melted smoosh

  dear Elizabeth, you are certainly a busy girl! you crawl everywhere now and are pulling up to stand. the first time i found you standing at your play table, I assumed your older sisters had helped you but they assured me you did it all by yourself! you are very interested in everything that is not a toy, like the DVDs in the rack next to the TV, the magnets on the fridge, the art supplies in the cabinet, empty boxes, the robot vacuum, and Tupperware containers -- and last but not least, the electrical outlets. when Greta and Cecilia were babies, I dutifully plugged up each receptacle with an outlet cover, and I don't remember them ever being remotely interested in them. however, you make a beeline right for the outlets and sometimes try to pry the covers off with your tiny fingers! you do love your toy camera and crinkle books, although I have to watch you like a hawk with the lift-the-flap books because you love to yank the flaps off.  baby in a dirndl! laughing uproariously as

dear Elizabeth, as hard as it is to believe, i'm seeing little glimpses of your future toddler self now! you know just how to make us laugh (primarily by blowing very vigorous raspberries), you clap proudly for yourself multiple times per day, you shriek and scream at the girls if they take one of your toys away, and finally, you are actually crawling! you still don't move very fast in one linear direction, but you manage to make your way around the room with a combination of traditional crawling, scooting, pivoting, and army crawling. you can kneel upright without support now, and after a few frustrating episodes where you got stuck on your stomach, you can now push yourself back to sit up. quite belatedly, we moved you out of the co-sleeper into the pack'n'play for naps and bedtime. we have your crib all ready to set up once we receive replacement hardware for the hardware that was damaged earlier this year when our basement flooded. but for now, you're quite happ

dear Elizabeth, this was such an incredible month for you -- reaching lots of developmental milestones, spending lots of time with friends and family, and growing in independence. you are interested in everything around you, but you also play happily with your toys by yourself for long stretches. you absolutely adore Greta and Cecilia. whenever you see them, you flap your arms and squeal with delight. they love to include you in their imaginary play and you love it too, even when they are making you be the cafeteria lunch lady in their pretend school. for now, they can keep their tiny toys out of your reach, but pretty soon we'll have to banish the Barbies to a baby-free zone!  yes, your sisters made you wear one of their ballet hairnets to play lunch lady the perennial favorite 10 Little Ladybugs book that Grammie gave to Greta, still going strong! hanging with the big girls this month we visited the zoo with our dear friends Amelia, Ryan, Adeline and Elias. the whole zoo was deco