Nine Months, Two Days*

From this:
To this:

Meg has now entered what we refer to as her "octopus" phase. She is all hands, and lightning fast. Anything within her reach will be grabbed, picked up, and placed directly into her mouth. As she is getting more mobile, scooting and rolling and pulling herself up, the number of things "within her reach" is growing rapidly, which usually means either Ryan or I are constantly playing defense, trying to avert disaster. Most of the time we are successful, but there are definitely moments when we are not. For instance, at lunch the other day Meg managed to knock over not one, but TWO glasses of water. She was very proud of herself. The waitress was less so.

Food is a big favorite for Meg, and she is getting better at feeding herself. Only about half of what she tries to put in her mouth ends up in her lap. Luckily, Sally is very willing to clean up the mess. Both of them are especially fond of Cheerios and puffed rice treats, but are generally willing to eat anything. I find Meg's dining ability especially impressive considering she still has not a single tooth in her head.

Every day brings something new. A new sound. A new look. A new movement. A new trick. One day she will be all about sticking out her tongue, and the next it will be a deep gargling growl. Meg is also getting adept at getting Ryan and me to do her bidding. Neither one of us are very good at letting her fuss or whine, and she used to do it so rarely that we always assumed something was definitely wrong. Now though, she is using it to let us know she needs to be picked up IMMEDIATELY, or she really, really wants to eat the computer keyboard. If she is really working it she can squeeze out a single enormous teardrop to roll down her cheek. We are trying to limit reacting to it, but it's hard. I mean, just look at that face.

Oh, how we love our girl.


*I should have posted this Friday, but Tara was in town. Blame her.