Forest of the Plains

For those of you who have seen Jacob this may come as a shock, but according to the doctor, Jacob needs to bulk up. As in he doesn't weigh enough. This news was a surprise to the nice teachers at daycare and to my back muscles.

Jacob's height and weight have consistently been 5%-10% apart when measured by the percentile charts for his age. Everybody was happy because he was all in proportion. This week there was a sudden change. His height went up to the 80th percentile while his weight plummeted to the 25th percentile. This means that Jacob was busy growing taller and didn't eat enough calories to keep his height-weight proportions in check.

My guess is that this has to do with Jacob's recent food issues. One day he went 8 hours without food - just flat out refused everything offered to him. On another day he was eating, but threw a fit whenever I touched the high chair. He also has distinct preferences as to who feeds him.

I know that the one thing small children can do to control their environment is to control their food. So, how do you convince an opinionated and stubborn 9-month-old that he really does want his mid-day bottle without engaging in a power struggle? After two weeks of trying, it seems like we may have found the right solution! Today Jacob got to feed himself some bits of banana, then was offered his bottle. He took it without any trouble! Let's hope for a repeat performance the next day he's at daycare.

Happy birthday to me. (Just pretend that's Eeyore talking.)

John has been cleaning his car for the past hour and he isn't done cleaning yet.

His car has been smelling for a while. But the smell has been getting worse.

On our way to my birthday dinner I expressed a strong feeling that it was the smell of dead rodent. "Oh no." John said, "It's just water that got into the vents. It will clear up soon."

This morning John found rodent droppings in his car.

This evening he found a dead mouse. Under the driver's seat. When he was reaching under the seat to get some trash. With his bare hand.

(insert expression of horror here)

I do feel bad for John that he touched a dead mouse with his bare hand. Also I can't help but wonder if he'll consent to using a lot of bleach to wash up tonight.

But, here's the worst part:

I spent part of my birthday with a rodent.

Today I said to someone, "The daughter of your dreams is not the daughter of your reality." I don't usually say things like that, so I thought I should record it here for the whole world to read!

I was recently introduced to this site. Since I'm such a fan of being passive-aggressive, I've been enjoying it very much!

passive-aggressive notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers and strangers

Enjoy!

I feel like I need to go to confession. Today I fed my baby salsa. In my defense, John told me to do it and it was very mild. Luckily Jacob seemed to like it and ate a second bite!

In other news, I successfully got John to give me a birthday present a week early! Usually I try to get him to give me hints, so I often guess my presents before I get them. But convincing him to give me an early present is a new high for me. I'm very proud of myself!

The present is a cute little Palm Z22 - nothing fancy, but it does what I need it to do. And, it's really light weight which is a bonus.

Happy Birthday Week to me!