firsts and christmas break

In spite of the horrible sleepless nights, we thoroughly enjoyed having two weeks off. Neko experienced a few firsts- his first Christmas, his first crawl, and his first taste of (semi) solid food. For Christmas, we bought him a little white Ikea high chair. He loves it. He likes banging on the tray. He likes the vantage point. It was a hit.

Along with the high chair came his introduction to solids. We started with rice cereal. He seemed to like it. We also tried sweet potatoes and bananas. The sweet potatoes have been his favorite so far. He doesn't seem crazy about bananas, but he'll eat them. We tried green beans and avocados today, which he did not enjoy. He made some grimaces and then started crying. I think Aaron was disappointed. He keeps commenting that he really hopes Neko isn't a picky eater. I'm sure that this experience isn't indicative of his future with food. He had his 6-month vaccines yesterday and wasn't quite himself today. We'll try again with the avocados soon. Who doesn't like avocados?

In addition to the high chair, we also bought Neko a few books for Christmas. I had a Barnes and Noble gift card, so we went on a little outing and picked out three books, including the one above.
I also bought him two Christmas books. I want to make that a tradition. I love buying children's books. I wish I had unlimited funds for that.

 Here are some random photos from the break. You see? We are actually smiling in spite of the sleep deprivation.

**The puppet master.

**In jammies from Grandma Terry.

**In hat and booties from Aunt Christina. We also got a turtle from Aunt Christina. It matches his room, and he likes it.

We listened to a lot of records, finally hung some art on the walls, and tried not to let the sleep deprivation get the best of us.

**Video of Neko eating.