Heptadecagon

We had a lot of "firsts" this week. Melina had her first taste of sausage (she liked it). She ate potatoes and a french fry, in different sittings, for the first time (she liked those, too). Melina also tried her first O-shaped, low sugar cereal; by golly the kid liked those as well. Most importantly, Melina's first tooth is peeking out! Once I felt it, the kids and Tim stopped everything in order to try and see it. We, of course, all clapped, too. I can't quite understand how the tooth can be absent from the mouth in the morning, but cutting through the gum by the evening. Growth is amazing!

I don't have pictures to back me up here, but Melina is in the process of starting to move. Mobility is clearly not a problem anymore. She moves in a circle. She moves backward. She moves forward. Does she actually crawl? Not quite...yet. Her method has progressed over the last couple of days from pulling herself with her arms, to launching herself forward (after rocking), to using her toes to push forward. Yesterday, she effectively chased Talia around the room, ending up under the table. The kids were laughing hysterically at her, and because Melina smiles at everything her siblings do, Melina sent a huge, toothless grin back to them. The girls don't remember when Aaron started crawling, so this idea of watching a baby learn to crawl is new for three of them. Zoe, Talia, and Aaron are repeatedly mesmerized by Melina's attempts to move her leg forward after getting up on hands and knees. Each child yells out a play-by-play when Melina lifts her back up of the floo

What is something dad always says to you? "I love you." What makes dad happy? "When I give you a big hug" What makes dad sad? "When I don't give you a big hug" How does your dad make you laugh? "You say something funny." What was your dad like as a child? "I don't know because I didn't see you." How old is your dad? "17" How tall is your dad? "That tall." [points from my feet to my head] What is his favorite thing to do? "Play with me" What does your dad do when you're not around? "Plays with Melina" 10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for? "Throw a ball to outer space" What is your dad really good at? "Art" [What? Me?] What is your dad not very good at? "Being careful at bats." [When I asked for clarification on this, he said he meant the animal kind.] What does your dad do for his job? "Do work on the computer" What is your d

Aaron was drawing a rainbow with his markers. Excitedly, he says, "Mom! My favorite colors are primary colors!" I don't know about you, but I didn't know what a primary color was when I was four. Gotta thank dad the physicist for that one. **** I was feeding Melina in the kitchen, and she started to put something in her mouth that was just too small for her mouth (as in, she could choke). I took it away, and instead gave her the Fisher-Price baby Jesus, that came with the nativity set . Me: Here you go, Melina. Play with this instead. Baby Jesus won't mind if you put him in your mouth. Talia: Mom, Baby Jesus won't mind because he is a toy . **** And just because we talked about everyone else, I need to put a bit about Zoe in here. I had to laugh yesterday. She was supposed to be doing her homework, and instead, I found her reading something. She hid what she was reading, and then came to the table to do her homework. It wasn't until later that I as