Playfulness and a sense of humor...

We're really starting to see a sense of humor and playfulness from Molly lately. Little things like her reactions or little smiles she gives back to you as you playfully tell her not to do something. For example, I'll playfully tell her "don't you pull that blanket down off the crib..." and she'll give me a sly smile, crawl over and pull it down and get all excited. Or, I'll give her a sly little look out of the corner of my eye to which she gives you a flirty smile in return. The other day, I was tickling her as we were playing on the bed and soon it became clear that she kept intentionally falling backwards and smiling to encourage you to tickle her tummy. We managed to catch some of it on camera... Enjoy!

Learning from her friends...

One of the benefits of Molly being in group child care is the daily interaction she has with all the kids in her classroom. It also means Molly has plenty of opportunities to learn from the older kids around her! One of the little girls, Ava, loves to make silly noises with her mouth, flapping her fingers up and down on her lips while making noise. Of course for the last week, Molly's been working on perfecting Ava's move, with a little help from mom and dad, of course! Here's a little clip of Molly's progress...

Horray for Athens visitors!

The month of March has blessed us with visitors! Two weekends ago Molly got to meet our good friends Richard & Andrew, who came to visit from Athens, GA.

Didn't take long for Molly to warm up to "Uncle Richard" and give him a little cuddle!

With the beautiful and strangely warm weather, we were able to get out for a little hike at High Points Metro Park where Richard, the expert birder, found us an eagle's nest to look at from the look out tower! If you look closely you can see the eagle's head.

 

Molly with the boys!

Uncle Andrew trying to get a taste of Molly's mum mum!

After that it was back home where Molly got her first experience of the green grass between her toes!

The next day it was off to the Audubon Metro Park for another walk for some us & a nap for Molly!

And of course we couldn't let Uncles Andrew & Richard leave without a taste of Jeni's ice cream! Molly got her first taste too! Like her mama, Molly has a bit sweet tooth & kept opening her mouth up for more, just like a little bird! 

We felt very lucky to see our dear friends & Molly definitely enjoyed their visit, too! We can't wait for the next time...

A game of catch!

Wow, so we have really been sluggish with posts lately! We've been really enjoying the unusually warm springtime weather with lots of walks outside, and putting our little feet on fresh green grass for the first time! Molly continues to do well, showing us more and more about how much she understands.  Hard to believe the little bugger is 10-months old now!

Lately she's started to take interest in playing "catch" or rolling a ball ("ba" according to Molly) back and forth. She's still getting the hang of it, but here's a little glimpse...

Don't underestimate me....

We've been a bit busy here lately & having a hard time finding a moment to post much on Molly. Bad parents, I know.

Lately, we're really starting to "see" just how much Molly really knows and understands. Before you wondered, does she get what I'm saying or asking her. But now she's starting to clearly respond to your questions. For example, for a while now if you ask Molly "where's daddy" or "where's mommy", she turns and looks for whomever we're asking about. We've already shared with you what happens when you ask Molly "how big are you?"... the hands shoot straight up! Now if you ask Molly "where's Neko", she not only looks around for Neko but when she finds her, she clearly says "ka". She also clearly says "ka" when Neko just walks in the room or by Molly. Who knows if she's trying to say "cat" or "Ne'Ko'"! She responds to "hi" and "bye" with a wave, albeit backwards at herself! She'll also shake whatever is in her hand if you ask her to "shake it".

We've been working on signing with Molly as well. She knows "milk" for sure & we think she signs "milk" back to us when we ask her if she wants milk. We can't tell if she's figuring out the sign for "all done", but think she might be. Right now she just waves her arms up and down when we ask her if she's all done with her food. Kind of looks like how she claps, but who knows! She might be equating the sign for "more" with her puffs or cheerios because that's usually what she always wants more of when we ask her. Jeremy said that now when he asks her if she wants more, she looks up at the top of the fridge which is where her cheerios and puffs are.

Overall, it's been a lot of fun watching her learn all these things & really start to engage and interact with you. This morning, I caught Molly on camera looking and finding her egg shaker toy when I asked here "where's your eggy"? Here's a little clip!

Ha, ha, ha... bo, bah!

Molly continues to be a chatterbox lately. It's pretty fun to watch how her sounds evolve and change from day to day. The "ka, ka's" seem to have become more isolated to certain situations, like in response to Neko walking in the room. "Ga, ga" still seems to be for no particular reason. "Da, da" makes an occasional appearance but not often. No "ma ma" still... The funniest is "ha, ha, ha" often followed by a "bo bah". The "bo bah"s lately seem to be evolving into "ba ba" and "pa pa". Molly seems to particular enjoy making sounds that require her to press her lips together, which in the last two days has evolved to spitting and the return of raspberries. We've started waking up to Molly chattering away in her crib, which is pretty cute. Sometimes I'm not sure if she's actually still asleep while she's talking because she'll be chatting away and then go back to sleep. I wonder who's she's talking to!

Anyway...here's a little video of Molly doing her "ha, ha, ha...bo bah" during "rolly time" which is probably our favorite time of day with Molly. "Rolly time" is the time when we play on bed which Molly treats as a big gym, usually rolling around, climbing and pulling up on mom & dad, and wrestling her stuffed animals and dolls. She tends to get really excited & chatty during "rolly time"! You might need to turn up the volume a bit to hear Molly because she's pretty soft spoken with her ha's. Enjoy!

Molly & her cousins!

Two weekends ago we packed Molly up in the car and took a trip out to Pennsylvania to see and meet her cousins. Molly had met cousin Hunter already, but hadn't met her cousins Libby & Carter or her Aunt Lauren. Molly always seems to enjoy being around children, so we weren't surprised that she had a great time (even though she was still recovering from being sick).

Here's cousin Hunter "showing" Molly how to shut the lids on the peek-a-boo game! Soon it became a game of who could close more tops first!

Next it was "huggies" with cousin Libby...

Then onto kisses from cousin Carter, which you may have already seen the super cute video of!

And even some hugs & kisses from Nylah pups!

Girl power!!

And all the cousins together! Impossible to get a picture of all of them looking at the same place at the same time or all staying seated, but not too bad.

Pop pop & the grandkids minus Hunter...

Molly even got to meet "Uncle" Josh & is looking forward to his & Mariana's wedding in September, in which daddy will be the best man! I think Uncle Josh's arms are bigger than the width of Molly's entire body!

Family photo courtsey of Aunt Meg!

Definitely a fun weekend for Molly!