spicy sister

This week we returned home from a 4 day collecting trip for John's thesis research to Southwestern Colorado and New Mexico, and trust me, there are plenty of photos and stories coming. And oh my, so many other things to catch up on! I'm working on it, promise. In the meantime, a few photos of our saucy little gal.

She is such delight and joy that there are not adequate adjectives. I find myself literally squealing to John on occasion about the things she does and all of the spice wrapped up in her small body. She makes crazy, expressive faces constantly (really, like at least 4 a minute, mostly because she knows that she will make us giggle), and she holds her own just fine with her big brother. She talks and uses words to let us know what she wants (a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the night she was screaming and I had no clue why-- after holding her, nursing her, rocking her etc. I decided to let her cry for a bit to see what she would do. 10 or so minutes passed and she was still screaming so I went back in to calm her down. As soon as she got into my arms she started sobbing, "Wa wa! Wa wa!" I felt so bad! I got her a drink of water, layed her back down, and tried not to laugh/cry when she immediately rolled over and fell asleep. Poor little thirsty child.), but she also does a great job of screaming and pointing to get her message across if she doesn't know the word. Mostly she yells "Want! Want!" all day long at whatever it is that her brother is holding. She is demanding, to be sure, but I like my girls with a little zing so it is working for us :). I honestly kind of can't get enough of her.

She seriously loves getting into her brother's things, and usually George doesn't mind. Here she is making her way up to his art table to have a look at what kind of trouble she can make.


Of course just sitting at the table was not adequate. She needed to get up on top of it so that she could reach George's little magnetic calendar that is strictly forbidden to her. (Sidenote: I've had several friends that have been shocked when they find out that I really do just leave paints and paintbrushes down at George's table for him to use whenever he wishes, even without supervision. It has worked just fine for us-- George is careful and has only ever painted on paper, and is good about cleaning up when he is done. The only painting mess we have ever had to deal with came at the hands of one certain baby girl who somehow managed to get a lid off and painted the wall and floor with her hands. Perhaps our free-for-all painting access will have to change with this lil' one. I'm mostly hoping we can eventually teach her the rules and let the paints stay :). We will see.)


And to finish off tonight, another diaper-only shot, this time in the dryer.


I love spending my days with this busy little baby and her mild mannered (but recently much more feisty himself) big brother. No where else I'd rather be, nothing else could bring me this joy.