Getting to No

M has made lots of progress in the last month. Since starting to crawl, she is now pulling herself to a standing position using furniture, bathtubs, toilets, my leg, etc. She is also communicating when she does not what something. Obviously this can come in the form of scrunchy faces and screeches, but it also comes in the form of both arms waving in front of her chest, with her arms fully crossing her body and each other. As in: "You come near me with that, you lose a hand in my buzzsaw." Even though she can't say the word "no" yet, she can send a clear message. She also lets us know her displeasure when we remove something from her grasp that is on its way to her mouth. As something is on her way to her mouth several times a minute, she is either putting something in her mouth or telling us off for preventing her from succeeding in her mission.

She had her 9 month check-up last week. She's doing very well on everything but is only in the 3rd percentile in weight. We're now giving her some stage 3 foods and feeding her a bit more often. Of course, since most American kids now seem to be classified as obese, it may not take being anorexic to be well below average in weight.



Normally, we would post a picture of C; however, he has suddenly developed an acute case of camera-itis. The past few times T tried to capture C in photography, he's channeled his inner Kate Austen (non-Lost fans are most likely lost themselves) and took flight, saying "Camera, mommy, run, hide!"

C is doing a great job as a big brother, though he doesn't like M to touch him or play with his toys while he is playing with them. Somewhat surprisingly, he doesn't seem to mind if she plays with one when he is playing with another type of toy or is occupied doing something else.

We had a conference with his pre-school teacher on President's Day. She said he is very social. He can never tell us what he has done that day because his day revolves around doing things with particular classmates not around doing particular activities. (So I've shifted my "on the drive home question" from "What did you do this morning?" to "Who did you play with this morning?" Though I think the most common response is still "I don't know.") He is the leader of a roving band of mischief-makers. (I've dubbed them the "unholy trinity".) That's an interesting change from last year when he tended to be a follower. It is important to keep him interested and engaged in something or he starts to plan mayhem. He generally, however, is very cooperative and obeys when asked to stop what he is doing. He learns very quickly but if he doesn't get something right away, can get frustrated easily. One thing he has learned is that if he gets a time-out at pre-school, he loses TV privileges at home. So when it happens, he no longer throws another fit over losing TV. He does, however, have the not uncommon ability to forget entirely that he has been given a time-out at pre-school. Last week, the teacher stuck her head out of the door at pick-up time. (And all the parents start thinking, "Don't look at me! Don't let it be my kid.") She walks up to me, smiles and says, "We have a really unique one." If you can simultaneously chuckle and groan, that's what I did. C was taking puzzle pieces, ripping them apart, and then eating them. Yes indeed, that is a unique one! When he exited the room, he claimed no recollection of anything to do with puzzles or with putting anything (including snacks) in his mouth that morning. I should have asked him if he remembered eating breakfast...apparently it wasn't enough...

On Tuesday, we had our fourth snow of the winter! A record in my 10 years down here. It started snowing about noon and snowed steadily all afternoon but didn't start laying on the grass until about 5. The roads just remained wet. By the next morning we had about half an inch on the grass and of course it melted by noon. So we didn't get any snowmen or snow balls out of this one. As it is now March, we may have to wait until next year...

Only 12 days left until St. Patrick's Day. Better start stocking up on, ahem, cabbage...