At the Park and Lunch

Ivo and Burl have been loving going to the playground on Tai Yuan in the mornings. We see the same people we've seen for more than 2 years. During the summer, we only go at night, when it's dark cuz it's TOO HOT. But mornings are the bomb! Autumn weather kicks butt! Lots of friends there - and today, for the first time, Jordan and her mom (from story time across from Karin - I think Ennis may have been canvassing for students) were there. Ivo loves Jordan.

Ivo Overheard:

• (to Aiyi-mama while perched on the sea horse) "I wanna get off, xia lai."



• pointing at the cutest little girl in ponytails, "Dat my girlfriend, mom."

Guess what Burl ate today at the vegi restaurant... and likes... and took a couple dozen bites of before closing up shop (pursing lips while moving his head evasively)... PUMPKIN!!!! Yay!

Last night, Burl asked for/grabbed crusty sourdough bread. I let him have a piece and watched carefully - choking hazard. He really liked it. Burl still refuses most food; he'll eat a little yogurt and nutrition-free rice crackers. My mom said maybe Burl is/will be a table-food baby and so far it seems likely. Unfortunately for Burl, our table-food usually contains more than one of the things I want Burl to avoid til he's bigger like tomatoes, butter, eggs, nuts, chicken, wheat. I'm happy to make him (and do) his own potato, sweet potato, rice... but he still won't eat that stuff.

You can click the pic of Burl and the bread in his chair to see his top teeth!

Also, you can hear a sleep specialist and one of the researchers who works with Po Bronson talk about the effects of sleep deprivation on the Brian Lehrer show. "An hour loss of sleep increases yr chance of obesity by 80%" How's that fr sensational? Sleep deprivation interferes with the production of at least 5 hormones, 2 of which tell the body whether yr full/not full and whether yr sugar level is ok (ie, you need/don't need to eat). This interference results in a sleep-deprived brain thinking you've had a 900 calorie cut in yr diet; that yr on a starvation diet. So yr brain panics and changes yr metabolism as well as re-programs yr appetite to crave high carb, high sugar foods...

Dr. Mark Mahowald, Director of Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, cites this statistic: falling asleep while driving causes more deaths than alcohol in people under 25 in the US!!!! And that doesn't count drowsy-drivers - just actual sleeping ones!