New adventures

Last year when it snowed, Megan was too little to know what was happening. By the last snow fall she was newly sitting up on her own. She wasn't crawling let alone walking. She hated the snow. She hated the cold. This year, so far, is different. She loved it. She adored sledding. She loved playing. She didn't even seem to mind getting stuck knee deep in snow.

I love this photo! Even though you can't see her face, you can get the idea she's enjoying some great exploration of a new 'world.'

Luck? Maybe.

Megan idolizes her big brother. It's clear in the way she watches him. It's clear in the way she seeks him out as soon as she opens her eyes each day. She wants to do what he does and have what he has.

Lately this includes the bathroom. At three-years old, Logan is a full-time potty users. Megan, at a mere 14.5 months, is full-time diapers. Yet, the bathroom intrigues her.

Last night, with Logan away at his sleepover, Megan was the only little person in the house to be dotted on. I was getting her ready for her bath and did what we usually do. I sat her on the closed toilet seat to remove her shoes and socks. She started to giggle and pound the seat appearing between her legs.

"Pahee! Pahee! Pahee!" she chanted.

Oh what the heck. Once she was undressed I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She clapped. She laughed and squeaked in that way she does when her excitement is too much to contain. I put her on and she yelled loudly for Daddy to come see her being such a big girl.

This morning, with Daddy on his way for a business trip and Logan still at his sleepover, it's just Meg and Mom. I started to dress her but once she was down to just the diaper she started to run and press down the top of her Pamper waistband. "Diap. No diap," she said.

"You want your diaper off?" I asked her. She giggled and pushed down again. "Well Megan Rose, there is no way you're going without one unless you can pee on the potty."

It's all she needed to hear. She ran down the hall yelling potty. When she got to the bathroom she was working hard at getting the diaper off. I helped her and she started to pound on the potty seat. Well, I'm no fool. I'm not about to stand in the way of a child wanting to use the toilet. I put her up on it once again. She stared down into the bowl studying it intently.

"Ok, Meg, now that you're there, you have to pee." I told her more as a way to fill the time than anything else.

"Pee," she said. And she did. She looked up at me as if she wasn't quite sure what had happened. I clapped. I fussed. I mean really, the boy is out of diapers less than a full year and although we've not been permitted to fuss over him in the bathroom for months, it's still a bit of a reflex. She clapped to as she does whenever every else does.

"Paba," she said and twisted to glance at the space she knew the toliet paper would be waiting in. I handed her a bit and she tossed it in the bowl.

I took her off the seat and showed her how to flush. "Bye bye!" she said as she waved into the bowl. I held her up to the sink and gave her a squirt of Logan's "Kandoo" hand-soap. "Rub rub," she dutifully told herself as she rubbed her hands under water. I showed her how to dry her hands on the towel and diapered her back up.

We came back down the hall to play some but Megan was still into potty use. She yelled for it. She cried. She took my hand and yanked on my arm urging me to follow her. I did, right back to the bathroom. She dropped my hand so she could pound on the seat and chant. I put her back up on it.

"Paba," she commanded and tried to reach the roll of paper herself.

"Now, Megan Rose, you don't get to use toilet paper unless you've peed in the potty," I told her.

"Pee," she said matter-of-factly. Then she focused. She stared straight ahead and seemed to be processing something or other in that quick little mind of hers. I heard it - the sound of fluid hitting fluid. "Pee," she repeated as she smiled at me. "Paba."

I handed her a square, I mean really, who can argue with that.

I don't expect us to be a diaper free house any time soon, but frankly, I'm not about to discourage this new obsession of Megan's.

Meg communicates

Just moments ago, 14-month old Megan slid her way down the single step into the office/sunroom/playroom. She's still clad in her footy-pajamas and the corduroy jacket she's been insisting on the last few days. She padded over to the bookshelf we keep art supplies and toys on. She rifled through.

CRASH!

"Oh no," says the little sprite in a soft voice.

I turn my head to find her seated on the floor putting pre-cut foam stickers back into their bucket one at a time. It's as if she hopes I won't notice if she can get them back in there. Of course, she'd be making more progress with her clean up if she didn't stop to examine each one carefully and try to pull back the white paper covering the sticky side before putting in the bucket. And of course, removing each piece to check it out a second time isn't helping matters either.

She caught me watching her. She smiled as she held a foam sticker shaped like a dump truck.

"Mess," she said and returned to her clean-up.

Well, at least she's honest.

A bit of Meg

Megan has been memorizing her favorite book. It's a boardbook of common nursery rhymes. She'll plop herself on your lap, flip a few pages and point to the picture saying "Row, Row, Bow" - as in Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Or she'll flip to the "This Little Piggy" rhyme and tell me "Toe!" She knows most of the book now.
----

She loves to dance. And not just bop up and down in a sort of squat and pop dance move her brother used to do when he was just over a year. No, Megan really dances. She sways. She twirls. She gets her shoulders and her head invovled. Most any music will do it, but she seems a fan of classic rock and oldies.

---

Logan likes to ask "How's your day?" a lot. It started when various adults in his young world would ask him several times during his waking hours. He'd reply and then ask. Grandma started asking Meg this summer. Logan asks Meg. Megan now answers.

"So Megan, how's your day?"
"How day?"

-----

Silly Meg

Our still relatively new computer has Windows XP Media edition. One of our fancy little extras that accompanies this verison of windows is the "Dancer" program. We can select a number of 3-D dancers that will come on and perform while you play music. I thought the kids might find it amusing so I put in Logan's favorite CD (a mix of 60s music) and pulled up the dancer. I selected the paperclip dressed as ghost, although he occasionally switches out costumes for other gear.



Right now the ghost is dancing to Sam Cooke's "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha." That's 13-month old Meg's favorite song. She's laughing and shaking her body to the music. She sings along, adding her own lyrics, when she's not giggling at the dancer:

"Cha cha cha BOO!"

Climb Every Mountain

Apparently in one of her many story books, Megan read that if one wishes to climb the highest mountains, one must train hard. She's begun practicing.

First, Megan begins her initial assent: And then she considers just how high up she must go. She pauses and contemplates whether or not to continue:



But fear not! She has a mean, lean cheering machine on her side. "You can do it Megan! YOU CAN DO IT!"


He cheers some more. She climbs some more. Mom takes one last photo of their adventure and then rushes over to hold Megan's hand for the rest of her hike up the mountain top.

Girls night

Logan is at his monthly sleepover with Grandma and Papa and Daddy is away on a business trip. It's just Meg and Mommy. We left Logan around 4pm yesterday afternoon and had the evening into this morning together. Being able to focus just on Megan really highlights all she does.

Megan has been a long-time snuggler, now instead of just doing it, she asks for it. She puts her head down on my shoulder and nestles in. "Ahhh, mama. Nugg," she says. Nugg, being the way she attempts to say snuggle.

She does a lot of things. Recently, Megan had found my diaper bag, dug around in it until she found what she wanted. She came over to me. Threw a diaper my way as she said "Diap!" Then she laid herself down on the floor on her back and held her legs up in the air staring at me expectantly. She does it on a regular basis now, althoug typically the question "Megan, should we get a new diaper for you?" triggers her action. Getting her own diaper, laying down and waiting.

She's feeding herself with a fork. She stabs at her food repeatedly until she gets several pieces up on the fork. She puts the fork in her mouth and pulls off just what she can handle. I hadn't quite noticed her do it the first time and she knew it. She threw the fork down on the tray and clapped loudly until she caught my eye. Then she did it again.

She plays a mean game of hide-and-seek. Last night after we ate we set about to play. I hid on her in her room. She sought me out yelling "BOO!" when she found me. When she finds did, she held up her arms and started to climb up my leg. As soon as she was in my arms she snuggled in. I put her down and told her I was hiding again.

When she entered the room I had selected, she scanned the room with a very serious look on her face. I knew she had found me by the smile that started with her eyes and captured her whole face. She again climbed up on my lap and cuddled. I put her down yet again.

"I'm going to hide again!" I told her. Then I thought about it, we play hide-and-seek often with Logan. This game is how Logan learned to count to 10 before he hit 18 months. I ought to be counting when it's just Meg and I too. "Megan, you stay here and count and then find me! I'll say the numbers for you."

I watched her as I walked briskly from the room. She stood still next to the chair I had hidden behind moments before. "1 - 2 - 3..." I said. When I got to ten Meg let out a big squeal and she started to run towards me. I picked up my pace and jetted down to Logan's room. I sat in the dark out in the middle of the room where I knew she could find me despite lack of light.

First she went to her room. "Nope, I'm not in your room, come find me!" I called to her. She stopped moving. She focused on my voice. I figured she'd placed it when I heard her erupt in laughter. She came running right into her brother's room and to me. "BOO MAMA!" she said and she climbed up once more for a great big, celebratory hug.

She can identify several of her own body parts now. Ask her where her ears are and she covers them both saying something like "air." She can find her head/hair, nose, mouth, teeth, fingers, belly (she beats on like drum chanting bell-lay, bell-lay, ball-lay) and toes. Sometimes she can remember where her eyes are. She knows her hands, which she'll clap gleefully if asked to locate.

She loves to play blocks. She digs deep into the box of MegaBlocks and connects the pieces she gathers. Then she puts on her proverbial destory hat and wrecks her creation. She can sit on a ride-on toy and scoot herself quite a distance. She climbs up and in and out and off of nearly everything in sight.

She's become a true toddler in every sense of the word. The fun has begun.

Miss Mountain Goat

The little one is not without the ability to grey my head. She is barely over the 12-month mark. She's been walking since 9 months old. She's been attempting to climb shortly there after. On Friday, she began to succeed.

I put her down on the ground in our back yard to help Logan locate his baseball. Normally this is a non-issue. Megan will wander behind or she'll find herself something to play with. But Friday was to be different. I heard her giggle. I turned around to see what it was amusing her and I nearly spit my heart out.

Megan Rose was half-way up the big slide of the new swing set.

Not even the ladder (rope ladder actually). Nope, the actual slide.

She did it again today. She's hellbent on making her way up there. She'll decide she needs a hand after repeated attempts to escape up the stand at the bottom of the slide (ON IT!) waiting for you to hold her arm so she can walk herself to the top. She giggles as she goes. Turns herself gracefully at the top, sits and then holds her hand so she can slide down -- only to hop to her feet, get up again on the bottom of the slide and repeat her newest trick. This time I took a picture or two.

She can also get part way up the rock wall of the swing set. Gone are the days poor Logan could have attention and focus in the yard with only one adult home. Give Meg a little bit of slack and she's embracing her inner mountain-goat. Now the only way we can do more than spot Megan's exploits is to get both kids on their respective swings at once, convice Megan that her littel red Coupe is worth riding around in or tricking her into trying to climb the infant slide on the old set -- something she actually can't do right now. Too steep.

Verbality

I guess we can almost call it a sentence -- a 12-month old's sentence.

Megan had a teething biscuit. Tasha wanted it. Megan pushed Tasha's nose away from her yelling "No! No dog! Mine. Mine. Mine!"

Of course since that moment, Megan has handed Tasha the food in question and has placed herself in the small motorized lime green VW Beatle Logan got one Christmas from his aunts. She figured out the gas pedal this morning but can't reach it with enough force to make the car move. Instead she throws her weight back and forth to make it inch forward. She chants "Vava! VavaooommM!" as she does it. Vroom, vroom!

She then calls me to take her out of the car by singing "Maaaaama! Maaaaaaaaa MAAAA!" I lift her up. She hugs me. She sticks her face close to mine and says softly "nose, nose" which is her way to say "Rub noses." Then she points through the large windows at the back of the room that face our yard. Her finger settles in the direction of her new swing.

"Ow Baa" she commands.

I shake my head no. "Megan Rose, it's too cold and too early to go out back. Logan is still sleeping. And you, miss, still have your footy pajamas on."

She giggles. "Brabah ni-ni." (Brother night-night or Brother is sleeping.) She wiggles around to let me know she wants me to put her down. She toddles around the playroom looking for something to amuse herself with. She settles on pulling colored paper from the art box and then working hard to get Logan's toy tools from their plastic case.

I'm thinking being the little sister to a chatterbox preschooler isn't impeding her language development after all. In fact, it seems to help. Logan had a large vocabulary for his age at a year old, but he was still sticking mostly to single word communiques. Megan easily uses as many words but has been combining them into phrases for some time now. Granted the average stranger would not understand much of what she's trying to say, but those of us that spend time with her pick it up easily.

Scenes from a drop-off

Daddy stayed home today to bring Logan to preschool. The four of us went over together because Logan decreed it a family experience. We were getting ready to leave and I attempted to pry Megan from the Dora books in the corner.

"Go tell Logan good-bye!" I urged her. She toddled over to where Logan was busy playing with a few trucks. She patted his head a few times and smiled at us. Mrs S and Mrs R both said, "Awe, how cute."

Then Megan giggled. She leaned over her brother who was seriously ignoring her attempts at cuteness. She grabbed hold of his head in both arms and bear hugged it. She kissed him and said "Bye-bye brabah!"

And then she ran back to the table covered in a Dora table cloth.

Mrs S commented on Megan's farewell and said to Logan, "Wow, you must be the very best big brother for your sister to want to hug you like that!"

And Logan said "Yup, I am."

Meg is one

Today was Megan's birthday. I referred to Megan, out of habit perhaps, as "baby girl" this morning. Logan stopped me and reprimanded me, telling me she wasn't a baby any more she was a toddler.

And he's right. She is clearly very much into toddlerhood. She's abandoned the hestitate steps of the early walker for the confidence of a runner. She's starting to work on her climing.

She's got a clear aptitude for mischief. Her latest great joy is shoving things in unsuspecting toilets. We try to keep bathroom doors closed but the child has a sixth sense. No matter where she is in the house, she knows when the door has been opened and she can appear in the bathroom before you can shut her out of it. Today she attmpted to toss Logan's sneaker in the toilet...while he was peeing.

She also has a great sense of when someone needs a pick me up. Somehow she knows when a well placed cuddle or big sloppy wet kiss is most needed. If it's her brother needing to feel the love, she'll throw herself on him as she attempts to yell "tackle!" only it never quite sounds like that. "Ta-ul!" is more like it. Then she raises her head and moves herself so that they are practically nose to nose before she busts out into giggles and pets his head. It brings a smile to his lips every time. She clearly knows this.

The active, always on the go child, has developed a real joy for reading. She pads over to her bookshelf and pulls out whatever strikes her fancy. She'll often plop down with her find and flip through pages herself. When she's through admiring the pictures she'll come over to the nearest adult, hand them the chosen story and then lift up her arms in a gesture that says "pick me up now!" She snuggles into the crook of your arm and mummur 'book' until you begin to read. Some of her books now have names - namely the ones of her favorite characters. There is the "Elmah book" (a book on the letter B featuring Sesame Street characters including Elmo.) And of course the now very clearly enunciated "Dora Book." (She actually over enunciates it - Door-rah).

She loves to be silly and to tease. She tries hard to wink on her own for some reason which always results in two eyes scrunched up really tight. She adores her new toddler swing. She loves her dolls - she drops them in the new toy stroller and takes them for walks. She cuddles them and loves them. She drags them around by their arm or hair.

She's typically moving and/or talking. She's got a fairly large vocabulary for someone just very newly 12 months old. But not knowing a word never stops her for 'talking.' She babbles incessantly. She yells and points. She shrieks. She makes a load of sounds.

And then, when she's mad she really lets loose. She'll yell. She'll scream. She'll get red in the face and scrunch up her fist. She turns on the tears. If she's overtired and just beside herself, she'll throw her body around too. Try holding an overtired tantruming toddler! Today as we rushed off the boardwalk she was crying as loud as she could with her head buried in my shoulder. She suddenly threw herself backwards, flinging her arms out wide as I supported her head in my hand. The melodrama has already set in.

She is a girlie girl. She loves her feather boa. She loves dressing up - give her access to hats, sunglasses and/or animal ears on a headband and she's all over it. She puts them herself. Sometimes she gets them on right. Sometimes she does not. She loves having her hair brushed and her feet rubbed. She loves to dance. She loves to feed the dog her lunch.

Megan is a little girl who strongly exhibits a very clear passion at a very young age. She loves life it seems. She's generally a happy child that loves to make others happy too.

I held her as she drifted off to sleep this afternoon - freshly off her mid-day meltdown. Kids tend to look so angelic when they sleep. She's no different. She smiles when she sleeps. A faint grin never leaving her face. It traced it with my finger and I thought of how it wasn't that long ago that I sat in a hospital bed holding a 7 pound baby doing the very same thing.

Happy Birthday Baby

one year ago today

We were packing bags and making prepartions. The very next evening I'd be checking into the hospital to begin induction. Megan Rose would arrive less than a day later on September 12th.

To mark the occasion we threw her birthday party today. A few kids of assorted ages and their assorted adults. Lots of gifts. Loads of food for a delighted nearly 1-year old to smush with hands and mash with gums.

She is understandably exhausted.

Girlie Girl

Megan sits still long enough to get her little bits of hair up in two pigtails. The hair sticks straight out to either side when you do this, but its adorable just the same. The moment she was decked out in her new do, she located her white feather boa and draped it around herself. Then she located her maracas and started to play. Hmm...

Mwah!

Today as I pulled out of the driveway to leave for work, I waved to Megan and she yelled "Buh-buh!" as she flapped her arm. Then I blew her a kiss.

And she blew me one right back. She touched her finger tips to her lips and then she pulled her hand away until her palm was flat out before her. Yeah, that made my day.

A First. . .

Grandma, Mommy and the kids headed over to Pt. Pleasant to use up the rest of last seasons ride tickets. Of course we picked a day in the middle of a heatwave but who is counting. The afternoon gave Megan a chance to experience another milestone -- her first boardwalk ride. She got excited as soon as she saw the Merry-go-round. We tried the stationary bench first, but she pulled and cried out "Dat!" as she pointed to the horse nearest her. So we sat her up on one, strapped her in and held on tight. She loved every minute of it!

Elmo's world

Last week, while at Target running errands, Megan and Logan were amusing themselves in the toy aisle. Megan latched on to a wide array of items - most of which were over the $5 limit I had set when I agreed to let them each pick out something. She finally settled on a small, four-sound option See-and-Say featuring Elmo. She hugged the hard plastic image of her hero monster. She kissed it. She chanted his name over and over "Elmah! Elmah! Elmah!"

Logan pushed the arrow button for her. The thing sings. Its Elmo La-la-la-laing his way through his theme song. The arrow points to four different sounds that complete the song, the "Elmo's World" part. We've got bubbles for the underwater part, cell phone for that electronic ring, trumpet for brass sections, and crayon for nails on chalkboard...er, squeaking.

She played with it the entire way home in the car. Megan had just figured out how to turn the arrow and liked the trumpet sounds apparently. I was working on tunin gout the droaning on of that music when Logan's laughter pulled me back into the middle of Elmo's World. Meg was singing it. She was really singing it. My little 11 month old child, was actually "Da, da, da" singing IN TUNE the moment Elmo finished his la-la-la'ing. I thought maybe it was a fluke. But no. She's done it every time she gets that toy in her hand.

11-months old

The update is just a tad late, and perhaps its because Megan's fleet footed exploration keeps me too busy to jot down much of anything. Yes, little Meg transitioned quickly from 'wobbly-tenative' walking to 'running as fast as those little pudge-legs can carry me!' She moves and she moves fast.

Megan is still pulling up most of the time. She'll crawl or scoot to the nearest support, pull herself up and then run. That said, she has been seen standing herself up in the middle of the living room floor without the help of anything at all. Doing so, however, creates a bit of forward momentum that I think unsettles her a bit, so she doesn't do it often.

Not only does Megan walk/run. She also dances. She adores music. Most anything will set her head shaking, but she seems to have a preference for the Beatles and a few good old fashioned children's classics. . .and of course, Chicken Dance Elmo.

Speaking of Elmo. Megan's got a crush on him. But her adoration of Elmo is not nearly as huge as her total and complete love of anything "doll." She LOVES dolls. She has a few in her own personal collection that she mothers over. No one showed her how to cuddle those 'babies' of hers. No one showed her how to hug and kiss them. She just does it, typically as she says "Ahhh, dah!" She carries around one doll or another on and off throughout every day. If she wakes up and a doll is not in her crib she'll yell for whichever one she can see, reaching for it, straining over the side rail until someone comes and hands it to her. Then she hugs it tight and lavishes it with kisses.

If we're talking specific characters - Megan has a thing for Dora the Explorer. She's not actually ever seen the show, but she has a Dora doll at Grandma and Papa's house. Since getting that doll Megan recognzies Dora on everything and anything. Each time she sees the image she excitedly, and very clearly, says "Dow-rah!"

Megan chatters quite a bit. Most of what she says are sounds that represent real words. A perfect stranger would not realize that "Browba!" is now 'brother' but Logan certainly does and since he's Browba, that's all that matters. Speaking of Browba, Megan refuses to call him by name. She can. We've heard her do it on rare occasion, she just won't. (She's called him Oh-win.)

At first, her instance on "brother" was a result of our manner of talking of him. "Megan where is Logan? Where is your big brother?" Now, however, I think she's just being stubborn. We'll say "Megan, can you say Logan? Logan? Can you say Logan?" and she'll stare at him. Smile wide. Then yell "BROWBA!"

Her other words include: Mama, Dada, Papa, Gamama (Grandma), Dawg (dog), Tata (tasha), Ball, Bur (Bird), Baba (bottle), Brah (brush), Doll, Meh (milk), Bay (baby), duck, ROAR! (as in "megan what does the lion say?), Dat! (That!), My, Dow-rah, Elmah, No, Ni-ni (Good night/go to sleep), Book, um (yum).

She's been know to combine 'words' into simple phrases. For example, one night, as I tried to rock her to sleep, she laughed, pushed on my face and shouted "No ni-ni!" Another favorite of hers "My Dah!"

Megan's favorite things, other than her dolls and assorted stuffed characters, are of course whatever Logan has. She's a very good little sister in that regard - not that Logan always views this as good.

all out walker

While she can still be seen crawling - its typically just something she does in order to get to something she can pull up on. Megan is terror on two feet. Her new favorite activity is doing laps around the house. She needs not have a destination in mine nor an object of desire to seek. She just walks. And laughs. But mainly walks.

She's also adding more words to her growing vocabulary. Her current favorite being "that." If Meg wants something she doesn't know the word for, she simply points and says "dat." This works out well as long as you can figure out what she's pointing to. :)

Elmo has competition. . .Dora The Explorer. Not that Meg has seen the show, but she fell in love with the doll at the library. So of course Grandma had to buy it. Dora is Meg's only doll at Grandma & Papa's house. As such, Dora gets lugged around there an awful lot. Sometimes in a great big baby bear hug, other times by the hair. Megan will hug her doll tight, kiss it and say "Door-wah."

So Big!

At her 10 month appointment, Megan Rose was 28 inches tall and 21 pounds. Her growth, while doing the typical "almost one year old slow down" keeps her in the upper percentiles for both height and weight for girls her age. She failed to enjoy her visit with her doctor. No shots this time, yet she was still miserable. Silly doctor thinking Megan might want to lay down still on her back. Crazy lady! Ones back is only good practicing your roll to belly and then sit up move.
Followed quickly by your "find something to grap and pull up" move. Which is then followed either by "cruise around laughing" or "feel brave, let go and walk" moves.

More words

Megan's entering that fun phase where she tries to mimic every sound she hears. The ones that mean something she's attached to she tends to easliy incorporate into her daily use. Its not exactly something most people would recognize as a word without living with the girl, but those of us that do hear what she means. The latest additions:

Elmah - Elmo, which is currently her latest obession. Megan LOVES Elmo. She gets a hold of that red fuzzy stuffed one we have in the house and she smothers it with kisses, then hugs.

Dah - Doll

Dag - Dog

Na! - No

The nice thing is she's not only using her words to have something to say, she's using them to say something. This morning I woke up to hear "Mama! Maaaaaaama! Ma. Ma. MAAAMAAA!"

I went in to find her standing at the side of her crib. She smiled when she saw me and said "Mama. Baba." -- Or in English, "Yo, lady, get me a bottle." We walked to the kitchen. I opened the fridge, she laid on it. She clapped and whispered over and over "Baba! Baba. baba."

Ball girl

One of Megan's favorite games is a good old fashioned game of ball. She likes to throw it. She likes to roll it. She likes to try to catch it as someone rolls it to her. Any old ball will do. As soon as she sees one, she starts to get excited. And now, she can vocalize it too.

We went to the park today. Meg and I sat in the shade as Logan and Daddy played soccer on the big open field. The boys moved on to some football around the time Meg got bored of sitting. She was doing her little cruising by holding one hand thing until something caught her eye and she wanted to move faster. She grabbed for my other hand and as we got closer to her prize she started to giggle.

That's when I heard her say it, clear as day "Ball!"

Getting around

Megan went to bed last night the kind of kid who'd just lay on her belly pushing her upper body from the mattress to peak over the bumpers when she woke up. She woke up the kind that goes from laying down to sitting without adult intervention.

She also went from a girl that could inch her way to something she truly wanted to get her hands on to one that gets herself around quite well -- and did so without working up the courage to really let loose and walk on her own.

For example, Logan needed to use the bathroom and he wanted help. So we left Meg in the center of the living room next to her big toy basket which she normally is beyond content to knock over and empty. But not this time. This time she cried. I yelled back "You're ok Megan Rose. I need one minute to help your brother. We'll be right back."

And then we heard it.

Thud, thud, giggle, giggle. Thud, giggle, Thud. Thud, Thud, giggle.

It got louder and louder.

"I bet you your sister is in the hallway right this very moment." I said to Logan.

"Naw," he said confidently, "She can't go that far."

Thud, giggle, thud, giggle, giggle, giggle, thud. Louder and louder. Seemingly closer and closer.

"Ahh, well, maybe she *IS* in the hallway," he said.

He got just outside the door when he broke out into a fit of laughter - standing at my side as I yelped, "How ever did you get here Megan Rose!"

She laughed from where she sat - just three feet max outside the bathroom door in our hallway. A good "half-the-house" type of trip.

And then she showed us. She leaned forward onto her knees, butt off the floor...and she sort of hopped. Again. Then again. Then again. Moving forward faster than we've seen her do it before. Stopping only long enough to giggle. When she got tired of hopping, she scissor kicked her legs - open and shut, open and shut. She used to just use this as a means of spinning in circles for a new view. She's since added "moving forward at an alarming rate of speed" to its short list of useful tricks.

After that Logan and I went on a hunt in the basement for baby gates well Meg napped. We've got one up between the Living Room and the kitchen. The other needs to be assembled still.

She's gotten around quite a bit today. I put her down in front of the fridge so she could play with her oversized baby magnets and Miss Megan migrated several feet from where I'd put her, sticking her magnets on the metal (thankfully lided) bucket we keep the dog's food in.

She later sat in the office/playroom playing contently. At least for a bit, then she bunny hopped and scissor kicked her way from the center of the decently sized sunroom to the doorway - she used its single step up into the house to pull herself up and was trying to figure out what to do next when I grabbed her up onto my lap and created a cascade of giggles by kissing her neck and tickling her feet.

She took a break from the "need to be in motion" when I broke out the finger paints. She and Logan painted They both wore paint. They both had fun. After clean-up though, it was time to move again. This time, Megan decided she was ready to walk with the aide of a a push toy. Up and down the hall. Up and down the hall. Through the Living Room, into the bedrooms, up and down the hall. Giggle. Giggle. Chase big brother. Giggle some more.

In between it all she squashed in sizable strolls where she walked unassisted. Its a confidence thing for her now. It'll come. If she THINKS you're holding onto her overall straps, she walks without issue for a decent stretch. When she realizes you don't have her at all, she falls over. Its only a matter of time - and now the house is ready.

Summer loving baby!

Meg gets into the swing of summer with her first two piece bathing suit. She's got a thing against cold sprinklers and pools (can you blame her?) but she LOVEs to splash around in puddles and the tepid water of a shallow, sun warmed kiddie pool or the stairs of the inground at her grandparents' house. She also loves just hanging out all dressed up yet causing some trouble with the things she can grab and torment. . .as she is in these photos:

Walking, yes siree

So Meg is walking.

She's not walking laps. She's not walking distances. But she is walking.

Megan seems to stand better, sometimes, when she's got something to hold in each hand. Its as if having her hands full distracts her from getting over excited and tripping herself up. So we placed an oversized toy key in other hand after she pulled herself up using me as leverage.

She stood still for a moment and then she started to move. One step. Then another. Dropped the keys. Another step. And another...and another...until she had moved just shy of half the room to the coffee table. All on her own. All without a single hand helping her balance.

When she got her hands down on the table she laughed. She does that when she's proud of herself. She laughs. Then she cheers, "AYYYY!!" Then she claps. And she did all that after her walk.

I yelled "ACK! LOGAN! DID YOU SEE THAT?! DID YOU!?"

And he was one giant proud smile. He nodded and he said very proudly "Yes I did, she walked! She walked all by herself!" Of course, he then attempted to pry her hands off the table to make her do it again. If he knew the word Encore, he'd have been yelling it.

Megan went walking several more times this evening - this time between Bruce and I. Logan did this when he first started walking. Its all he'd do - all he felt confident enough to do. From Mom to Dad. Dad to Mom. Over and over until he could it consistantly without falling. And now Meg does the same thing. Back and for, back and forth. Sometimes she gets a bit overzealous and she reaches her arms out ahead of her farther ahead than her feet can keep up, which makes her fall. Other times she gets cocky and she attempts to change direction, hanging a 180, midstride, which sometimes works, and other times knocks her on her keister.

Regardless, the girl is walking.

Baby Steps

If there is one thing Megan has really mastered, its getting herself from one spot to another. She has a number of methods from crawling to butt scooting. She cruises - which is her most favorite thing to do actually. And lately, Megan has increased her tinkering with walking. You almost wonder if she would get a lot further with the walking if her excitement was a tad lower. She does about 3 steps at a time every now and again. She gets so excited though that she starts to flap her arms wildly and then reach out for her intended target - a combined move that tends to knock her off balance. Once she takes those few steps she gets so worked up to do it again she jsut can't. She starts to reach forward too soon with too much force that she ends up lunging from table to big-person more than walking to her/him.

She's now 9 months old. Anyone want to place a bet on when those few solo steps extend to something we can actually refer to as "walking?"

One arrived

After what started to feel like endless teething that never led to anything, Megan's first tooth broke through yesterday. She's now sporting the tip of one little bitty baby tooth - the one on the lower left of her center teeth. If she follows the typical pattern of children growing teeth the 2nd lower, center tooth should appear relatively soon.

If you're happy and you know it. . .

Megan's taken up hand clapping - and its wonderful. She tried it out a few weeks ago doing it the experimental way of smacking open palm against the back of her other hand. It took her very little time to figure out the right way to clap and now she does it all the time!

If you sing "Pat-a-cake" to her, she claps and laughs.

If you say happily "Yayyyyyy" as you clap, she claps (and yes laughs).

If she's happy about something - she claps. Yup. Let's say she's been sitting on the floor mad that Mom is off helping Logan with his shoes, for example. She's yelling "MAMA! MAMA! MAMA! AHHHHHH!" and teeters on the verge on crying. Then Mom gets up and heads over to Megan; well Megan then laughs and claps her hands.

Give her food she likes - she claps.

A toy she's been eyeing - claps.

Yup, clapping has become Megan's way of communicating her pleasure at everything and anything.
--

More new sounds -- Megan quacks like a duck, sort of. We were playing during her bath tonight as we always do - playing with the big rubber duck that would be over the spigot if only the spout weren't too big for it. This spout covering duck has a little bath cap on that lifts up so that, in theory, you could fill it with bubble bath and then the bubble stuff would in turn drip down into the running water filling the tub with loads o' bubble. Megan likes to sit in her bath flipping the duck's lid open and shut.

Tonight I also told her, what I do most nights we play wiht "Mr. Duck." I hold it up for her to see the duck's face clearly and I say to her "Megan, duck says 'quack, quack!"

Tonight though, unlike every other night before it, Megan did not just smile and reach for the duck. No, she smiled, reached for the duck and said "Quah! Quah!"

Look Ma! No hands!

Well it just seems early to me but maybe I'm off on my milestones and timing, blah, blah, blah. Megan has been a bit more physical than Logan was at her age. . .and he cruised early, then worked up the courage to walk at 10 months. Miss Thing has been pulling herself up and cruising for a bit now. At 5.5 months she started holding our hands and 'running'. At 7.5 months she started literally cruising on her own around furniture. She's been pulling herself up from a seated position to stand for over a week. She'll be 9 months old on June 12th. . .and moments ago she just let go of my hand and her activity table to stand unsupported for nearly a full minute in the center of the room. She swayed a bit and flapped her arms like a baby bird to keep her balance, but holy cow - "Look Ma! No hands!"

The child had contemplated crawling. She does get around when left to her own devices - she crawls backwards, she inch worms, her favorite thing to do is pull/push herself in circles that slowly move her from Point A to Point B regardless of where that is. When she sits she scissor kicks to turn herself in a circle until she finds what she wants. Sometimes she's able to move her legs in and out in such a way that she butt-scoots forward - but the standing is new. She was incredibly proud and finally began to topple when her excitement and pride got the balancing bird flapping arms moving too quickly in celebration. I caught her as she laughed and smiled. Logan clapped for her and she laughed at him yelling her latest form of Brother "Braba!"

UPDATED TO ADD: And just to show off a little, Megan decided to try some more standing on her own. She started to lean a bit too far forward and took two steps instead. She enjoyed those steps so much she keeps trying to do it again. She's not quite got enough balance yet to really stand for long on her own, let alone actually walk, but she's trying. She keeps standing with one hand on the table and then laughs as she moves to walk towards us. She gets nervous and ends up grabbing one hand before she lets go of the table. She's tried walking to Logan but he's not quite big enough to hold her up. She ended up on her butt the one time she actually trusted him enough to let go of the furniture.

Pull-ups

Its official. Megan Rose has figured out how to stand herself up. She's been practicing for weeks now using the adults around her. With no help from us beyond sitting within her reach, she'd grasp hold of us and stand herself upright. She might hold your shirt, your arm, your shoulder, your leg. Didn't matter.

Well now she uses inanimate objects. Today it was the red wagon. She was sitting in it. Logan and I were watering our newly planted veggies. I turned to see her standing hunched over in the wagon because the wagon side wasn't nearly high enough to allow her to stand upright as she held on. She saw me catch her in the act of figuring out her next move, lowered herself to the bottom of the wagon again and laughed. Needless to say she was removed from the wagon promptly.

She's happily cruising around tables and miscellaneous furniture. She holds hands and walks around with glee. She's even been known to attempt to take her own stroller for a walk. Megan is on her way to being a hellion on two feet. Look out!

--
New sounds - Megan recently began toying with the dog's name. When she sees her beloved Tasha come nearby, Meg whispers softly "Ta! Ta!" Stand her at the front door at her grandparents and she joins the chat for the man with the big hugs and grin "Pa! Pa! Pa!" She knows very well who Papa is because she'll look right at him if you ask her where he is. She's also been heard saying his name when he walks into rooms - although she won't play nice enough to say it when he's around to hear it.

She also enjoys her food. As she gums up Cheerios and banana pieces she says LOUDLY "UM! UM! UM!"

Got to love a good bubble bath. . .

mobile

Since she manages to move bits and pieces one way or another let's just say that Megan Rose is mobile - to a degree. No marathons yet. No finding her in the next room after putting her down, but the girl can move when she wants to. I came in here to check in with the office. At her wiggly instance I placed Miss Thing on the floor, a safe distance from the dog's toy basket. Its something Megan is fascinated with because really, who doesn't want to chew on a big rubber, spikey ball.

She busied herself playing with the toys we've left for her in this office/playroom. She grabbed at a few odds and ends that go along with big brother. And then she spied the forbidden loot apparently. My back was to her but her giggling made me turn around. She was scissoring her feet in and out at a rapid pace and wiggling her butt - a combined move that made her turn in a circle and inch forward. She did this until she hit the jackpot. She looked up at me, her little round, deceivingly innocent looking face full of pride, and she nearly dove head first into the dog's toys.

Having been removed from her grasp and safely stowed, Megan has now moved on to bigger and better things. She's now scissor kicking again trying to retrieve Spencer the train - at least when she's not attempting to use Logan's toy pliers. Wait, I take that back. Another new trick. . .she can go from sitting to belly without bonking her head. :)

Sounds and such

It seems that once the developmental ball starts rolling it just keeps on going fast. Megan's utterance of the sound "Dada" is occurring less often haphazardly and more often when she sees Dad. In addition, she's adapted her Boowah sound to something unique that we are now thinking is her way of saying "Brother." She tends to say it only when she wants Logan to look at her. I don't think I realized how often we refer to him as "big brother" but I suppose its often the way she's taken to the name. She also is trying out "Baba" for bye-bye. She works the sound out as she flops her full arm in a wave. The motion comes every time you say "Bye-bye" and wave at her.

She follows direction fairly well. "Megan can you splash?" during a bath will be rewarded with a big slap of roly-poly baby arm into water. And of course a strong set of the giggles. Or better yet, when she's on her feet, arms high above her head, and ready to run, she'll head off wherever you tell her to go. "Meg bath time. Go to the bathroom." She giggles and she goes. She beelines right for the running water every single time. Or tell her to find Daddy in the kitchen and again, right to him.

She loves to cruise around. She loves to stand - she'll hold herself up at the front door or on a table. She'll ages leaning on the LeapFrog activity table she's inherited from "boowah." She hits the various keys and flips the miscellaneous levers on that thing. Luckily Logan has stopped insisting its his.

To and fro

Meg is well on her way to mobility. She doesn't lift her lower half off the floor when she moves and she doesn't move forward per se - at least not far. She is totally capable of turning herself to face whatever direction she finds comfort whether she's on her belly or back. And, well, she sort of inch-worm crawls herself backwards. Yes. She's doing a dead-leg crawl in reverse. Its amusing to us to watch and utterly frustrating for her.

Progress on that crawling thing. . .

No, she's not all out crawling yet, but she is inching closer. . .quite literally. Tonight during our typical bedtime routine I decided to give tummy time another go. Megan arched her back and lifted herself fairly high, spotted the dog, reached and then cried. Tasha was, luckily for Tasha, out of Megan's reach.

But hey, the dog is good motivation to move, right? So Megan stretched again. No such luck. She buried her face in the carpet and yelled. And so I tutored. I tapped her right foot moving it a bit so that her knee hugged her side. Then I tapped her left foot.

And then Megan did it.

She moved one hand and then the other to pull herself forward and straightened her legs as she did so.

We did this a few times - just enough to get Meg close enough to brush her fat baby fingers to Tasha's reluctant paw. The dog then ran, but Megan had something bigger figured out.

Logan came down the hall moments later, fresh off his bath and looking for the night's storyteller (aka me). I urged him to sit a short distance from his sister - just out reach. We called Daddy to watch. And Meg did it again. This time she did most of the work herself and she kept her head up fairly high. She'd get a foot on my palm and push off hard as she reached in front of her with a hand. Then the next foot and reaching with the other hand. She's not up on her knees as she does it. She drags her legs along the ground in a weird sort of half crawl. She keeps her eyes locked on her target and she laughs with pride as she goes along her quest.

Logan clapped for her. He cheered. He crawled around her showing her what to do again and then he hugged her. And Megan laughed. Then she flipped herself on to her back and clapped proudly with her feet in imitation of the three of us. We clapped for her and cheered and she, being her typical self, basked in the glow.

Knees!

Megan doesn't spend a lot of time on her belly. She HATES belly time. She hates it so much that she'd rather just yell and scream then flip herself off her stomach. Lately though she's come to appreciate at least one new trick belly time provides her - getting up on her knees. It started yesterday and it started as she was complaining about belly time. Megan put her hands down firmly on the floor, placed her forehead just ahead of them and then rocked back onto her knees elevating her middle off the rug. She's yet to do get her head far off the ground - leaving her in a weird sort of tripod stance. She doesn't move when she's like this, but it may be coming.

Megan loves to "walk". In fact if you sit her on your lap or near enough to your lap, she'll lean back and lock her legs until she very literally stands herself up balancing herself against you. She eagerly grasp your hands if you let her so she can go for a walk - marching and prancing around as she giggles. And lately, given the chance, she'll stand all on her own holding onto the door or a table. We've been wondering she too would skip crawling altogether, but perhaps not. Perhaps as soon as she figures out that crawling would allow her to wreak mobile havoc on her own, she'll be off and going. Stay tuned for updates!

words and sounds

So Megan has been doing the whole "Mmmmah!" thing when she's mad or upset and wants me to pick her up. Today, for the first time she saw me coming toward her, held out her arms and yelled happily "MAMA!" then laughed.

She's also playing a load of games lately. IF you sing patty cake she'll clap her feet together in time to the song - not her hands. No. The child uses her feet to clap along.

If you ask her how big she is, Megan will put her arms as high above her round head as she can and laugh as she makes the sound "AhhhhH!" She holds them up there until I say "Sooooooo big!"

In the mornings when I retrieve her from her crib I often say "Peek-a-boo!" as I lean over the side to see her. This morning as I leaned over to get her she yelled out "Booowah!!" I thought it might be a fluke, so later in the morning I covered her eyes with my hands. When I moved them away she yelled out "Booowah!" In fact, as I type, she sits on my lap, body facing the screen, head tipped back all the way to my chest, looking up at me and saying "Boooowah!" until I look at her. And then she says it - "Ahh, Mama."

Hugs!

She's been doing it for a while, but I just don't get to typing it up when I'm thinking of it. Megan is a big time baby hugger. Megan will hug and 'kiss' but, but she's more apt to just hug you. When I get her in the morning or if I take her from someone after having been away from her a bit, Megan will throw her arms around my shoulders, laugh and then throw her head deep into my neck as she squeezes with everything she's got. I don't think I've ever had such an amazing bear hug before - at least not from someone so tiny - and yes, she does squeeze TIGHT!

Miss Meg's first Spring day

Mmmmmmmmmmaw!

Megan has a new sound. Still a leery to call it a word, per se, but it might be. She says "Ma" or more accurately she says "Mmmmmmmmmmmmah!" Its not something she utters often. It tends to come out when she's sitting or laying on her own and she wants Mommy to come pick her up - thus the potential word. She'll see Mom and she'll start to kick her feet as she yells her M sound louder and louder. "Mmmmah! Mmmmaa!" Once she's picked up she buries her head down into Mommy's neck and throws her arms around Mom's shoulders. Yup, Meg is also a big time hugger. And a kisser. But mostly a hugger.

Like a good Jersery Girl

We had a rather busy day today - some kite flying at the park, a little swinging, lunch out in an old converted train car, and then some walking around the Barneget Lighthouse. While Dad and Logan a walk along the path atop one of the retention walls, Megan and Mom stayed on the sandy beach area to keep Miss Meg out of the strongest of the sea breezes (more like strong winds!) Miss Meg was placed down on the beach and the first thing she did was plunge her pudgey baby hand into the sand. She giggled and then did it again. And then she started to dig. She dug herself a small little trench, unearthed some sea shells and contemplated eating one before Mom rescued it from her grasp. Megan Rose loved the beach. She loved walking through the coast-line trees and bushes. She loved playing on the sand. Just like a good Jersey coast girl should.

Improvise

Megan has this teether that she's in love with. She got it sometime in January and quickly figured out how to make it work -- chomp down hard enough on the yellow "beehive" and it'll vibrate. The moment she sees it she lunges for it, grasps the two green side handles, angles it to her mouth and chomps down hard. And then it buzzes. Yes, the thing makes this deep, loud, buzz as it vibrates. Almost a soothing hum to go with the sensation that must help her sore gums.

Today we noticed a new twist to this game. Megan was chewing away at the handle of the teether - a part that won't vibrate no matter how hard she works at it. No soothing vibration. No sound. At least none from the teether. Megan began to emit this deep, loud, buzz-like humming sound. At first we thought it was maybe just a coincidence of timing. Nope. She did it again several times through the day. If she gets working on that teether but doesn't bite into it in the right spot or hard enough in the right spot, she'll make the noise herself.

Not bad for 6.5 months old.

Photo taken January 2005

Meggie has toes

Megan Rose not only discovered she had feet recently, she figured out how to get those toes in her mouth.

New Sounds

Megan has added two new sounds to her baby vocabulary:

1. Boowah! - A variation on the briefly used Boobah, Megan has developed a great Al Pacino (in Scent of a Woman) impersonation. We've told Logan that its her way to say "Brother" and so now when she says it and he's paying close enough attention he'll answer her "Yes, Megan. I'm here."

2. Dada - Yes, Megan has added the sound Dada. Not quite yet a word because she says it whenever she feels like it and not just when she's talking to Daddy, but its a start. She typically combines it with something that sounds a lot like Hey or Hi. "Hey dada. Dadadada. Hi dada."

6 Months old

The mid-way point has been pretty important for Megan. By her six-month "birthday", she could:

- sit on her own without tipping - unless she saw something out of reach to lunge for.
- Make a variety of different sounds including "Mmmmmmma!" when she wanted Mommy to pick her up and the most recent "Baaabah!" that she started making today.
- Stick her tongue out as a means of playing with Grandma or anyone else she felt would enjoy some face making.
- Reach out her arms to someone she wanted to pick her up.
- Manipulate a vast majority of her toys the way they were meant to be played with, including her turtle that spins around the little balls and plays music, her crib fish tank, and everything on the excersaucer.
- Take steps, yes I said steps, when someone stands behind her holding her hands so she can balance on her feet. She loves to walk!
- Wiggle and scoot her way around when she's laying on the floor.
- Drink out of a sippy cup. To date she only gets formula or water occasionally in a cup.
- Play a wicked game of peek-a-boo by turning her head away from someone and then quickly twisting her head around so she's looking right at you. Makes her laugh hysterically each time she does it.
- Tackle her big brother.
- Make a 60 pound dog run in fear.

Growing Girl

A few days early for the actual 'birthday', Miss Megan Rose went to visit her doctor for her 6-month well visit. The little lady, while still growing rapidly, is starting to settle back into a more 'average' size for girls her age. The silly nurse thought she could get Meg's weight pre-set on the scale and aimed for the vicinity of 16 pounds. But 16 pounds Megan is not. No, Megan is 17 pounds, 6 ounces. To go with her rollie-polie weight is a solid 25 1/2 inches. She's hitting all her milestones on target and is, to quote the doctor, absolutely perfect. Sure, we knew that!

Little Miss Thing likes to think of herself as being older than she is, meaning she likes to be on her feet trying to walk as you hold her hands above her head. Her brother did this too, although he was several weeks older at the time he started. When the doctor came into the exam room today, Megan was standing tall with her hands above her head so I could hold them, and she was attempting to walk herself across the room. "Show-off!" he said. Then he laughed and commented on nice it was to see her enjoying herself like that.

And then Meg did what Meg does best. She laughed, babbled and grabbed at people's face till her heart was content. Doctor noted all that and said based on those things and his exam she was just as she should be.

A milestone for Megan Rose

At five-and-half-months old, Megan has hit a big milestone. She can sit, sans tripod, unsupported! She can sit upright for several minutes until something out of reach gets her attention - then she lunches and tips herself over. 

Nearing a milestone

Today Megan sat on her own. It lasted maybe two minutes - perhaps a bit more - and then she tipped herself backwards onto her elbows before easing down into the mattress. It long enough for me to grab the camera and take several photographs as proof. She sat without tripoding for a bit and then with just her right hand down at her side for a little extra support. It won't be long now!

She's also thinking about mobility. She is fully capable of migrating around her activity quilt - ending up a totally different direction than where you put her down if you wait long enough. When she's on her belly she "swims" by moving her arms and feet rapidly. Sometimes it even propels her a bit. Lately she's also been pulling up one knee under her stomach as if she's thinking about how to get up on them to crawl.

And when she's not working on sitting or laying down to play, she's having someone or something help her stand. Standing with her hands over her head in your hands, she'll take little shuffle steps laughing all the way. She wants to chase her big brother. She lunges at him as he moves by her as if the simple act of thrusting her body forward will move her to him.

She's also honing her shopping skills. Today, as she sat on my lap while I made resservations for Logan's special birthday trip to see Thomas, Megan snatched my credit card and sat proudly holding it out before her. Later in the day we went to the Mall with Grandma. Gram held two outfits before Megan and said "Ok, which one do you want?" Meg looked from one to the other several times and then reached out for the dress. We held the short set - which was the same material as the dress - closer to her and said "Don't you like this?" She looked it and then turned her head again reaching for the dress. Needless to say, Grandma bought the dress.

Another first

Megan took her first ride on a 'real' swing at Cattus Island Park on February 23. Don't let the photo fool you, she spent the majority of her swing time laughing. 

30-seconds at a time

Megan is getting ready to sit on her own - totally unassisted. Last night she sat upright on her own for roughly 30-seconds before leaning forward to tripod with her hands in front of her. She sat that way for a bit longer and then, as she attempted to sit back up straight, she tipped over. She did a command performance this morning.

It won't be long now!

Baby book review

This is Megan's current favorite book. It just arrived in the mail yesterday and she's already run her fingers across the various textures on each page. The battle in our house is over which child of mine gets to touch which tail first. This despite the fact Logan refers to it as a "baby book."  

Here's Megan doing one of the things she likes to do best - stand in her excersaucer chewingon her butterfly rattle.  

Five, Friends and Fiendishly good shopper

Today Megan is five months old. Don't tell her that though because she tries so hard to be much older. ;) Megan's latest pleasure is standing. Yes, standing. Typically she does it holding on to our hands, but she's been known to cling to the edge of a table without as much fingertip supporting her. Yes, there are hands behind her waiting to catch her - but still, she beams with pride as she props herself against the plastic Little Tykes picnic table all on her own. She's also been caught trying to take steps as we hold her hands high above her head. Her little legs set apart wide as she shuffles and she doesn't get more than an inch or two, but try she does. Obviously she's much to young to be pulling up on various objects on her own, but she will do her darndest to pull herself up when you offer her your hands.

Of course, even without her feet, Megan is mobile. No, not crawling yet as that would mean she'd have to remain on her belly without screaming bloody murder for more than a moment or two. Megan is a roller and a wiggler. She can roll both belly to back and back to belly - she just doesn't do it often. Instead she does her favorite thing - rolls onto her side. She loves laying on her side so she can better play with a toy. She'll scrunch herself all up in a little fetal ball and attack whatever toy is nearest her. Sometimes that toy gets away, and when it does Megan will use a series of back to side rocks and lurches to move her baby body to a spot near the offending toy. I've placed her on her activity quilt before dashing off to help big bro with the potty only to come back and find her on the opposite side of her quilt facing a brand new direction - and laughing at me for it.

Megan very clearly has the ability to anticipate recurring events. For example, my little dare devil loves it when we drop quickly to a squat as we hold her and sing Rock-a-Bye-Baby. She giggles her fully body laugh every time we do it, and that laugh starts in early. The moment you cradle her in your arms and sing the first note she starts to smile. 2nd note and she giggles as she stares at you in a way that just says "Yup, I like this song! I know what's coming!"

She also LOVES play Peek-a-boo. She starts to smile and laugh as soon as you begin to pull something over her eyes. We tend to play this game at night after her bath and so her hiding place is behind a towel. If I let go of the towel - letting it drape loosely over her face - she'll pull it off herself and burst into a fit of laughter. And then, if you're not fast enough, she'll pull the towel back up over her head. Granted she isn't very good about getting both eyes covered at once, but cut the kid a break, she is, after all, only five months old.

She's also working on sitting for real. She can't be up on her own for long, but the second counts are indeed getting longer and longer. She is also become fairly competent at the tripod sit (hands in front for support.) She'll hang out like that for a pretty decent amount of time before tipping over to a side.

Megan is a very sociable baby. She loves talking to people. She loves when people talk to her. Yesterday we hosted a Valentine's Party for our playgroup. Megan made friends with a little girl just a few months older than herself. Meg stood in her excersaucer as her friend stood holding on to the outside of the tray. They babbled at each other and exchanged giggly smiles for a fairly decent amount of time. I've no idea what they conversed about but they both seemed to enjoy it.

However, her most favorite baby friend is the one she sees in the mirror. Megan loves to play with the baby in the mirror. She coos at her. She smiles for her, laughs at her and leans in as close as she can get without smacking their foreheads together. She pulls and reaches for the mirror until you position her close enough to touch. She reaches out her not-quite-as-balled-up-all-time-time fists towards the other babies. She opens her hand up wide and attempts to grasp that other kid's fingers. She never seems bothered by the fact that the other baby has weird hands you can't quite hold onto.

That said, we think her favorite toy is her brother. In fact, we're convinced some mangled attempt at his name will be her first word. She worships Logan. When she hears his voice she turns her head in the direction until she locates him. . . then she smiles wide. When she's crying he can often make her stop. Its amazing how fast those tears go off and the giggles come on. When he gets close enough to her she'll throw her arms around his head in a little baby bear hug and plant a big, wet, drooly, open mouth on his head in an attempt to kiss him. She clearly adores him and the feeling is mutual. He's already standing up for her, by the way. At the aforementioned playgroup some little kid started pulling out toys from Megan's basket of goodies. Logan, who was actually happily sharing all his stuff, ran over and attempted to yank the item from the 17 month-old's hand yelling "No! That's my baby sister's toy. You can't have Megan's toys. Give that back."

Lastly, Megan is a great little shopper. I took her with me to Children's Place today. When I plopped a cute little hat on her head, she very literally grabbed my face with both hands and placed a big wet sloppy kiss on my cheek. After her clear approval of the nifty little hat, Megan lurched herself forward and grabbed on to the matching skirt with both hands. I had to pry the thing from her grasp in order to pay for it.

Chatterbox and boxsteps

Megan loves to talk or at least attempt to talk. Its rare that she's awake and not chattering away in that sweet endearing stream of baby sounds. She's discovered volume, so a lot of that babble is loud babble. She blows raspberries. She noisily sucks away at her thumb. She laughs a big deep belly laugh that seems so surprising coming out of such a little body. She experiments with sound. She'll look you in the eye and babble back at you if you talk to her. She loves to be told she's pretty. Telling her so is sure to solicit a full-faced smile and some well placed cooing. She's a confident little lass.

Megan also loves to dance. She likes the ChaCha a lot. She likes to Hokey Pokey. She loves to slow dance to Sam Cooke songs. She likes to hold onto your fingers and stand. She likes to be held as you sway and then to be dipped. She likes if you sing Rock-a-bye baby and then, while still holding her tight, you quickly drop down low creating a "free-fall" sensation for it. This girl is going to be a rollercoaster fan.

Megan got her first real taste of "real" snow this weekend when we got nearly a foot of the stuff. She liked it just fine as long as someone held her. 

Megan likes mushed up prunes. She liked them so much she decided to jump in and try decorating, er feeding, herself. 

This way and that way

Its been a week since Megan first rolled and also a week since she last rolled. That first time she went from tummy time to her back. Every opportunity since then she'd lean slightly to her side and then decide it was just easier to yell until someone took pity on her and lifted her up.

Tonight though she went the other way. Megan saw a toy to her right that she wanted to have. It was just out of her reach and so she flung her weight as hard as she could in an attempt to reach over for this thing. First time she did it she got up on her side. Then she fell back to her back. Second time she did it she got 3/4's for the way over. Mommy put just a finger tip on her shoulder blade with no actual pressure and Megan flopped down on her belly. She grasped at her toy, then realized she was on her stomach again. She decided instead to scream. And to scream loudly.

Megan's Food Review

Barley mush is much better than rice mush. To illustrate this point before you can talk grab your mother's hand and pull the spoon closer to your mouth as she feeds you barley mush.

Smile and laugh a lot too. Although this does not illustrate the point as well when you've smiled and laughed over rice mush previously.

Granted, I'm sure Megan would have much preferred the half a grilled cheese sandwich she manhandled this afternoon when Logan wasn't looking.

4-Months

Megan Rose turned four months old yesterday. That means today was her four-month well baby visit with Dr. G. As she did last time, Megan greeted the doctor with a nice display of her social skills. He came in to hear her hysterically laughing over a rousing game of Peek-a-boo we were in the midst of. "Ahh, that's what I like to hear! So she's laughing and interacting very well. Perfect." he said.

Actually that was the second time he came in. The first time he got to witness her turning pages in her "Miss Spider's New Car" book - something she decided to do for the very first time ever right there in the doctor's office. Then he realized he forgot his stethoscope and had to excuse himself.

She was pronounced perfect in every way and even delighted the doctor with a very nice smile directed at him when he referred to her as "Pretty girl." I do think Megan, even at four-months old, is fully aware of what that term means. It has ALWAYS gotten a smile out of her.

She is a big girl - falling in the 80th percentile for girls her age in all measured categories. She is 14 pounds 11 ounces and 25 1/4 inches tall. I do forget her head measurement already, although the scratch pad paper its written on is somewhere amongst the Miss Spider books in my diaper bag.

Outside the doctor's office, Meg delights us daily with a cache of new tricks. Today she decided to give blowing raspberries a try. Usually it means a whole big mess of spit bubbles tripping down her chin, accompanied by the silliest sound you ever did hear a baby make.

She enjoys singing and will join in any good song with her own array of lyrics disguised as cooing. She loves to laugh and does it often. She wakes up each morning happy to greet the day - although she loudly protests taking a break from it later in the form of a nap. Meg hates naps and when she finally succumbs to one her big brother is sure to do his darndest to wake her back up. Go figure.

She likes her books. She pokes a little finger at the pictures while she babbles at them. She fixes her gaze on each new page. She calms when we read. . .until she gets bored and then she lets us know she's had enough with a few well placed yells emanating from her reddening face.

Meg has a temper. Yes, this we know even at 4 months old. There are times when she is clearly yelling (not crying per se, just yelling) for the simple fact that she's ticked off at whatever great injustice has been done to her - it may be that she was simply placed on her belly or that she's been left in her play yard a moment too long.

Meg likes food. She watches 'real' food with great interest. She widens her already big blue eyes and she bobs her head forward in a move that must surely be an attempt to sneak a taste. She is particularity interested in whatever happens to be on her big brother's plate. Perhaps this is because she some how innately knows that he's the one most likely to sneak her some.

She loves being outside. She naps better outside - a fact that makes Mommy a bit bummed Megan wasn't born in the spring. :) She prefers to sit up like a 'big girl' in her stroller and not ride along in the car seat hooked to the stroller tray. She likes hanging out in the double stroller - all upright and proud in the back seat while Logan occupies the front. She smiles while she's in there and she checks out the world around her.

She likes to play games - peek a boo and piggy toes. They make her giggle which makes us giggle which makes her giggle more. She squeals, scrunches up her face and squints her eyes when she laughs. She loves playing with her new toys - the ones Santa brought her for Christmas. She lays on her activity quilt purposefully smacking the bar that makes the little bird pop out of its house and whistle.

She loves to take a bath. She's ditched any semblance of a bathseat and lays in the largest amount of water that allows her to splash while keeping her ears fairly dry. When she's in the tub she laughs and splashes. WE think she may be gearing up for a gold medal in the backstroke someday. She kicks her legs and flops her arms up and down. Sometimes she moves so forcibly in the water she splahes a sizable amount up into her face causing her to blink droplets from her baby-blues. She rubs them dry with her curled up first and then laughs about it before starting her swimming drills again.

She loves her people. She gives each of "her" people a beautiful toothless grin and a small sound that lets you know how much she absolutely adores you. She watches us move through her world with a great intensity - and if you happen to move away from her at a time she was hoping you had arrived to pick her up, she yells - loudly.

Megan is happy. She is opinionated. She is stubborn. She is determined. She is loving. She is cuddly and she is adored.

A weekend of milestones

Megan will be four months old on Wednesday. To commemorate the event, Megan has set about to tackle a few milestones a couple of days early.

First she got her go at "real" food. Megan has been scoping out real food for about a month now. She watches people eat. She follows forks from plate to mouth. She lunges at Logan's bowl of cereal in an attempt to get fistfuls for herself. (Lucky Grandma intercepted.) This weekend we decided to give her a shot at her own food. She sat up in her high chair shoving her bib in her mouth as she waited for the soupy blah rice cereal to arrive. With the first spoonful she made a little face and pushed the rice back out at us. The second was different, as was the third and the fourth. By the time she was into her fifth small dab on a spoon she was laughing and flapping her arms in glee.

Now she's an old pro. Even as she mangles her tongue around her mouth a bit trying to figure out what to do with this thicker mush, she keeps a good 98% of what she gets in and swallows it down. Logan has also taken his turn in the fun. He sits next to her and takes over for a few spoonfuls - gently placing the baby spoon on her lips as he says "Here! Eat this!" She smiles at him. She watches him carefully and when she opens up, he sticks the spoon and waits for her to slurp. We are working with him to slid the rice cereal off into her waiting mouth.

Sometimes she steals her spoon from Logan. She waves it around like she's showing off her prize. She gets rice cereal in her baby-fine red hair and across her cheek - sometimes even in her eye. Then she shoves the spoon in her own mouth and sucks away on it which makes Logan laugh and announce that Megan is a big girl who can feed herself. Then he holds his hand out under the spoon and says (as we all to do the dogs!) "Give. Megan give."

The bigger milestone, perhaps, is that Megan has begun to roll over. She did it tonight for the first time although she's been toying with it for weeks by getting herself up on a side. Tonight, however, she surprised herself by flipping all the way over from belly to back. I had just laid her down on her stomach and she was happily playing away. She got herself up high on her arms - elbows nearly locked tight - and then she did it. She leaned to her right and found herself smack on her back lying half on the toy center of her activity blanket. She laughed about it and kicked those round legs a bit. Then I put her back on her belly. She got frustrated then and instead of rolling a second time she buried her face in her blanket and screamed about it. Hey, she's got a true red-headed temper.

He's back. . .

Megan seems to have eyes for her brother - or at least eyes on him whenever he's around. The looks she gives him, as mentioned previously, seem to say either "Ahh, my dear, loving brother, he's so cool!" or "Holy Cow! Here he comes again! ACK! Someone save me!" As sweet and innocent as Logan looks in this photos, I think Megan's eyes tell latter. Perhaps its the quasi-chokehold he appears to have her in.  

While enjoying her most favorite Christmas gift, Megan ponders rolling. 

Laugh and the world laughs with you. . .

Megan has been laughing for a while at this point, but lately it seems to have become one of her favorite activities.

Talk to her - she laughs.
Sing to her - she laughs.
Come peak at her in her crib when she first awakes - she laughs.
Smile at her - she laughs.
Pull a shirt over her head, pausing to cover her eyes a moment - she laughs.

She laughs.

She laughs.

And she laughs.

Megan is a happy baby. . . usually.