As you can see, Alexander had his first cheeseburger - a burger from In-N-Out! and what better way to wash down a burger, fries and cucumber (he didn't eat the string cheese) than with apple juice?! Daddy was very excited about this "milestone" so we wanted to share. Oh yeah, one more thing - another tooth broke through today/tonight! Daddy told Alexander that's how he was able to eat his burger. ;-)
Alexander learned to flour his dough and rolling pin when rolling it out to help Mommy make Daddy's early birthday pie! Check out the finished product - it was delicious.
This past weekend we went to Villa Del Sol Sweet Cherry Farms in Leona Valley, CA (by Palmdale) to pick cherries for the first time with Alexander! Grandpa came with us and Rebecca and parents and Baby Nicholas and parents joined us too! Alexander and Rebecca had the best time picking cherries, eating cherries, and playing in the dirt. Mommy hopes this becomes a family tradition for us. We made cherry muffins tonight and prepared the dough for cherry pie later this week! EXCITED!!
Today we celebrated our Chavarela Christmas at Abuelita & Grandpa's. Since all except Tia Lisett & Tio Nick are going to be out of town this year, the day was packed with lots of things to do! We started with visiting Aaron and putting up a lil tree for him (Abuelita had left the cherub there 2 weeks before!) Then headed over to the Annual VFW Holiday Party where Santa Claus made a surprise appearance! and then to the house where Alexander & Rebecca made the traditional press-cookies from Abuelita's favorite recipe for the first time!! Both kids caught on very quickly and are destined to be great helpers in the kitchen, especially now that AAA has an honest to goodness chef's jacket with his name engraved! and Rebecca got a (toy) kitchen where they can practice!
Tonight, not only did Alex play in his tent for the first time, but he also made tortillas for the first time! After Mommy made the masa, he and Daddy placed the ball on the press, (which was made by Alexito's great-grandpa, Esteban), and then pressed it down to a perfectly shaped tortilla! Before dinner, Alex ate a couple of tortillas to make sure they were ok to eat! We had mini veggie-stuffed quesadillas with a doctored-up pico de gallo, blacks beans and brown rice.
Alexito was beside himself when we arrived at Steinbeck Vineyards and he saw the various John Deere vehicles used at the family owned winery. inside we tasted wine from Steinbeck Vineyard and port from Paso Port (the same winemaker makes them both). Meanwhile, Alexito made sure the tractor driver knew where he/she was going and even helped him/ her along!
George and Chocolate visited their first winery in Paso Robles: Adelaida (one of GPa's faves). they discovered the huge wine barrels and the forklift that moves the barrels. Alexander even tried to get on the forklift!
Alexander discovered the grapes at Tablas Creek (one of our most favorite wineries) and agreed they are high quality grapes. Watch out, before long he may be making his own wine!
grandma says Alexander is a natural born farmer! see he's already harvesting his first crop of Japanese eggplant in Laguna Niguel. he was also very gentle putting the numerous tomatoes grandma & grandpa would hand to him to put in the basket.
alexander helped mommy cook dinner for reals for the first time tonight. he stirred the pot of ravioli like someone's who's been doing it for 20 years! (ok, maybe I exaggerate a tad.) seriously though, for being only 20 months old, he was pretty amazing. he stirred the pot all by himself and was careful not to burn himself, spill or break up the pasta. perhaps we have a chef in the making!
nothing better than chasing birds and running around.
but eating raisins with a fork seems to work for Alexander.
this morning Alexander decided to eat his whole breakfast, by himself, with a real fork.
check out that fork twirl! [quicktime]http://dinaandphilip.com/site/media/Media/IMG_1354.MOV[/quicktime]
daddy wore me out at the park!
tonight we went out to dinner an Alexander got his first kids meal! cheese ravioli with red sauce.
at 9 months and a week, Alexander has stepped up his eating. threatening to eat us out of house and home about 15 years too early! I thought I'd take a pic of the refrigerator the night before he eats.
the first image is of his servings ready to go and his sippy cup with formula. not shown is the water he loves to drink out of the glass.
the second image is the foods we've prepared (home cooked, steamed and chopped!) in large amounts awaiting repackaging in Alexander-sized servings.
for tomorrow Alexander will be eating: pears and apples, apricots and prune, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, flax seed, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, broccoli, carrot, lentils, pinto beans, cottage cheese, tofu and formula.
phew. no wonder we're tired after getting everything ready.
the concentration is epic.
