Nathaniel started on meats today. He wasn't too bad with it. We mixed chicken and rice with carrots, and despite the fact that he doesn't usually care for carrots too much, he ate a good deal of it. After that, we tried some banana puffs, which he wasn't too sure about, but eventually did eat. They melted in his mouth, so they were pretty easy going down in the end. They're something like 25 to a calorie, so they're not really going to get him much in the way of nutrition, but they're a good start on the way to both real, solid foods and feeding himself. He was really cute with them also. Pictures are on the big camera, though so I don't think I'll upload one tonight.

Stephanie had to work, so it was him and me at home, but I gave my mom a call and she came over to hang out with him for much of the day. After he took a very short nap in the morning, she came over and played with him for a while, so I was able to get some sweeping and vacuuming done. He doesn't like the vacuum's noise, so it's hard to do much of it when he's at home. When there's someone else to hold him he's usually okay, and again today that was the case. We tried again to show him the source of the noise, bringing him over to see the vacuum. He was okay with that, but he was last time as well, so we'll see when he gets over the racket. I actually was able to sweep his room as well, including under the crib, which was desperately needed, since the majority of the time that i have to clean is when he's asleep, and I have trouble therefore cleaning his room. Between not having swept generally, and his room in particular, I probably had a warren of dust bunnies by the end of it. It was nice to get it all taken care of finally; I've been lazy this week.

When we put him down for his afternoon nap, she went home to get some work done, but he woke up pretty quickly, and so I wasn't able to get too much more done. He seems to be having a lot of pain and redness in his diaper, so he was really screaming at me when I changed him. We put on a lot of desitin, but I just hope that it heals up quickly; I don't like him crying. He is such a happy baby, it happens rarely. I remember when he was really little and quiet, and I even liked his crying, because it was one of the rare times that he would make any kind of noise. Things have changed now. I love to hear him laugh, and scream, and squeel, which he does plenty. I don't need to hear him cry. I think now it's partly because he only really cries when he's in pain too. He'll whine and whimper a bit, but not really cry.

When I picked Stephanie up, my mom came back over since I'd gotten him down for another nap, and Stephanie and I hit the grocery store. Despite it being a Saturday afternoon, it wasn't too crowded. We got home and found out that Nathaniel had taken a good nap and he was in a good mood.

I made cubed steak sandwiches for dinner. This was the second time that I made them, and it turned out better than the first. I used cream of onion instead of cream of mushroom soup, and caramelized the onions more slowly. I also fried the steaks over a lower heat, and got much less splatter, and a better cook too. I added some Tabasco A-1 to my steak, and some Worcester sauce to the soup, along with some mustard and ketchup. They tasted pretty good, and we put them on ciabatta bread that we had to bake a little extra, so it was fresh. Now that I can do them without making too much of a mess, I think I'll do steak sandwiches a little more frequently in the future. They're tasty, not too pricey and filling.


After dinner, we watched The Sting. It's a 1973 movie (actually, it won best picture that year) starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Terrific acting by those two, and a great supporting cast as well, including Robert Shaw and Eileen Brennan. We had tried to watch it once before while we were dating, but Stephanie fell asleep. Even her mother said it was a good movie, so she stayed awake through it this time. I really like this film. It's got a great cast, a good, fun plot, great costuming, and a killer soundtrack (all Scott Joplin rags--it takes place in 1936.)
One thing that I noticed while watching this movie: Brad Pitt looks a lot like a young Robert Redford. Redford was born in 1936, meaning he was 43 when this movie was made (he looks like he's in his mid 30s maybe, at the latest.) Brad Pitt was born in 1963, so his current age is pretty close to how old Redford was in this movie. The facial structure and the eyes in certain scenes have remarkable similarity. Perhaps movie stars all have to fall into a certain mold in terms of their "look" but these both have the looks and the skill. A great movie, and a lot of fun. If you haven't seen it, I recommend that you do so.