Happenins

Alden is 9 months old! He had his well visit today and is 18 lb 13 oz (25th percentile, so just getting skinnier and skinnier) and 30 in long (90th percentile, skinny and tall). The Dr. asked if we read to him every day. We do, but I feel like not half as much as when Rhianwen was a baby. We are just busier in general, and I read to Rhianwen too, but Alden often loses interest and goes wandering off to crash into things like the sharp edging on our brick hearth. (No we hadn't and yes now we have installed that ugly padding made to prevent such things).


Just in time for our well-visit. From 9 months on, when we have a "well-visit" with my kids, there is always some kind of horrid looking wound that needs scrutiny. At best they say this is normal. At worst, they pat my arm patronizingly and say, "Things happen....have you baby-proofed your house yet?". In addition to Alden's scrape, Rhianwen decided to get a nice shiner on her forehead right before the Dr. appointment. They also ask how Alden's taken to solid food.



Well, what do you think? Even better than grapes is a cob of corn. I think sometimes he wants to stick the entire thing in his mouth. He's so taken with corn on the cob that he forgets his table manners and snorts in enjoyment as he chews away. It's hilarious. Of course, he also really enjoys fistfuls of dirt. I can't work outside without strapping him into the umbrella stroller and letting Rhianwen push him around the driveway. Otherwise, he's eating mulch, dirt, grass, chalk. I wouldn't care except that I worry about worms and parasites. I do let him play and pick up sticks and chew on gumballs and grass. Don't worry, I'm not so much a micromanger, but when I'm trying to get something done outside, he just decides to go all out and come up with his own lunch. He's also capable of climbing. I had the dishwasher open, and he used the top rack to pull himself up onto the open door...all very quietly while my back was turned. When I discovered him there, he just looked at me nonchalantly as if to say, "What do you expect?"

This past weekend was Rhianwen's first swim lesson. She had a BLAST. And to top that off, Grandma Nanny Kim and Grandpa were here when she came home. We had a fabulous time relaxing and enjoying our backyard and Duke Gardens. Rhianwen made sure that we didn't leave Minky and Zephyr (Nanny Kim's and Grandpa's monkeys) and kept track of Grandpa's hat as well. However, somehow, Rhianwen's hat ended up in Nanny Kim's car even though we never used their car over the weekend, and it had to be mailed back...something that Rhianwen thought was just so fun. She loves getting mail. Who doesn't if it's not junk?

Weirdness runs in the family.

Everyone found this pavilion amazing with all the wisteria blooming on it. It's one of my favorite spring flowers even though it's a terrible invasive species!

Daddy often does catechism questions during part of bath, and recently when he gets to "What is God?", Rhianwen doesn't want to answer. She's worried over an apparent contradiction that she voices by saying quickly, "God is a Spirit has not a body like man" Big breath "But Jesus is God! And Jesus has a body!" I can't believe she's already capable of such logic! Talk about questions that are hard to answer even for an adult!

She'll also just say things out of the blue like: "Does Jesus have a soul that will never die?" Hmmm. I don't think I know the answer to that one. I mean, He was fully God and fully man. All men have souls that will never die....I've never studied up on this and really want to look into it. One thing I do know, she absorbs more than we think and mulls over it even when we aren't talking about it!

One strange obsession she has is alligators. She's started having bad dreams about them. I don't know where it comes from b/c we've never talked much about them. She's seen some small ones at the museum. I don't really know if I should talk more about them, find funny stories at the library featuring them, or just ignore it.

Don't worry. We DO have lighter conversations. I've made a habit of coming in after putting Alden down and after Rhianwen's been put to bed to talk to her alone. We often "imagine" things. One day we had found a sparkly circle on her rug and I had asked if a fairy had come during the night. So, that night she said that her fairy was going to come with her bag and get the sparkly thing. I asked what her fairy looked like and she immediately said, "Sparkly and red". I asked, "Where does she live?" Answer: "Oval Park" (a park we had visited for playgroup a couple of MONTHS ago.

Other funny conversations:

If you could have anything to eat what would it be? "cheese and broccoli"

Should we plant something for earth day? "Yeah". What should we plant? "Birthday candles."

Our little independent thinker.