Explorer!

This little Venice is giving us a run for our money lately. Maybe all the kids were like this, but our house is so set up for older kids and adults it's been a challenge to say the least. She is 9 months, 1 week and getting into everything. She can pull herself up and down like a pro, cruise along furniture, use her pushcart or a random box to get herself from here to there. And her crawl is  still this fast little hermit-crab imitation. 

We spent the weekend a few weeks back making the back entry safe for babies so we could tie our shoes without pulling legos out of a baby mouth and she discovered the back door. She loves to hang out here and see the kids, trees, squirrels. Unfortunately, she also loves to mess with all the cords and outlets right next to the door, and manages to find half a crushed cheerio, dirt, and legos wherever she can. Sigh. 

She's such a good little explorer. She loves to take in everything, will help me push the button to start the coffee in the morning. She wants to imitate everything the kids do and will throw baby temper tantrums if she is pulled away from something exciting. 

I just gave her a little box with a few pieces of paper grass and she has been intrigued  right next to me the whole time I've been typing. She really figured the box out. Most everything makes its way to her mouth but she does take time to explore in other ways. 

Like Logan she still likes to drum on everything, banging with her arms straight in rhythm and making herself giggle. Like Logan is fascinated with all things outside- grass, squirrels, trees, shadows. A neighbors cat came for a visit and I had both girls outside for quite awhile playing with her. She follows the little dogs around at the grandma's houses, and always has to know where her siblings are. 

We have kept busy so far with the school days starting, including lots of biking. Yay! I love biking. She keeps falling asleep though so I am trying to time it not to ruin a real naptime with a catnap. She goes with the flow of dropping the kids off at school. Dinnertime is not easy, and homework is a 2 adult project because she is not having it that mom plays with the big kids. But so far we're doing okay. 

I keep waiting for her to decide to just take a step away from the couch. She's definitely steady enough and her legs are strong enough. She just has to get brave enough. Time will tell! 

Favorite Board Books

Having a third child makes you reminisce on the other 2 as babies!

This is Venice's favorite book by far. It's a touch and feel book and she adores the "grass" page especially. "Little Feet Love."

This was Logan's favorite book by far as a baby. It was a lift-the-flap book. He loved it! "Dear Zoo."

Sylvie likes Silly books. She got a kick out of "Five Silly Monkeys."

Mmm..... Turkey....

Venice has these pretty little curls. She gets lots of compliments on them and a lot of attention for them when we are out and about. Sometimes they are super curly, sometimes they are unruly. We went through a "curly mohawk" phase that was quite comical. I try not to feed into the attention too much when Sylvie is around because I know hair is her thing, and if everyone thinks curls are great, she's going to be jealous.

She has tried to comb them flat after a bath, but hasn't said too much about them. Today she got upset about her sister's curls. I was combing Sylvie's hair and telling her how lucky she is that she has such shiny hair. She said "I think Venice will have straight hair like me." I said "She might not, it might be curly or wavy. But your hair will probably be shinier." She got upset, saying she always wanted wavy or curly hair.   I told her everyone has things they love about themselves, and envy about others. And had a little "love thyself" conversation.

I said "For example, remember you have those long skinny legs that I always wanted."

She said "Yeah, let's hope Venice gets Turkey Legs instead."