Mia's Marriage Proposal

Gavin can't get enough of Mia. I had to get a play pen because lying her on the floor for tummy time is a dangerous proposition. There's always someone jumping over her, dancing over her (one foot on each side of Mia), hugging her, picking her up to make her "dance", etc . When Mia's on the bed, Gavin is usually stradling her while telling her a story or singing her a song.

A few days ago Gavin was holding a small drawstring bag which held a ring of Jolie's. I'll recount our conversation:

(Gavin) "Mommy, do you know what I have in this bag?"

(Me) "Yes, it's a ring. Are you going to give it to me because you love me and you want me to marry you?"

(Gavin) "No."

(Me) "You're right, I can't marry you because I'm already married to Daddy."

(long pause)

(Gavin) "Mommy, when Mia gets big, I'm going to marry her."

I truly hope that Gavin's fondness for his little sister will last and that she survives infanthood with a brother who "loves" her so much.

Where's the Beef?

Last night Mia had her first taste of solid food. She was more than ready. She's been rather fussy in the evenings and I think we've decided she's been feeling hungry and left out of the dinner routine. We were having rice a few nights ago and I put a few grains on a spoon for Mia. She was yelling and grabbing at the spoon and basically acting like a starved animal. She LOVED the rice cereal we gave her last night. She sucked down the whole bowl and was amazingly content the rest of the evening.

Introducing solids has been a welcome development for the rest of the family. For weeks the kids have been wanting to give Mia all sorts of interesting treats. It's pretty amazing how bad their judgement has been in this area. I'm glad we've trained them to ask before they act (at least when it comes to the baby). Tristan would probably have tried to feed her a rib eye by now if it had been up to him.

Yesterday they were all with me when we went grocery shopping and you'd have thought the box of rice cereal was the most exotic food on the planet. Other kids were fighting over who got to hold the lucky charms; my kids were fighting for posession of Gerber rice cereal. Go figure.

Ballerinas

Last night we attended Jolie's ballet recital. She's been taking ballet for three years and she's really quite good. A few weeks ago her teacher asked me whether she was going to take next year. I confessed that we weren't sure. Jolie has been nagging us about taking gymnastics and I've told her she can only do two activities at a time (for my own sanity). Jolie's teacher seemed devastated. She's always telling me what a great student Jolie is and how much she depends on her.

I seem to have come across another parenting dilemna: does one encourage their children to focus on one activity and develop and hone their skills so they become really accomplished at that ONE thing? Or, does one encourage said children to try their hand at a lot of things, whereby potentially never becoming good at anything? And if you opt for the former, how do you know what that ONE thing is?

I'm having the same dilemna with Tristan as he's announced that he wants to play football (yes, that's right... FOOTBALL). He started with baseball and soccer and this year he really wanted to play basketball. Now football? Yikes. Not only do Dan and I know NOTHING about football, but they practice five days a week!

Who knows... maybe gymnastics and football will be our thing.

I think I'll still encourage Jolie to stick with ballet.

A Book Recommendation

I don't know that I've ever looked so forward to book club. I will be taking my copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns and checking out of this joint in exactly 42 minutes. But who's counting? Melinda, don't be surprised when I show up on your doorstep at eight o'clock on the dot. And don't be surprised if I'm the last to leave (but I guess that wouldn't be anything new.)

So why so much anticipation you ask? First, I loved the book. Anyone who's read it will understand. More importantly, I love the thought of getting out of the house tonight. It's been nine intense days of summer vacation (again, who's counting?)

Since Monday I've been daydreaming of what tonight will be like: nobody asking for a snack, no wiping ketchup off the kitchen chairs, no breaking up quarrels, no dropping whatever I'm doing to run a kid here or there, no picking up after some aborted science experiment, no threats, no violence... just calm, intellectually-stimulating conversation and snacks laid before me.

Ahhhhhh... 33 minutes and counting.

Blackberry Cobbler

I'm so glad it's tomatoes and not blackberries that are linked to the salmonella outbreak. I've eaten more than my share of the cobbler I made last night. I highly recommend it.

Blackberry Cobbler

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.

In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet.

Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until dough is golden brown.

Oh, and I recommend it a'la mode.

Mia at Five Months

I've been meaning to post about Mia's recent achievements but there always seems to be something going on with the other kids. Don't be deceived. I still spend most of my waking hours holding her, kissing her and being otherwise completely infatuated with her.

Mia rolled over a couple weeks ago. It was actually mother's day when she was lying on my bed and rolled from her back to her stomach. I think it surprised her when she found herself on her tummy, she didn't know quite what to do. Two days later she rolled herself off the bed. I hesitate to make this confession as I know it will bring much condemnation. Look, it happened. She cried but no permanent damage seems to have been done. The important lesson was learned: don't underestimate a baby who can roll. Strangely, we've had to learn this lesson four times.

Mia is still our most content baby. She loves to smile. She kicks her little legs when she's excited. She has settled into a sleeping and eating schedule. She stays up late with me (I'm holding her and typing with one hand right now). She takes a long nap in the morning if she's allowed to do so. She gets fussy in the afternoon and evening but I've decided this must be par for the course with babies. She needs someone to hold her from four or five in the afternoon until midnight. It makes me a less efficient person and sometimes requires creativity (i.e. brushing someone's teeth while holding baby) but we've learned to manage.

Mia has discovered her feet. She's trying to figure out the significance of "this little piggy went to market". She thinks it's a pretty weird rhyme. She likes to spend short periods on her stomach. She will push up and give me a big smile of triumph. Then she kicks her legs for a bit, looks around, and inevitably calls for help after about five minutes. She's getting better with her hands. She can hold a toy to her mouth for a while. We dug the baby toys out of a box in the basement yesterday and found all kinds of gems for her to play with.

I'm amazed at how well Mia does in the car. All that I remember of my other three is long periods of crying and screaming and my stress level rising. Mia seems to love rides in the car. Sometimes I forget she's back there. I often have to ask the kids whether she's awake or asleep. I'm sure it helps to have three specimens to stare at while she's riding along (what could be more entertaining than them?)

She's developing an interest in food. A few nights ago the kids were eating Creamies and she wigged out. I couldn't figure out why she was so fussy and realized she was craning her neck to see the kids eating their treats. She wanted one! Maybe someone had sneaked her a little taste last time the Creamies came out of the freezer? Who would have done such a thing? Chocolate ice cream treats aren't appropriate for babies, afterall.