this and that

Sorry - this is going to have to be a quickie.

Joan had her 6-month check-up last week. All's well! She's 70 cm long, and just under 19 pounds. At this age, John was 71 cm, and just over 19 pounds, so he's actually surpassed her in size, just barely.

Doc said she looks great, and commented that she's got very good head control. The murmer is almost gone. He said it's so soft, he'd class it as an innocent murmer. If he'd heard it that soft when she was born, he wouldn't have sent her to the specialist. He gave her a bunch of shots, and sent us on our way.

We've kind of started solids with her. She's finally stopped pushing everything out with her toungue, and is swollowing most of what we give her. Her favourite food so far is mint chocolate chip ice cream. I know, I know. Bad mom. But she seems to have this instinctive pull towards ice cream. Whenever we eat it, she gets all excited, grabs my spoon, and pulls it with all her might towards her mouth. If I don't give her any, she gets all sad. She does the same with mashed potato and banana, though, so there's hope for a healthy diet yet. She's had sweet potato, too. Didn't like it at first, but after a few spoonfulls, was opening for more. Though, that might have just been peer pressure - John thought it looked pretty good too, so he'd grabbed a spoon and was shovelling it down right in front of her.

John's doing OK. We took him to the steam museum on Canada Day - they have train rides with miniature steam trains. He thought that was awesome. He announced that it was his favourite train. Then we took him to Chapters for a couple of new Dr. Seuss books. When we got home, he raced for the bag, dumped them all on the floor and said, with wonder, "Look! It's amazing!" We saw fireworks after that, and he liked them. He kept talking to them, tellling then to "stay over there. Don't burn mom!" He's become very protective of me lately. It's very cute. He races to my defence, which I think is great. Mike jokingly told me I was a bad mom one day - I think it was for letting Joan get to much sun. And John piped in "No! Mom not bad! You a good mommy!" If he spills something, or if something is broken - even if it's broken in his mind, like the 23 flat tires we've had since going camping - he often says "don't worry, Mommy. I fix it." If he can't fix it, he still comes to me for repairs, but it's the attitude that counts, and hopefully that one will stick around well past toddlerhood. Like, until he's big enough to hang drywall and stuff.

Anyway, lots to do! I'd better get going.