10 Months!

Miss Meredith Jubilee Lareau is 10 months old. Woo hoo! What does 10 months bring? Lots of bottom scooting, but still no crawling. Lots of jabbering, but "hi" is still the only word that seems to be used in any sort of relevant context. Some signing--she uses the milk sign sometimes and there have been sightings of the "change" sign. Of course the signing is mostly just fun for mom and dad. Lots of food eating: tomatoes and sweet potatoes are favorites. Lots of clapping...especially when she's feeling perky and feels that SOMEone in the immediate vicinity should tell her how marvelous she is. I must say, it usually works. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant this week and the famously stoic waiters were practically gaga over her. I've never gotten even the smallest grin from those guys, but the drooling beauty was able to elicit nothing short of adoration. Note to Memphis parents: India Palace on Poplar is very kid friendly!



If you want the stats so you can determine her fighting class, she's still a bit of a flyweight, coming in at the 30th percentile for weight and the 50th for length. Her head is still enormous, putting her in about the 97th percentile. Brains, I'm tellin' ya. The kids got 'em. Oh -- and her hair is definitely reddish, especially in the sun. And her eyes have settled on grey with a tiny bit of blue, which I happen to think is beauteous.

Crazy Babies, Crazy Daddies

The crazy daddies want their babies to look crazy too. Babies, unlike daddies, look cute even when they're crazy.

Plays Well with Others

So Meredith is officially a social being. She waves like mad when she enters a room and usually says some form of "hi" in a really Southern accent (picked up THAT from her buddy Walt who learned from his pal Curtsy--ahh, the circle of learning). She also gets really jazzed when she sees other little people--Nora, Virginia, Walt, Jack--she goes nuts for all of them. So now we've got to start learning some social skills. Suggs are not always known for these, being somewhat a-social creatures. Luckily, she's half Lareau.

So we're going to start with sharing. In the first picture, Walt is saying "I'm getting the heck out of dodge cause this chick is AFTER my milk." Which she WAS--and not in a diplomatic way. It was like she had a milk tracking device. The look in her eyes was plain: if she could have walked to Walt, tackled him, and taken the milk, she absolutely would have. She was also quite obviously jealous of Walt's sippy cup skills (we'll get into the subtleties of envy and contentment around months 10 and 11). Anyway, in the second picture, Mer is demonstrating that she can share her favorite book (okay, so we pacified her with her second favorite book, but still...). So we think there's hope. Here's to the next 20 years of trying to help her learn manners. Good times.

On the Move

In both of these pictures, Meredith is demonstrating her patented scooting method of transportation. Who needs crawling? Scooting is better because it's much more difficult to detect. Your parents put you in the middle of the rug and a few minutes later you're out the door--but no one saw you do it. Very useful when you're sneaking up on yummy things to chew on (say, flip flops) that you're absolutely not allowed to have.

Oh--and while Meredith IS advanced for her age (Dr. Geiger says her language skills are impressive!), she is NOT yet standing, despite the illusion created in the "Happy Birthday Virginia" picture. Leaning, yes. Standing, no. Having said this, Mer would like to give a shout out to everyone who thought she was capable of that trick.

Gotta go. Mer is scooting her way to the remote. She gave herself away with the little gleeful noises.

Trials and Travails: Teething

My girl is a happy girl. But these last couple days she has been in the throes of some painful stuff. Oh, the agony. This is the hardest she has cried since the day she was pulled into this world. We're talking huge, shuddering screams. We've given her Tylenol and tried the Orajel and she's tried to be happy, she really has. Last night she went to bed at 5 and woke up at 7 this morning. I tell ya, there's nothing that 14 hours of sleep and a fancy new toy (in this case, an empty water bottle with yarn tied to the top) won't cure. Here's hoping we're through the worst of it.

Happy Birthday, Virginia!

Saturday was Virginia Huddleston's first birthday. There was cake and ice cream and Elmo--a perfect first birthday. It was Meredith's first party, and she thought that wearing a hat and getting a balloon tied to her wrist was pretty marvelous. And Grandma Betty even had a present for Meredith; parties don't get much better than that.

(By the by, Virginia was fully and adorably clothed earlier in the evening. This photo was taken post-birthday cake!)

Summer Fun: The Good Life in Arkansas

It was a great fourth of July in Arkansas. All the cousins were together for the first time in a long time. The river was beautiful, the fireworks were loud, the company was witty and the food was delicious. What more could any family ask?

Tio Zachary meeting Meredith for the first time. They got along famously.

Chris relaxing in the pool w/a glass of white wine. (If you read the caption, but didn't see the picture, is this the mental image you would get?)

Sarah was very proud of the PowerBlaster fireworks that she chose. And rightly so.

Afore mentioned PowerBlaster in action.

There's a family of skunks that eats the cats' food at my parents house. Wow.

After we saw the skunks, we had a sighting of the fierce, nocturnal, pear eating baby moose.

HAPPY SUMMER, EVERYONE!