Watch Out World!

She's gettin' up on her knees.

Mae is still not crawling. Which I'm pretty okay with. I started putting her in the walker early - at about four months - because she needed to be completely upright and straight as a board as much as she could. (Both her personal preference and me trying to combat spit up. I didn't win that battle...) So she is really really good at motoring around in her walker and pretty much getting to wherever she wants to be.

That means that she hasn't spent as much time on the floor as she probably should. She can sit up just fine and play with stuff around her. She is starting to figure out how to kind of wiggle around, turning this way then that to get to different places while staying in sitting position. She has also kind of figured out that she can go from sitting into laying - but this usually involves bonking of the head and crying.

And she knows that she wants to get to different places. There are usually more fun things happening in different places than she is. So she finally gets herself in position, picks a destination...and proceeds to push herself backwards...Oh boy, does that create one ticked off baby. Which in turn makes her try harder - and go back further. Not a fun game at this point.

In addition to this she has one thing (well, a lot of "things") that Etta never had at this age: Toys that make noise. But they are a life saver for me. She will keep herself entertained for hours (okay, minutes) as long as she has something that will make noise when she pokes at it.

After a lot of background story we get to this:



I caught her up on her knees one day checking out the singing chair.

What mommy? Isn't this what the big kids do?



Boy, was I surprised. I would prefer some kind of real crawling to happen before she pulls up and starts motoring around.

And not to be left out...



"Mommy, take MY picture too!!"

*Click*

"Lemme see! Lemme see! Lemme see!"

Rendezvous

Last Thursday Etta, Mae & I headed up to the fair grounds to take part of the annual 4th grade rendezvous. This is a culmination of the 4th graders study of Idaho state history. There are many different things that the kids get to do, but Etta just wanted to do one thing:

See the horses. Bob gets to ride on a wagon all day and sing songs with the kids.



Etta got to visit with the horses when they were on a break.



And then join daddy for a 30 minute wagon ride.

Sharing

If you know Etta then you probably know that Etta doesn't particularly like to share. Which I think is a pretty normal thing for a 3-year old. But last night we went grocery shopping as a family and Etta shared her car and driving privileges.

"Mae can sit in the middle and I will drive, mommy!"



Mae sat right up, held the steering wheel ... and ... pushed the horn with her mouth as she was trying to chew on it. Oh well, these things will come.

All in all it was just about the absolutely cutest thing I have ever seen.

Friends

Most Wednesdays we have play time with Gray and Ronan.
And most of the time they even get along.

Sisters

And how many posts will have this title?

Although Etta didn't have much interest in Mae when she first joined our family, she is making up for it now. I absolutely love to watch them together. Very gentle and fun. And to hear the two of them laughing and giggling together is the sweetest sound that I have ever heard.

The last couple of days Mae has been making the sign for milk. And while I have sorta kinda started doing some sign language with her I am pretty sure I didn't teach her that. But I had to ask Bob because he taught Etta a few signs without me really knowing either. His response? "Nope. Haven't done it yet". Well, at breakfast this morning we were all eating together. Mae was sitting in her booster across the table from Etta. Etta asked Bob for more milk and used the sign also. I was feeding Mae her cereal but then she refused to take a bite and did the sign for milk using both hands. Gave her the bottle and she was happy as a clam. Bob commented, "Maybe Etta taught Mae the sign for milk. Wow. This is going to be an incredible ride.

"Shopping" at Aunt Sherri's. Amazingly enough Mae fit in the child seat part. It was a good time and all of the grown ups loved it!



Sharing a bed. I haven't put up one of these since...



And reading books this morning. "Mom! Mae keeps grabbing the pages!"

Movin' Up

Mae is into her big girl chair. On Friday night we had our very first dinner together as a whole family. Etta didn't get to move to the big table until she was around 2 1/2 or something. Second children are so lucky! The girls do tend to eat breakfast and lunch together though. It's a riot! (And that means that I can eat breakfast and lunch by myself - yay!)



As you can tell, they like the arrangement quite a bit.

Summer Hat Time

It is officially time for summer hats here in Lewiston. Not much of a spring, we pretty much went from average winter weather to average summer weather. All I have to say is that I am very thankful that I'm not pregnant this summer!!

But back to the hat. Much like, Etta Mae is going to have to initially be "forced" to wear a hat. This includes needing some how to keep the hat on her head. I dug through our hat stash and found this:



It works. And she can't get it off. But let me tell you what, she does NOT like getting it on. And while I like it (it was mine as a small child after all...thanks mom!!) I found Urban Bonnets (made in the good ol' U S of A) and am getting one custom made. More pics to follow...

Juxtaposition

So pretty much anyone who knows Etta knows that she is definitely not a girlie-girl.

We don't refer to dresses as dresses - they are big shirts.

The way I can get her to get herself dressed in the morning? Threaten that if mommy picks out her clothes it will be pink pants and a pink shirt. In to her room she goes.

She's got scrapes and bruises on her legs and knees, loves to run, run, run, plays with trucks in the backyard and probably knows more train terms than I ever will. She's got a style that is all her own.

Some of this stems from the fact that we mostly know boys. From when she was a brand. new. baby. she has been playing with and emulating "her boys". And most of the kids in our play group are boys.

And the other part may be that we haven't done a whole lot of pink and other "traditionally girl things" throughout her life.

And while there are days that I wish she were a bit more girlie (pig tails, anyone?) all in all I absolutely love the little girl that she is. And the strong, independent woman that she will eventually become.

Ruling the rail yard in her dinosaur pj's.



Watching "Beauty and the Beast" for the very first time. Sitting in her Cars chair (which she still has never actually watched all the way through...), wearing her Thomas the Tank Engine pj's with matching fireman's hat, enjoying an apple with Kitty, Ducky, Huckleberry the Whale, Nemo and one of her many blankets.

Lounging

Lately Mae's been rolling to one side and just laying her head on her arm. Like life is a difficult path that she's having to navigate...although she refuses to be on the floor long enough to travel anywhere...



But sometimes she throws in a leg lift.

I'm a mom!

I still can't believe it sometimes.

These are my favorite camera phone pics of my girls. Gotta love a "good" self portrait!

Etta Grace Wicks - This picture was taken on May 7th, 2008 when Etta was nine days old. 3 years ago...when I was turning a young 29.




Mae Victoria Wicks - Taken on Sept. 2, 2010 when Mae was about 12 hours old.

8th Month Annibirthery

The actual day was the 2nd of course, but Etta had a doctor's appointment today so I was going to get Mae weighed. 15 lbs, 14 oz. According to Etta's 8th month post - that's two pounds lighter than Etta was!

Mae is quite a character. She loves Etta and everything Etta does. Even if it involves poking and hitting. I will say, "Etta, quit . . ." Etta's reply, "But she likes it Mom, she's laughing!" Kind of hard to argue with - until Mae starts crying...

She is rolling, trying to figure out how to get stuff that is just out of her reach and loves cruising around in her walker. Almost to the point of detriment. Not much time on the floor...

She is saying, "Mama". But usually it's only when she is really upset or is beckoning me. But that's okay, it's still pretty cute.

Today she started clapping open handed. But never when you actually want her to do it. Much like with the tongue rolling and lip raspberries.

She has graduated from the baby bath and takes baths with Etta. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen in my whole life. They sit facing each other and just laugh and laugh and laugh. And Etta holds Mae under the arms while I rinse her off. And is gentle ... mostly.

She is eating well and has even tried Cheerios a few times. Although tonight Etta was a little thief and of course was much quicker than Mae could be. But Mae has liked everything that I have given her to try.

The biggest difference of baby #2 to me has been the fact that Mae has way more toys to play with than Etta ever did. And "older" ones at that. Well, for older kids anyway. But she has done well with them. And every once in awhile Etta even lets Mae play train or cars with her. Until Mae creates a derailment or tries to eat something.

She's all smiles and we love her very much!