another day, another excuse to post some cute pictures

yesterday, i took the girls to play date at the world bird sanctuary. noe loves birds, so i figured this would be a real treat for her. and she did enjoy it...but i think it was more for the rocks on the path and the bunny she got to pet at the end. oh, well. i got some cute pictures to show her off anyway.

i notice that she's getting more social with other children now. she still likes to play on her own, but she also now enjoys talking and playing with other kids. she was holding hands with some of the other kids, playing with sticks with them, and, of course, hugging them. i missed a really good photo when one of the boys she was chasing to hug actually turned around and hugged her back. it was really cute...until they fell down. i don't think either one of them was ready for the momentum and they fell and scraped their arms on the ground. i got a picture of her battle wound. hey, man...love hurts!

mali started solid foods last night. i noticed that she was starting to get leaner even though she wasn't very mobile yet, and she hasn't had many dirty diapers. i think her digestive system is maturing enough to handle real food now and simply nursing isn't satisfying her as well as it used to. i'm also hoping that it will help her sleep. she hasn't been sleeping well lately and it's had us worried. she doesn't seem sick, but she only gets about half of the amount of sleep she's supposed to be getting at her age. i'll ask the doctor about it at her next appointment, but i'm hoping the rice cereal will solve that problem. we, of course, recorded her first "meal".

my nephew is going to spend part of his summer with us, so i've been hunting up ideas of things to do while he's here. my dog is really excited about his visit, as is noe who remembers with fondness his last visit when she learned the game of "up". now she sees his picture on the refrigerator and says "up". this is the game where he tosses her up in the air over and over again. fun stuff.