Gimp-legged crawl...

We knew that it was only a matter of days until we lost the luxury of being able to put Molly down and now that she wasn't going to go anywhere. Well seems like that day is here, although Molly's not getting anywhere too fast! But still, we can't help but be so proud of Molly and her new gimp-legged crawl! Time to put the gates up...

Good morning, gorilla!

Molly really loves these animal hand puppets we got her for Christmas. There's a picture of her in a previous post with "foxy Cleopatra", who she gets very excited to see! She loves to grab them from you and give them lots of cuddles & kisses. Here's just a really short clip of Molly giving kisses to her gorilla...

A mean pinch!

Fortunately Molly hasn't figured out how to pinch people yet, but she's been working diligently on her pincher grasp & picking up her "puffs" (little dissolving snacks). First, Molly just enjoyed playing with them and picking them up. Initially, when she either let us put one in her mouth or put one in herself, she definitely did not like it! She'd either gag or sit there with her tongue sticking out waiting for it to fall out or stream out with all the drool that would accumulate in her mouth while she sat with it wide open. But we just kept offering them to her to pick up and explore & then finally last weekend she just seemed to "get" what she was supposed to do with it once in her mouth... chew it! Since then, she's been progressively getting better and better with picking them up, putting them in her mouth & manipulating them to chew. It's pretty funny to watch actually! Actually this new skill helps a lot at meal times because Molly is quickly becoming that little girl that wants to do everything herself! Seems like as long as she has control of her puffs or sippy cup, then she's more likely to let us have control over feeding her solid foods. This girl definitely has a personality & a will to be independent! Here's a little video clip of Molly working on her puffs!

MomMom & PopPop Brooks come for a visit!

Over Martin Luther King weekend, MomMom and PopPop Brooks came for a visit! We had been frequently showing Molly pictures of them hoping she'd give them a smile & a wave rather than a frown (Molly's got a bit of stranger anxiety). Fortunately it seemed to work because she gave them a wave when they came to the door! Soon Molly was enjoying a story with MomMom by the window...

And breakfast time with PopPop...

Lunchtime at the North Market...

We had lots of playtime on Molly's mat with all her toys and with daddy's hat!

Some window watching with MomMom...

Even though it was cold, we went on a few walks. The first one was around our neighborhood (Grandview Heights).

The another walk on Ohio State's campus...

Clearly, Molly was enjoying their visit!

Overall a very nice visit with MomMom & PopPop!

Sittin' on up...

One of Molly's latest milestones is getting herself up to a sitting position from lying down. Initially I didn't actually see her do it, but rather started finding her sitting up in her crib in the morning or after naps. Pretty cool, although it meant that we needed to lower her crib down because she has also been trying to pull herself up to standing! But it's pretty cute to finding her just sitting up in her crib, playing with her green frog, waiting for us to come get her. So we've been working with Molly a bit, helping and encouraging her new ability to sit up. Here's a little clip from a recent workout. One of the funniest parts about it, is how vocal Molly is as she's trying to push herself up. She really puts some effort into it!