Hot Shots

We enjoy spicy foods quite a bit out here. There must be 10 or 15 different kinds of peppers out back waiting to be mixed into a salsa, or pureed for the next batch of Two Pooch Pepper Sauce. I will admit, modesty escapes me when it comes to the vegetable garden, so I figured the pediatrician ought to know a little about Jurassic Park.

We had the boys in for their 4 month check-up, and after a brief lecture about more tummy time, Dr. Jim started discussing solid foods and how to introduce them. He finally recognized the home grown squash, pumpkins, etc that could all be made into baby food. I jokingly murmured to Eliot that we would be nice and lay off the habeneros for a year or two. "Not necessary," says Dr. Jim. He tried telling us that in other areas of the world, people feed hot peppers to their infants all the time. Now I could be way off here, but just because Doc likes his Thai food spicy doesn't mean infants in Southeast Asia live on hot peppers. I have a hunch that rice cereal might be a bit easier on the acid reflux Dr. Jim.

With more family now reading this baby banter, and these tid bits being the only written log of the boys so far, we had better start including those already having a huge impact on the first four months. With such a huge support group of friends and family, catching up will take months so lets start with the present.

This week Grandpa Kevin is in town "on business" again. Funny how these business trips to Colorado have become so frequent. How many times can you count chickens dad? No complaints, a visitor bearing gifts of fried chicken and chineese food is welcome here any time. Of his many traits I respect, self reliance ranks pretty high, but one should at least be able to walk first. The boys were still cranky from their shots yesterday, so Grandpa tells them that you don't get shots if you stay away from doctors. I suddenly had flashbacks of him standing next to the chimney in Wheaton stitching himself up so that mom didn't see the gash. Thanks dad, but we might just opt for modern medicine with these guys. The word on the streets is that Finn looks like a cross between Grandpa Kevin and Elmer Fudd, while Eliot looks like a Benjamin Button version of Grandpa Russ. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it doesn't sound like either boy will be a ladies man. Maybe we should move to Asia, eat spicy peppers, and collect dowry.