Margaret The Bookworm

Margaret's main mode of interacting with things these days is to put them in her mouth.*

Those of you who remember Lengthwise** will be amused to find that she laughs when I say words that start with B.

Anyway, Leo read her a story the other day, and had a bit of an uphill battle with it.  First she wouldn't pay proper attention.

 And then she wanted to hold the book. (This was actually not a problem, but is a step towards a problem).

She became more active in her book-holding efforts.

And then dove off Leo's lap, taking the book with her as a nice snack.

*See the previous post for confirmation of this statement.

**If you haven't read it, you should have.

Babies Are Just So Scrumptious

Margaret thinks so.

The other M baby came over to play today, and for the first time they actually played together.  Well, near each other.  And showed interest in each other.

Or perhaps showed mutual desire for the same toy.

Which became something far more sinister.  You can see the little wheels in Margaret's head turning here.

And then she pounces.

The other baby M had to be rescued.  She looks rather grateful.

All that cannibalism tired Margaret out.

And the other baby got the toy.

Aren't friends awesome?

Bonding With Daddy

One of the more endearing* traits of Leo's personality is that whenever new technology comes into the house, he commandeers it and investigates it.

Margaret inherited this, along with his ears and apparently his mouth.

And since all technology is new to her, she really has a field day with it.  My phone is a source of constant wonder, though all she wants to do with it is put it in her mouth.  In fact, when I'm talking to someone, she will be chatting away in the background, but when I put the phone close to her so the person can "talk" to her, she clams up and starts trying to shove the phone in her mouth.

In the evenings, Leo spends time down on the floor with her.  He brings his laptop for entertainment.

We're not sure whether it's to entertain Leo or Margaret.

I'm not sure she's figured out that the screen isn't real.**  But she's got the keyboard all figured.

The mouse?  Not so much.

But she and her daddy certainly bond over it.

*I'm using this word loosely.  I say endearing because this is a family blog, and I don't want to use the words that actually describe said trait.

**This may be because the screen is, in fact, real.  But she hasn't figured out that you can't grab the things depicted on the screen.

Geez, Mom, I'm Working On It

My mother wants to know why I haven't updated the blog in quite some time.

My records (well, the internet's records really, but who pays attention to ownership on the internet?) indicate that I last updated the blog Sunday morning.

I admit that that is a while, in blog years, but I have a cold, and the house is in transition* and I haven't taken that many pictures because we're back in St. Louis and honestly, how many times do you people want to see Margaret lying on the floor in our living room looking cute?***

Anyway, this is what I've got.  It's just going to be exaggeratedly overwrought writing making up for less interesting pictures. 

Margaret has been determinedly trying to figure out how drawers work. 

She's been hanging on, waving her hand back and forth as if she thinks that the secret to opening a drawer is picking up a good head of steam in front of it.

Sometimes she tries hanging on upside down, perhaps under the impression that if the drawer can't see you, it might be more inclined to open.

This is an attempt at the rarely-seen no touch drawer open.  It's founded on the theory that drawers are inherently contrary, and so won't open when you want them to.  The flipside of this, of course, is that they will open when you don't want them to, so the cornerstone of this method is to pretend, in front of the drawer, that you don't want it to open.

She is very good at pretending that she doesn't know how to open drawers.

Though actually, she's getting tolerably close here.  Luckily, she lacks arm strength, so until she builds them up, probably nothing to worry about.

*This is a polite euphemism for "akin to the Black Hole of Calcutta."  I've been away and then sick and Leo has been working hours and hours and hours and things are a little ugly at the moment.  Which means that my housewifely pride** shies away from posting pictures of Margaret doing cute things in front of piles of crud.

**I've not got much of it, but I've got some.

***The correct answer to this question, should you be interested, is "more that we've seen so far, because she is just SO CUTE."  So now you know.

Technology, Tasty Technology

I got a new phone a few months ago, and had the disturbing realization that Margaret would probably have learned how to use it before I got another one.

As part of her new high-energy grabby phase, she has taken to launching herself* at what she wants.

I started to take pictures yesterday of Margaret rolling herself into a corner of which she seems particularly fond (or at least a corner that she seems to get herself into fairly often).

And then she saw the camera/phone (I should mention that she likes the phone, since sometimes it plays her music, and sometimes it does music with blinky lights).

She was excited by the appearance of the phone.

Very excited.

See?  You can tell she's moving fast; it's all blurry.  And then she got her paws on it.

The wide open mouth gives us some inkling of her plans.  Phone grabbed and positioned.

And into the mouth.

Just the corner, and I took it away, but she's certainly becoming a handful.

*You wouldn't think that she could launch herself, and mostly you'd be right, but she does move with speed and agility when she sees something she wants (like glasses).  She coils her little legs up under her and pushes that extra three inches that you were sure she couldn't manage. 

Houdini Baby Moves On

The days of the bouncy chair may be numbered.

First off, there's the fact that when she sits in it, her rear comes close to brushing the ground, which suggests that she's getting a bit big for it.

And then there's the fact that she's started applying her devious genius to escaping it.

See, here she is calmly surveying her animal friends.

And here she has started examining the buckle, unaware that I am still observing her. 

She clearly wants to get out.

And then she noticed me watching.

And went back to playing, looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

I'm going to start frisking her for rock-climbing gear before bed.

Sleepy Baby

Margaret is, in general, a well-organized baby who sleeps when she ought to sleep and doesn't when she shouldn't.  (The secret to this is defining the times at which she ought to sleep with reference to the times when she actually sleeps).

I have, however, pictures of her sleeping where she shouldn't sleep and waking where she ought to sleep, lest anyone get the feeling that she is too good of a baby.

See?  Rebellion in the ranks.  And it's not like she could actually say anything even if I did call on her.

There, that's better.  But she should be in her own bed.