November update

I keep having grand plans to update this blog, and then I put it off. And next thing you know, it's December already!

We had Violet's six-month and Jack's four-year doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago. (It was late for Violet, but I wanted the kids to have their appointments at the same time so I could save myself a trip.) Violet is in the 60th percentile for height and 50th for weight, which I'm a little surprised about. She seems so chubby to me. It must be the cheeks. Poor Jack is in the 30th percentile for height but 70th for weight. It's weird, because I don't think he looks particularly chunky. He's definitely solid, but otherwise mostly proportional. I think most of the weight is in his head, because there is surely some concrete in there.

Regardless, he has a very inflated sense of his own height. He tells us all the time, "I am tall for my age." He is very interested in being the most of anything - the oldest, tallest, biggest, fastest, whatever. Everything is a competition for him, and he is unfortunately a pretty sore loser. We are working on learning to be a good sport, as well as understanding that not everything is a race. We used to let him win any "race" that we had, but now I deliberately make sure he doesn't win to give him opportunities to lose gracefully.

Speaking of competitions, one of Jack's favorite new pastimes is playing this Toy Story Yahtzee game that he got for his birthday. He loves it so much, and at first we really enjoyed playing with him. But as he has learned how the game works, he has also learned how to cheat so that he always wins, so that's less fun for us. So we're back to lather, rinse, repeat, see above.

Violet is finally starting to make a little progress in her gross motor skills. A couple of weeks ago, she started lurching herself forward onto her stomach from a seated position. From there, she will usually flip onto her back and the back onto her stomach. She isn't really rolling around so much, just flipping back and forth. She goes nowhere fast, but at least she's moving toward moving. And it really is amazing how far she is able to reach just by bending forward and stretching her little arms out.

Other milestones for Violet this month include sitting in a restaurant high chair and a shopping cart for the first time. We are also introducing her to more and more solid foods, although I have to admit that I'm a lot more lackadaisical about it than I was with Jack. With him, I was rigorous about waiting four days between introducing new foods to guard against allergic reactions. I don't think I fed him off our plates until he was much older. And once I started him on solids, I think I was a lot better about making sure that he ate at least a couple of good meals a day. Violet doesn't seem quite as into eating as Jack was, so sometimes it doesn't seem worth the hassle to try.

November was busy but fun, between Jack and Tom's birthdays and then Thanksgiving. We had wonderful celebrations for each, thanks to all our terrific friends. And now, it's time to start thinking about Christmas. Where has this year gone?