Ally learns 3 new skills

Ally must be making a bunch of new neuronal connections because she premiered 3 new skills today.

1. Clapping her hands. I did not personally witness this, but the woman who takes care of her during the day told me that she clapped today.

2. Splashing in the bathtub.

3. Pulling up to a standing position.

And so it begins. . .

Holiday gifts

Okay, with the holidays coming at us sooner than we think, I guess it is time to start our holiday shopping. Over the last couple years, Ben and I have made some of the gifts we've given rather than buying them from a store (examples: slate tile coasters, home-made banana bread, and Ben's single balancing wine bottle holder). This year, we'll probably do the same.

Now, for those of you who are reading our blog are trying to figure out what to get us for Christmas, here are some ideas.

1. A new house (just kidding, but seriously if you have a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around that you're looking to invest, there is some nice stuff for sale here in Chapel Hill).

2. Gift cards. Favorite places include Whole Foods, Target, Babies R Us, clothing stores like Old Navy and Kohls, and various restaurants.

3. Nothing. Honestly, we are a blessed little family surrounded by a great college town, great friends, good jobs, financial security, and a perfect baby girl (I can say that right now because she is sound asleep upstairs). Those are the best gifts.

Update on Ben's eye

Ben's scratched cornea is healing. Most of the pain is gone, and he was able to drive into work today. Yesterday he stayed home and quickly found that it's hard to keep yourself entertained if you can't use your eyes much. So therefore, he is quite happy that this injury is healing quickly. When I told our friends Matt and Victoria about Ben's eye, they commented that their baby Elaina has also inflicted injury on both of them with her fingernails-in the form of bloody noses.

So just to warn anyone who may come into contact with Ally or any other 6-ish month old baby, you might want to wear some protective goggles and a noseguard. Actually, a helmet might also be a good idea because hair-pulling is fair game too. Actually, just wear an astronaut helmet to be safe!

Recent adventures

This week has been a busy one. Ally turned 6 months old on Wednesday and had her well-baby checkup on Thursday. She weighed in a 15 lbs 2 oz, which keeps her between the 25th and 50th percentile. She has now sampled rice cereal as well as bananas. She is not a big fan of the rice cereal, and we can't really blame her because the stuff is pretty bland. However, she seems to really enjoy bananas, although more ends up on her hands and face than in her mouth. The doctor said that we should introduce one new food per week in order to control for any potential food sensitivities or allergies. So this week she will continue to eat bananas. In the coming weeks, she will be sampling sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and applesauce (what I happened to buy at the grocery store tonight).

Today we had a Pittsboro Bach Society reading. I haven't written about PBS in a while because I haven't played with them since last November. We played the Bach E major violin concerto and the Bach Double (Bach concerto for two violins in D minor). These are two pieces that I have played multiple times, although probably not since I was in middle school! Our guest soloist was Brian Reagin, the concertmaster of the NC Symphony, and I think it was one of our best concerts yet.

This morning also brought another adventure, although one that we really could have done without. Ben suffered a scratched cornea, thanks to one of Ally's thumbnails. So at 10:30am, we took a little trip to the Chapel Hill Urgent Care clinic because Ben was in a very large amount of pain and really couldn't open his eye. He's doing a little better now, although he had to cancel his classes for tomorrow because he probably won't be able to see well enough to drive out to Elon. Luckily these things heal within a few days, so hopefully he'll be good as new by mid-week.

Pictures from Halloween

Ally has her first meal of rice cereal. I let her play with her own spoon, but she still insisted on trying to feed herself with the spoon I was holding.

Eating (and wearing) rice cereal.

Ally checks out the Halloween candy to be handed out to trick-or-treaters.

Ally makes a very good porch ornament next to the oversized butternut squash.