Peaches tries a pickle

Duh - I should have had my camera ready for that first lick - it was priceless.  But a few gummings later and it was still enjoyable ;)  She is So interested in food, but not the spooned, smushie stuff.  So I figured fermented veggies would be a good start... here's hoping her skin/butt/belly agree!

Chocolate, soy, still searching...

Little Miss Z, truly trying to climb the stairs.  Patience does not seem to be her top virtue...  She is climbing up and over anything she can find.  Fortunately, the stairs are still too tall.

Just a food update.  I'm reeeeally spreading out my trials, so that it doesn't get all confused again.  Patience isn't really my top virtue either, but the disappointment/frustration that ensues when I have to drop multiple foods nudges me towards a slower speed ;)  I've looked into allergy testing for Z, but the numbers aren't so hot on the false positives, and I don't want to limit us where its not necessary.  All of my research says elimination diets are the only accurate way to go, so...  on we march.  Slowly;)

So, eggs are definitely out.  But chocolate is in.  Gluten is still good.  Strawberries are good!  Lemon is fine, so I'm hoping that means citrus in general is a go.   And after a week of testing, I'm feeling pretty sure almonds are good, too!  Super exciting.  Looks like the eggs were messing with the almonds test.  It seems strange to me that seeds (sunflower and sesame) would be out but nuts may be possible, since it was the exact opposite for P. But I'll take it!  

My favorite treat (for, ya known when I watch the boys eat pizza or popcorn or cheese or pastries or crepes or...;) is: Coconut milk "ice"cubes, frozen strawberries, a date and some fortified rice milk in the blender.  Its like a strawberry shake (which I've never particularly even liked, but is now the bee's knees:)  

Our new test is soy.  I'm trying by taking my vitamin each morning, which has fermented soy in it.  I've developed an eye twitch, which is either from a vitamin deficiency or home-buying stress... so I figured the vitamin was probably the next best test :)  So far, her skin and bum are clear!  She has been super grumpy though, sleeping horribly, (or, more specifically, not sleeping;) and I kept reminding myself not to give up without physical proof.  Glad I didn't bail, her very first tooth finally broke surface today! (Like I mentioned before with her cold, the child does not seem to like physical discomfort, of any level :)  She has been Very, Very Grumpy.  However, when I give her the homeopathic remedy for teething, she actually smiles and laughs.  Each time.  Apparently, it really helps.  Another few days and I'll give soy sauce a run...

Food and Friends

P didn't use a high chair. He wasn't really into food (serious gag reflex until almost a year and a half.). He was happy to just nurse. Z seems ready to raid the refrigerator. If she sees me with an apple piece she Freaks until she can gnaw on it :). So today she went in a highchair. And loved it :). She was up high by us while we noshed (rather than eating dust bunnies on the floor;) and she had her apple core:). P was So excited. He reeeeeally wanted to "feed" her. So she tried a little apple sauce. Not so much ;). See funny face below...

Later we had plans for a homeschool meet up. P wasn't too friend dependent in NYC - family was usually enough. Of course, we move away from everyone, get busy with a baby and... he starts wanting friends. So he was terribly excited to go meet these new kids at one of his favorite gardens. But when we arrived, the girls were already pairing off into budding new friendships and P wasn't sure how to get included. After following the group (about 6 families) around for a while without connecting, he was distraught and asking to go home. He said he wanted to leave, but didn't want to leave and... he hates feeling shy. It was the first time he's experienced himself as such - very interesting. So sad :( Long story short - since I abhor typing on my phone - a little Mama magic later and he was happily tossing sticks with an 8 year old boy who moved here last year from Oslo. Come to find out? P's new BFF lives a block away. The boys plotted a playdate for tomorrow, trying to trade "coordinates" (directions.). I am So happy for the Little Man tonight!

Focus

There are flowers everywhere, but the days are still (mostly) cool and damp (to wet). "They" say this is the hardest time of year in the PNW, but we all agree we're down with the weather. Hope that stays true...

Zia has become very particular about being held by me. Poor E, he just glows for her. And she adores him... but often prefers to adore him from afar after a few minutes:).

She realized she can crawl into the kitchen to clamber at my legs. She likes this :)

She also started trying to stand and walk by herself. Multiple times today she would stand and let go of her balancing object. Then, tonight, she took it a step further and attempted a step. Didn't fare so well... but that didn't stop her from trying again a minute later. sigh. She's also trying to master standing and bending over to grab an object. She's getting quite good at it, too! And right before bed she finally did what she has been working on all week. She stood up By Herself, from a sitting position on the floor and balanced for a few seconds before plopping onto her butt. Ethan was quite the proud Papa:)

But it bugs me. I'm nervous she is sensory avoidant or something. She really dislikes crawling on her knees (always trying to crawl on her hands and feet instead). Could be the slight rug burn she's sporting though... But all "the studies" say how important crawling is for neural development, and, of course, I want my baby to get good neural development ;). I guess the question is, is just a few weeks of crawling enough to properly line those pathways, cuz at this rate, I think she'll be walking by 7 months. Which just seems ludicrous. I'm trying to encourage crawling as much as possible - even to the point of mentoring it during the day :). Do they make knee patches in adult sizes?

And last thought for the night - she sucks her thumb sometimes - I'm curious to see if that sticks. I know it's not a great habit - teeth wise - but, damn is it cute.

Skipped stitches

Just on our walk yesterday, E and I were smiling about how the world is one big obstacle course for P.  He doesn't just go on a walk.  He climbs and twirls and skips and jumps every rock and wall and anything that could be climbed, skipped or jumped on.  Unfortunately, he climbed something sharp yesterday and slashed his hand open.  Had it been earlier on a Friday evening (why?  why???  why are the concussions and the fevers and the gashes in life always on holidays and weekends?) I would have insisted on a hospital trip.  But E, typically a mess in an emergent situation (but having had enough gashes as a little guy to be one cool cat in this situation) reassured me that with enough bandaging, we'd be good. 

The poor Little Man needed a lot of reassuring too.  He thought he saw bone when he first looked at his hand (before the blood filled it in;) and was weak with worry.  There was weeping as Papa carried him home.  We left a solid trail of blood.  E and I were all encouragement and reassurance.  That is, until I turned back to see a silent P with his head hanging back.  "Did he pass out??" I worried, quite loudly ;)

No, he hadn't.  He later told me he was tired of hearing himself cry and had told himself to stop for a break.  I love that.  

A little chocolate while we washed and bandaged and a good thick roll of gauze and the kid is all right.  There will be a scar on his hand, but that should be it.  Despite it still being sore today, he's pretty even keeled about it all now.  In fact, he just loudly lamented that we've asked him to skip his rope climbing tricks for the day ;)   

Beachtime, baby

P, seeing sun today and having sand squirreled away in the car from last weekend's beach run, decided to build a beach. Add BB, then your blue circle sled filled with water and whalah! Beachside property. Peaches played the part of a rock eating monster while the Little Man was in sensory heaven creating lavender sand lotion with BB. Good times all around:)

Cruising

I know I promised to helicopter, but she is the second born, so....;). Came around the corner to find Zia giddily discovering the bin of books P had recently plopped down. Then she cruised around the bin's side to the couch. Kid is on. the. move. Shortly thereafter she picked up a book with one hand, decided she wanted to turn it over and so grabbed it with both hands. Obviously, this left nothing on the bin;). This ended better than I would have thought.

Yikes!

I left Zia for One Second while P and I were cleaning today. And I walked back in on her standing tall by the vacuum, pleased as punch. Here, she'd admired it's noise for so long and Mama just left it lying there... But the vision of her toppling onto her head on the hard wood makes E and I *cringe*! Another week or two and she'll have her balance, but until then, call me Miss Helicopter. Sigh. If she'd just slow down with her babyhood....

I couldn't grab my phone out fast enough - but here she is settling back in...

Errands

My back was wonky yesterday (a rarity for me) so I skipped the wrap and scooped Z into the stroller. P just LOVES this! He insists on pushing her pram. And she just stares at him. So sweet. Until he gets adventurous and starts in with bumper cars ;).

Standing

Zia is still obsessed with standing. She's even trying to figure out a way to accomplish this in the island like spaces I sit her in ;). Now with the crawling, there really is no hope. She just mosies to some furniture and pulls. This is a serious accident waiting to happen - she's way too young to have great balance and I've got my exercise dashing to her wobbly side many times today... When she held my finger tonight to walk tall, she kept trying to let go with BOTH hands. Silly baby is ready to be big :)

oh boy

Playtime is getting more challenging around here....

P thought her interest (and ability to actively get to her interest;) was great.... for about 10 seconds :).

But he built her a little block castle to keep her busy. Obviously, her remaining interested in *his* business was quite frustrating :)

Zia: her fifth month

She loves to gum apple cores and carrot tops (and anything else that doesn't hold still...)

Wow.  Half year birthday today.  When I mentioned this to the Little Man (who threw her a dance party this afternoon) he said, "Whoa.  It seems like its only been a month!  So in this same amount of time she'll be a whole year old?!"  And here I thought that time was only flying for the old people :)  When you're having fun... ;)

Pulled out the real camera for the occasion (in the middle of the dance party.  P hadn't really been exposed (sans car radio and all that for so long!) to the music industry, short of E's and my archaic collection.  But on the way back from the beach with E this weekend, they turned the radio on and P discovered (and fell in love with) a.... Britney Spears song :)  Of course, we had to download it today.  So this video has quite the backdrop;)  Here's the crawl that has been much requested.  I'll try and grab some better bday photos after the nap.  Party girl wore herself out :)  (In fact, she is so mesmerized by her crawl that she had to get up to practice it for a few hours in the middle of the night last night!  Gotta love these developmental leaps ;)

A turning point

I know is seems like everyone in America does it, and we're even a little old to be entering the game, but that doesn't make this any less jaw-dropping for me, personally.  We bought a house.  Or, at least, we signed a deal :)  Closing in a month...

How do I feel?  Oy, where to begin.  So very, very glad to wake up this weekend and not schlep around to houses :)  Immensely excited at all of the possibilities.  Completely freaked that we bought a house in a place we've barely spent any time and will now be tied to with a hundred year old chain.  Dreamy and gut seizing all at once.

But enough about me.  The house.  Honestly, I think I would be less overwhelmed/stressed (and also less dreamy and joyful) if it was just a house.  No.  This is... an adventure.  As I've sat up nights with Z this week, fretting over this decision amidst her hacking, that has been my realization.  We looked at lots and lots of houses.  We even looked at one other Adventure, but it was in the wrong location, and too big of an adventure at this point ;)  Barring unforeseen disasters (and with houses this old, there are Always unforeseen disasters, no?), this will be a doable adventure.  I hope :)

Enough with the drama, I know ;)  So, here' the story, for the future me, in case I am slamming my head into crumbling walls screaming "Why?!?  Why did you choose THIS house???" in a few years...

We looked all over Portland.  I think my hand is permanently crippled from gripping my iPhone and using the Zillow app with such frequency.  We're a pretty opinionated crowd and our lives, schooling and work are all in our home, so this will house more than our shit.  The home we would choose would have to house possibility.

We pretty quickly nixed most residential neighborhoods.  We rode around a lot of beauties, for sure, but none of us can fathom popping into the car to do everything.  Just personal preference.  Fortunately, there are a lot of walkable nabes here.  Those were narrowed down by price (downtown is too pricy!) and options (Hollywood has a killer Whole Foods and great houses, but not much else.)  The areas we were left with are all old, turn of the century housing stock.  Lovely for those of us that prefer plaster walls and glass doorknobs but difficult for open floor plans!  Brand new builds are popping up in these areas, so we checked those out too and... honestly, I could not get past the word Soul-less.  Its not that I don't love people that love living in their beautiful and convenient new homes or that their homes aren't drop dead gorgeous (and did I mention convenient and non-drafty?)  Its that I finally realized that I value character over convenience, quirk over quartz.  E begged a bit for one - it even had a garage door opener!!! - but I just couldn't do it.  I know that sounds positively ridiculous to a lot of people, but my home is an extension of my very being, my living space, my piece of peace, and the new ones felt like an ill fitting wool coat.  Fortunately, Superman understands me :)

As soon as we walked into this house, our house, I was at home.  The rough, water-stained wood floors, worn on the turning stairway up whispered it to me.  The quirky cabinet at the top of the stairs promised me I'd find my children there during hide and seek, someday soon.  The attic loft made me sigh so loudly I almost woke the baby.  It makes absolutely no sense to me, but I knew it was home for us when we stepped in the rickety old front door.

Then I had to get my logical side on board.  Fortunately, Superman sways with my breeze, so he's been a dream ride.  The Little Man had hoped for a crazy, labyrinth like building since reading the Spiderwick Chronicles, so this Gothic behemoth wasn't too hard of a sell there.  But he did mention he wished it wasn't quite so dumpy...

The walls are cracked.  The kitchen is unbelievably ugly and lacking in modern accoutrements.  There was a fire in the basement (before the city started record keeping!) The windows, the gorgeous make me swoon windows, will be drafty, to say the least.  Some of the floors are painted, scratched, repainted and re-scratched.  The beadboard lined stairways that lead different directions are partially painted, partially not...  And that's just the obvious!  I had my (serious) doubts about the plumbing and the electrical.

Then, to top it off, its a duplex.  No joke.  Actually, a triplex, but the top floor isn't a legal dwelling unit, so, duplex.  As I lay, over the last month, dreaming of this house (every night) I had to wonder...  In what Universe would this Ever be considered a good purchase???  Those rules that tell you to buy the best house you can in the best neighborhood you can afford, but not the best house on the block, the worst house on the best block, blah blah blah.  Well, those rules couldn't even bend to fit this situation.

But it is in our favorite neighborhood.  Infinitely walkable.  One block from a playground.  Three blocks from the library.  Three blocks to a gorgeous park.  Just down the street from an extinct volcano.   Two blocks to a grocer, eight blocks to our health food store.  Restaurants (that, granted, we cannot eat in:) and cafes abound.  Bus stops galore and an easy bike to the river or downtown. It has a vibrant feel that we love.  But at least half of the homes are rental homes, so you can imagine that it lacks the well swept facade of a more residential area.  And that was really hard for me to get past in this decision.  Usually, you look for homes that have great looking neighbors. Here, its an every other one sorta thing.  Its just so urban that different rules apply.  And while we've lived urban for the better part of the last decade, we've never bought urban.  This process certainly brought out the little Midwestern girl in me :)

Finally, we came to terms with location.  We love it, and despite the high rental rate here, it is one of the most established nabes in the city, raw looks or not.  As a commitment-phobe, knowing it is possible to get out of a situation is always important :)

Funnily enough, the duplex bit was actually a huge selling point for us.  (Another spot where my Midwestern mentality and my years in Brooklyn kept bonking heads.)  We'd always envied our landlord's brilliance.  Buy a brownstone, let your tenants help you pay your mortgage!  But!!!  But, said my midwestern side.  A DUPLEX?  Not a lot of post-college renting going on in Kansas ;) That word has heady connotations there.  Fortunately, as the inner me's duked it out, the selling point prevailed.  We just happened to know the most amazing tenants a person could ever get, and we just happened to be luring them all the way across the country.  Our dream of raising our babies beside family (the same reason for spending months in Kansas every year) could come true...year round!  So before we even looked at the house, we called Seth and Alicia.  I mean, just because we would kill to live by them doesn't mean they feel the same way ;)

Fortunately, they were willing.  Now my heart was even more sold.  Bam.  Duplex dilemma solved.  And when they forsake us for their own home (sob) I can have my dream of international visitors.  This is a Hot market for vacation rentals and Phoenix is So Excited that we could have someone speaking Spanish staying downstairs for a week that he could just pee :)

So we took a professional contractor through the place to tell us if we were nutso.  He seemed to think (of course, he's a contractor..) that its all very doable.  A little paint, a few shingles, a heater and we're off and running.  (I have his name bookmarked for future hateful thoughts should we find ourselves re-enacting The Money Pit.)

The purchasing process was long and stressful, but we have now signed things that make us future home owners, disaster barring, so the dreams are really amping up.  Superman is figuring out an entire aquaculture situation for food growing (a closed cycle that sounds brilliant!) The cavernous unfinished basement already has huge canvases filled with children's art in my mind.  And an indoor sand pit for the long winter.  And a deep freezer for our now possible cow share.  And shelves filled with canned goods, garnered from our future small, but sweet, urban oasis.

Because its the possibilities that sold us this house.  With crack strewn walls and colorful floorboards, without granite counters and fancy cabinets, its a blank canvas, waiting for our dreams.  It isn't too precious for small children and their messes.  Its all tumbled up and ready to support their adventures.  Which is exactly why I love it so, so much.

Here's hoping I feel the same way a year from now :)

Bake Sale

P decided he wanted to have a bake sale today (it not being lemonade stand weather quite yet; another out-of-NYC-plan of his;). Chocolate chip stand for the commuter crowd - and he sold all of them (that he didn't eat himself ;)!

BB helped. Patience was required (though with enough tree climbing and skate boarding thrown into the mix, it wasn't *too* tough;). He eventually moved his set-up to the corner for more foot traffic. Kid made almost 5 bucks! He was pretty tickled with himself ;)

Sun!

The weather here has been less dreary than I anticipated, pre-move. I expected months of dark rain, but we've been pleasantly out of doors a great deal this winter. Until this week. Colder, solid rain a few times. with Zia so sick, inviting it was not. Last night I dreamt the sun came out and people were flocking to a field and flying, arms flapping, smiling goofy, sunny smiles. Hmmm, guess this week's cabin fever was slightly severe:).

So, despite serious boogerage, today we joined P on the porch to chew on sticks. Then a walk through our forgotten garden where we were surprised by a beautiful romanesco cauliflower. Now, Zia is snoring in my arms while I watch P pogo jump - all in the sun :). Yay Spring:)

Standing

Zia is obsessed with standing. She pulls up on anything she can get to - but will topple over (um, cuz she's only freakin five months). So I try to put her in the middle of nowhere for floor play if I need to walk away. (Her crawl is so slow I can glance at her before she gets into trouble.). But this morning, returning from fetching a drink of water, I found she had outdone me. Standing tall on her wobbly baby legs, she had stood up with only the help of her changing pad. Sigh. She is nothing if not determined. Hopefully this won't lead to early concussions :)

Didn't snap fast enough - but here's post morning antics...

Still Sick

Zia is still sick. Just a cold, but its kicking her poor little butt! Can't sleep, too boogery to nurse, crazy poops irritating her bum and a wicked sounding cough. So no wonder she has been a bit grumpy. But each day has had at least a brief glimpse of her sweet little smile...

And she wore her Snoopy dress today, how can you not smile wearing that?! Its made from old Snoopy sheets, identical to the ones my kid brother rocked in the '70's and features P's favorite scene: "Ick! I've been licked by a dog!". If you can get the boy to do his sad Snoopy face, I can guarantee you a day full of rainbows. Or, at least, it always works for me :)

Sick Baby

Zia caught P's cold. She doesn't seem to weather discomfort with quite as much ease as the Little Man. The kid could be puking bile and still be pretty even keeled. Little Miss is just *miserable.*. And likes to tell ya so. She has spent the last three nights waking up every 15 minutes, all. night. long. to WAIL if she finds she is not being bounced. By last night around 2am, I realized that those... are probably the moments when someone shakes the baby:(.

But she was only bounced ;). Why that soothes her so I do not know, but at least she could be soothed. She is a boogery, coughy, hard to breath mess today and I feel so sorry for her! P, at the tail end of this same cold, has only mentioned this week, "yah, I've got boogers," and "my cough hurts.". Love seeing the differences!

We take walks each day (when wellish;) Zia watches. We walk. P climbs e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

Crawling

I think it's official. Zia is crawling. I left her on the floor for two minutes yesterday to use the loo and came back to her 4 feet away, happily chomping paper under the desk. Sigh ;).

Its still a challenge for her though, so when she's tired, her short jaunts are often filled with vocal frustrations. But she insists on continuing to try - its kinda funny to see her strong sense of perserverance. She has the transition from sitting to crawling nailed, but sometimes still gets stuck going back to sitting after a crawl. She sticks her wee arm out to try and add weight in the direction she's trying to rotate to, but she's still so little, there's not a lot of heft to help ;).

Swinging

Zia took her first swing ride. Of course, P had to be the pusher;). He *started off* gentle ;). lol.

Spring

This is the sweetest damn baby. She blows me away. My first was sullen. (But perfect in his own way;) My second, soooo sweet. And she luuuuvs Spring and sitting in the grass chewing stuff she shouldn't;)

L.O.L.

So freakin funny. P was playing with BB and the hose today, torturing the poor doll by spraying him. I guess he wanted to spray BB's backside or something, so he pointed the hose the other way.... right towards BB's backside and... his own face. Squirt! The child got a nose full. I laughed so hard it almost woke the baby.

He sought vengeance, dunking the monster in the mud hole he had just created, repeatedly;).


A dirty monster and his stamp.

Big girl

Zia really seems to get the whole potty thing these days. A diaper is still essential for back-up, but I'm amazed with the whole EC experience.

Big girl using her potty.

little boy pockets

P's coat couldn't make it any longer and today is gonna be really warm, so I started to toss it in the wash.... Glad I decided to check the pockets :)

More digging...

We're revisiting the trench from last week and P was Thrilled to find it intact! Love the dialogue. He's asking me "what would you do..." questions. As in, if Zia ate cat poo... ;)

Dagnabbit

Double dog drat. Zia had blood in her poo today, so something is definitely not working. She's had a lot of mucus in her poo the last few days, but I was hoping it was drool related. Honestly, she could have had a bit of blood for the last couple of days and I just didn't realize it because I've been nailing the ECing and catching her poos in the big potty. Today I missed one (right after she had just gone!) and it was obvious in her diaper :(. I'm feeling guilty for not nailing this down and messing her little system up.

Gawd knows why, but I listened to Superman, who insisted that eggs were safe. (This, from the man that still offers me butter.) So I had dropped the nuts, seeds, chocolate and nightshades buy kept in the eggs. I started with just a titch in baked goods, but have had them the last few mornings for breakfast. They may be the culprit. Or, it could be the cane sugar (the first time I've used sugar in 5 months) from those yuuuummy ginger snap cookies we had this week. Or it could be the beans I ate last night (I'd stayed away from beans for a bit because of the nut/legume connection.). But, of course, I don't know which it is, so I'll drop them all and wait a few weeks, again. Blech.

Poor, poor baby. She can't sleep because of her rash and her tummy troubles, so our nights are rough and her naps nonexistent the last few days. But she is suuuch a dear, I'm just head over heals. Holding her cuddly little body (she hugs me!) gives me the warm fuzzies :). And the love she shows for me surprises me every day.

Little Man is rocking a cold the last few days, playing it mellow. But when we do get out for our walks, his fingers are usually legs and he walks them on all of the moss covered stone walls in the neighborhood, mesmerized by the tiny ecosystems everywhere. Spring continues to make us all Very Happy here. The flowers blow me away!

Discouraged

February is full on Spring here.  Which totally wigs me out!  Flowers in February???  Fifties too??  Typically, in NYC, I'm hardened to 30's and low 40's by the time March rolls around (those felt like warm reprieves;), hardened to the greys and blank brown tree trunks.   But after such a mild, green (flower!!) filled winter,  today's surprising chill has caught me by surprise.  But hibernating is nice, too:)

Less nice is Zia's skin.  Ugh, this is so discouraging.  Some reactions are so obvious, I know not to touch those foods (potatoes much?!  Milk much?)  But others are harder.  They take longer to show and then I'm left wondering whether it was Monday's new food or Friday's.  (I know, so slow the eff down, girl?!) I took back out tomatoes and sunbutter and she seemed to feel better. Rash improved, a titch.  Added in almonds.  (Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm.)  Rash got worse and spread.  Mucus in her poo.  She spent her nights clawing her face and crying.  Dropped almonds.  Maybe a slight improvement?  It stopped getting worse at least, but not good enough.  So I stepped back further, chocolate and eggs.  Still no dice.  Discouraging.  Maybe I'm expecting improvement too quickly.  I'm going to hold fort here, hoping time will tell.  At this point, I just want some gosh darn sleep and to just eat.  Ya know, just walk into the kitchen and just grab something.  Or, better yet, eat out :)  

Ah well, its just the tired talking.  Most days I see it as a blessing, something that is making me (and therefore Z) full of health.  

On a happier note, the girl grew hair!  (Have I blogged this already?)  The bald is being replaced by ever thickening bronze.  Its a very strange color.  And I think it will be wavy too.  

She is also moving around a crrrrazy amount.   Glorious baby days are really numbered now.  (Too soon, too soon.)  She bounces herself from a sitting position into a crawling position and rocks, ominously. She's taken a few tentative scoots forward and I'm eyeing sockets and cords quite seriously these days.  Baby-proofing is imminent (Legos?  I'm looking at You.)  Then, this morning, she grabbed ahold of two bars and pulled herself up to standing.  I know some mums get a big ol' kick outta their kids doing stuff early (like pulling to stand at freakin five months).  I am NOT one of those moms.  I very much want a prolonged baby phase here.  Sweet and snuggly.  And still.  Zia has other ideas.  

Along with the need to motor has come the grabbiest hands in the West.  And oh how she gets pissed when thwarted!  Too funny.  Once she grabs it, she wants it in her mouth.  All. the. time.  And will flail her hands around in search of something, anything, to grab and mouth whenever she drops a toy.   What else...  Oh, she took a bath the other day (a rarity;) and reeeeally liked it.  She found her splash ;)  And she initiates games.  She has quite the repertoire and they all make her smile and laugh.  But there is nothing she loves more than her brother.  Seriously.

Well, the damn rice is done.  Yum, sigh, yay;)