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That's right, Maggie's got wheels. On her 9 month birthday, and Mom and Dad's 9 year anniversary, Maggie decided to crawl! She's worked so hard, and now it's time to find all those dangerous nooks and crannies in our house. Her crawl is so cute, her legs kind of point inward and it's more like she's rolling along. It kind of reminds me of how you'd roll your arms to a silly camp song. She also popped her top front tooth this week, and is now eating like she's got a full set. Apricots, she just eats them like an apple. She wants no baby food, and she BARELY wants to nurse. Will she be the baby that weans herself before a year, or is she just taking a little break to explore all the other textures and tastes out there?? Time will tell. She's almost pulling herself up on things, and can, she just doesn't know it yet. She is just too funny. Such a sweet and happy baby, that is of course until you tick her off- then she lets you know. This week was vacation bible school at Westview, and she just rolled with it. She played, rode around in the Ergo, hung out in the stroller, or went for tours of the church with Grammy or Pops, and smiled at anyone who smiled at her. She's started waving and handing you things this week too, which makes it hard for anyone to pass her by without an "awww, how sweet!" and a few moments of playing the "Oh, for me?? Now it's for Maggie" game. She has only the slightest hint of the separation anxiety that usually marks this age, and that only if she's hungry or tired. We had our first real dinner out, away from the kids, last Friday night. We had no doubt that Ian and Nora would be fine playing on Pearl Street with Grammy and Pops... well, it turns out that Maggie does just fine as long as you keep the caramel crepes rolling her way.

We're trying to decide what to call the new "play structure" that Daddy (with a little help from the boys) has built for the kids. The fort?? The 5th Flatiron?? It will find a name I'm sure. Ian LOVES it of course, and that's before it's even done. There's a climbing wall, sand for the sandbox, and a swing set yet to come. Get busy Daddy! He's already hanging on the slide, belly down, yelling "No, no, no NOOOOOOOOOO!" as he slides down, pretending he's falling off a cliff or something. Tonight he was climbing up the slide in his Lightning McQueen underwear (we're just dabbling...) with a two foot long two by four... um, what were you going to do with that Buddy?? He's full of imagination, and just about ready for preschool. At VBS all week he was such a big boy- I would spy on him occasionally and loved seeing him just playing with the bigger kids, singing songs, participating in whatever activity they had going on. He even did crafts! He was SO proud of this paper plate and crepe paper parrot that he made... it's now hanging on the wall over his bed, over his pillow specifically, so that he can see it as he goes to bed. Who knew we had a little crafter... he won't even draw with crayons for me! He and Nora went cuckoo for the "banana song" in church every day. We'll perform for you someday if you ask;-) Our little boy is growing up... off to college soon at this rate. Nothing gets by him, either. We've started enforcing a little more vegetable eating, as he's now old enough to understand that we sometimes have to do things we don't necessarily enjoy yet... but we try go "Popeye" on him and tell him that they will make him big and strong. So the other day (after like two peas, mind you) he says "No more peas- I'll be too strong". That's kind of like "It's your turn, Mommy" when he's done with whatever task is at hand, like cleaning his room. Too smart for me.

Mary