lil updates

Voila. With the blink of an eye, the lil one is sitting up on her own, eating applesauce, trying to crawl (but struggling to lift her buddha belly off the floor), singing along, staring at her books and chewing their corners, and mostly trying to run around everywhere (you have read correctly: not walk, but run). pity our lumbar vertebraes as this means much time spent bent over with our hands below our knees.

In a week she'll be six months old, and i might allow myself to feel a great sense of accomplishment. i meant to nurse her for a long time; it has been a real test of my resolve at times, but I feel I've made it and I'm so darn glad. i also wanted to follow her lead, so when she was imitating us with her plastic spoon and cup and desperately trying to stick her fingers into our food, we introduced applesauce (the standard French first food. no rice cereal. contact me if you care to know why). I dare think of this as resolve with flexibility ;)

By the way, and I won't dwell on the subject any longer: although i'm convinced of the health benefits of breastfeeding (to the child, but certainly not to the mother!), and although all kinds of research points to how great it is (latest: natural painkiller), and although it is the single most convenient way to soothe a baby, I have vowed never to judge a woman's choice in that regard. Every situation and every child is different.

What next? I think another tooth may reveal itself in the coming couple of days.