One teenager, one ninja, and some mutant turtles

Dominic's swim classes at the JCC have been going well. They welcome you with "Shalom" when you enter and I never know how to respond. Will they catch me for a fake if I return the greeting? Or will I be branded a gentile for responding with anything else? I hate mindgames...especially when I suspect I'm the only one playing them... Three weeks in, his 16-year-old instructor, Timothy (who Noemie calls Tiffany) still can't get Dominic to wet his head but at least he's willing to allow his weight to be supported by a noodle as he kicks his way around the pool. Dominic is taking swimming classes in an outdoor pool in February... I love Miami. If you live in Miami and don't go to the beach more than five times a year, you are missing out. Unless you don't like sand. I've met people that don't like the beach because they don't like sand. I don't mind it; I like to bury my toes it in it. Dominic loves it. He eats it by the fistful.

We were at the beach this morning, actually. On some occasion in the past year, Dominic received a foot-long bubble wand that made Danny the coolest parent at all the neighborhood parks. We thought nothing of taking it with us to the Lauderdale-by-the Sea beach near my cousin's apartment on this 60 degree morning. Before we left, I combed a 5 foot radius of sand dune trying to retrieve the bubble wand from an untimely burial but alas, the days where Dominic parades around town with his saber of soap tucked into his waistband have seen their end. I sincerely hope that the bubble fluid doesn't somehow seep into a turtle nest and create mutant loggerheads. They're an endangered species, you know. As someone who used to, as a 9 year old, voluntarily spend vacation time conducting self-imposed mini-beach clean ups, this would be devastating!

The exertion of my search tuckered me out a bit (it doesn't take much these days) but I'm happy to report that I've been feeling a little better lately. I had been lamenting... mourning, really... the loss of certain physical abilities- namely, the ability to paint my toenails, to throw myself into Danny's arms, but above all, the ability to belly-flop into bed, which is my favorite way to get into bed. (I LOVE my bed.) Still, Danny commented to me last week that if my belly and I were to get into an arm wrestling match, he thinks I'd still win. And there was something remarkably encouraging about that thought. I've felt a little bit stronger and more agile since. I may not be brave enough to risk learning new dance moves, but I think there's a spring in my step that wasn't there before and I think I've noticed I'm moving a little more briskly. Then again, maybe I'm just accommodating to my 6-months-pregnant alien-body.

Danny and I like to track all of our simultaneously-pregnant friends with every pregnancy and the tally is, at the moment, 11. I'm occasionally solicited for advice and now, while I'm thinking relatively clearly, would like to share my most valuable one: Read! It may be years before you have the opportunity to read at your leisure again. I very highly recommend What to Expect While You're Expecting and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (this is gold). I also recommend subscribing to Babycenter.com's weekly newsletter.

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Dominic learned to point fingers and say "boom, boom" from a little boy I used to care for in Tallahassee when he was just 18 months old. I was pretty upset about it, and tried to readjust his behavior by making him point to the roof when he did that. Like an excited Mexican. Recently I caught him lancing at imaginary mosquitoes with a carrot. Considering Dominic watches about 2 hours of TV/movies per week, and that he's also a really low-key, intellectual type of toddler, I was kind of surprised that violent behavior seemed to come so naturally. A friend recently sent me a link to a web article that defends the idea that boys are inherently and irrepressibly given to war-like behavior: The Killer Instinct. My mind was much eased. Suddenly, all the wrestling take-down moves he performs on Noemie seem almost permissible. But I'm really looking forward to him having a brother.

The Baby Name Poll for Mambo #5 is up in my Facebook notes. Make sure to cast your vote!