Grass, Grass, Grass

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunny days this week! The backyard is our new afternoon hang out, where we snack and explore. Addie likes to plunge her little hands into the soft mossy grass. She pulls up big fists full of green and we play a game called "How much can I stuff in my mouth before Mama stops me?". This is her favorite game! So far she has eaten a bit of grass and a dandelion -both completely harmless. We found a walnut that was sprouting big walnutty tree ideas in the front yard yesterday- that was a fun discovery. Frida likes to join us and rub her face against Addie's bare feet. Addie finds this ever so delightful, and giggles like crazy. It just feels so good to be outside! I can't wait for all the summer pool splashing good times with our little bean.

Cruising!

Remeber my other post about Addie taking a few steps with her wagon? Well, she can walk across the room with it now! She does well on carpet, but things get a little fast on the hard wood. She's a cruiser! Pretty soon we'll be catching up with Molly...

What's up?

Things are moving so fast now, it's like Addie has become a mini-toddler overnight. And she has such a great sense of humor. She will crack up at your faces and jokes, and loves to play her own jokes like handing you an item, then pulling it back instead. She cracks up at this.

She's a wild eater. You have to be careful about how much food you put in front of her. If she likes it, she'll basically put it in her mouth as fast as she can muster. Her cheeks will fill up with food and you have to give her a minute to catch up. It's somewhat funny, but our parental choking fear kicks in, and it's not so funny anymore. One blue berry at a time is good enough for now...

Addie's got a huge range of sounds and baby-words. She really seems to be talking a lot now, even though we can't really make out the words. Oh, and she says Dada a lot! Laura: "Say Mama. Can you say Mama?" Addie: "Dada, Da da da". It's pretty funny.

She's also waving a lot more. She waves good bye to me in the morning, and when I get home. Then other times randomly just for fun. It's pretty great.

Someone's got a new toy!

Sleep

I'm sure I'm jinxing this by posting about it, but Addie slept for over ten hours last night - straight! She was asleep just after 8:00 and we didn't hear from her until 6:40. And what's better is neither Laura or I woke up enough to check the clock and start worrying in the wee hours. It probably won't happen again for many months, but wow, best night of sleep for us in almost a year.

Pals

Molly's Mama took these photos when we went to the Children's Museum. Padded walls,a babbling baby brook, and friends. What else could a girl ask for to fill a rainy Seattle day? Today is the first day of spring- hurray!

Zoomazium

Here is Addie exploring the great wilderness of the Zoomazium. Note the camera in hand- ready to snap some action shots. Also to be chewed on, swung about, and dragged around like a helpless, but very beloved pet on a short leash. She loves to crawl around and watch the other kids play, pull up to peek at the fish and snakes, and bang on the bongo drums! Some days we come to the zoo just for this.

Sunshine

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida.

Hollis Blue

We got to catch up with our good friends Mark and Mitzi this weekend. They had a little boy, Hollis, four months ago. He's looks great - such a cute little guy.

Bath time....

Addie's crawling so much now, she's all over the house. This has changed some of our old routines a bit. This morning I started running a bath for Addie. Normally she'll stay in her room and play while I get things ready. Not this morning! As I'm rinsing things out, I can hear a little scuffle down the hall as she crawls to the bath room. Her head pops in the door, and she's ecstatic. There's the tub! There's water! There's Dad! Party time! She's at my leg, pulling herself into the tub. Fortunately she had enough patience for me to finish rinsing the tub cleaner and get the temperature right. She crawls back and forth in the tub and splashes like a wild woman playing whack-a-mole. Good times!

Oh, another funny story: Addie falls asleep in her crib, but ends up sleeping with us by 4 or 5 in the morning. So, we all wake up in the bed together every morning. Addie will sit up at some point and begin lurching around, grabbing Mom and Dad's faces and arms. Wake up! She has this new thing now that's hilarious. She'll pull herself up on me and literally jump over my body towards the edge of the bed while making a Brave Heart style war cry. Whraaaeeee! I have to grab her mid-way, usually by the legs, and pull her back to safety. Let me say this, when Addie wants something, she does not mess around. Be warned.

New Photos...

We put some new photos up recently. Here is Addie at Chirstmas and some other random shots. We have more pictures of our recent trip to Florida which should be up in a few days...

Three cool things Addie is doing....

1. Give and take. This seems like a little thing, but it's actually really cool. The first time it happened, here's how it went down: I had a piece of cloth in my hand, Addie reached for it, I gave it to her. Then I put my hand out and asked for it back. She slowly put it in my hand and then let go. I took it back from her and then held it out to to see if she wanted it back. She looked at it, broke a huge smile, and started giggling like crazy while she slowly took it out of my hand. We handed this thing back and forth probably a dozen times, both of us with huge smiles laughing about our new fun game. She does it all the time now....

2. Learning to wave. Every night we have a routine of waving goodnight to the lamps while we turn them off just before bed. At first I waved. Now Addie's figuring it out and gives her little clasping wave to at least the first few lamps. Every night she does it a bit more!

3. Spangolian. Addie is speaking in full sentences about everything from Britney Spears bald head to advanced pincher techniques for chowing on blue berries. The only problem is that English is not her first language, so the topics of her conversation are purely speculation at this point. She knows Mama and Dada and Papa. She also knows Baba, Gowa, and EEEEEEEoooouuuuphzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. More new sounds everyday - it's really fun....

Cruising?

We set up Addie's radio flyer wagon last weekend. We weighed it down with a bunch of heavy books to give her some friction. This way she can put some weight on it without it flying away from her. It doesn't really do the trick though - if she leans into it, it will roll away which can result in a face plant if Mom or Dad aren't there to catch her. She seems to be aware of this now and is pretty good about not leaning too much while using it to balance.

Last night, she began pulling herself up and down on it as she often does. After a few minutes she leaned forward and it started to roll. Right when I reached out to catch her and prevent a face plant, she took two quick steps forward! She walked with it! I started yelling for Laura to come check it out, and of course as soon as she comes in the room Addie just stands there and smiles. As soon as Laura walked out, she did it again - leaned forward and took two short steps to catch up! Pretty cool, huh? I think she's going to be cruising before we know it.

Gotta get up to get down!

I can't believe Addie is nine months old! She has now been out in the world as long as she was inside me. Crazy. This is such a fun time, I just want to stay here for a while. She started crawling a few weeks ago, but just recently seems to have really gotten the hang of it. Before it was only her beloved phone and magazines that would inspire her to move- now she is exploring everything. She is the great unfolder of laundry! Behold- she can empty a basket of yarn with one hand tied behind her back! It's great. Her new love seems to be standing. She will pull herself up and down over and over. She stands up, and then gestures like mad with one free hand while giving what seems like a very passionate speech about the joys of being upright!

First Sand

Addie had her first beach day in Florida last month. She loved the sand, and did a lot of happy grabbing and throwing before the inevitable tasting.

Seven Weeks

This was the day she amazed us by rolling over. Genius baby, so advanced! It turned out to be a short lived phase. Who wants to roll when you can finally focus on all this neat stuff on the floor?

Little Bean.

This is just a test post. Seems easy!