Baby Update: At six weeks, he weighs ten pounds. At this rate, he'll be bigger than his sister before his first birthday!

It's Not My Fault, Hooray!!! My mother has been staying with us for nearly two months now, God love her. Yesterday, Gigi hit a new milestone, with Grandma's help.

Grandma was fixing Gigi's breakfast, you see, when she encountered a daddylonglegs in a corner of the kitchen, and reacted the way many of us do when we see an unexpected arachnid: "HOLY CRAP!"

And from across the room, Grandma heard "Howey kap!!!"

Yeah, we were extra pleased to unleash her on her daycare classmates that day.

File Under "Island Life/Sticker Shock": One head of cauliflower, US $ 9.56.

Milestone Alert: The Boy grabbed a toy today. Not too shabby for six weeks. He's currently lying down on one of those gym/playmats with zoo animals dangling overhead, and he keeps swatting at them, so, wait for it...

My son has spanked his first monkey.

Maybe I should have stayed off the Blogger a bit longer...

So Happy New Year everyone.

My first thought on seeing this headline was, "Anyone who loves me, send me a bag." Then I read the actual reviews and thought better of it. Too bad, it sounded so promising...

Notes from the Sick Ward: The day I had hoped would mark Gigi's return to nursery, she decided to puke on the kitchen floor. So much for that. Her infection ran its course in time for a cold to settle in, and that's been working its way through the house. Poor kid was stuck at home for two weeks all together, and couldn't understand why she wasn't being allowed to play outside (even as she was running a fever and blowing snot). By Christmas Eve, we were all climbing the walls.

Being at home with a sick toddler leads one to desparate measures. By Day Eight, I caved in to the Electric Babysitter, aka TiVo. And yes, I let the Little Red Freak into my household. Elmo and his buddies bought us a few minutes' peace between naptimes and dose-of-Advil-time, so the rest of us could guzzle hot tea and honk up the contents of our nasal passages. Ugh.

We all seem to be over the worst of it now, but it was a heck of a way to spend the week before Christmas. We all got pretty punchy by the time St Nick was due for his rounds. For examples:

Me: "Hey Mom, what do you want to watch: It's a Wonderful Life, or Reservoir Dogs?"

Or, try this:

Husband: "Hey, this burp cloth is really bad. It's too small and doesn't really absorb anything."

Me, and Mom, (simultaneously, from different rooms): "HEY! You burp the kid with the cloth that you have, not the the cloth you wish you had!"

Or:

Mom: "How about moving this chair over here? It'd really tie the room together."

Me: "Great! Now all I need is a Chinaman to pee on it."

So you can see why I stayed away from the Blogger for a while...