We had a very fun and blessed Easter weekend, starting with a 90th birthday celebration for my Grandma Nell. We were honored to be able to mark this milestone with her, and enjoyed getting together with my extended family - including Laura who came in for a quick 48-hour (or less) visit. Norah got to spend some time with her cousins Liam and Owen - she was quick to ditch Dan and I in favor of hanging out with people who are way more fun! The party was great fun, and I am so thankful for the 32 years (so far) of fun memories with my grandma.
We spent Easter at the beach, where we enjoyed church, an Easter egg hunt, and more cousin time.
We attempted to take some Easter pictures of the girls, but as you can see, Maddie was more interested in pulling her sister's pigtails than looking at the camera.
Norah was very relieved that the Easter bunny was able to find her at the beach - she came away from the egg hunt with a basket full of candy, including some of Maddie's eggs, since "Maddie doesn't have any teeth, so she can't have any candy." Norah enjoyed having some egg-hunting buddies this year, and I know she'll be good at teaching Maddie how to look for eggs next year.
While Maddie may not have any teeth yet, she flew through a handful of other developmental milestones last week. By the weekend, she was reminding me of the Very Hungry Caterpillar, always hungry for more... adventures, that is!
On Monday, she started pulling herself up on everything in sight - tables, chairs, walls, windows, and any other vertical surface she could reach. She had been doing this with help for a couple of weeks, but all of a sudden, she got it on her own... and she wanted to practice it constantly.
On Tuesday, she started crawling on her hands and knees instead of scooting on her belly. Again, she had been close for several weeks, but last week, she really got it! And we thought she was fast before! Now we put her down for a few seconds, and she's across the room.
On Wednesday, she realized that her new pulling up skill could also be used in her crib. Actually, this discovery made her more mad than anything, since she marooned herself in the standing position in the middle of the night. This has not, however, prevented her from utilizing this skill over and over again since then. Mommy and Daddy are very tired of it, and all of us are tired in general, since we're averaging about three wake-ups/stand-ups a night. Hopefully she'll either a) get tired of pulling herself up as soon as she wakes up, or b) figure out how to get herself back down on her own. Either way, something must happen soon!
On Thursday, Maddie figured out that once she was in the standing position, she could do a bit of cruising... taking a few careful steps while holding on to the table/wall/couch, usually in order to get something just out of reach. This adds a new vertical element to her mobility, and means that not only is the floor Maddie's playground, but also many of the lower surfaces as well... and that it's time for my decorations to get put away for awhile.
On Friday, Maddie learned how to feed herself a Cheerio. (Actually, make that three to four Cheerios at a time, since that is what she can get in her fist, and then she just puts her whole fist into her mouth and licks them off her hand. She gags herself not infrequently.) It is at times like this that I want a dog, since we have Cheerios everywhere. While Dan and I are very excited for all that Maddie is discovering, we're getting more and more nervous for the possibility of trouble to come! She's so cute when she figures out something new - so proud of herself that she usually laughs out loud - but there is also something about the way she looks at us as she crawls to the trash can and empties it contents or races to grab one of Norah's toys when she thinks no one is looking that says, "I am going to challenge you later!"
Speaking of trouble to come, Dan is making good progress on our new edible garden - with the help of a jackhammer he just happened to be able to borrow from one of his co-workers. (I call his pickaxe a divining rod, since it's pretty good at finding the location of and cracking buried sprinkler lines - and a pickaxe is nothing compared to a jackhammer!) To Dan's credit, he didn't hit any sprinkler lines, gas pipes, or electrical conduit, but he did make me very nervous since all of those things were mere inches from the demolition site. Next step - leveling the ground and then paver installation (good news - that means another opportunity to use a big power tool). I just hope my plants produce enough food to do justice to all of Dan's work building raised beds and a new paver walkway!
More pictures (and video of Maddie crawling) to come!
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