The Start of Summer

When does summer begin in the Midwest? June 21st? No. When school gets out the first week of June? Perhaps. The first day of 90 degree heat with 90% humidity? Usually, but not always.

The surest sign of summer is the first red ripe tomato in the garden. Mark your calendars, loyal readers! Summer 2007 started on June 13th as daddy and I picked the first ripe tomato of the year- a cherry tomato variety called "Sweet 100". Daddy was so proud of his little plants we have out growing by the front door, he couldn't help but brag to our neighbor as she walked by with her dog (a beautiful shorhair collie named Levi. He was very cool- he sniffed my toes and got really excited. I guess he likes babies!)

Daddy gave me the tomato to give to mommy and I clutched it tight in my hand. Thanks to the primitive reflexes that evolution has blessed me, I was capable of actually holding the tomato firmly and unaided! Since it was a little cherry tomato, it fit in my palm perfectly. We brought it to mommy in the house- she was so amused by my manual dexterity that she didn't have the heart to pry it out of my hand to eat it. She insited I could keep it. Daddy and I went back outside (don't worry, I was wearing sun protection!- see the photo) to continue to tend to the plants but I dropped the tomato and lost it. Daddy didn't seem to care- he pointed to the dozen new tomatoes turning a bright orange on the vine and said they would soon be red and we would have plenty of tomatoes all summer. YAY!

Before our gardening adventures, we went back to the hospital this AM (yuck!). I had my regularly scheduled 1 month appointment. No shots this time, thank goodness! But they wanted to take some X-ray pictures of my bladder because of the urine infection I had after I was born. It was pretty awful, but mommy held my hands and let me suck on her finger the whole time- that made it much better.

After the Xray, I met with the pediatrician and we found out I now weigh 9lbs 12oz! WOW! I gained 2 lbs in only 2 weeks. That twice as fast as normal! Apparently, my weight is finally catching up to my height, which is still 90 percentile for girls (yay! Basketball scholarship, here I come!). The dreaded immunizations come next month. I'm not looking forward to it, but dad says he'll feel a lot better after I get something called "pneumoccocal vaccine". Sounds scary to me, but I guess it's important and saves lots of little kids lives. Whatever I need to be safe!

ENJOY SUMMER!