Chuck E. Cheese

Yesterday morning Molly was in a cranky mood.


Fortunately, we had plans to go play at Chuck E. Cheese with Lex and Eve. I threw her in the car, she napped, and when we got there her mood improved tremendously.

What a great place, even for tiny little kids! No ball crawl or weird singing dog Elvis like I remember from childhood, but they had all kinds of rides and games, and even a toddler area. More importantly, I could put Molly on the floor and let her crawl around. There really aren't many public places where a baby can roam freely before she knows how to walk, so that was cool.

Here are Lex and Eve on a ride.

Eve tried a bunch of rides, while Lex explored a tunnel system way over our heads.

Meanwhile, Molly fell in love with Tessa and wouldn't let her go, except to play a little game of "Let me down, just kidding, pick me up again."

That was a good thing because when she was down crawling around she did, at one point, rub her palm on the floor and then give it a big lick. That tongue just has a mind of its own.

Molly crashed on the way home. I think she's bored with me already today.

Lots of little firsts

Molly is definitely getting her first tooth. Daddy confirmed it. It's a sharp little thing. I'd like to think that explains why her sleep has been so off for the past week or two. She's been drooling and chewing on her tongue. Since it cut through she had one amazing night when she slept 10 1/2 hours straight, 6:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.! Maybe we've turned a corner, at least until her next cold or tooth.

Another big first this week was I trimmed Molly's bangs for the first time. She's not a fan of holding still, especially if I have something interesting in my hands like scissors, so they're really uneven. It looks much better than hair in her eyes, though.

Also, we installed Molly's convertible car seat in the car last Sunday so she had her first big girl rides this week (still rear-facing, but she's got more room). The drawback is we can no longer carry her into the house in her car seat and set it down on the nursery floor to let her continue her nap. She could sleep for hours like that. Now I have to unbuckle her and carry her in. I tried it once this week and failed miserably. She was wide awake by the time we reached her room. Ah, well. We kept her in that infant car seat way longer than I thought we would. It's sad to see it go. Jim says we should save that sentiment for her first day of kindergarten. It's not worth feeling sad about every little thing she outgrows. Good point.

On the walking front, Molly takes a step every two or three days. She spent a week or two practicing squatting and standing back up without holding onto anything. She is also working on standing up from one knee. Her balance has gotten much better. It's still pretty weird to look across the room and see her standing in the middle of the floor with no furniture around, just playing with toys in her hands as if she's always known how to stand on her own.

Here are some other shots from today.


We had fun playing around the house.

Molly is really into broccoli lately. She stuffs it into her mouth by the handful. She's also really into apples and pears (peeled, diced and softened in the microwave). She had chicken this week, which was her first meat. The diapers aren't as bad as I feared ... yet. She didn't really eat very much.

OK, now I'm just procrastinating. Our dishwasher died a week or two ago and I've been spending at least a half hour every night after the baby goes to bed washing dishes by hand. We ordered a new dishwasher this weekend but it won't be here for another week and a half. Ugh!!!

A tooth?

This is an unconfirmed report (the baby wouldn't open her mouth for Jim) that a first tooth may have emerged tonight. I'm so proud I could burst. It's silly -- it's not like I grew the tooth or Molly did anything unusual. Still, I'm giddy! Will I still giddy when she wakes up crying again at 3:20 a.m.? Maybe, maybe not.

Sleepy girl

Ah, the classic ...

Filling containers

A week or two ago Molly discovered she can put objects into containers, not just take them out. This has opened a whole new world of possibilities. One of her favorite places to put things is in somebody's hand. She also likes to try to put things in my mouth. This afternoon we were out in the yard sitting in a pile of fallen leaves. I was so proud of her for not constantly putting the leaves in her own mouth (at least in the beginning), but she kept trying to put them in my mouth. Silly girl.

We came inside and she had a good time taking my hat off my head and trying to put it back on again. Here she is handing it to me.

She is also figuring out how to stack blocks (only two high so far) and the other day she decided to put her books back on the shelf rather than take them all off. Could this mean she's ready to learn to pick up after herself? Somehow I doubt it.

Her father reports that she emptied out his laundry basket (typical) then crawled into it (never before witnessed) and picked up the clothes off the floor and put them in the basket with her. We're not sure if this counts as filling a container or if she was just confused and thought she was emptying the floor.

She has been so much fun lately. For the past few days I've just been watching her play (she won't let me read magazines or books at the moment) and it's fascinating to see her little mind work. She's figuring out how to use her toys in more sophisticated ways. She seems to be sorting things. It's hard to tell because it could just be coincidence, but I notice things like she'll carry two rings away from her big tangle of plastic rings and they're both white ones with black dots. Out of a whole basket of plastic food (part of the latest haul from our neighbor), she picked out the spatula and fork -- the two utensils. Then she tried to spoon feed me.

Of course, this joyful child is the one we see during the day. Nighttime is a different story. After a few weeks of relatively good sleep (down around 7 and staying asleep most nights until around 4 to nurse and then down again to around 6), she started waking up again last week at odd times and not wanting to go back to sleep. At least so far we still tend to get a good 5-hour chunk of quiet at some point in the night. That's luxury compared to our sleepless summer.

Speaking of sleep, it's time for me to catch some right now. That 4 a.m. wake-up call is harsh.

Last thing -- another random shot from the other day when she was crawling around inside the cabinets.

Looking for trouble

Every day it seems Molly finds some new way to put herself in physical danger. She likes to try to launch herself head-first over the arms of chairs and onto the floor. She tries to climb over the backs of furniture. Yesterday I looked down and found her here:

Mostly we've been able to catch her before she carries out her daredevil stunts, but last night I wasn't quick enough. I had just turned on the water to fill the bathtub. She was standing beside the tub reaching for a toy that was just beginning to float. Next thing I know she's sliding head-first into the tub, fully clothed, face-down in the water. Ahhh!!! I picked her up as quickly as she fell in, but she was pretty upset. She had a big red bump mark on her forehead. We thought for sure she had her first bruise, but it went away pretty quickly.

In other adventures, Molly had a blast playing with my mom this weekend.

We went out to restaurants and Molly did fine, but we think the era of eating out with the baby may be coming to an end soon. We rarely make it through a meal anymore without one of us (usually her daddy) having to get up and walk around with her. Even when she's quiet and happy in her high chair, it's kind of a hassle to try to feed her, pick up the toys she throws on the floor and smile sheepishly when her happy shrieks are so loud the restaurant gets quiet. We hardly talk during the meal because we're in such a hurry to finish before she loses it.

Teething biscuits -- eeww!

Yesterday was one of those days that required many, many wardrobe changes.

First, I let Molly splash around a little in the puddles in our empty shower. Soaked.

Then I gave her a store-bought teething biscuit (I haven't gotten around to making my own). These things are so messy!! Can you see the goo all over her face and shirt? It was also on her hands, which means it's on the couch, the carpet, her toys, me, everywhere. Ick! And by the way, she's not actually teething. I don't know what I thought I felt and saw in her mouth, but she still has no sign of any teeth. I kind of like that. She's still a little baby.

The third change was the worst. I picked up the little girl from a nap and she threw up all over me. Poor thing. She's been a little off since, but I don't think she's got a major illness or anything. That required a change for both of us, some urgent laundry and a bath. (sigh).

Messy day.

Some firsts

I think Molly took her first step Friday afternoon. It happened quickly and it's not what I expected. She was trying to get from her push toy to the gate at the top of the stairs. She leaned and took one step before falling onto her hands and knees. She hasn't done it since. I guess I had this image in my head that she would take one perfect little step (no falling at the end), then two, then be walking within a matter of hours.

Also, Thursday night Molly had her first trip out of the house alone with her daddy. They went to an art show where the wife of one of his work friends had some photos exhibited. I probably would have gone too except I had an appointment to get my hair cut for the first time since the baby was born. That was nice.

Another first: Molly climbed into my lap without any help when I was sitting in my chair. Since then she's been a climbing monkey. She almost climbed into the bathtub by herself. Today she scaled Mt. Couch.

She also spent her first night in her new crib last night. She's been in the Pack N Play for two months because her original crib was recalled. The company took forever to send me the voucher for a new crib. Then the replacement crib I wanted was back-ordered. We finally went to the store yesterday to pick it up and at the last minute I noticed they loaded the wrong crib into our truck!!! The whole thing was a mess from beginning to end. Why can't crib manufacturers build better cribs? I had no idea crib recalls were so common.


This has nothing to do with anything. She's a troll.

Silly baby.