Corinne

Like a lot of other people we have been making changes to the way we live to decrease our impact on the environment. When Corinne came along she gave us a really good reason to try even harder but also presented some new challenges. One of the biggest decisions we made was to use cloth diapers and wipes rather than disposables. Suprisingly there is even a debate about which of these two options has the greatest environmental impact but when you take into account that we launder the diapers at home, that we get 100% of our electric from wind energy, and that we air dry the cloth diapers, I feel pretty confident that we are doing the right thing. I did some rough calculations and at this point I think we would have used about 3,000 disposable diapers. Another choice we made that will likely have an even bigger impact is to feed Corinne an organic vegetarian diet. We aren’t sure at this point if we will raise Corinne as a strict vegetarian but we will certainly try to limit our consumption of animal products and buy local as much as possible. We have made lots of smaller changes as well but I have probably bored many of you by now. The picture above was taken at a playdate / barbeque we went to last weekend. It’s hard to read in this picture but Corinne has her “I love trees” tee shirt on.

Last Wednesday afternoon we went to a Phillies game. When the Phillies got behind early Corinne to decided to take a nap. She woke up during the seventh inning stretch and apparently so did the Phillies since they mounted a come from behind win scoring 8 runs that inning. If I remember correctly the Phillies are a perfect 4 - 0 when Corinne is in attendance. That includes 2 come from behind wins and a huge playoff win. This last game we were at was the day they gave the Phillies their World Series rings. Maybe they should have thrown a little something Corinne’s way for her part in the win.

Last week was the cherry blossom festival in Fairmount Park. The weather was perfect for walking around the park. We arrived a little late but we were still able to see some of the performances including Corinne’s favorite, the Taiko drummers. Those of you who follow the blog closely might remember that we attended this event last year. It was one of our first big outings with Corinne and we had a blast. You might also recall that last year Corinne was able to pose for a picture with the Cherry Blossom Queen from Japan. We didn’t see her this year but we did see the guy in the picture below who was in a Japanese rock band that performed at the festival. I didn’t think he would have appreciated it if I would have asked him to pose for a picture with the baby though.

This is a picture that our friend Dinko took a couple of weeks ago during Earth Hour of Corinne eating a cookie. In observance of the event Crystal switched out the lights and illuminated the room with candles. We sat and talked while Corinne harassed their dog Pablo. I’m pretty sure our efforts put the whole event over the edge and that the earth is going to be just fine now.

Corinne has been feeding herself finger foods for several months and has even used a spoon on occasion but lately she has been getting more food in the mouth and throwing the spoon on the floor less.  We usually get the food on the spoon for her (it really helps if the food sticks to the spoon) but now we are teaching her to scoop it out of the bowl herself. She still likes to get her fingers involved but the bibb with sleeves pictured above helps keep her relatively clean. In this picture she is eating some Indian food that Cynde made. We have been trying to introduce her to some spicy foods. Her taste buds seemed to like this curry dish but her butt cheeks weren’t quite sure if they were ready for it.