a battle of wills.

millie is officially squirmy and crawly... not happy unless she's mobile. we're minimally 'baby-proofed' around the house - gates on the landings and plastic plugs in the electrical outlets. while i feel strongly that tumbling down the stairs and electrocution should be avoided at all costs, i'm less concerned about her riffling through the tupperware drawer and throwing spoons on the floor. you've got to choose your battles, right?

and speaking of battles, we've got a big one going down here at 4542 leavitt. i've been calling it the battle of the dog bowls, but in reality it's millie vs. mommy. she is absolutely fixated on jake and bako's food and water. at first i thought it was funny to watch her discover the big bowl of water and splash it all over the place. we giggled and laughed. how was i to know that her curiosity would become an obsession?

she crawls over to the water and looks at me. i say 'no touch'. she looks at the water again and then looks back at me, smiles... and then puts her hands in the bowl. we go through the same song and dance all day long. toys? not interested. books? no thanks. amelia has only one thing on her mind these days. 

apparently this little 'naughty streak' is good news because it means that she's developing normally. i'm going to keep reminding myself of that as i say 'no touch' for the hundredth time today...

a post for grandma.

i couldn't resist. she is, after all, one quarter swede.

 millie doesn't mind having a hat on her head... must be a bit of her great-grandma thora in her.

movin' right along...

technically, millie is crawling. (i know, i know... she's a little behind in the game.) she doesn't seem too eager to go anywhere, but she can move if she wants to. usually it's a combination of rolling, yoga poses, squeals and scooting. i know that we're right around the corner from having a speedy little lady on our hands. see for yourself...

"arrrgh!"... a sick baby on halloween!

the day started out with sunshine and smiles... it was a beautiful fall day in chicago. i was so excited about dressing millie up for halloween, but since she's not walking, talking or eating candy - trick or treating didn't seem like a good fit for us this year. jason and i would just end up eating all of her candy...

a halloween party seemed like the perfect solution - a great excuse to see our friends and their kids all dressed up. millie didn't exactly appreciate (or even notice) all of my fabulous halloween decorations, but she loved to put her fingers in the spiderwebs.  

the boys weren't invited to the party (little dogs who bite and big dogs who knock people over don't make for party fun!) we dressed them up for pictures anyways...

 the smiles lasted for about an hour into the party... millie turned into a very unhappy little girl. she didn't care that there was a party at her house. we had a very unpleasant pirate. we suspect that there are teeth coming in. you can tell from her little face that she was not a happy halloween camper.

 surely the first of many occasions when millie doesn't cooperate. :)

 we still had a great day! (miss pouty pirate and the black eyed peas)

millie & magnum

we finally made it to north carolina to see josh & sally. she was a great little traveler! it was a beautiful fall weekend in their little town. we spent lots of time outside, enjoying the fresh country air. jason and i were thrilled to have time with our friends, and millie was completely taken with magnum (jake and bako's long lost step brother). millie fell in love with this pitbull (to the horror of her grandmother!) i'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

a playdate.

amelia's cousin lenin came to play last week. technically, it was her first playdate at our house. he was quite the entertainment! we spent most of the day eating snacks and watching lenin show us how all of millie's toys work.

i got a good look at what we have to look forward to in the upcoming months. lenin is walking and talking, climbing stairs and interested in exploring the contents of my kitchen drawers. millie just rolled around and watched him go!

first playdate = success!