I’m just going to go ahead and say it. So far, this age is my very favourite. It’s a lot less scary than the newborn stage (even with a few tumbles) and way more fun than the three-month mark when games didn’t ignite the response that they do now. And, it feels like baby O does something new and exciting every single day. Today? Reaching out her arms to be picked up. Yesterday? Stirring a spoon inside of a bowl (I kid you not). Don’t get me wrong, I’ll continue to wistfully look at her old photos from time to time (or all the time, who am I kidding?), but I’m also enjoying each day while looking forward to the ones after them.

Some things she does that make us laugh: the way she backs away when you come near her with a facecloth, tries to drink out of a cup (not sippy), shimmies across the floor backwards and sideways (never forward), smacks her lips and then sticks her tongue out when eating, grabs other peoples’ faces, squirms out of our hands, rotates her ankles (constantly!), has conversations, tears apart a magazine in three seconds and refuses to lay down nicely so you can change her diaper.

Some things that make her laugh: my feet, peekaboo, dolls, anyone dancing, hair in her face (mine), air blowing in her face, songs, the Jumperoo, being lifted in the air, bouncing on our knees, peeking into her basket of toys, waking up too soon, and her own reflection.

Some things that make her cry: getting stuck under furniture, the sound of me blending anything, toys being taken from her in music class (happens every time), getting dressed after a bath, strangers, other babies who cry/scream and falling down from a seated position (only if we make a big deal about it).

Here are a few pics from yesterday in our kitchen. I was making (or at least trying to) her apple sauce. She had other plans. First she dragged the bowl closer to her, grabbed an apple and started sucking on it, put it back, then grabbed another, and so on. She ended up with one in each hand. Her last expression is all, “Don’t even think about taking these away from me.”