Leaps and bounds

A little over a week ago The Llama was having a rough time sleeping at night, with multiple wake ups and looong time to get back to sleep. Poor Llama Papa (who is the night time parent) was having it rough. We thought that part of it may have been the fact the The Llama had outgrown all of his Pjs and was uncomfortable, so we switched to just a t-shirt and sweat pants, and that seemed to help a bit. But now it is definitely clear that part of his unrest was the dawn of several developmental leaps.

The Llama is starting to show a marked interest in all things potty, he is aware of when he is peeing or pooing and will announce it either by grabbing himself, saying “Pee! Pee!” or by doing the appropriate sign. He is also obsessed with the toilet, and loves flushing, and can get quite upset if we don't bring him along when we do our business. We will definitely be purchasing a training potty for him soon!

Also did you notice above? He is actually starting to say simple words! Mostly things that rhyme with pee, but there is definitely a difference in consonant, context and usage, we are very excited. He is also picking up new signs faster than ever! (although he still has difficulty forming some signs especially those requiring his pinkie, so we will occasionally misunderstand him.)

Another new development on the language front is that The Llama is now beginning to recognize the letters of the alphabet and can reliably recognize and sign or say many of the letters including, e,t,y,i,o,p,d,g,j,k,z,c,b and sometimes x, a and s (the last two are very similar signs and it's hard to tell if he recognizes the difference quite yet.) he has also been signing to proper colors before we say them when we read “Freight Train” although we haven't really tested to see if he actually knows the colors or just knows the 'names' of the cars. (which is still pretty impressive!)

He's eating with a spoon and hardly ever spills anymore (unless he's being silly, or experimenting) and is doing much better about keeping his plates and bowl on the table and not spilling/throwing food. He's also starting to be more adventurous again and is eating pretty much exactly what we eat at dinner, plus a few extra vegetables. When he is in a good mood he is much more accepting of being wiped down after messy meals, and in fact he usually can do a pretty good job of cleaning up all on his own. He loves his fruits and veggies, especially grapes, and put away an entire apple at sevensies.

When my parents last visited they brought along a wooden train whistle and a wooden slide whistle. The Llama had never seen anything like them before (except perhaps my penny whistle which I use to play quite a bit but now have hardly any time to practice for the last several months). And he was able to play both of them by the end of the day, and now he delights at whistling them. At the same time we brought out a simple Melissa and Doug board puzzle which he had been given for his last birthday. ( At the time he didn't understand it and we quickly took it away to keep it from being broken.) When we brought it out the other day though, he was not only identifying the farm animals on it, but taking out and putting back the pieces! He doesn't get it right all the time, but he can easily figure out which way to twist a piece to get it to fit, we have some slightly more complicated puzzles (smaller more similarly shaped pieces, with no identifying picture underneath). Which we may pull out in another month or so if he starts getting bored with this one

Moroccan zucchini soup

We had this the other night and it was awesome and super simple to make.


2 C dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 bay leaf
1 lg onion, chopped fine
2 teaspoons garam masala
5 cups low-sodium veg broth + extra water as needed
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup plain whole wheat couscous
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups large chunk TVP

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, cover them with the broth, add the bay leaf and simmer for about 1 hr, or until tender.
When the chickpeas are tender, saute the onions in a separate pan until they go translucent, add the garlic and saute a minute more. Add the onions to the chick peas, and deglaze the pan with a little bit of chickpea liquid.
Add the rest of the ingredients and some extra water if needed and cook until the TVP is tender.


Adapted from the Moroccan Chicken Soup recipe from America’s Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers