A Few Stray Items

Max the Mathematician
Max competed for his school at the Math is Cool competition a couple weeks ago. They are on 4 man teams in events like team tests, brain math (all calculations in your head--no paper), relays, and college bowl sessions. Most of the public and private elementary schools in the greater Spokane area field multiple teams, so there were an awful lot of kids there. Max was pleased when he won the top individual from his school.

Max was pretty upset when he found out that Math is Cool and the Pinewood Derby were on the same night. When we explained to him that the rest of his team would have to drop out if he didn't go to Math is Cool, he recognized where his responsibilities lay. His friend Joseph agreed to run his car for him. While it didn't place, Max did get to have the fun of making the car and spending some time with his dad.

Can a grown-up use a pediatrician?
We took Natalie in for her 15 month check up. She weighed in at a feathery 18 lb. 13 oz, gaining only ten ounces in the last three months. That puts her at about the 3rd percentile for weight. This isn't a bad thing--she's just a little bean. But, the pediatrician wants to make sure she isn't running off more calories than she can consume. So we are supposed to start putting more butter on her bread, feeding her Ritz crackers with peanut butter and whisk cream cheese into her scrambled eggs! Now THAT is the kind of prescription I'd like!

Words of wisdom from Natalie
Daddy. Dad. Mom (She doesn't call me Mommy . . . kind of weird, I think.) Banana. Duck. Cow. What's that. This. Drink. Cookie. They may not be wise, but that's all the words she says, so take your pick.

Hope it is a whole lot warmer, sunnier and less dreary where you are than where we are!