That should brighten up your day. We were eating pears and oatmeal for breakfast. Nathaniel couldn't resist this moment to show us his teeth. The second upper incisor is coming in slowly.

We had our trip to the zoo this week. The giraffes and zebras were running together, which was a treat to see in the mid-day heat. Nat enjoyed the colobus and chimps. It was a brief and uneventful trip. Nat was not interested in the animals. He was more interested in the kids running and making noise around him.

I had my first frantic hour of child care, wrought with worry and fret. The first incident was a prolonged period of choking. Nat is slowly acclimating to formula and is generating an enourmous amount of flem while teething. Combined, they make a thick fluid that could probably choke a horse, as well. After ten minutes passed, we were able to work together to clean out his lungs .

The second incident occured while I was in the kitchen preparing fajitas for dinner and Nathaniel was on the living room floor playing with his toys. Everything is brought to his mouth once it is picked up. Many times, he will roll off his quilt and pull up the area rug to give it a test. I had finished cutting the peppers and onions, a little tear-eyed, and put them in the refriderator, when I peaked around the corner to see how Nat was doing. He had rolled off the quilt and rug, making his way to the tile step that is a transition from the sunken living room to the dining room. On the edge of that step are two plants, one is a palm and the other is a Xanadu. He had reached up and snatched a piece of Xanadu leaf. Of course, it went into his mouth. I immediately pulled the leaf from his hand, then did the sweep of his mouth and found a small piece. I pieced the leaf together to make sure I had all of the pieces. Into the penalty box he went. I hurried to answer the phone, because it was ringing at the same moment of our discovery. Kathleen calls every night on her way home from work and I knew it was her, so I quickly answered the phone. While we talked briefly, she reminded me to look on the internet about the plant. I hung up with her and then search for Xanadu (a member of the philodendron family). Poisonous? Yes, "will cause inflamation of mucous membranes and can restrict breathing." I called Florida poison control, all of this happened in the matter of a minute, but it felt like an hour. They answered in seconds. There was an elderly woman's voice on the phone. She reassured me that one bite of a leaf would have burned (caustic) his mouth and he would have dropped it, which is a good thing when dealing with poisons. She reassured me that everything was O.K. for Nathaniel.

When I worked for a corporation, we had a saying, "This (marketing) isn't brain surgery. No one is going to die on the table if it isn't prefect." I couldn't agree more. But, now, there is a life in my care and the responsibility can be overwhelming, if you think about it too much. So, I don't and we play all day.

Ciao!
(Nat's first bite of cereal)