"Gardening"

At the end of Friday, Margot helped me tend the veggie garden. She spent at least 5 minutes diligently bending down and removing things from this one patch of the garden. It was helpful when she took out the first few leaves from nearby maple tree, but she didn't stop there. Apparently large clumps of dirt, small pieces of rock, and everything else that makes up dirt all needed to be taken out. Luckily, she did the entire removal process (bend down over the garden, select offending object, stand up, bend down outside of the garden, place offending object on the grass) for each individual thing that she found, so all of her hard work didn't result in any actual damage.

1st Birthday Preview

I've been getting requests for a post about the birthday extravaganza that happened last week. I won't spoil any of the surprise, but here's a picture to tide you over until we get a full post together.

Great-Grandad Smith

Margot's great-grandfather, Robert, came up to visit and spend a little quality time with the small one and the rest of the family. Margot's in a shy, suspicious-of-people-who-aren't-mom-or-dad phase, so we were curious to see how their time together would go. They basically marveled at each other and smiled a bunch. I'd call it a great success!

Now that Robert has returned to Florida, we're all missing him and counting the days until his winter trip back this way.

Here's a shot of Robert, Margot, and Murray for your viewing pleasure.

More New Toy

Margot's obviously getting better and better at the walking push-toy that was featured last post. Evidence follows:

Actually, in all seriousness, she's great at standing and walking with the stroller, and is starting to want to go faster. In this case, I don't even know what she managed to hit to "catch an edge" and go straight over on top of it this time. She's so good natured: given that nothing actually went bump on the floor or got pinched or anything, we had time to grab the camera like good, caring parents and snap a picture of her in this state. Awesome Parenting Magazine, here we come!

New Toy

Once again, Margot's friend Soren has generously allowed her to borrow a gently used toy.  Thanks, Soren!

In this case, as we head for the 11-month mark, Margot has been getting more and more interested in spending time standing, and she's pretty good at sidling around the coffee table or around the couch, or recently even "finger walking" holding onto Mom or Dad's hands.  So, we figured it was time for a "walker" toy that she could clomp along behind.  Over the last week, she's gone from rank amateur to being really pretty good with the toy.  Which is OBVIOUSLY how she got herself into this photo-opportunity:

hello?

Margot has been fascinated with phones and computers for a few weeks now. She has noticed that I spend all of my time on them and she's been trying to figure out what the attraction is. The result is that Margot now picking up my cell phone and holds it to her ear while saying "hi". This seems like a much more complex level of mimicking us than banging on the computer keyboard or repeating sounds that we make. She has figured out both how to interact with the phone (hold to ear) and that you say hello into it. (And, yes, I do actually answer the phone "hi" if I know who it is from caller id.) She's cute and a genius!

At Least One Photo (Again?)

Hmmmm. Compounding how busy we've been not posting to the blog, I just got an error trying to upload this post.

Suffice it to say that we're good but all over the place, Margot's amazing, and we'll have to tell you all about it. Soon. Meanwhile, a photo.

An Ace at Sitting

Given the previous post, I thought it was only fair to Margot that I post an example of her sitting well. She's doing a lot of expert sitting these days! Not only can she exist happily on the floor by herself (and even scoot around some, though usually not in an intended direction), she's capable of riding in her stroller or a shopping cart seat without the car-seat, and even sits in the high-chairs in restaurants comfortably. Actually, she loves the high-chairs, because usually she can then get a taste of the table by just leaning into it and gnawing.

I love the following shot, 'cause I think it looks like she's focused on making a good selection in the store. Although, about 60 seconds after this shot I pointed out to Christi that Margot was leaning sideways to bite on the horizontal metal bar at the side of the cart! Yay, teething...

Think she's ready for a career as a sitting-model? ACE Hardware ad copy, here we come...

Grace Happens

Margot's fancy stroller comes has a bar across the front that is at first used to secure the car-seat in the stroller, but then becomes the anchor for the snack/drink tray once she is big enough to sit in the stroller properly. However, "properly" may not be the right word, since she's come up with her own favorite method now that the tray is in place. She's a delicate flower!

A Margot Trap

Margot was making unhappy noises, so I looked down to see what toy had moved out of reach. Instead, I was surprised to see Margot caught with her hand in the shape toy (you put the right shapes in the right holes). Margot had stuck her hand in to get a shape and wouldn't let go of it, so she couldn't get her hand out. Being the caring parent that I am, my first reaction was "we need a picture of this" rather than, say, helping her. At least events like this will be nicely documented for any future therapy sessions.