a time to keep: Arden...talking?!?!?

A few nights ago at supper Arden waved and said, "Bye Bye", clear as a bell. I thought maybe it was a fluke--a coincidence of making a baby noise at the same time as a gesture, especially since no one was going anywhere. But the next day, my mom popped over for a bit and when she left, Arden waved and said "Bye Bye" again. Wow. She is 10 months old. I KNOW Mac wasn't doing this at this point. {But really, the funny thing with first words is that you never can know for sure what a child's first word is...how do you KNOW when they have a word and a thought paired up? Without a gesture or a clear context, there's no way to really tell...}

The next day, Arden woke from her afternoon nap sooner than Mac. She was in the kitchen with me, playing on the floor while I made supper. I noticed that she kept repeating a sound that sounded like "Mah". Next thing I know, she's stealthy crawled away, and when I go to look for her she's pulled up on Mac's closed bedroom door. Was she saying "Mac" and looking for him? (I'd love to think so, but then she's also quite aware that Mac's room is where the vast majority of the toys are....so it was likely more want of entertainment than sisterly affection.)

In other news, Mac is entering the phase of "I'm-obsessed". (I hope it's a phase, at least!) His current 2 obsessions are: "church music" (cd of kid praise songs given to him by his new Sunday School teacher) and his Aunt Meg. His almost-3-year-old brain is SERIOUSLY fixed on these 2 things about 99% of time. (That's an exaggeration...but if I say 80% of the time, it's not an exaggeration.) Cute...but wearing me down. The first thing he said this morning when he woke up, "Daddy I turn on my church music now?"

A few cute pictures to share...I'll post more from our beach trip soon!

A recent tantrum. I decided to take a picture since it was just SO DRAMATIC. Who knows what he was complaining about? He was distracted and forgot once I took the picture.

I asked Mac to carefully pour a few more cheerios on Arden's highchair tray. He happily obliged. I think she's rather he always prepare her food from now on.

On the road. We've taken quite a few tricycle walks lately.

Arden admires herself in the mirror after a bath.

Sweet! I love this picture. The expression on their faces is not joy at being together, but anticipation of the slide they're about to go down at the park. (Thus the yellowish reflection on their faces.)

We have a million beach shots that I'll post soon. It was SUCH a beautiful time to go, and so deserted that by the end of the week, Mac and Arden ditched bathing suits and donned only underpants and diapers on the beach.