Last night, I told Matt that one of my favorite things about blogging is watching him read over the posts for the first time (usually soon after he gets home from work, after we’ve had dinner). He’s almost never seen the pictures beforehand and usually doesn’t know what I’ll be posting about from day to day, so it’s fun getting a firsthand reaction from someone who is as excited to see a bajillion pictures of Raven as I am.
In case you are not one of those people, no fear–
I actually do have some non-baby posts planned for this week.
But for all you people who don’t mind an extra little dash of baby chubs and squealy girl pictures in your life, this bonus 10 on 10 post is for you.
1 // Recently, Raven learned to climb up on the couch by herself, turn the t.v. on and off, and push buttons while holding the remote so that it’s facing the Roku player. This means TROUBLE, people.
(I swear we don’t even have the t.v. on that much around her! Guess she must just love the t.v. lounge time she does get…just like her parents…)
2 // Looking so pleased with herself as she hangs out on her own personal jungle gym (aka, me).
(And in case you can’t figure it out–like I sometimes struggle figuring out pictures–the light grey to the left is my leg, and the darker black is my shirt. I’m basically getting a full-on ab workout while taking this picture since I have a baby pinning down my legs and am leaned back as far as I can go to get the shot. Oh, the things I do for the daily picture…)
3// We have reached an all-time high of clingy-ness since I returned to being a stay-at-home mom. And Raven has absolutely perfected the skill of the fake cry, the pouty lip, the double-foot stamp, and the monkey sounds, all in an attempt to get me to hold her 24/7.
Of course, I’m probably doing the worst thing possible by variably reinforcing it (meaning sometimes I’ll pick her up, sometimes I won’t) because sometimes it just means that I have a little shadow making monkey sounds and pulling at my pants all day long.
It’s a good thing she’s cute.
4// This picture was taken last weekend, and it was literally like overnight, she looked like a toddler to me. (I keep trying to convince myself that maybe it was just the outfit.)
5// One of my favorite things she does is when she wedges herself against the wall like in that upper left picture, where she basically fences herself in with all her toys and books. It doesn’t happen very often (see #3), but when it does, she’ll sometimes sit and play happily by herself for almost an hour, allowing me to read my book on the couch without her climbing up by me to investigate, or even–true story–do the dishes without her coming to *help* by taking all the silverware out as fast as I put it in.
Oh, and those wooden toys? Locally made and purchased here in Logan. We’ll probably buy at least one thing from them for the next 20 years or so.
6// Last week I bought Oreos for the first time in probably a year or two, and this is Raven getting her first taste of one. She’s not normally one to go for really sugary things, but man, she sure liked that Oreo.
She gets that from her dad (who polished off a whole sleeve in that same sitting).
7// Speaking of her dad, those two are best buddies—she may come to me for almost everything else, but if she wants to play and laugh and have a good time, she’ll choose Matt every time.
Smart girl.
8// As she’s gotten more mobile, Raven is much less content to sit quietly for the three hours of church like she used to be. Enter in: the necklace. It’s guaranteed to keep her occupied and hold her interest for at least 45 of those minutes (albeit, 45 minutes broken up over the span of those 3 hours), and it conveniently doubles as a cute accessory.
Mom wisdom for the win (as long as you don’t mind being nearly strangled when she grabs at it unexpectedly and yanks.)
9// Ever since Raven really “got” the concept of clapping, she expects us to clap for nearly everything now–a big bite of food that she feeds herself, a two-block tower that she’s built, or even sometimes when she’s managed to get away with some mischief or other.
Basically, she’ll do the act, give a dramatic smile and gasp, then start clapping for herself, looking at us expectantly.
One time, she did it right after blowing her food out everywhere in a magnificent raspberry spit bubble, and Matt was doing really good about firmly telling her no and trying to explain why we don’t do that…until he saw me, hands covering my face, tears streaming down my face from all my silent laughter.
That’s when you turn your backs, pretend like there’s something really interesting right behind you, and try and regain your adult composure, even though your shoulders are shaking up and down and every time you glance in each other’s direction, you start the process all over again.
10// It’s funny how randomly routines can start, but somehow, Raven now goes out to “see the ducks” every day around 8:45 a.m. (before her daddy leaves for work) and then again right when he comes home.
She totally expects it, too, and will look at Matt and pound the front door when it’s time (or, if she’s in his arms, whine and point to “outside”).
**************
Well, there you go—the end of your bonus 10 on 10 post (can you see now why I refused to narrow it down?!). Raven is actually 15 months old today, and so you *might* get another baby post later on this week after we’ve gone to her doctor’s appointment, but we’ll have to see–I’m not even sure if it would be possible to get her to stay still for long enough on our white bed for me to get the shots, as I did with the other posts.
Anywho, as always, you still get your bonus pics (and a video or two):
