Yet another month has passed, folks. Time goes by both very fast and rather slowly in different ways. The frequency with which I find myself writing these posts always makes me feel as though each month is merely a week, but our days are full of so much learning, and goodness, and precious moments (no, not the collectible figurines. . . if my days were full of Precious Moments I think I would need many more cats than the zero that we have, and maybe some puff paint sweatshirts, and a nineties era china cabinet and a feather duster. . .to dust them [because what exactly else do you do with collectible figurines other than dust them], and if you happen to own Precious Moments I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. . .that goes for you too Mom, I like your nineties era china cabinet.) Um, anyways when I reflect back on all that happens each month it doesn't feel too fast, it feels just right, as long as I take time to enjoy and appreciate the goings on. Now, on to the good stuff!

(Indy normally prefers to eat her avacado with a fork, and does so rather delicately and cleanly, but this time, for some reason, more seemed to end up on her face than in her belly.)

Eats

Indy has been exposed to so many of our normal family foods at this point that there isn't a ton of new things to add. I wil say that the pickiness issues that I mentioned last time seem largely resolved, and I suspect they might have been tied to the illness she was battling at the time. She is much more open to at least trying new foods these days, and enjoys many of them.

• kombucha (she acts like it's so tart, but she keeps coming back for more!)
• shrimp
• crab
• she's had cheese on and off before but now she LOVES it
• hotdog (100% grassfed beef)
• pork rinds (a GREAT alternative for cracker loving peoples of all ages, not super nutrient dense, but they offers healthy fats and protein, and they're grain-free/low carb, whichever you're looking for) - Indy loves the texture 
• almond butter
• coffee (ok, obviously we don't let her drink coffee, but I let her have a sip from our iced coffee the other day and she liked it! Why does she like bitter things? She also eats citrus rinds, which always confounds me)
• spaghetti squash with marinara and chorizo
• (she still loves most fruits and veggies, but no new varieties that I can think of off hand)

We've been trying to introduce a little raw cow's milk into her diet. . .she's just not having it. She doesn't hate it, but she doesn't really like it either. She'll accept it when she's ready, I suppose.

Also, we've started giving her a multivitamin with iron in it. I'm cringing a little right now. I'm still unsure of the decision. The addition of elevated lead levels into the equation makes me feel like bringing her iron levels up is more imperative and immediately important (which it is, since anemic children absorb more lead), and it's causing me to feel unconfident in my ability to do so in the natural way which I would prefer (if lead were not an issue, it would feel more straightforward to me). In this case, I'm not sure if the supplemental iron is a modern saving grace, or one of the mistaken medical mores. The line is fine, and I'm not sure wether I'm on the right side or not. What makes it worse is that she hates the stuff. . . so giving it to her involves holding her down and force-feeding her, which I hate, and all for something I'm not even sure I think I should be doing (I'm not completely against supplements in all cases, I'm just selective about the supplements and the cases). There seems to be very little information out there from the natural resources I usually turn to, so I feel a little lost. If anyone can shed any more light on the issue for me, I would be greatly appreciative.

Feats

• she has mastered going up AND down stairs
• she can identify her and other people's belly button, and eyelashes (a parlour trick we can get her to do at home anytime, but which she almost never repeats in front of other people)
• she might be saying "hi" (this one is still undetermined, but it really does seem like she might be picking up on this one)
• she pretends to talk on the phone
• she shakes her head no. . . grrrr
• she has two more teeth coming in on the bottom which are being slower than molasses in January (does the teething ever stop?), she's been awfully grumpy lately and I wonder if it's related
• okay and this one is not really a feat. . . and it also might have been more than a month ago, but this story must be told. I heard Alan yelling the other morning, and raced out of bed, positive that Indy was currently eating some highly poisonous substance, to find that she had picked up a poopy diaper that Alan had momentarily left on the ground, and was carrying it across the diningroom and into the hallway, leaving a sloppy trail of poop as it tumbled from the diaper as she toddled. Not as bad as dying from ingesting rat poison or something. . . but I can understand the yelling for sure.