Hello Kitty

The Nugget certainly is a crawling pro now and she gets around every which way she can. The safety gates are up and although confined to the kitchen and living room Liana finds no shortage of small crumbs and otherwise insignificant items that she can put in her mouth. I had to install a cat door on the door in our kitchen that leads to the basement (and the kitty's food supply). We typically have left the door open but with an active Nugget that is no longer an option. The funny thing is that every time Liana hears the sound of the cat door she scrambles as fast as she can over to it in hopes of getting to catch up with the kitty - to see her, pet her, etc. The cat, realizing the Nugget is now so much more mobile, does everything in her power to avoid Liana.

As I mentioned the gates were installed but we did have to elevate them a little higher than normal so the cat can go underneath. The attached photo shows Liana looking for the kitty - she saw the kitty go under the gate and got as low as possible to the floor to see if she could watch kitty some more. Too funny. Newest things are that the Nugget mimics me when I make a "quacking" sound - usually in the tub with the rubber duckie and she also mimics the "wee wee wee" sound made when I tell her about the infamous "little piggies".

Batten Down the Hatches

Right before our trip to Utah the Nugget was making some significant strides in the crawling department and was clumsily piecing it all together. While on vacation she certainly beefed up her skills and showed an uncanny ability to pull herself up onto ottoman's, exersaucer's, coffee tables, you name it. I've attached a brief video of her showing her crawling skills - note that everything must be bolted down from this day forward!

Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

We just got back from Utah and our trip was a success. Mommy and Daddy got to do some skiing and hanging out with friends and the Nugget got to get familiar with the ski lodge at Deer Valley and she got to visit her friend Katelin (who calls her "Ana"). Part of the experience was tubby time together. Katelin, at 19 months has a little variety with her tubby time as her daddy drops in colored fizz bombs to change the water color. Everything was going well when blue was added, and then yellow, and then something happened ... the Nugget created her own plop, plop and added a brown bomb to the mix. Yup, for the 2nd time in her life she did a #2 in the tubby - Katelin was whisked away, Liana was taken out of the tub and daddy got to scrub with the lysol spray! Good comic relief - how can you get any cuter than these two?!

Side note that Liana became very fond of a big mylar heart shaped helium balloon and now looks for a balloon when you say the word. She also was making a "buh" sound and all four adults confirmed that this was a true attempt at a first word.

Also, the Nugget was very good on the plane rides (we had a connection on both ends) and was complimented on how well she behaved. One gentelmen who was travelling on buisness on our last flight from Chicago to Boston - with whom the Nugget exchanged several smiles - commented that she made him miss his kids. We are so blessed!

Utah, Get me Two!

We are taking the Nugget on her first airplane ride today as we visit our friends Dave, Julie and their 16 month old Katelin in Utah. We are leaving the cold weather to go to colder weather and more snow. This time in 2007 and 2008 we were in Aruba enjoying warm sun and white sand. I'm sure the sun in Utah will be warm, but the wind will be cold and no white sand - just white snow. Well, gotta go pack but we are hoping the Nugget has no issues flying and that we can keep her quiet. Amazing how perspective changes - I used to hate flying when kids were seated near me because I could never get any rest or peace and quiet. Now I will give the evil eye to anyone who suggests that my baby is ruining their flight!

Sock Monster

Liana has learned a trick from me - not sure if it is a good thing but it sure is funny. A couple of months ago I used to pull her socks off slowly and one at a time to get her to laugh - she thought it was hysterical. So now that she has some more dexterity and motor skills she pulls her own socks off and ends up with cold feet. She needs to hands and really needs to yank but she gets it done!