Stick your finger in the air, in the air

Molly is over the pukes, her poops are solid, the spots are fading, and there's just a lingering hint of a cough. This can't last long. :)

Or could it? It has stopped raining, after all. Which means all the other projects around the house can get started. Finishing touches on our front stair were underway this afternoon, and next week it looks like something might get started in the backyard. Which means we'll soon be in the market for a tricycle.



Molly has reached a wonderfully inquisitive stage: she's interested in how things work, where things go, what you do with things (she quickly imitates us when we show her things, like how to stick your finger through a plastic ring), and, most of all, she's interested in books. Until recently she wasn't really all that into books. At first she hardly noticed when we read them and I worried (of course) that it was our fault for not reading to her enough while I was pregnant. Just a few weeks ago I was talking with a co-worker about kids and he commented on how neat it is when they're Molly's age and get so engrossed in books. I really thought we must have missed the boat on this one.

The first time I noticed her get into a book was when she was about 9 months old: we were reading "Mimi's Toes" in the bath (thanks Evy!) and she started pointing at the pictures of Mimi. After that, she would usually sit through most of a book and sometimes examine the pictures, particularly if there was something compelling about them to her (like distinct faces, eyes, mouths, etc.).

But now, oh boy, now she's all about books. She drags books over to us to be read, she insists we read certain books over and over again (like "The Foot Book"), and she even will sit and look through books on her own. It's fun watching her pick through a pile of books and find the one she wants, or see a book and start signing "book" (it took us a while to catch on to her version of "book" - she faces her palms to each other and rotates her right palm, similar to the "change" sign) to get us to read it to her.

However, I find it most charming when I catch her with a book in her lap, usually upside down, turning the pages and pointing at the pictures, all on her own. I don't know if it's more charming that she's looking at the book, or that she's doing something all on her own.