Did you think I was exaggerating when I said that NikkiZ inherited my monstrous head? Because I wasn’t. We went for her 6-month checkup yesterday and her height and weight put her at 30% of her age. A little below average. She’s tiny.

But her HEAD? Where does her head circumference fall in? 95%. So, not only is her head bigger than the average 6-month-old head, but it’s also completely huge for her tiny body. AWESOME. Seriously. Even if she grows up and looks exactly like her Dad, she’ll always have her Momma’s giant ‘noggin.

(Be sure to come back later for more doctor’s visit goodness. Like, how the words “inmate” and “incarcerated” played a part in the visit. And also? We discuss how appropriate is the question, “Do they have different Daddies?”)

I bought this goofy little fairy garden statue at a store in the mall many moons ago. It had a thermometer and a test tube to measure rain in. We still have it but it not longer measures temperature and the test tube was lost a long time ago. I was waiting for LilZ to finish his sidewalk chart art piece today, so I could take a picture of it, and I was just walking around the house looking for other things to photograph. Finding inspiration, literally, in my back yard.

Does photographing shit forgotten in my flowerbeds count as artsy? Or fartsy?

The battle to get NikkiZ to eat solids has been long and painful. After it appeared she hated every solid we tried (except for the peanut butter covered steak bites - she loved those), we decided to stick with cereal mixed with juice until she started eating it. This saved us the stress of wondering if she was spitting things out because she didn’t like the taste, or because she didn’t like solids. We have just sat down with her every night, trying to feed her oatmeal mixed with apple juice. EVERY NIGHT. Some nights? She has let me cram a couple of spoonfulls in her mouth before she clamps her lips shut in protest. Other nights? She spits it all out. Some nights, she does both, because she likes variety.

Whatever her response, we keep trying until she seems REALLY pissed off, and then we stop until the next night. No big deal, really. We figured persistance would pay off in the end.

Well, at the suggestion of her teachers, we sent some cereal yesterday and today to let them try to feed her when they feed some of the other babies. They were hoping the Peer Pressure Effect would inspire her to eat. Yesterday? They got her to eat about 7 small bites. Which was about 6 more than I’ve ever gotten her to eat. And today? SHE ATE ALL OF IT.

I told Ms. Morning, the teacher who got her to eat, that she would now have to move in with our family. She laughed when I said that. I’m guessing she thinks it would be fun to live with us. HA! Fun! That’s why she laughed, right? Because I would hate to think she thought I was joking when I said that.

What the hell does that even mean? Seeing it typed out like that, a rhyme I used to say as a child, I realize it really doesn’t make and sense. There’s no verb! Without a verb it means nothing! At least, it doesn’t literally mean what I always thought it should mean: Keep The Promise Or You’re A Piece Of Poop.

Ignore what was written above. I am a very tired moron. Thanks for Frema for being so polite about pointing out the real rhyme instead of saying, “ZOOT! ARE YOU DRUNK?”

Where was I…

LilZ read Hoot awhile back and has been hounding me to read it for ages. SWEARING I would love it and be glad I read it. The last time I took advice from a child as to what to read I ended up crying (Damn you, Bridge to Terabithia) so I first made sure that Hoot had a happy ending. I actually called my friend Stace’s daughter one time, when she told me to read Because of Winn Dixie and said, “I’m almost through with this book, if it ends sadly, you and I are never speaking again.” She was 9 at the time.

Since Hoot, the movie, comes out next Friday, I promised LilZ I would have the book read by then so I could take him to go see it. And like everything else, I have put it off to the last possible minute. He reminded me of my promise last night and I assured him I would read it this weekend while he was at his Dad’s house.

My question for you is this: Do they make Cliff’s Notes for children’s books? If not, they should. For the lazy parent who wants to be able to talk to their kid about the books they’re reading, but who doesn’t have the time to actually read said books.

But seriously, I’m looking forward to having an excuse to read something NOT on the internet for a change. Other than The No Cry Sleep Solution, I’ve not read any books since NikkiZ was born. And before that? It was the last Harry Potter book. I used to be a book FIEND. Reading any piece of popular fiction I could get my hands on. Now? I spend all of my free time blogging. I would say this was a fine change-up if I was writing about something other than ass sweat, TiVo and Krispy Kreme donuts. My intellectually challenging material is inspiring sometimes, isn’t it?

I spoke awhile back about how I got up at 4am one morning, relatively unintentionally, but that by the end of the day it felt like a good decision because I had a more relaxed morning and I still got my housework done so I could have a more relaxing evening.

Well, I’ve continued to get up between 4am and 4:30am, but I’ve also been staying up later, trying to get some work done on my site. This is the kind of work I really enjoy doing so that hour or so I stay up extra at night gives me some very valuable “Zoot Time” that is sometimes hard to come by. Damn kids.

I was just telling MrZ that it’s obviously taking a toll on my body because physically? I feel a wee bit tired. But mentally? I feel revived. I’m getting anywhere from 2-5 Sleeping Kid hours in a day. This allows me to get stuff done during hours where I’m not needed as a Mom. Therefore I don’t have to feel guilty doing laundry when I haven’t gotten to play with NikkiZ all day. Or, LilZ and I can go for our walk/run and I don’t have to feel like I need to be doing dishes. Hell - I even tool LilZ to the library the other night and it is a standing rule that unless it’s imperative - NO errands are run on weeknights. EVER.

In other words? Those few hours on either end of my day have truly made me a better Mom.

Now - the Exhaustion Induced Hallucinations? Those may add a negative spin on things. As do the dark circles under my eyes and inability to use the english language properly (I mixed up the words chocolate and laundry the other night. As in: There were 10 pieces of chocolate that NikkiZ has pooped on this week that I had to wash tonight .

Put yourself in MrZ’s shoes and interpret THAT one.