Cauliflower? Yuck!

Hi again!

Eleni seems to be having a nice long nap so I managed to get to this a bit sooner than expected. If you've opened this post first, just so you know I also added another blog post earlier today that's full of pictures of our gorgeous little 6 month old so make sure you check those out. She's growing so fast and changing so much now, it crazy to compare what she looks like and what she can do today to what she was like her first few months!

So Blogger has created a new way to link videos onto your blog...it seems to be a lot faster and easier but we'll see if this actually works because we all know how this kind of crap and I just never seem to be able to get it together. Please let me know if you have trouble getting this video to play and I'll just do things the now 'old fashioned way' and post the YouTube link for you. This is from yesterday, Eleni's reaction to a brand new taste: CAULIFLOWER! Cauliflower's one of my fav's, but I don't think Eleni agrees....

So far she's tried carrots, banana, apple, rice cereal and now cauliflower. Banana's are the favourite, carrots and apples we can get down without a fight but not much enthusiasm either, but rice cereal and cauliflower? No dice! She gags, she pushes the spoon away, she spits and she gets really angry with me. It's kind of funny when she gets angry about it though, she yells at me in her baby babble which sounds a lot like an obnoxiously drunk sailor. She was a bit easier on me this day, the babble sounded more like a calm lecture rather than a verbal ass kicking. I guess she's trying a new approach. I'm really glad she's decided to give up the cursing. The next veggie we're going to try is potatoes...I'll let you know how that goes. It shouldn't be too much of a problem since they don't have a strong taste. And here's hoping that it goes so well that I can use them as a base to mix in other things like pureed peas, spinach, and whatever other vegetable that I'm sure if I tried to give to her straight they'd just be flung right back in my face. That reminds me, I should really look into some safety goggles and possibly a hair net......

As usual, not too much is new around here. Eleni is still trying very hard to crawl and she's getting closer but it will still be a little while yet. Although yesterday I put her down on the floor with her toys and I walked into the kitchen to throw away a rather disgusting diaper (by the way, the cauliflower diapers are making mommy gag and swear like a sailor so we're going to discuss whether this should be a banned substance in the Mallis house), and when I came back to the living room maybe 10 seconds later she was about 3 feet away from where I'd left her!!! How did she do that??? Did she roll? She's really good at rolling around so it's possible, but somehow she got underneath her swing, and the swing is on a base that would be pretty difficult for her to roll over. So maybe she crawled? I have no idea! All I know was she was suddenly getting at a toy that I'd decided to hide waaaaay off into a corner that she couldn't get to because it seemed a bit too dangerous for her to play with at this stage. Figures! I can't believe this is starting already....wish me luck! Anyway, I'll keep an eye on this situation and let you know what I discover. My other theory is that she's from the future and she knows how to teleport....we'll see.....

Saturday was a really fun day. Our friends Yannis and Tara had a birthday party for their son Yorgos, he turned 3. I wasn't sure how Eleni was going to react because it was right at the time she usually takes her afternoon bottle and nap so I didn't know if she was about to get really tired and fussy, or maybe she'd just sleep anyway, I had no idea. Also there was going to be a lot of kids there, more than she'd ever been around at one time. As soon as we got there I sat down with her on the couch so she could assess the situation. I gave her her bottle, while she continued to watch all the little people and toys they were playing with. After her bottle I just let her sit on my lap to decide for herself if she wanted to sleep or to play or to scream bloody murder so we'd have to run out of there really quickly.....but suddenly she started waving her arms around, and wiggling her little bum around and squealing and screetching with excitement. So I took that as a sign that we'd be skipping the afternoon nap and instead, it was party time!

I was so impressed with her, she wasn't the least bit shy with anyone. Actually she was the complete opposite of that, she was very social....as social as a 6 month old can be anyway. She wanted to be in the middle of all the action, trying out all the toys and meeting all the kids. Miltos and Maria were there with their kids Apostolis and Michaela, Apostolis is 4 and Michaela is almost exactly one year older than Eleni. We've been meaning to get the kids together for a long time but we  haven't had the chance until Saturday. Anyway, they were SO cute together. Michaela is such a sweetheart, giving Eleni toys to play with and putting her soother in her mouth which Eleni thought was so much fun. Eleni babbled away to her and Michaela just looked at her smiling as if she understood every word. But poor Apostolis' nearly had all his hair yanked out thanks to our over-excited little one, but I guess since he has a little sister he's used to that kind of thing because he didn't even react. In fact he looked a little bored. Our friends Naomi and Theo were there with their daughter Panayiota, who is also one year older than Eleni. Eleni and Panayiota have met a few times before and Eleni always seems completely amazed by her...probably because she can walk and talk and Eleni's trying to figure out how a little person just like herself can do such things! Which is good because it encourages her to try new things because she wants to do everything her friend is doing.

We were home by 8pm and I'd planned to give Eleni a bath but she fell asleep half way through her bottle and she didn't even make a sound until 7am the next morning. She woke up still wearing her party clothes...I remember when I used to do that too.....

We had another scare with Papous two nights ago. He wasn't able to sleep at all because he was having problems with his breathing. Olympia and Yorgos took him to the doctor the next morning and they did some tests but we're still waiting to hear back about the results. He seemed a bit better yesterday so hopefully it was nothing to worry about. I'll keep you posted about what's happening with him but I'm pretty sure this 94 year old is just fine and has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. In fact I'd even bet he's healthier than most of us are!

Speaking of health, I've been getting back into yoga again. I've done it everyday for the last 2 weeks and I'm noticing a big difference already in my strength and flexibility. I'm still not ready for running or anything that intense yet which has been a big surprise to me because I figured I'd be back into working out after a few months but I guess not. So yoga it is for now and I'm perfectly ok with that. If anyone from around here is interested, Katrine is teaching a fantastic yoga class Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at 7pm in the harbour. If you've been practicing yoga for years or if you've never done it in your life, or even if you have an injury you need to careful of it doesn't matter, she has something for everyone. And it's free! So come with me! It's fun! And we can go to the restaurant for wine after! Which is also fun!

Well, Eleni's has woken up from her marathon long nap....3 hours! I can't believe it! She did this yesterday too and until then she'd never napped for more than an hour! I guess being 6 months old changes a person. Anyway, I'm going to go snuggle that gorgeous little petunia.

Bye for now!