yep, she's a house

Eleanor went to the doc for her five month weigh-in and a shot today. We're a little late but the stats continue to be impressive. After being just over 17 pounds at 4 months, she is now tipping the scale at 18.7 pounds. She only grew a centimeter and a half though. Depending on which chart you consult, she's around the 96th percentile for weight and 73rd for length.

As for the shot, she whimpered for about two seconds and never got to full-fledged crying. She'll be giving her brother a run for his money very, very soon.

Speaking of her brother, Oliver has spent two shortened days at his new school and is settling in nicely. All reports from his teachers and the boy himself have been positive. Tomorrow he will stay for his usual day, including lunch and nap. By far the scariest thing for me is having to pack his lunch. The school provides snacks in the morning and afternoon but not lunch, unlike our previous school. He always ate well there. Vegetables even. The variety and quality of the food was most impressive. Now I have to worry about him eating, since his favorite thing yesterday is likely to become loathesome tomorrow, and about his teachers scrutinizing what I pack. There are practical problems as well. They will refrigerate, but not heat. They do not cut food. And perhaps most worrisome of all, the kid has yet to master the straw. He blows instead of sucks. (That should send my hit count into overdrive.) Apparently this is completely different from what all the other two year olds his lead teacher has encountered do. He isn't getting the concept that he should do just what he does with a sippy. I am sending a milk box (thank you Trader Joe's, for putting 2% organic in shelf-stable boxes!) and a cup, with the hope they will encourage him to try the straw, but put it in a cup if that doesn't work.

Since we are going for full-on intimidation, as I was poking around for lunch ideas and containers and lead-free lunchboxes and such, I found way too many sites showing off insanely beautiful bento box lunches. It just took me over half an hour to pack up hummus, pita chips, carrots sticks, and melon. I can't begin to imagine how long it takes to pack something like this. Shoot, there's even "BentoTV". I'll take a picture if I ever pack anything worthy of a photograph. Don't hold your breath.