Happy Birthday, Mommy...

...let's get ripped.

Toothed Wonder

Emma, a k a The Toothless Wonder, has finally gotten her first tooth! It broke through just a few days ago. In a cruel twist of fate, Libby has been working on her 2-year-old molars at the same time. As you can imagine, we've had some crabbiness around here lately (or, in Libby's words, "Emma cwabby").

Emma is not yet crawling (I know, I know -- I've been claiming she's close for months now), but I'm officially going to call her mobile. I put her down about three or four feet from some wet cat food the other day and ran outside to water the plants. I came in to find Emma chewing exuberantly and joyfully clutching chunks of cat food in her fat little fist. Yummm!

In other Emma dietary news, she had her usual snack at the beach today: sand -- and lots of it. I was doing a pretty good job of keeping her out of it until my attention wandered. I looked up to find Libby holding a shovel of sand to Emma's mouth as Little Sis sucked gleefully. Such a helpful sister! (Oh, well. As our friend Paula said today at playgroup, someone once told her that kids eat five pounds of dirt in their first few years of life; your job as a good parent is to just make sure they don't the whole five pounds at once.)

Speaking of Emma's eating, she has now started eating some solids. She adores Cheerios and Rice Krispies. Basically, she has to feed herself or she gags up a storm. If anyone has any advice on good finger food for a toothless wonder, I'd be grateful. We've done the cereal, toast strips, pasta, and peas. It's a little carb-heavy. Any thoughts, anyone?

Emma diving into some Rice Krispies.

Libby spent her time in Lakeside exactly the same as last time: pushing around the beloved Cozy Coupe.

Summer's yummy bounty. (She had the leftover corn for breakfast the next day, too.)

Reading the paper with cousin Kennedy.

Emma Cwabby.

We Miss You, Daddy!

Martin's off in Denver for a few days, and we already miss him like crazy. The girls and I had a little photo shoot to help him to remember us.


And then things got a little ugly, and we had to stop.


A special message to Daddy from Libby:

................................mmmmmmmmmm k /
4

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

A brief sampling of things I love right now:

1. Libby's name for a garbage truck is "dump trash truck." Until recently it was actually "fire truck? dump trash?".

2. If Libby doesn't fall asleep right away, she sits in her crib and talks to her dolls and stuffed animals and sings and reads her books. (Sometimes with all of the dolls and books and animals and blankets in her crib, there's hardly room for Libby herself.)

3. Emma's metronome foot. When you put Emma on her tummy (and I know I've said this for a long time, but the kid is SO close to crawling), her little foot just tap-tap-taps at the floor like a little metronome. The people downstairs must wonder what the heck it is.

4. Libby's curiosity. Everything is a question. Everything is picked up immediately (not any curse words yet, though, thank God).

5. Libby's counting. "One, two, three, five, seven, nine, ten."

6. Emma's belly laugh and Libby's smile -- both of which we are seeing a lot these days. Despite how exhausted I look in these pictures (and, yes, I'm pretty darn tired) and how crabby I often am (sorry, Martin), life is really good right now.

Libby on the ferry.

The girls and I have breakfast on the porch in Maine.

Emma gets a head-to-tummy tickle from Mommy...

... and loves it.

MainePictures

All the Maine photos can now be viewed on Flickr. Apparently some people had trouble with the other gallery (though it's still available and prettier).