Abigail's First Word

If you don't count "mama" or "dada" as a first word, then I have to say that Abigail's first word is "cracker." True to Morton form, little A loves carbs in all their incarnations. Actually not only can she ask for a cracker, but she also recognizes the Ritz cracker box and will even come crawlin' when she hears the wrapper being opened. Man, she's got some good hearing! Soon I'm wanting to catch all of this on film. Until then, imagine my little peanut snacking on a nice round Ritz.

Just a Little Funny Story

Abigail continues to go through some important changes. The most recent was moving from her high chair to a booster seat at the table. Now this might be a little too soon, but that high chair definitely took up a lot of my kitchen space, and Abigail is sitting up so well. So we thought, "Why not?" So as of this week, A now sits in what was Elizabeth's old booster seat, and Elizabeth now sits in a big girl chair at the table. She seems to like the switch.


This detail is only moderately important, but it helps you to picture where the following story happened. Tonight at dinner, we gave Abigail some Ritz crackers. She loves theses things (and so do I). They are steeped in rich, buttery goodness. So, naturally, I gave her three whole crackers, not parts of crackers. I was actually experimenting to see what she would do. (Don't worry, Siti and Grandma, I watched her like a hawk to see if she would shove the whole thing in her mouth or if she would take little nibbly bites. Would you believe she took little bites?) I'm so proud of her. It was very cute. But perhaps the cutest part came next. She had two Ritz crackers, one in each hand. She had been eating one and was about half finished with it. She looked thoughtfully at the other whole round cracker in her opposite hand. With little fanfare or care, she tossed aside the half-eaten one and went to work on the whole one. Matt and I saw the whole thing and laughed at how her mind must have been processing that little scenario. Matt thinks it's just another clue of how similar she and I are. But who wouldn't prefer a whole cracker, to some ol' half-eaten one?

And now a picture to reward you for reading a story that may have been funnier in the moment than it was just now ;).

Recent Developments

Did you know that Abigail will be one-year-old in about 5 weeks? Just FYI! Not angling for a gift, just marveling at the rapid speed of time.

On a different note, this morning, Abigail, Elizabeth, and I had one of those moments that is etched into your heart for a long while. We were all in E's room. A was on the floor with a toy. E was scampering about the room. (This verb accurately describes her movements.) And I was folding a flat sheet for E's bed. All of sudden, an urge came on me to play "parachute" with this flat sheet. Do you remember that game from elementary school? You know, where you hold the parachute down on the ground, then you and all your short little buddies lift it up as high as your arms will go. You enjoy the rush of wind on your face as the parachute comes back down to the ground, or you quickly scamper (that word again) underneath and hold it down under your bottom. Loved this as a kid.

Well, it seemed like the perfect moment to do this with the girls, so we did. Ah, we laughed and laughed and hugged and laughed. And then, a mommy discovery: Abigail twists her tongue around in her mouth whenever she is truly tickled by something. I mean, I had seen her twist her tongue, but today I made the connection. She was (we all were) having a purely delightful time. I feel so happy even now as I tell you about it. In fact, I thought about getting my camera to take a picture, but I just couldn't leave the moment. So, I'm afraid you'll have to imagine what we must have looked like. :)

P.S. Abigail now has 6 teeth. She cut two more on top the week of Thanksgiving.