Better the Second Time Around

Eden has been exploring lately the wonders of dropping and throwing her food to the ground. She then quickly peers over the edge of her tray to see where it went. Once she starts doing this, I know she's mostly done eating, so I clean her up and get her out of her chair.

Then the race is on. As I'm getting the paper towel wet to clean off the floor, Eden starts crawling around and eating the food she dropped. Mmmm... leftovers. Some food just tastes better the second time around.

Kiss kiss

Eden's learned how to make a kissy noise with her little lips. It's just plain adorable. Once she got the hang of it, she started stringing a bunch of kisses together and now kisses while she's crawling around, playing with her toys, or looking at us.

Like a friend from church said, eventually we'll have to teach her who she should give her kisses to. But for now, I like that she's an indiscriminate kisser.

Last night when Kasey bent down to give her a goodnight kiss on her forehead as he does every night, she made a kissy noise to him before he kissed her. She didn't even look up; she just knew he was about to kiss her and joined in the affection.

She's a heart-melter, this one.

Little Lady

Little Lady

Grunting, straining, growling

Sounds of exertion as you explore your new strengths

Not yet tempered by labels

-- ladylike, feminine, polite --

Your energy overflows and you are the essence of a

Little Lady

BABY ON BOARD

At one of my baby showers, I received a yellow-triangled "Baby on Board" sign to post in the rear window of my car. I'm not a bumper sticker type person, and I've never been a fan of personalized license plates, but I made the leap and put the sign in my car. After all, my baby's safety was at stake here, right? I knew what this sign would do for us -- it would tell tail-gaters to back off to a safe distance, admonish road-ragers to please find some momentary patience, and give speeders pause.

Then I had a baby.

And I realized what that sign really means.
- Get out of my way - I've got a crying baby in my car!
- Don't honk at me when the light turns green - I'm trying to give her a toy.
- Don't call the cops if I swerve a little - I'm reaching back to try to comfort her.
- Park a little farther away - I've got to open the door as far as possible so I don't bump her head putting her in this seat.
- Give me a wide radius - I may be a little distracted.

It turns out the sign is more of a warning to others of the hazardous new mom driving with an infant in the car. No one's honked or cursed at us (yet), but I'm sure I've gotten several head shakes and stares of wonderment. So the next time you see one of those signs in a car window, steer clear, for your own safety.