I have to say I'm very glad I no longer live there. I don't think I would have come down the mountain for most of this winter.

Punk is amazingly verbal, she's a very smart kid. I've never heard a kid her age count to anything.

How do you resist the comparisons? The whole babyhood/early childhood system is set up to make comparisons, kids are supposed to reach milestones at certain ages, if they go quickly, they're early, if they go slower, they're late.