I Think We're In Trouble...

This is what she was doing when I left her room:

This is what she was doing when I came back a minute later:

And this is the look I got when she saw me peeking in her doorway:


Yes. She is pretty much completely mobile now. Her crawling is improving daily and she now prefers to crawl rather than roll. Her favorite spot to crawl: the Christmas tree, of course. The second you put her down, she inches her way to see how many shiny ornaments she can pull and how many presents she can unwrap. Suddenly, keeping my eye on HD has become a full-time job (hence the lack of blog posts lately). It is quite amazing to watch her development explode on a daily basis. Every day brings new discovery and successes for our sweet baby girl. Another skill she has developed is the ability to pick up the snack puffs (the kind that dissolve almost instantly) and feed herself. Of course, only about 4 out of 10 reach her mouth, but she is so proud when she does manage to eat one; and this gives us a few minutes of peace while we shovel food quickly down our throats. You see, our girl has decided that it is absolutely unacceptable for someone else to eat in her presence unless she, too, is being fed. It has been two months now (wow...two months already), but Stu and I are finally able to eat a meal together again. It's the little things that make me happy! It will be nice when HD has some teeth (none in sight at this point) and can eat a variety of finger foods. She's also started to interact with her big brothers, making Chipmunk and Monkey very happy. She loves sitting on the floor in the middle of their madness. They play peek-a-book with her and she laughs hysterically. They tickle her feet and she laughs hysterically. They make goofy faces and she laughs hysterically. Are you seeing a pattern here? Yes, she is definitely enjoying the entertainment my two silly boys provide. I, too, am enjoying it as it allows me to get a few things accomplished around the house. My family seems to be falling into a nice comfortable place. I am sure as soon as I say this, it will all fall apart tomorrow. But I'll take it while I can. Soon enough the boys will be out of school for Christmas break (for 3 weeks I think) and my schedule will go to hell in a handbasket.
Other than that, not much new to report. We are gearing up for Christmas. We enjoyed our town's annual Christmas parade last week, made ornaments at the library, and did the obligatory visit with Santa this weekend. We tried to do it several weeks ago while we were at the mall but the boys refused to talk with Santa that day. They knew they had been naughty that day and they were scared to death of what Santa would say:) This time, Chipmunk went right up to him and had a nice chat. Monkey, on the other hand, would absolutely not get anywhere near him. He stood behind me the entire time and only came out at the very end after Chipmunk said Santa wouldn't know what to bring him. So my dear Chipmunk took his brother by the hand and walked up there with him so he wouldn't be scared. Such rare moments of sweetness take my breath away and help me carry on during the daily struggles between the two.
It is definitely going to be a Merry Christmas for our family.