On your mark . . .

Get set, go! While Alice still prefers holding hands when walking, she is starting to take independent steps. And most importantly, she is starting to be able to go from sitting to standing in the middle of the room (with nothing to pull up on). The cutest thing though, is that when she walks toward you, which she does with the biggest smile on her face, she pretends she is coming to see you, then suddenly veers away, laughing all the while. Have I been able to get this on video--of course not. Trust me though, it is heart-breakingly adorable.


Snuggling with Maemae.


Ok, so do you remember the Ma-na-ma-na song from the Muppets? Well, that is what Alice says when she wants to hear music.


This toy is so special (read: noisy), it gets to stay at Maemae and Papa's house all the time.


Playing 'I'm gonna get you' with Mama.


So after the mind-boggling amount of progress Papa made as far as getting Alice to go down in her crib, I decided to not only continue the trend but up the ante while in Florida: no more coming into our bed at night. This was definitely one of those "this will hurt me more than it hurts you" scenarios, as I so vry much miss her snuggly little self. But she was waking up, coming to our bed, and then having a heck of a time getting back to sleep. Now, I can just sing a few pathetically off-key repetitions of Twinkle Twinkle and she is back to sleep.

One night, she had to have every single stuffed animal in he room in her bed. Her teeny tiny bed. Kids: can you find Alice in this picture?