ball pit

Now Miriam has fairly stable sitting skills, we've converted the activity mat into a ball pit. WHOA. mind blown. Also Z loves playing with her. In other news, she had her 6 month check up. She is almost 20 lbs and 28inches (~95% for both). She has been fussy but mostly manageable from the shots and is recovering from a little bout of pink eye. She HATEs the eye drops and who knew she could close her eyes so tight. Z has started the Star Wars movies! He loved the first one and is loking forward to the empire strikes back tonight.

matchy match

Z choose to match his sisters stripes, which of course ensured photos..

First Summer Hike

We packed up and went into the greenbelt. Zachary carried his swim gear, water bottles and a pool noodle. I had miriam, the diaper bag, the rest of the swim gear, towels, food, sunscreen. I was prepared, except for a snakebite kit.  Ha, I didn't need one, we didn't seen a single snake or much other wildlife for that matter! Funny that a few miles up the river at lost pines, we see turtles and snakes at the edge once in a while and Z loves chasing the bass and other fish. But I digress we walked in about 10 minutes to a great water hole, with shallows and rapids, and a diving area. Miriam enjoyed the flowing water of the gentle rapids and also spinning in the water with me. Z went off free diving to find shells in the rocky riverbed. We had a great few hours.  The uphill hike out made for a long walk back with tired, damp kids and wet heavy towels. Overall our first adventure was a success, here is to many more.

Summer Reading

Our local library has a program, like many, for children over the summer. Read some books, get a prize. Ours is - read as many books as you want and keep track towards your goal, get a free book as a reward. (There is clearly no losing in this system.) But your kid needs to pick the number of books they want to read over the summer.

Me: "Zachary, how many books do you want to set as your summer reading goal?"
(My going in position is something like 30 books is a reasonable starting place)

Zachary, without pause: "100 books."

Me, startled: "Um, that's a lot of books. There's like 7 weeks left of summer so thats..."

Zachary, interrupting: "Mom, if I read 5 books a day... that's... (some finger counting occurs) - 20 days. So its no big deal."

Me, speechless briefly: "Right. Ok then. 100 books it is."

swim lessons

The all new Bartholomew pool, is a fabulous addition to the east side. And Z lessons are going swimmingly! He also likes to dive to the bottom, and cannon ball with his fancy prescription goggles.

Parents and friends.

The picture is a sign that appeared on Zachary's bedroom door today. 

It reads:

Nobody allowed except for parents and friends.

Actually, it reads:

nobute ulawd bsept for parinz and franz.

But we don't know anyone named "Franz" in Austin, so I'm going with my first read.

I'm just excited we're on the list.

(And that he still uses "bsept" for except, which he has done since he could first talk. I always assumed it would go away quickly. It hasn't, and I love it.)

Size at 5.5 months

Contemplations on Kids and Food

Miriam has started the slow drift into solid food. At our house it is really a drift. We were a little more structured with Zachary, but seeing as we're a pretty low food allergy household we're kind of bumbling along with whatever we're eating. That, combined with the fact that last time all three of us determined that rice cereal was really pretty gross, and overall seemed like rather a waste of the breastmilk we made it with more than anything else.

We let Miriam have a go with cream of wheat (hot breakfast cereal) yesterday, and the results were entertaining and messy (as these things ought to be.) It definitely got in her hair. She grabbed at the spoon with serious gusto which convinced us that this whole "food" thing was well worth pursuing.

 Of course food right now for her is more an adventure than a meal, although I think we're all hoping it settles down the epic "Poltergeist" style spitting up (probably including her). She seems generally more interested than we remember Zachary being - which could be some combination of her already wanting to copy ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING Zachary does, along with her being able to *see* the food... but who really knows. I mean, we can time travel in the blog but even then we are such poor scientific reporters on these things. Anyway, she has doubled her committment to nursing which is also sweet and funny. Partially I think because with Zachary home for the summer they are all tromping around constantly and by the time I get home she's like "OH THANK GOD MOM I'M GOING TO NEED A RECHARGE."

Nursing this time is different, the second time around. She seems less relaxed by it, and I suspect some of that is tied to the spitting up. She doesn't struggle at it, she just has other paths to sleep and calm (which truly is fantastic.) But usually in the evening she settles down for a long, calming nurse. And if I can relax out of my day and into home it is a wonderful moment for us to catch up. She gets to check in, and work out her wiggles, and after she's given me all her updates (a baby chattering while nursing has to be one of the silliest/funniest things ever) she eventually starts to relax one bit at a time. She doesn't want to let go, and if I wriggle or shift she uses all available limbs to remind me that she is HAPPY RIGHT WHERE SHE IS THANK YOU VERY MUCH. But we can just be in the moment and snuggle and appreciate something that in the scheme of things is wildly temporary.

(In other news, Zachary is trying new fruits and vegetables to earn a chef's hat at HEB. This is hysterical because simultaneously he will still only eat like 5 dinners. *facepalm* I have to believe that one day he will expand beyond and eat food that has colors in it. Maybe. I hope.)