tonight ellen was reading a book to herself. (pediatrician's guide to your baby's first year or something like that ) anyway, i thought a transcript of the story she was making up might be a good window into our life lately. it went something like this. look at baby. hit the baby. baby crying cause ellen hit the baby. baby crying. baby crying. hit the baby. kick the baby. baby crying. i know this sounds like she hates isaiah, but she really doesn't. she loves to kiss and hug and snuggle him and she even tells him she loves him. but i cannot figure out how to get it into her brain that hitting and kicking and bonking him (like a head butt) is not as enjoyable for him as for her. i thought maybe she needed more attention and snuggling from me, but today she was doing it while isaiah was on the floor and i was holding and snuggling her. so that doesn't make any sense. we started going to gymboree this week (birthday present from mom - thanks!) and ellen absolutely and completely loved every minute of it. she was a bit shy for the first ten seconds until "teacher laurie" introduced herself to ellen. and then she was in love, following her everywhere and doing all kinds of exploring that was much more adventerous than she's ever done before. she actually walked up a big inflated thing that looked kinda like a log that was set up at an angle so the kids could walk up it and then jump off into some inner tubes. and ellen actually did it and enjoyed it and did it again! and she didn't even ask me to do it first. (that's been the latest trend...anything that she's a little nervous about - like giving someone new a high five- she asks me to do it first.) isaiah is making many valient efforts to get some real food into his mouth. today ellen and i were sharing an apple and he made three attempts to score some. first he tried pulling my hand toward his mouth. then he tried falling toward the apple. then he tried pulling my hand again. i'm feeling a bit sorry for the guy, so i'm going to start giving him some cereal tomorrow. or maybe vegetables. i haven't decided yet. i wasn't sure if he was old enough for food so i left a message with the nurse asking if he was old enough. i think they are a bit irritated with me since they always have the receptionist call back (which, if you know me you know that irritates me to no end since i want to ask questions and clarify what exactly they mean and the receptionist never knows). anyway, while i was waiting for the call back i remembered i could actually look up this information myself in that handy little pediatricians guide book that ellen was reading. they recommended four months but said some babies would be ready at three - it all just depended on if they were still reflexively spitting out whatever you put in their mouth. a couple minutes later the receptionist called back and said definitely wait till four months. i was a bit perturbed because they never asked anything - like is he spitting everything out. is he interested in food etc...so anyway, i've decided to go for it anyway. anybody know of any other reasons they would tell me to wait until four months? (that's only a week away anyway.) we went to a home community meeting (like a small group) that was linked up with imago dei last night. i'm really really liking that place. (imago) i don't think i've every enjoyed church that much. usually i feel a bit irritated cause i don't agree with something or think that someone is missing a vital point or something or i'm spending all my energy trying to get past whatever i think isn't right and actually participate in the service. some might say i'm overly critical, and i'd probably agree. but i haven't found much at all to be irritated about here. not that it's perfect by any means, but i like it a lot. and this home community deal was cool, because we were a bit curious if it would all break down there. like the leadership is cool, but the individuals are still lamer than lame. but nope, everyone seems to be on the same page.