Growing, Growing, all the time

I lurv youuuuuu...

How do I love my new Penzey's pepper grinder?

Let me count the ways...

It grinds pepper, see. Like, you put in the pepper and it makes little bits of it. You can use the bits in your food, see.

After months of struggling with the old pepper grinder ("Grind pepper? What do you think I am! As if!!"), this is so nice. Soooo nice.

The fact that they send it loaded with black Tellicherry pepper is only a bonus.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Iain's neural development continues apace.

I walked in two mornings ago and found him holding his pacifier in both hands.

While we were in California, he learned how to stick out his tongue when you prompt him by sticking out yours.

Tonight, playing in the gym, he managed to snag the monkey ("You GET that monkey! Get it! Get that MONKEY!!") three times and hold on.

But the best, the absolute BEST development...

Backstory: while we were at Megan's wedding, I spent a lot of time chatting with Tomoe. Besides an absolutely incredible ability to put a lace slip onto another woman while that woman is laced into an extremely tight corset and you are kneeling at her feet enveloped in at least three layers of fabric, Tomoe has a PhD in psychology. So I said, "Iain's 11 weeks old, and what we're really, really ready for is melatonin production and..." and she said, "self-regulation."

That's what happens when you hang with the Psych Department. They know things.

So, yes. I'm so ready for some self-regulation (aka self-soothing), and that spike in melatonin that will bring earlier, longer sleep periods at night. Iain will be 12 weeks this Friday, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Last night, bedtime was 9:15. Iain slept all night. And I don't mean the BS "all night" the books say (11pm to 6 am is NOT all night). He slept until a human being would actually get up - 8.

This afternoon, Iain spent ten minutes in Tummy Time. He hated it. He screamed his head off. But twice he stopped wailing and looked thoughtful.

Tonight? Well, it's 9:18, and he's asleep. It took ten minutes (five minutes of Eloise - not a success - then 5 minutes of the Blade Runner soundtrack).

Whee!

Moose

14.4 pounds.

And Another Thing!

Another nice thing about Megan's wedding: the flowers.

She purchased the bouquets and some of the decorations, but we made the rest. Mrs. Barnhart bought flowers at the farmer's market (and OMG they were spectacular), and we all played with them to make the table decorations and the urns for the buffet.

It was great fun, a creative activity, and allowed for a personal touch that florist flowers often lack. And so typical of Megan to include everyone and invite variety like that.

Herbs

My foot, with the Henna I got at Megan's wedding:

(Henna is an herb)

(Yes, I have monkey toes.)

Below, my lemon thyme, which is growing like mad, spilling out of the pot. Note that when I bought this it was supposedly English Thyme, but whatever.

Below, a spray of tomatoes-to-be. My three tomato plants are going gangbusters, and I ate 2 from my oldest plant today. I can hardly wait for these, as they are from one of the two plants Rob Weise and his family gave us as a baby gift. Note to the world: organic herbs and veggies make a great baby gift for a gardener. You're all, "who has time to garden with an infant?" But you're wrong. I had time for this, and it's great to watch them grow alongside Iain and to introduce him to them (I crush the herbs and let him smell my fingertips). Plus, it gets me outside every single day, which is important.

Below, my swiss chard. Not big enough to eat (you *could* eat it, but better to wait), but looking mighty tasty already.

The lemon verbena, which I adore, bent over a couple of weeks ago. It's about 2 feet high, on a long slim stalk. I staked it, but only to about 10 inches, so it's still bent over. What I didn't think about was the way roses grow. If you want a rose to grow into a fence, for example, you bend the stalks sideways. A new vertical stalk grows from each "eye" and you get a rose that's growing along the fence and that's full and rich, rather than a spindly thing. Apparently, this works on lemon verbena, too, since the photo below shows how the plant is sending out new growth upward from each eye along the bent part of the stalk.

Greek oregano. So nice. Very different from Italian (which I'm also growing), and so great for eating with mediterranean spices or spinach.

Sage and Italian oregano. I bought two little sage plants and one little oregano and planted them with basil and tomatoes. Everything is growing, growing, growing. I love sage, especially with pig, so this is a good thing.

Cute Baby, LOL!

I forgot to mention that on the flight back, our seat companion was a 16 year-old, traveling alone to her aunt in Charleston.

She was writing in a journal. I think it was a letter to a boy, and I shamelessly snooped over her shoulder. No, I don't feel guilty.

The entire thing was written in text language: "I'm sitting next to the cutest baby! lol." "This baby is sooo cute! lol." "Do you like babies, or are you a 'tuff guy'?" etc. If only she'd had emoticons...

But the important thing is: she wrote that Iain is cute about 10 times.

Nice girl.