Eric Loves Cheerios and Patricia Conde.

Ok, I guess I need to explain that title.

One of my complaints was that here in Spanish supermarkets I can't find the original version of cereals that I'm used to seeing in the US.  To be honest, I don't buy cereal that often anyways, but I liked the idea of using Cheerios as just one more alternative to let Eric feed himself.  When he's fussy, he gets over it quickly if he gets distracted, and one of the things that best distracts him is giving him something he can eat by himself.  Up until now, I'd been using rice cakes and baby cookies.  Even those were quite messy, but much less so than trying to let him eat banana and avocado chunks on his own!!!  (Imagine banana and avocado mush everywhere, from his hair to his clothes to the little nooks and crannies of the high chair to the floor!)  I really wanted to give him Cheerios, but, as I wrote in another post, could only find the Honey Nut variety here.  (It is also very difficult to find regular -not Chocolate flavored- Rice Krispies.)
Anyways, last week we went to a British supermarket, and I was very happy to find a big box of "regular" Cheerios.  Yes, they cost over 5 euros for a box, but I figured the countless hours of entertainment for Eric would be worth it.  (Had they been for me, they probably would have stayed on the shelf!)  You'll notice that I called them "regular" Cheerios, in quotes, because they are still different from the Cheerios I remember eating as a kid.  They are wholegrain, and different colors.  OK, they aren't multi-colored, but you can see the different grains being used to make the different O's.  They have corn, rice, wheat, oats, etc.  They also seem sweeter than I remember them being.  I'm not sure I'm happy about the change, but with it being my only choice, I went with it. It's not like I can hop over to Whole Foods Market to buy the "healthy" alternative to Cheerios here.

Needless to say, Eric loved them.  Lately he has been quite picky about eating.  Things that he used to love to eat are now quite difficult to feed him.  The only things I can be sure he'll open up for are yogurt and Cheerios.  So, I use that to my advantage.  No, I haven't started to have him eating only those things, but I mix some yogurt with his fruit purees, and he's happy.  Then, I put some Cheerios in front of him when I'm feeding him his meat and veggies.  He usually will open his mouth for me when he's playing with those.  So, he ends up eating a few Cheerios with his meals, but he eats his meals again.
So, why do I say he loves Patricia Conde?

For those who don't know who she is, Patricia Conde is a Spanish actress and comedian.  I don't know if it's actually her that Eric loves, but whenever he hears her latest comercial on the TV, Eric goes running towards it to watch it.  I'd like to think that he either loves the song or her, as I find those preferable to him being fascinated with Tampax Pearl tampons.  In any case, here is the commercial that Eric loves:

It doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing, but the second he hears the song, he drops what he's doing, and goes to watch the TV. Seriously!

So, what else has Eric been up to lately?

He’s been a bit mischievous, and likes to throw everything on the ground to make us pick everything up.  Here are some pictures of it at bath time.  As you can see, he was throwing out his toys and his book, and then he laughs and leans over to watch me pick it all up!!

Around the house, he likes to do whatever we are doing, and isn’t as interested in his own toys as he is in ours.  So, you can see that little by little he’ll keep reaching for something like the remote control.  We will tell him “no,” and usually he’ll leave it alone…for a few seconds.  Then, little by little, he’ll keep getting closer to it again, and will once again try to touch it. This is often accompanied by the mischievous grin.  We’ll once again tell him “no” and he either will once again leave it alone for a few more seconds, or will get mad and throw a little temper tantrum. 

What else is new?
 I've been working more on organizing Eric's old clothes, and got a big box together for one of my cousins.  I saved a lot of my favorite outfits, though, especially those that were gifts, to make a baby clothes quilt.  I have even started to cut some of them up, but just couldn't cut up his first pajamas, that I left as they were to remember how tiny my little Eric really once was.

While I was cutting out clothes, I decided to also cut up a few other things I had lying around including a pillowcase and an old apron.  I used the cloth to make something new for Eric, a padded liner for his umbrella stroller.

We have a nice stroller, which is the one we usually use with Eric.  Sometimes, though, it is a bit too wide to use in some places.  Plus, it can be heavy and bulky, so sometimes it's nice to have something smaller around like a small, umbrella stroller.

So, for the price of a box of Cheerios- OK, maybe not- but for around 25 Euros, I found a cheap umbrella stroller to use as a backup.  There was a slight problem with it, though: it had lots of its ugly logos all over the stroller.  Most people wouldn't care, but when I got home, I decided that I hated them.  So, I took a hot iron to them, and scraped them off while they were still hot.  I got rid of the logos, but you could still see the lines of where the logos had once been.

I ended up ordering a few iron-on appliqués online, and they were perfect for covering up the logos.  I then flipped the cloth over on the seat part of the stroller, making invisible the places where the logos once were.

Once "M" to the "O" Mommy started to pimp Eric's ride, she couldn't stop.  (Sorry to those who don't get the reference to the MTV show, and, I guess, to those who do.)
So, I made him a reversible, padded cloth liner for his stroller.  The cloth is cotton, and I'm sure it makes the stroller more comfortable than it was.  Eric seems to like it.

Anyways, I guess that's about all I have to tell for now.  I'll leave you with the video, that I forgot to post last time, of Eric eating a lemon.

I'll also post one of him playing with one of his toys.  He's getting pretty good at putting the balls in the hole.