music degree to complete an internship related to the arts, he's been working on expanding his network. Fortunately, this January he had the opportunity to meet hundreds of people in a fascinating industry, Music Instruments. It was the NAMM show in Anaheim that gave Brian an introduction to two companies he admires very much:and

Having never visited the office of either company, Brian was really excited to see Yamaha Corporation of America's headquarters in Buena Park (just up the road from Anaheim). It seemed as though seeing Steinway's factory headquarters in Queens, NY would have to wait, perhaps in the form of a drop-in visit over Spring break in conjunction with a promised visit to Brian's brother Dan, who lives in Manhattan. A few weeks later, though, Steinway & Sons invited Brian to go out to NY. The timing and arrangements didn't quite work out for a family adventure, though, which was a little unfortunate because Dan is just crazy about Felix!

So Brian flew out by himself yesterday afternoon, and comes back this afternoon. Since my phone wigged out (again) I haven't talked to him since last night. So we shall find out shortly how it went!

Update from Brian: I did get an internship offer from Steinway & Sons and I am very excited about the prospect of working closely with one of the world's leading luxury brands.