(Kids in motion tend to stay in motion!)
We had family visiting for the weekend, so Carrie got to play with four of her cousins. She absolutely loved it, and the kids were all really good with Carrie – they’re all old enough to understand that you have to be gentle with a baby and that babies don’t know how to share, so they were very tolerant of her grabbing toys and pulling hair. The dogs were also on their best behavior, and took the extra petting, ear-pulling and water bowl invasions without complaint.
Friday everyone played in the backyard and on our little play structure, and went swimming. I have to admit, seeing the older kids run around with the dogs in our fenced-in backyard made me a little teary – it’s exactly what I had envisioned when we bought this house and started dreaming about our family. I can’t wait until Carrie’s old enough to run around back there too!
Saturday we visited the Strong Museum, which is always fantastic. I think when Carrie turns two – and no longer has free admission – we’ll probably get a membership there. Right now she’s a little young for most of the activities, but she did enjoy the play areas set aside for crawlers and beginning walkers.
It was a fun but extremely tiring weekend, and I think I need to go to bed now!
We’ve had to really get serious about baby proofing, putting locks on all the cabinet doors that you’ve figured out how to open and anchoring furniture to the wall. I feel a little bad, because you love opening and shutting doors, but none of our cabinets are currently all that baby-safe…that’s a project for next month, to give you a cabinet of your own!
You’ve learned to babble, and we get treated with endless streams of ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, and ma-ma-ma – although that last one is usually only when you want something. You consistently sign “more” when you want more food, and “milk” both when you want to nurse and when you’re in your high chair and want water. You love to “talk” though, and you try to be the loudest thing in the room – if the vacuum cleaner is on or Daddy’s using the drill you’ll shout over it. You love making your voice echo in bathrooms and other small spaces!
Carrie had her first visit to an Apple Store today, while we fulfilled our inner geeks and attended the opening. We ended up standing in line for close to an hour to get in. I felt a little like a bad mommy, because Carrie ended up missing her morning nap for it, although she literally fell asleep within a minute of having this picture taken and stayed asleep the whole time we were wandering around the very loud and crowded store. She didn’t wake up until we went to put her in the car! We all got free t-shirts, including Carrie – the guy nearly dropped the box on her head when he handed it to me, so he gave us an extra. I’m contemplating turning her adult XL t-shirt into a onesie…