Peauteau loves eating little pieces of food and only wants me to feed him applesauce. I have done a lot of experimenting, let me tell you. I really enjoyed the puree stage though! He will let his brother feed him though and it is adorable to watch. Frunty does a great job. Peauteau loves pulling Frunty's hair and Frunty rubs his head on P's stomach making him laugh so hard. Yesterday Frunty threw something down the stairs outside. Although I don't agree with throwing things, Peauteau laughed so hard, it was worth it. I mean, it was such a fantastic and beautiful chuckle. Hard as I try, I can't get him to laugh like that. Only his brother can!

The woman with the cats moved out so our backyard is no longer a toilet. I can't make it into a play area though because it is so wet that it looks like a trench. The cigar-smoking man moved out too complaining of humidity. He only lasted a couple of weeks though, thank goodness, as those hideous cigars were stinking up our home too. Now they seem to be doing something to the roof back there which only bothers our dog. I wonder who will be silly enough to move in there next and I wonder why these people don't try to ask us questions before signing a 9 year contract. You'd think they'd ask neighbours/tenants questions...

Last week, Peauteau started spitting out his purees. Well, he didn't spit out the homemade applesauce I guess because it is too yummy to have dribbled down onto his bib. I thought that he didn't like his "dinner" purees but cut up some steamed veggies and discovered that he wanted to feed himself. I didn't really think much of it until I read a mom's comment below and then realized that Peauteau has reached a milestone...at 8.5 months old. Tonight he had sweet potato/reg. potato/fish/banana/apple all in little chunks which he really enjoyed eating. He does not use his "pincers" all the time, sometimes he just grabs it and puts his fist(s) into his mouth. He is so cute. He lets me feed him yogourt though but often tries to grab the spoon which he has been doing for more than a month. I guess we are moving along then really well and he wants to feed himself which is fine with me.

"As early as 10 months, my son would reach for the spoon as I fed him. By 11 months, he refused to be fed by spoon, and would only eat if he could pick up the food with his fingers (or make a lucky attempt with a spoon himself). I take all this as a sign of his independence, and am grateful for the help at mealtimes!"

I took the boys to a music class today run by a Polish woman which was fun and I will continue to take Peauteau when we are in the city. Frunty had the day off from school and that is why he joined us. He really enjoyed it and so next time he has a school holiday on a Friday, I will take him as well. Afterwards we stopped by our friend's for a chat before coming home to finish working on our gingerbread house to take to our afternoon playdate at our French friend's home. S is Frunty's classmate at school and her mom invited a few other moms/kids over. It was a lovely time.

I realized just now that I haven't written for about two weeks or more, actually. Well, we have been enjoying Nonno's visit and went to Aachen, Germany to the Carolus Thermen and had fun at a mardi gras parade. Now Nonno is in Italy and will visit us again in two weeks.

Peauteau got his second tooth today. Frunty ran over to me in the kitchen and told me about it. He was very excited for his little brother. I had been checking often and wondering why the naps were short lately. The tooth broke the gum and now Peauteau is having a really long, afternoon nap...he must be exhausted!

I got a new (barely used) stroller today! I have been wanting a double so that I can easily get around with my two, little guys. I know that Frunty can easily walk but in certain situations, I want them both strapped into a stroller together. (ie. airports) So now I have a nice, new, light stroller, and I am thrilled about it. Yes, that takes my fleet up to 5 so I may try to get rid of 1 although I am not in any rush because each stroller serves a purpose although the three wheel Bebe confort is a bit heavy. (it was good though when Peauteau was tiny because of the attachable bassinette.)