Flashback time! I was taking Gigi for a walk in the stroller this morning when I noticed that someone had left a beer can on the side of the road. "Swine," I thought, reaching over to pick it up, "blighting our neighborhood." I figured I'd just drop it in the recycling bin at home...but then I thought, how would it look, walking around with a beer can in my hand or the cup holder, before noon, out with the baby?

And for a moment, I was back in the Baltics, my friends. Oh yes, where there is no such thing as an "open container law," where gin and tonic is sold in cans as a soft drink. Really, I once saw a lady in my prior home city drinking a canned G&T (which in and of itself is an abomination) at eight in the morning...walking her kid to school. Jesus wept.

In the end, I decided that civic pride trumped personal dignity. I put the can in the stroller basket and headed for home.

I spent last weekend at Hogwarts, as you know from a prior post. I got all the way through Book Six in about a day - it helped that Gigi and her daddy went out to play on Saturday so I had the whole house to myself for a while. I am still recovering. All I can say is Wow. I will not spoil anything for anyone, but that Rowling woman has some 'splaining to do...

Milestones Update: Little Gigi just keeps getting less and less little. While her grandparents were visiting, she decided to show off and start pulling herself up to a standing position. Her "scooting" is now evolving into a proper crawl, so I've been battening down the hatches and putting little plastic whatsits in the sockets. She still has no teeth, but man is she ever trying. She feeds herself Cheerios, sleeps mostly through the night, and claps her hands when she's really happy.
We took her for her nine-month well baby visit a few weeks early because I was worried about her weight. She's still in the lower percentiles but progressing along her curve; the doc isn't too worried but will be more than happy to recheck her in about six weeks. She's now up to 15 pounds and one ounce, which means she hasn't quite tripled her birthweight - but finally she weighs more than the cat!

We're Back! The various relatives have dispersed, and Chez Purple Scare has returned to its usual, more managable size. (Wish I could say the same thing for my pregnancy-and-nursing-enlarged butt.)
However, we may continue to experience blogging service delays, as the new Harry Potter book comes out tonight!!!!! Yes, I will be at a midnight release party, because - to borrow from and paraphrase Gigi's Kindly Uncle - deep down, I am not a thirty-six-year-old woman; I am four nine-year-old girls. Or one 11-year-old, a twelve year-old, and a thirteen-year-old. Whatever. I'm spending the weekend at Hogwarts; y'all have a good one.