Cruising and Crashing

Maggie Maggie - Why you buggin? 

Maggie Maggie - I need some lovin'. 

When Maggie was born, we chose Before the Throne of God Above as her song (Owen's is Be Thou My Vision and Rebecca's is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing). But if you were to ask either of her siblings to sing Maggie's song...they'd sing the above lyrics. (I think it all started when Kyle sang that line sort of under his breath one day when Maggie was fussing - it's a butchered version of a Monkees turned Run DMC song. Nice, I know.)

The big news is that she is doing less and less of this...

 And more and more of this!

 She still needs help - her shopping cart, the couch, the kitchen chairs which glide so smoothly across Nana's wood floors...but she's cruising more and more.

 So proud!

 Rebecca cheering her on - You doin' it, Maggie! You walkin'!

 Pooped!

So, people always tell parents of babies and young children to ENJOY EVERY MINUTE BECAUSE IT GOES BY SO FAST. And honestly, while I understand what they are saying (and I even find myself looking at Owen who is almost 5 and wanting to tell moms of firstborn tiny babies to do the same thing...) it's really hard to ENJOY EVERY MINUTE BECAUSE A LOT OF THEM ARE REALLY STINKY (read this if you don't understand). Back to my point - Maggie has been doing something recently - for the past few months actually - that is so sweet - that is so precious - that Kyle and I literally fight over getting to spend time with her to enjoy it. 

Right before you put her to bed, if you sit down with her, she literally CRASHES into you. She is like the softest, sweetest, heaviest, ton of perfect baby just melting into your chest/shoulder. And then - this is THE BEST - she'll throw her head back to look at you - shoot you a BIG dimply smile and then CRASH back down and SIGH.  
MELT. MY. HEART.

We happened to catch one such cuddly moment even though it wasn't bedtime.

 Now that's a "kairos" worth "carpe-ing". 

In other 15-month old updates:

-She definitely knows "no". Because she also knows how to turn on and off the tv (remember our other kids doing that???) - which drives the big kids bonkers - literally. And so the discipline train leaves the station...

She's testing us in other ways too - she learned "uh oh" and LOVES the age-old toddler trick of dropping stuff, and saying uh oh in that sweat breathy baby voice (dimples a-blazin') to see if we will pick it up. And we're idiots and we do. Lather Rince. Repeat. 

Owen is very proud of her, saying she is "funny like me!" - because she likes to offer you a piece of food and right as your mouth gets close to her chubby little fist to eat the offered waffle, she yanks her hand back and puts it in her mouth. Tease. 

Even though she is a danger to herself pretty much everywhere we go and she leaves a wake of destroyed TP rolls and emptied cabinets wherever she goes...this is a pretty fun age. :)