Stuff

Just quick updates:

1. The baby is crawling. Not army-crawling, which she'd been doing for a while now, but actual, hands-and-knees crawling. I tell you, it's very funny to see this little tiny thing (she weighs 14.5 pounds at a week shy of six months) crawling. Plus, she's super proud of herself, so as she moves, she'll look up at me and crow. Adorable.

2. I'm back on some kind of diet -- since E was born, I've gained back all but 10 of the pounds I'd lost. Part of the reason is that I dove back into bad habits -- eating chocolate all day every day, for instance. So I've banned candy from the house and will be refocusing. I'm not fool enough to think I'll lose any weight, I just want to try not to gain any more before I end up gaining everything back.

3. My body continues to play with my head. Gr.

4. Two of my IRL friends, both of whom I like very much, are in a fight with each other. Each has privately confided in me, so I know both sides of the story. Aside from feeling dishonest because I haven't disclosed to either one that the other has spoken to me about the problem, I'm kind of frustrated because I feel like I should fix it. Mostly, it's been a problem of miscommunication combined with oversensitivity on both sides (seeing offense where none was meant). Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix it without betraying one or more confidences. Gargh. I'm not good at this kind of thing.

5. M continues to be a fantastic big sister. She adores E, who adores her right back. It's so nice to see the two of them playing so well together. Nice, that is, until M decides that she's big enough to pick up the baby and carry her around or move her to a different spot if M deems that E's too close to something M doesn't want her to touch. If there's a scarier phrase in the English language than "don't worry mommy, I''m moving the baby," I don't know what it is.

6. We're starting E on solid foods. So far, she hates rice cereal, will tolerate oatmeal, and doesn't really seem to like anything else. Mostly, she just doesn't like to eat because (a) mealtime means she's confined to a high chair, and there's nothing E hates more than being confined, and (b) I won't let her steer the spoon all by herself. If this keeps up, I fear that we're going to dealing with a very picky eater. That'll be a new experience, because M was a great, non-fussy eater from day 1. I've been very spoiled.

7. That said, if I place a plate of cheerios on the floor, E is about as happy as she can be. She LOVES cheerios, and if she can eat them while crawling around, so much the better.

8. I know this because I got tired of E picking carpet fuzz off the floor and trying to eat it. I finally figured that if she was so hungry, I'd give her something more nutritious than polyester to eat. So I put down a plate of cheerios, just to see what would happen. She devoured them with glee.

9. Am I a bad mom for feeding my 5-month-old on the floor like a dog?