Margaret moving

Margaret has been consuming an enormous amount of food lately. We think she's having a growth spurt. If that's the case, the end result is likely to be crawling. She is getting awfully close. The video below is from the past week, but it already looks outdated. She's got the sitting thing down pat (which, as you can see, was new just a few days ago) and I even found her sitting up in her sleep the other night. She's now up on hands and knees but hasn't figured out how to get forward motion from that position. We hope she waits at least a few days because we haven't child-proofed the house!

Apologies to those regular viewers who are accustomed to titles, transitions and soundtracks. This is just the raw footage:

So much family!

We've had a busy few days with lots of visits with family. Yet another reason we love Maine!

"Daddy, if I look cute enough, will you come sooner?"

"sticks are ok"

"but I really love the good old camera case"

The family from Moccasin Hill arrived first, including ANOTHER dog, this one just a month older than Margaret:

a book lover already? It runs in the family!

Margaret and Calley got along famously

Calley even let Margaret get up close and personal
(under strict supervision by G.A.B., of course)

siblings?

sisters?

charmed by her cousin

And then today we visited with her Maine cousins!

playing with the "big kids"

Guess who's parents are doctors?

the scene in the living room

The End of the World

Above is the warning label stuck to the bottom of the desk chairs in my office.

The second line (and I assume all the others) reads rather tersely, "Do not try to replace or repair."

I am envisioning entire office buildings, empty, but for all the broken and worn out chairs which unwary purchasers found they were unable to replace or repair, their companies out of business because they could not find employees willing to stand all day once it became clear that nobody would be able to legally obtain replacement seating.

Our entire economic system would be wrecked and people would be relegated to sitting at home on their sofas, where, while still legally unable to remove the content and origin labels underneath the sofas, they could at least buy new ones once the old ones wore out.

It's a dystopian vision worthy of Margaret Atwood or P.D. James (at least in my mind).

I can understand not repairing if something isn't easily serviced. But a ban on replacement? That seems bad for the chair industry as well.

Label design, grammar and usage matter, people. Do not stand for brain dead copywriters.

This is why we come to Maine

I'm beginning to understand why John is so committed to blogging. The comments are great! It's so gratifying to know that people are reading.

Today's shout-out goes to Joannie, who is responsible for most of the ideas you see below.

Idea number one: play in a baby pool.

We didn't have a baby pool, but we did have a dish pan, so we tried that. Magic! She loved it.

playing in the dishpan

happy to see Mimi

"who's this?"

"I'm getting wet"

Idea number two: straw cup

We didn't have a straw cup, either, but we found one in New Jersey! Again, thanks, Joannie! Having watched Popo try to teach Margaret to drink from a straw months ago, I tried again today and voila!

straw cup? check.

The last idea I take credit for myself. I figured, we already had the water in the dish pan, and Margaret is not a big fan of the bath tub at the moment, so why not bathe in the dishpan on the porch? She still refused to sit down, but she got clean with relatively little fuss.

bath on the porch

drying off in the late-afternoon sun

The last little tid-bit is a further sign of Margaret's increased strength and mobility. She was pulling and pushing herself on several things today, including the box below:

pushing up to stand

Getting used to Mimi's house

Margaret seems happily adjusted to life at Mimi's house. Highlights so far include TWO dogs (one just visiting as the owner does work on our house), lots of different toys to play with, and the time-honored form of baby entertainment: pulling grass.

chatting with Mimi over lunch

She is also getting quite confident at sitting herself up and manipulating her pacifier. This morning she was playing with her pacifier as though it was a friend. She was sitting on the floor, chatting with herself, sucking on her pacifier. Then she would throw the pacifier away, give a big smile, wiggle over to get it, stick it back in her mouth, sit up, and then start the whole thing again.

trying out the baby backpack

Some of the photos below are of a funny sequence where Margaret was trying to suck on her pacifier with the strap pinned under her leg. She'd get it in her mouth, then sit up to play only to have it pull out again. Several tries later, she settled for reaching for her toys while hunched over enough to keep the pacifier in.

"mmmm, here's my pacifier!"

"get in there!"

"now, how can I play without lifting my head up?"

She's also figuring out how to hold her bottle while seated in her high chair, although as you can see below, she's not quite there yet. We're experimenting with the straw cup in hope that that is easier when seated.

"I can drink my own bottle!"

sort of

We made it!

After an easy drive from Boston, we arrived at Mom's house at noon today. Hooray! Margaret slept the whole way and seems finally back to her usual cheerful self. Below, photos from the past week:

Checking in at Airport Express in HK

"Which one of these buttons is the unlimited bottle refill?"

the infamous blue couch

"I miss you, Daddy!"

playing with the baby in the mirror

dinner with friends

Like father, like daughter. Margaret loves dogs!

Swinging with David. 

Margaret couldn't take her eyes off him! 

Margaret showing signs of jet lag as we pose for the photo op.

Opening a present from Uncle Ray. Who is more into whom?

Grown-up toys are always more fun than kid toys

But where's the actual camera?

Brunch on 4th of July

Lunch stop in New Haven 

In a beautifully renovated Trumbull College

More swings

These in Brookline, MA

At Mimi's house!

Look at the play station!

eating bread from Mimi

"I love you, Daddy!"

Meeting Ellie

Hi everyone! Little time to write as Margaret is busy wiggling herself across the room to get into David's computer things. Below, pictures from meeting Ellie, daughter of SAM's college roommate. More to come when we get to Maine!

future classmates?

"Hang on a sec, let me show you how it's done"

"You give it a good shake, like this"

"OK, now you can try"