The playground and the gym - all in a day's play!

Yesterday Maggie and I went to the wonderful playground behind the Edmondson Pike library and we had so much fun. Maggie went down the slide by herself for the first time. She went right to the top of the slide and stood there looking down for a minute. I stood right beside her on the ground and just as I put my hand up to help her she made a leaping start onto the slide. If I hadn't put my hand up when I did who knows how she would have landed! She loved it and immediately wanted to go again, so we did about fifteen more times. Every time she went down the slide she yelled "Wheeeee!"

Lately her favorite song is the Alphabet Song. She only knows "A" and "B" so she'll say "AB!AB!" which is my indication that it's time to sing. So I start singing and she sings "abababababab" as I sing all other 24 letters. I've been trying to teach her the other letters or at least "C", but I haven't had much luck so far. I've also been pointing out the letter "A" in all her books. So yesterday we pull into the YMCA to work out and Maggie says "A!" I thought, "Oh, she just wants to sing the song." I turn around to look at her and see she's pointing at the "A" in the YMCA sign. Then we get out of the car and and she says "A" again and points at the other YMCA sign. I couldn't believe it!

And one more story...tonight Grant had to work late (poor guy has been working his tail off!) so I put Maggie to bed by myself. Usually after we put her in her crib we high tail it out of there but I lingered a little longer than usual. As I was walking out a minute later I looked back at her crib and saw that she had scooted right next to the front side of the crib, turned on her back, stuck her foot out the slats, rested it upon the crib bumper, and was rocking it back and forth. So cute. I should linger more often!

I'll be posting some photos soon - sorry they're not going up with this post!

Is it safe to play in the oven?

Here's a new one of Maggie! (What other kind of photos do I ever put on here?)














Maggie likes to crawl into her play kitchen and pretend she's a Thanksgiving turkey cooking in the oven. She stays in there for eight hours and comes out when she's fully cooked. (I don't even know how long it takes to cook a turkey but if you're reading this and you have cooked a turkey before, you probably already figured that out!)

I sometimes think she might be too cute. Is that even possible? For you out-of-towners, let me tell you about her Happy Dance. Every now and then (about 5 times daily) she is so overwhelmed with joy that she can't contain herself and does her Happy Dance. This consists primarily of standing in place and stomping her feet about thirty times in a row. Sometimes she adds a few spins or even throws her head back in wonder and amazement at the fun of it all.

This makes me think of her head which makes me think, "Did I mention she had her first hair cut?" Well, if I didn't, let me be the first to tell you she has had her first hair cut. She was in the bath and I just cut about an inch or two off the back, which was easy enough since it was arranged in four little curls. I just cut each curl off and it ended up pretty even! I did save one of the curls and tied it up with ribbon for her baby book. That in itself is pretty sweet. She looks like she has a little bob and I think it's a very good look for her (although Grant did confess he wants it grown out again ASAP).

Here's Maggie wearing Grant's hat. It's a little big. These are some of her favorite pajamas, given to her by Grant's Uncle Rick and Aunt Chris, and she really likes them because they have a dog on them.

The littlest snow-girl

Here are some photos of Maggie enjoying the snow this past week. She loved it and didn't want to come inside. I should note, also, that she's wearing an old snow suit of Spencer's (my 9-year-old brother) from when he was little. It's still a little big for her but she didn't seem to mind.




















With Grandaddy.

She couldn't even put her arms down - she looked like Ralphie's little brother from "A Christmas Story".


I have also officially quit counting her words but she has added a few more since my last post: bread (which she says as "bup", which makes us crack up every time), peaches, peas, and laissez-faire. Well, she doesn't actually say that last one. I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.


This last one is Grant's favorite. She looks like she's been running really fast. I don't know why this looks like it's hypertext. Sorry.

65 and counting

Maggie had her 15-month dr's appointment last Wednesday. She is still getting over her sickness (going on 3 weeks now) but otherwise is great! She eats so much (3/4 of a quesadilla, say, or a pancake plus a big bowl of fruit and yogurt) and lately looks so big to me that I was just sure we would find out she's in the 75th percentile for height and the same for weight. Turns out she's still teeny! She is now 30 1/4" long (40th percentile) and 20 lbs, 3 oz (15th percentile). I was actually shocked. Her pediatrician and nurse asked if she has a good appetite and I could only say "her appetite would shock you!" So they shrugged their shoulders and said, "Well, it must be the perfect Maggie size for her then!"

When they were going through the questions they ask about milestones (how's her walking, can she scribble with a crayon, etc.) they asked "Does she have four words besides mama?" I said, "Yes - more like 30!" And by the time I got home I was thinking "I wonder how many words she really does have", so I decided to actually count them. A little while later I was astounded to realize she has 65 words (and counting)! Of course she doesn't pronounce them all perfectly but they are close to the real pronunciation and she uses them appropriately. For instance, she says "inzee" for Lindsay but she says it as I point Lindsay out in a photo. Many two syllable words are pronounced clearly though, such as "apple," "pretty," and "honey."

And now, if you have nothing else to do, I will type out the list of words she can say:

Names: (If she can't say your name don't be disappointed - it's probably just not one of these easier ones!)
Mama, Dada, Erin, Lindsay, Mimi, Poppy, Grandma, Grandpa, Blake, Emme and Amy (admittedly these last two are similar!)

Animals and animal noises:
Dog, cat, duck, moo, ribbit, roar, meow

Food and food-related words:
Apple, banana, milk, water, egg, cheese, eat, bite, hot, cracker, bottle (meaning water bottle, not baby bottle)

Body parts and clothes:
nose, eye, teeth, bead, diaper, bow, hat, watch, belly, earring

Objects:
light, book, ball, keys, poop, pee pee (I know, I know), potty, clock

Miscellaneous:
hi, bye, night night, baby, pretty, please, up, down, out, on, home, go, help, no, wow, uh-oh, whee!, pat, happy, walk and, finally, honey (used as a term of endearment - not to eat!)

Wow. If you made it through that list you must really love Maggie. Thank you.