Small Move, Sparks. Small Moves.

When the food grinder instructions tell you how wonderful the apples will be when you mush them for a baby, they do not say that the apples will oxidize immediately and turn into the most yucky looking crud this side of his diapers. Yet, it tasted right, and he seemed to like it. This was his first fruit and his first ride in the high chair. The seat is a little big for him; his arms can't quite reach properly across the tray. We gave him a sip cup to play with and filled it with water. It's built differently than the bottle nipples and requires some effort to get the drink. Also, he wasn't impressed with the flat taste of water. We progress slowly.

However, he also may have executed his first intentional cooperation. Usually, when you try to put his pants back on, you fight to get two fat, bent legs into two pants legs. It's a struggle. Tthis weekend, when I held up his pants after a diaper change, he stuck out both legs arrow straight. It was a definite muscle movement that lasted more than a few seconds. He wanted to help and moved accordingly. I was delighted. It suggests "normal" mental development and motor coordination. I told Your Sister about it when she woke up from a nap, and she got the same results a few hours later when she changed him.

I ran Sunday for the first time since the abominable performance in the Halloween race. I stayed in a low gear and chugged through about 3 miles, including the rotten hill near our house and intended only to walk a cool-down lap around the neighborhood. I was almost back to our hose when the iPod shuffled onto "Hungry Like The Wolf," and I had to run and run flat-out. I had no choice. The faux jungle rhythms got me kooky. That was fun, and now I'm suffering (the new title of my autobiography).

We've made some conditional plans for the weekend travel with Mom with the understanding that we'll have to be flexible. She seems up for it. Your Sister is weighing seeing a new Disney movie with the nieces versus shopping with the in-laws. Neither sound much fun for a five-month-old. I could stay home and mind him while scarfing leftovers.

Picture of the Day
This might be the largest man-made partial lunar eclipse ever seen.