The Eyezz Have It

So Baby M finally has a few words under his belt. His first word was (drumroll) ..... "eyes." He'll point to my eyes or his own and whisper "eyezz" and then give me a big grin. We read some Sesame Street books and he is totally obsessed with the Count's monocle. He keeps pointing at it repeating "eyezz, eyezz, eyezz."

He has also mastered "hot." Initially he would point to the heater, my coffee mug or the toaster oven and declare "HOT." But now it has become his go to (and admittedly only) adjective. Jell-O is hot, his rubber duckie is hot, a shovel is hot, it's like living with my own miniature Paris Hilton.

Still no Mama and Daddy is kind of hit or miss, but he's definitely making some progress on the language front. Hooray! Grunting and emphatic pointing is all well and good, but I am really looking forward to Baby M speaking.

Getaway

Now that Baby M is weaned my husband and I decided to celebrate and take our first overnight trip sans baby. Last week we had our house tented for termites (ugh!) and headed up to my in-laws house for 3 nights. On one of those nights my husband and I snuck away to the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa for 24 hours of baby-free recreation.

We left Baby M screaming in his grandpa's arms as we waved goodbye on Saturday afternoon. I hate seeing Baby M cry, but lately he puts on the same show if I leave him to take a shower so I was prepared for a dramatic exit. The drive up the coast was lovely and we arrived at the Inn in a little over an hour. The Ojai Valley Inn and Spa is a beautiful Spanish Colonial resort with gorgeous views of the mountains. I felt more relaxed just minutes after walking through their arches. Our room (the cheapest one at $350 a night) was small, but comfortable with a big 4 poster bed and a view of a courtyard with fruit trees. We took a quick stroll through the complex and then headed into town for a late lunch at Sea Fresh Seafood. I had the Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia, which was good and my husband had a mixed seafood plate which included fish caught that morning from the restaurant's own fishing boat.

After lunch we headed back to the Inn for a nap. Despite the Inn's many amenities -- golf, spa treatments, yoga classes, swimming pools, etc., the thing we were most looking forward to on this mini-vacation was sleep. Uninterrupted, unabashed, drool on the pillow sleep. We woke a few hours later, went for a dip in the salt water jacuzzi and then headed back to town for a late dinner. In hindsight, we should have eaten at one of the Inn's restaurants because there was only one restaurant in town still open after nine, a friendly, but uninspired Italian place. After dinner we returned to the Inn for martini's in the lounge and listened to an affable jazz singer with a crowd of drunk and unruly senior citizens (who were more entertaining than the singer!).

In the morning we rented bicycles from the golf shop and took the bike path into town to the Ojai Cafe Emporium. We read the newspaper on the heated patio over coffee and oatmeal. After a quick dip in the salt water pool we checked out and headed back to my in-law's place. This getaway was just what I needed. When I left for the Inn I was tired, annoyed and just wanted 15 minutes without a baby attached to my leg. By the time we returned home I was refreshed and ready to scoop Baby M into my arms and give him a big kiss.

So there you have the update. Of course, if you follow my husband's Twitter feed, you'd know all this already since he sent updates continuously through our trip-- seriously, he Twittered while we were in the jacuzzi.

Sesame Street

I'm afraid my baby is addicted to Sesame Street. I was all for keeping to the "no TV under 2" recommendation and except for the period when I tried anything and everything to calm his colic, I rarely parked Baby M in front of the television.

Then I caught cold after cold this winter and I started turning on the occasional episode while I recuperated on the couch. I also found that 10 minutes of Sesame Street would sometimes stop the inconsolable crying jags that Baby M often experiences upon waking from a nap. And I admit that both my husband and I have pulled up sesamestreet.org while we surreptitiously check our email in a separate browser. Although Baby M was happy enough to watch, he never seemed obsessed with watching, until now.

Now he wakes at 5:30 am and begins gesturing wildly at the TV set. He rummages through our DVD collection until he finds the Sesame Street Fiesta DVD and then waves it in front of my face. If I hide the Fiesta DVD he pulls out the unopened Baby Einstein videos I received as shower gifts and if I hide those, he brings me Austin Powers in desperation. So I have acquiesced and now allow him thirty minutes of Sesame Street a day. It makes him really happy and I can use those thirty minutes to catch up on email or wash the dishes. But a lot of the time I just sit next to him and watch. We love it when Elmo "asks a baby" --it cracks us up every time.