Here we go!

Okay... Avery's officially crawling!  The past few days she's been scooting and taking a bit of distance here and there, but today she was moving all over the floor.  She's not very coordinated yet, and mostly crawls on her left knee and right foot... but now we're going to have to watch her!

When I picked her up from daycare, Barry told me how far she'd crawled and Lola mentioned she's pulled up to standing on Barry's lap.  Well, I hadn't seen her crawl that far, but had seen her stand up.  Sometimes it frustrates me that they are so quick to tell me something that she's done without thinking that it's something that I might want to discover she can do on my own.  No, Lola, I don't want to come pick my daughter up after having been away from her all day long for you to tell me that she's said her first word or taken her first step.  It's not a contest... let me enjoy  my daughter's milestones in the perhaps false belief that I'm the first one to have seen them. 

Anyway!!  She had swimming classes tonight and did really well.  I could tell whe was tired though.  I need to mention that the other day when we had swimming lessons, I went into a bathroom stall, used the toilet, completely undressed and put my swimming suit on all while holding Avery.  I didn't even have any buttcheeks or boobies hanging out when I was finished, so felt pretty impressed with myself.

Workwise... I'm writing up the diquat study that Stacy and I did last summer.  I would like to have it in our in-house review before going to Michigan in a couple weeks.  The results aren't earth-shattering but I think they're interesting enough for a medium-sized journal.  I have to think of what that might be.

I need to mention how hot it is.  My God, the heat.  The absolute temperature (as shown on my official new-van thermometer) was 104.  The heat index, I was informed by the radio, was 115.  The humidity was oppressive.  There is a nest of swallow babies on our porch with as many as 4 babies in it.  I was hoping they would fledge soon because the parents are dive-bombing us every time we go out front.  Well, I think three of the babies succumbed to the heat, as there was only one left last night (one was dead on the porch, and I saw the momma bird trying to pull one of the others out)... sort of sad.  Tomorrow, cooler weather should prevail.  Yippee!!