Odds & Ends...

• We have a tooth!!! Or rather, we will probably have one very soon. (and by "we," I mean Nikos... Gus and I have plenty of teeth already) We can see a bump on his lower gums where his first little tooth is preparing to pop out. Nikos has been teething like a madman, too!
  
  
• Feeding solids is getting better by the day. Nikos has been eating larger and larger portions of oatmeal at daycare in the mornings, and he's doing much better with veggies at dinnertime. So far, he has grown to like peas, carrots, and green beans. I introduced pears the other day (his first fruit!), but he's still getting used to the sweetness, I think. In the coming weeks, our little guy will be sampling squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, applesauce, and bananas. Hooray!
  
  
• We bought a Dyson!!! I know it's just a vacuum cleaner but OH MY GOD! It is amazing!! My trusty old Dirt Devil started falling apart last September, so we went shopping and replaced it with a Eureka. The Eureka was seriously the worst vacuum I have ever used-- it actually made more of a mess as it "cleaned." I had been coveting a Dyson for quite some time, and then found a really good deal on a factory refurbished model ($250 with free shipping and a 3-year warranty... this model usually retails for $400!). It arrived this week, and Gus and I have been fighting over who gets to vacuum-- it's incredible to see how much junk it sucks up from a seemingly-clean floor! It's like a science experiment! Anyway, our new vacuum has been the highlight of my week. Seriously! Once Nikos starts crawling, I can feel confident that the floors are actually clean. Hooray!
  
  
• Speaking of crawling... Nikos is starting to do some little inchworm moves when he's on his tummy... this kid is going to be moving all around before we know it! Yikes!
  
  
• ...which is why I went around the house today and made a checklist of all the things we need to buy in order to babyproof. I am thinking we will need one wide gate, 10 cabinet locks, 13 drawer locks, 2 door knob covers, 2 toilet locks, and 2 shower caddies (to move shampoo and whatnot up higher in the shower, out of reach). We'll also need to move our coffee table into the garage, since it's a total death trap (sharp edges EVERYWHERE), move Charlie's food and water to higher ground, and construct some sort of screen to put around Corky's cage (which also has many sharp corners, not to mention easy access to the poop tray and dropped morsels of bird food... yuck!). It's so overwhelming to even think about it!
  
  
• Finally, a funny picture from today... He was playing with Daddy's glasses (as usual!), and I was taking lots of pictures. He suddenly looked surprised in this one, and I thought it was cute! :)