The crazy baby.

• Cecily has been climbing the stairs for well over a month now, with only one major fall so far. Fortunately (?), it's even documented. 

Don't ask why I was taking pictures instead of getting her off the stairs. I am a responsible parent.

• Last Monday, I was making dinner while she was 'sploring the front room. I looked over to check on her several times a minute, and after several minutes of making sure she was fine, I started to hear her complaining yells (not crying, just a little yelp a couple of times a minute). I couldn't see her, so I walked over to investigate and couldn't find the baby anywhere. I almost had enough time to be puzzled before she yelped one last time, and I found her at the top of the stairs waiting to be rescued. 

One of her many trips up the stairs.

• We have reached that unenviable stage where the baby works hard to imitate a vacuum, which is to say that I spend at least half of her conscious hours with my finger in her mouth, trying not to get bitten while removing whatever soggy piece of smut she's put in there. 

That's the tongue that gets her into trouble.

• She shows a deep and abiding love for animals. She talks to and slobbers on animals in books, which is nothing to the fit she throws whenever she sees Little Mary Sparkles* in our backyard. If LMS has escaped the clutches of her eager owners to the relative peace of our backyard and CC sees her, she pounds on the sliding door and yelps desperately, clearly hoping that one of us will take her outside and let her yank the kitty's tail. To date, both Paul and I have helped CC pet the long suffering cat a few times each, but I'm really not much of an animal lover myself, and I don't relish the combination of LMS's claws and my baby. So mostly I let her yelp at the kitty from inside.
• She also gets up on her knees and bounces to music. Very cute.
• She may be the loudest baby ever born. At least she's the loudest baby ever born to me. She really likes to yell. Loudly. 
• She likes to make faces.

Apparently she doesn't like to be kissed.

• And she delights in destruction. Ah, babies.

* Our neighbor's cat.