Joe has a very sweet outfit to wear for Easter this weekend, and I didn’t want him to have one of his raggedy home haircuts with it. So we went to the pros at Pigtails & Crewcuts!

Couldn’t you just eat him up? I can’t stand it.

Baltimore was lovely — and oddly familiar, considering I haven’t been there since I was a kid. The weather could have been nicer, but maybe we’ll go back and spend a sunny day soon.

The doctor visit left us with a lot of question marks, as they all do. They didn’t have much to offer in terms of explaining his delays, but they made some predictions that we’re still digesting.

The things we know for sure are all good: He’s physically healthy, he’s making progress, and we’re doing everything we should to guide him along.

Joe was totally smitten with the resident who examined him, and of course it was mutual. Ooh, and he got to pick out a fun book to take home for free. The resident signed it, “You’re Awesome!”

On my computer, I have a bookmark folder called “Joe’s favorites.” They are all videos (that ridiculous Gummy Bear song, some “Wheels on the Bus” stuff) that Joe likes to watch. This is his most recent favorite:

Rise up this mornin’, smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds, pitch by my doorstep,
Singin’ sweet songs, of melodies pure and true, saying,
“This is my message to you-ou-ou.”

Singin’ “Don’t worry, about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing is gonna be all right.”

One of my favorite things about going to visit my family in NC is seeing Joe play with his cousins.

They are so sweet with him! Dixon runs right up to give him a kiss when we come in, and he thought it was very cool that they both had alligators on their shirts one day.

Abigail likes to show books to him and let him see new toys. She also likes to keep Dixon away from anything she wants Joe to play with. (“No, Dixon — that’s for Joe!”)

While conducting a phone interview for a writing project the other day, I put Joe in his crib so that he could play in a contained area.

When I returned to his room, I found the crib scooted about 2.5 feet from the wall, and the video monitor unclipped from the bars and totally unplugged.

And look how proud he is to have done it!

I spoke to my dad on the phone shortly after this discovery, and asked how he thought Joe might have managed this feat. He guessed that Joe had rocked on his hands and knees, which scooted the crib, inch by inch, away from the wall. Mystery solved!

Joe is enjoying the iPhone as much as I am!

Our new favorite app is “Smack Talk,” which features small animals who repeat everything back to you in silly voices.

He got pretty chatty with it today:

Later this month, Joe will see a developmental pediatrician at Kennedy-Krieger Institute in Baltimore. He’s still taking his sweet time meeting all his milestones (most kids his age are running, climbing and saying a few words by now), and the people at Kennedy-Krieger are good at solving those kinds of mysteries.

Just as we did last year in Pittsburgh, we’re using Joe’s doctor appointment as an excuse to take a family mini-vacation. I haven’t been to Baltimore since I was a kid, but I remember a really cool aquarium! I’m also looking forward to Maryland crab cakes – YUM.

After that last post, we had offers of help from all over. My friend Robin, whose work takes her all over the state, popped into grocery stores along the way looking for Joe’s food. She got all of these!

More is on the way from friends-of-friends in New York and Maryland, and from Joe’s grandparents in New York.

Amazing!

Joe is not the most enthusiastic eater you’ve ever met (which is weird, because his parents LOVE food!) There’s nothing he really seems to hate, but it takes him forever to finish a meal, and sometimes he just quits about three spoonfuls in. Maddening.

Anyway, to keep him from wasting away to nothing, we are always looking for high-calorie stuff that he will enjoy. We add oil, butter, peanut butter, heavy cream or cream cheese to just about everything.

But that’s hard to do when you’re “on the road,” so we have always liked having this stuff on hand to throw in his bag:

It’s 230 calories a serving, and he gobbles it right up.

But the Food Lion where I have always gotten it suddenly stopped carrying it. Kroger, Ukrop’s, Target, K-Mart and Wal-Mart don’t have it either. Even if they carry the Beech-Nut brand, they don’t have this variety.

The Food Lion near my parents’ house had eight jars the last time we were there. I squealed in delight and bought every last one of them. But they were on clearance, so I’m pretty sure that was the last of them.

The fine folks at Beech-Nut have ignored two e-mails from me, so they’re no help. But they still have this stuff on their Web site, so I don’t think it’s been discontinued. It’s out there somewhere!

We’re hoping that some of our friends out there in cyberspace can help. Next time you’re out for groceries, look for Beech-Nut Whole Wheat Pasta Parmesan. Maybe one of those regional chains has all of them?!

Edit: Just heard back from the people at Beech-Nut:

… we are sorry to tell you that Beech-Nut DHA Whole Wheat Pasta Parmesan was discontinued earlier this year. It is no longer in production.

OK, so whatever we find is definitely the last of it. Happy hunting!

Need to lure your kid into crawling across the room?

There’s an app for that!