Baby Mirmir

This one is for you Jim. Yes, I do love my second child as much as my first. In fact sometimes I love her more (unlike the short blonde girl, Miriam doesn't hit me when she is angry).

Mirmir, that is what Madeleine calls Miriam--Mir Mir, like a soviet space station. Miriam is getting so big. I weighed her today and she weighed 15 lbs. To put that in perspective, Madeleine weighed 19 lbs when she turned 1. Miriam turned 5 months old on the 5th, so by the time of her first birthday, she should be around 60 lbs (OK, so I am exaggerating, but she is going to be a big girl).

Miriam's favorite activity is watching Madeleine jump. Miriam lies on the bed and I sit next to her. And then Madeleine jumps, jumps, jumps all around us while Miriam squeals. This is a lot of fun for Miriam, but for me this is a bit stressful - I have a 2 year old, who still isn't the best walker, jumping up and down right by a baby. Occasionally I have to throw my body across Miriam and let Madeleine pounce me. But as long as the girls are having fun I guess I can deal with a two year old slamming into me :-)

And Miriam's second favorite thing is watching TV. Madeleine wasn't aware of the TV until after she turned 1. We have to really pay attention to what we are watching and make sure that Miriam doesn't watch too much TV.

I am just glad that Miriam is not into crayons yet. After waking up this morning and looking at the wall to see a red mural running the width of the bed, I have decided that this is a talent that I will be suppressing in Miriam. One destroyer of the apartment walls is enough (sorry, Jay).

Joel claims that Miriam is a mommy's girl. Miriam just wants me to hold her. Once she realizes Joel is holding her, she cries. And then Joel has to really work to entertain her. He bounces her on his knee, rocks her, makes faces at her, and anything else he can think of. Of course, it always ends the same way: rejection of Joel and continuing proof that I am the favorite parent! Of course, my being the only one that feeds her probably helps.

I wish I could write more about Miriam, but right now all she really does is lay around. She lays around and laughs, lays around and cries, lays around and eats, lays around and sleeps... But in another month or two she should be rolling around from room to room, then crawling from room to room, and finally walking to the kitchen to hide Joel's wedding ring in the back of the fridge or to throw his watch in the garbage. And I will laugh and laugh because Joel should have learned to put his valuables up after Madeleine lost them all.