The 8 Gene and Giant Babies

Lena is learning many new things at school: the alphabet, counting, the many and varied uses of glue. But today I'll write about counting. Lena can count to ten. I realize she has absolutely no idea what numbers mean, but still it's pretty cool . However...she skips eight. many times she has sung 5, 6 7...9! in her cute little voice. J and I try to yell 8! in between the 7 and the 9, but to no avail. There is no 8 in Lena world. The funniest part of this is that her cousin, Anthony, did exactly the same thing. No 8, no 18, no 28, you get the idea. So apparently, like Anthony, she is missing the 8 gene. And damn, it's on the Garcia side. (I guess that's really no surprise though)

Pilar, on the other hand, is not yet counting, though she LOVES to watch her sister count and sing and dance. Right now, she thinks Lena hung the moon. Her eyes light up whenever she sees her and the feeling is mutual. Many times I have convinced Lena she wants to go home from school by telling her she will get to see Pilar (still pronounce Pi-yar). I know this won't last so I'm savoring the happy sisterliness now. Once Pilar can successfully grab toys, it's all over.

However, Lena will have to watch out. Pilar is growing at an awesome rate. I took her to the doctors last week for a same day appointment. (I thought she had ringworm, but it's only excema -how is that word spelled?) She weighed 14lb and 8oz. This is only about 3 weeks after a check-up where she weighed 13lb and 7oz! She is mighty! I'm so proud.