5 Months

Something about having kids in school makes time fly even faster than it was flying otherwise... 'cause I CANNOT even believe this chunk is 5 months old already. She's rolling all over the place, napping on a more regular schedule, and waking up in the middle of the night again - at least one, sometimes two times. She's starving. I'm dying.

I was trying to hang on until the 6 month mile-marker to start cereal... among other reasons, I read somewhere that holding out can decrease the instance of food allergies in people who might be sensitive to that sort of thing. We don't have any major allergies over here - which reminds me "Have you had any PEANUT BUTTER today, lady!?" - but my brother is allergic to tons. So, I figure I'm doomed at some point. My oldest already needs allergy shots to avoid his seasonal, sinus migraines. But we eat peanut butter on a regular basis and don't need shots of adrenaline to avoid anafilactic suffocation. So, that's good.

But anyway... she hates rice cereal.

This has been such a different experience, having a girl. I know I keep saying that [or do I] - but since I've had her, I've noticed a bit of a mental gap when I was dealing with only boys. I don't really know how to put it into words, because I have always felt I relate to boys way better than girls in any past nannying situation. I don't do "drama", so you can have your fit in your room and put that ice cream sandwich in the trash.

Of course I can't completely relate to what it's like to be a boy. When I was little, I didn't need to categorize hot wheels by color, make and model... or ram things together. But I did love to smoosh my toes in mud, climb trees and catch frogs. Still, I didn't need to throw the frog up as high as I could to let it splat all over the driveway like the neighborhood boy. I bet he's incarcerated now. Violence toward frogs is a gateway to violence toward women. Makes perfect sense.

And I know these things have deeper meanings. Boys - logical - compartmentalizing - bonkers - from Mars. Girls - passionate - nesters - vocal - entirely sane and intuitive. Oh, and - ALWAYS RIGHT. [Actually, if ever a particular girlfriend needs to vent about an argument she's had with her husband, nine times out of ten, I usually see it the guy's way] but I don't tell her she's a total basket-case, I just judge her in my heart. Just a little. And no, it's not you... Or... well, I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this.

My point - it'd be nice to have one [a point].

Simply put: it seems this baby brings to mind what I was like when I was little - or just what it was like to be a little girl. Aside from the mud and frog-catching, I wore cowgirl boots with shorts and no socks. I liked to dress the dog in doll clothes; and I was always up to something. I'd march over to my 80-year-old neighbor, Francis', house to invite myself in for red-hots. In fact, it seems I've always had a really good old friend. Literally. I'll have to tell you about Kaye Tankevich sometime. My daughter's middle name is Kaye. And I'll be lucky if she's anything like her namesake.

Bottom line - I hate how quickly this has gone by!