Make Way for Mabel

Who says the large duck Mabel uses in the bathtub has to be confined to the bathroom? Here we demonstrate an equally effective and pleasurable use on dry land: distracting the baby while you try to get dressed. Please, try this trick at home, but be warned - clever nuggets will only fall for this once. Or maybe four times. But that's it.

Swimming Lessons

Mabel is taking swimming lessons at the UM pool on Saturday mornings. She totally digs them - cannot get enough of the water. Her teacher told me she was a natural, which of course I ate up ... she probably says that to everyone, but who cares - I'll take it.

Birthday Girl

Mabel is one! We celebrated the big 0-1 (as Grandma Sandy calls it) on Wednesday. Everyone stayed home from their respective jobs/school and we just hung out together. We got Mabel set for her swim lessons that start tomorrow, ran errands, watered the flowers and tried lemon sorbet (not a fan). We also tried to get a picture of Mabel in her birthday hat, but as you see from the picture she was having none of it. Hard to believe she is already one - I'm not really sure where the year has gone, but it's been the best one ever.

Water Baby

I swam a lot when I was pregnant with Mabel, so we were not surprised when she took to the water right away - she loves taking baths, and when she was very small we would get in the shower with her. This weekend we bought her a small plastic pool for the backyard and she had a ball. Although she did try and stand up while in the pool (unsuccessful) and climb out a few times (marginally successful). Here are a few pictures of our bathing beauty.

Pals

We're lucky to have great next-door neighbors, Robin and Rodges, and their fantastic son, Aidan. He is very sweet to Mabel and whenever he sees me and she's not with me, he asks "Where's Mabel?" Aidan is working on giving up his binkys and has promised them to Mabel when the time comes. Here they are in our backyard this weekend, getting ready to take a dip.

Pooped

Mabel would like to report that all of this new movement - Pull yourself up! Hang on for dear life! Fall down! Repeat! - can really wear a girl out, and sometimes you've just to catch a nap anytime you can. We took this picture after a very strenuous walk around the neighborhood.

Breaking News

We interrupt your regularly scheduled schedule to announce the following: Mabel can now pull herself up and stand on her own two feet. She did it for the first time Saturday morning, when she was hanging out (plotting?) in her crib and I was folding laundry in her room. One minute she's laying on her back, looking at a book, the next thing I know - standing up, all the way up, pleased as punch with herself. Of course I didn't have a camera at the ready, but I did on Sunday and while we were playing in the living room she very helpfully re-enacted her new trick. As our neighbor told me last night when I was relaying the big news, "Well, now you're in for it. The end is near." Oh dear.