My son, the artist

I hate when people say that. Let your darn kid be whatever he wants to be! A drawing - finger painted, at that - does not an artist make. Let him draw to his little heart's content without you labeling him. Say lovely cow, little baby, I love its purple stripes and it's so great that it's playing the guitar! Leave that pressure pushing attitude for your bum-y husband, who, frankly, could use a little shove in the right direction anyway. 

But I digress.

The point, is, Wynn went to Valencia and brought back Giotto bebé pencils for the critter. He's recently started scribbling away (mostly on paper) and we got super excited. Short of setting up his own atelier, we were happy to find something he can draw with and occasionally suck on. These pencils are safe to suck on, glide on easily for optimal critter drawing and ... they wash off faces, floor and table as well as fabric. There's not a lot more you can ask of a pencil.

Drink up, little monster

I bought into the whole BPA scare of 08. But we only had plastic sippy cups, so the poor critter mainly just went without water. I didn't want to leave water sitting in the cup, and it seldom occurred to me to refill and offer the poor child some water. His first words might have been I'm thirsty, you moron. 

Swiss aunt to the rescue. Lucas now has a funky new Sigg bottle. He loves it because it is so darn cute. I wasn't sure he'd be able to drink form it, since it has a sport bottle type of sprout, but he just went for it (probably cause he was so thirsty from waiting). 

I looked into other non plastic sippy cup options. I know Born Free is BPA free, but I'm iffy about all plastics now and would rather avoid them altogether if possible. Klean Kanteen and Safe Sippy are less cute, bulkier options. And just wait, in 09 cuteness will be proven to reduce risk of cancer in laboratory rats. Foogo, besides being a a funny word, has adorable stainless steel sippy cups with handles (Marcia Cross's girls have them.) These I like too. But we're Sigg people all the way.

Stupid things we bought

There's a fine line between being prepared and being a sucker. First time parents eagerly fall into the sucker category.

We bought a little hamoc-y bath chair for the critter. It was cute as hell and, we thought, insanely important. The teeny baby would lay on it safelly for his bath. 

When he was small enough to use it we ended up having to fill his tub higher with water to accomodate the chair. He felt safer in our arms without the chair in the way. A week later, he got too big for it anyway. 

It's now in a bag in the closet, making Wynn mad it adds to the mounds of crap we have to pack. I want to hang on to it, though. We might need it for when we have another kid - the colors are so pretty and I'm sure it will be useful. (I am a pack rat with the memory of a goldfish).

A Panchu's Christmas wish list

Fellow parent bloggers everywhere are making their lists to give us ideas and hints to their spouses. Theirs are better, so check out Smart Ass Mom, Rhea at The Cocktail Cafe, Busy Dad and Mr. Lady for lists that might actually inspire you.


Here are my top 5:

1. A one hour massage
2. The flavour shaker
3. Lorelai's Marc Jacobs purse from Season 4
4. My North Face Triple C jacket repaired (stupid bad washing instructions)
5. I really want the purse