Ten Months Old!

Elizabeth turned 10 months old on the 26th, and in characteristic terrible mother fashion, I did not get a picture of her that day.  So I present to you the second best thing--pictures of her from today:

 

 In that last shot, you can just barely see the two little teeth that are coming up through her gums.  She's growing too fast! 

A few new facts about our little girl:

• She can wave bye-bye and clap
• She is super active and runs us around the house trying to keep her out of trouble
• She is already testing us--she knows what 'No' means, but doesn't usually care to listen. 
• She recently had her first babysitting experience, and it was a positive one.
• She's walking very well on her own, and she also loves walking behind something she can push--though, if she reaches the end of a path or hits a wall and can go no farther, she gets very angry. 

We learn a little more about her personality all the time. So far, she loves to play and laugh, and she's very affectionate, but she also loves to ignore directions and cautions.  She's curious and inquisitive, and has a quick temper when she doesn't get her way.  In other words, she's just like her father.  Let's hope I can live through this....

Happy Easter from Elizabeth

 So the servants have been acting all mysterious and one just came in and told me that I needed to go out to the dining area and look at something.  I don't see much around here, other than a floor that could really use a cleaning...but...hold on....

 

What the deuce? 

 

You mean there are things inside of this...what is it again?  An egg?  

 

Hmm...sweet potato crisps. Not bad. So eggs contain sweet potato crisps.  What? Not real eggs? Well why in the world wouldn't you just give me a real egg?  Too messy? Why is it messy? You know what, never mind. This is very confusing. 

 

Here's another one! This place is lousy with them!  I'm not really surprised, considering the (lack of) housekeeping skills of the current staff.

 

Hm. I thought I could just eat it and skip the whole breaking it open thing, but it looks like that isn't really the case. 

 

I should put it in this basket? Why? So that's where eggs go, in baskets? Not all eggs? Once again, you have made this whole process about as clear as mud. 

 

Well, here's another.  Let me put this fake egg in a basket.  So is it just fake eggs that go in baskets? No? Fresh eggs are gathered in baskets? Hmph. So fake and fresh eggs go in baskets. Where do real and not-so-fresh eggs go? Oh, so that's what that big thing in the kitchen is for! I've been wondering about that.   

 

This is what the basket looked like after I found most of the eggs and the servants retrieved other things that my devoted and adoring fans have sent me for Easter, like that card and the duck from fans in Michigan, and those books from fans in Texas.

  

Let's read the card.  Very nice. 

  

All in all, I have to say Easter is pretty fun, though some of the traditions are a little strange. 

  

Happy Easter everybody! Now I'm off to lecture the servants about various things they routinely do wrong.  

Mother's Note: If you want to see a video of the Easter egg hunt, you can view it here.

 

9 Months Old!

I am a terrible, terrible mother.

I forgot to post something on her 9-month birthday.  It isn't at all that I forgot that day was her 9 month birthday, I just forgot to post on or remotely around that day.  I feel horrible about it.  We were so busy--Michael's birthday had been the day before, his parents were here, and my voice was practically gone from a cold I'd caught from my daughter.

In any case, we do have photographic documentation of her that day:

 

Isn't she just so darn cute? Michael and I say that to each other about twenty-seven times a day.  

Some facts about our darling girl:

• She has taken her first step--but not a series of steps yet.
• She is babbling up a storm: bah, bah, bah, bah and dah, dah, and deh, deh, mah, mah, etc. 
• She likes nothing better than to rip Michael's DVD's off the shelf (the Blu-rays are in a shelf she never seems to make it to, thus far).  
• She thinks it is really funny when I tell her "no". She gives me the most charming, devilish grin. "Silly mommy. Don't you know I'll do whatever I please?"