Stealing Toys

I’ve officially entered the age where stealing toys from other babies is a regular occurrence. Mom took me to my class this morning on her way to work and when she put me down in front of the cute chubby blonde girl, I crawled right up to her and took the toy out of her hands. She looked like she was going to scream, so Mom made me give it back. Then I made a run for it and crawled inside the toy bin all by myself and when Mom turned back around, I was sitting in the middle of it. That way, I can claim ownership to all of the other toys! I’m KING of the toy bin, so take that chubby girl!

My teacher told my Mom that I’ve become a chatty one…yep, now that I’ve learned a few words, I can ‘talk’ up a storm….just like my Dad!

So have I mentioned my new favorite thing to do the past two weeks? It is so fun…My Mom has this mop that she uses (or needs to use) and I’ve learned that if I grab onto the pole and lift myself up, Mom will push it around the house and I can walk with a little support. Mom likes it because she does two things at once...mops the floor and entertains me! I started out taking slow steps, but after a while, I grew confident and can hold on with one hand and walk around while I use my other hand to pull stuff off shelves. It’s really cool. I usually pull out a handful of diapers off the changing station every time I pass, grab the sock basket until it crashes to the floor and all my socks spill out, rip a few leaves off Mom’s potted plants each time, grab handles to the kitchen cabinets and try to open them, and my favorite – knock the small bronze greyhound statues in my parents room to the floor…those make a LOUD crash when they fall off! It’s very entertaining. We make a few dozen rounds around the house until I start to get tired and start screaming with frustration. Then mom pries the metal mop handle out of my hands and I completely FREAK out. My whole body shakes, I plop to the ground and hands and feet start flailing around, face goes red, pouty lip quivers and then the wailing begins! Mom tries not to laugh, so as to encourage my poor behavior, but I guess she thinks it’s cute…so I keep doing it!

As usual, we made a weekly trip to the botanical gardens and the zoo on Mom’s two days off work. I saw my friend the goose and I brought him snacks this time, so he was pretty friendly. Then we came across a new part of the gardens we didn’t know was even there…the bog garden! It’s so cool. We parked the stroller and we hiked down this winding path to find cascading waterfalls with tons of cool rocks and a bridge. I was very intrigued by the rushing water and we sat on the bridge for a while to appreciate it! I kept wiggling, because I wanted to jump out of my Mom’s hands to go swimming. Then we hiked to a another smaller waterfall further down, where the actual ‘bog’ was…we couldn’t believe, after all our trips to the gardens, that there was a place we hadn’t seen. The Birmingham botanical gardens is on approx. 75 acres, so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are paths we haven’t taken...

The zoo was cool...some gibbons were going crazy making wild monkey calls back and forth and they weren’t doing that last time we went. They can scream louder than me, which is impressive. The camels were also very interested in me and they kept sticking their long necks through the fence to get closer. You can go on camel rides there, so once I’m bigger, I can ride one! I think Mom’s more excited about that than I am and will use me as an excuse to ride one herself.

Update on the Baby’s Gone Wild Competition…yesterday, Molly was beating me…then Mom checked it this morning and a few good friends and family members apparently helped me out and cast their votes. Thanks people!!! However, Mom checked minutes ago and she's winning again...there is one more day left, so if you haven’t voted, please do so soon (and get anyone you know who would be willing to vote)! That little tart with the red hair is determined to win!
http://www.1037theq.com/pages/babiesgonewildvoting.html