In which I am a bigger dork than usual

That's Miss M hanging with Donald the Dragon. It's a slightly older picture, the swing is no longer there because the last time she was in it, she grabbed the front left upright while swinging. Um, no.

Anyway, the real point of this is that I stood in line outside Best Buy today and got a piece of paper that said I was number 10 and I went in and got my Wii Fit. Um, yes, I am a dork. It is quite fun to track things and I am looking forward to seeing improvement.

Crocheting with black fingering weight yarn at night is not easy. Especially when you crochet as tightly as I do. To make the ninja's body (pictures when there is a point), you chain 18 and then have to join in a circle and let me tell you, joining 18 small chains in a non-twisty circle and then working into them... not easy. I ended up putting a stitch marker through the back loop of each of the 18 chains and taking them out one by one as I worked into that chain. I was glad I wasn't in public.

Solid food!

That would be M. enjoying her solids. I'm going the baby-led weaning (BLW) route for introducing solids, however, we aren't stopping the breast-feeding. One of the people in a BLW forum I belong to said, in regard to food: before one, it's just for fun. So even though there is very little actually getting swallowed, she's learning about foods and getting her nutrition from me. She seems to be enjoying herself, nonetheless. Up top she bathed in banana, the middle picture is blackberries, and the bottom is peach. She also liked baby carrot -- it's a good teether. She wasn't too sure about yellow squash, zucchini and broccoli, and really didn't like the piece of green onion that she swallowed. This is just so fun for me. We made a video of her first banana, but it's a bit long to post here.

M had her six-month check-up yesterday. I was able to truthfully answer yes to all the milestone questions, which is a good feeling. D and I laughed last night because one of the questions was, "Does she reach for things?" and a couple seconds after he sat her up on the floor, she dove forward reaching for something beyond her grasp. She is still in the 90th percentile height at 27" and is in the 75th percentile for weight at 17 lbs 6 oz.

Went to knitting at Wool and Company as usual on Friday. This time, I brought M's highchair so she could sit up with the ladies. It was a success! I was able to knit without impeding the knitting of others, which was nice.

Over the weekend I made a bracelet with M's name. I'm not going to bother fuzzing it because it's not that visible, and if you were industrious, you could find out what her name is, but I'm still not going to write it out here. Anyway, the bracelet is a bit long, but the first go-round was a bit short and I don't feel like wasting anymore of the beading wire and it works... we'll see if I think I can salvage the wire.

I've stalled on the DNA I'm knitting because making the second half isn't as interesting, but I will finish. I've also started a couple crochet ninjas and have made progress on my dad's sweater... pictures later.

FOs for M

M happily posed in the storage footstool with her new hat. I think she looks like a little pixie, or flower fairy. The hat is the Emli Bonnet by Alison Hansel. It's a great little pattern. I used Sirdar Calypso, 100% cotton, so it will be nice for the summer. I used one ball and just the littlest bit of a second (had to add the second ball during the picot bind-off). As you can see, she is sucking in that bottom lip, still working on her first tooth.

Had a very nice Mother's Day weekend. I hope all the mothers out there did, too. Spun a little, knit a little and crocheted a bit. I finished up the Baby Snow Dragon on Monday. The only modification I made was to add two more spikes because I sewed the tail a little lower down on the body, which made only three spikes look a little weak. Fun toy for M. I've started Baby's First DNA for her, too. I've found so many toys I want to make for her. She'll be drowning in wool toys.

Today M is 6 months old!?! In some ways I can't believe she is already that old, and in most other ways, I can't believe she hasn't always been here. She is sitting up so well and started rolling from her stomach onto her back.

We had a nice outing with her Grandma W today, the purpose of which was toys. We got some, and a couple other goodies, as well. M fell asleep right before we got ready to go home and didn't even wake up while I buckled her into her seat. Tomorrow we go back to Wool and Co. for Friday knitting. We were there while I nursed M today, and I scouted a new sweater for her. Something else from the Sirdar booklet.

This isn't actually a garden blog

Although you are forgiven if you've thought so, recently. It's just been really fun seeing what's come up. Since we didn't really move in until September and I didn't spend a lot of time outside checking out the yard, I didn't really know what we had, so it's great to see the tulips blooming in different colors and there is more hyacinth coming up, and hostas, etc. Last week I got the last of the tree/shrubs out, so both azaleas are planted! And check out the lilac!

Just after planting a couple weeks ago.

Now.

See how much it's filled in and leafed out? And the daffodils around it have bloomed and it's all just so pretty!

In other news, I'm pretty sure M is teething for real now. She is chewing on everything, including hats:









She also seems to have a bump where the bottom teeth should come in, is sucking her bottom lip a ton and is a little fussier than usual (which still isn't bad). I think by her 6 month birthday, she just might have a tooth. She's also sitting up quite well with just a little aid from the boppy pillow, and pushing up on her arms a lot when she gets on her stomach (which is often). And she is enjoying chewing on everything, did I mention that? She seems to like Myrtle, a little turtle I crocheted her from leftover Cascade 220. It is such a quick and easy pattern, I might make more, especially as she seems to be felting this one!

I have an Emli Bonnet in the works for her, too, out of Some Sirdar Calypso I've had in my stash (don't remember why it's there). The color of the hat in the picture is actually prettier than real life; the yarn is more of a dull minty green. But, I like the pattern and know that Bean here will look good in it. On the right we have a Hemlock Ring out of Blue Sky Organic Cotton. I'm attempting to make a tam, but will have to rip back a few rounds to change it a bit. There is also spinning and Na Craga progress being made, but no pictures.

Oh, and the Wii is fun, but I missed my chance to pre-order Wii Fit, so I am going to have to stalk Best Buy.