a cavalcade of cuteness!

the problem with not getting to post to this blog as often as i'd like is that i end up with a bazillion pictures and little stories i want to share and it makes for a unwieldy posting. but here goes...let the cavalcade of cuteness begin!

so molly, as all good children do, L.O.V.E, loves cheerios (or in her case, "Purley Os" the "healthy" whole grain alternative). and what's not to love, you can pick them up all by yourself, pop 'em in, mush 'em up and then on to the next one. she also wants to share her new found love and offers them to her dad, me and, of course, to harley. we all enjoy them as well. all in all, she is getting really good with the eating and now enjoys three good meals a day. and it's hard to find foods she doesn't like, though spinach does seem to be on the "no" list. at the very bottom is a super cute video of her first experience with cheerios. something odd is happening when i compress these videos so that i can actually upload them to the blog, and none of them have sound, but that's probably good cuz all you would hear is me being a goof. :)

a very good friend of mine (since junior high) sent her the most adorable t-shirt ever and here she is modeling it (on the hottest day of the year, so that's what all the sweat is about). in case you can't read it, it says "future librarian" - awesome! she'll probably think libraries and librarians are totally lame because i'm so jazzed about them, and i am her mom, but one can hope. maybe she'll follow in her father's footsteps and become a performer. or maybe she'll show us all and be an electrical engineer or a mathematician. who knows? and the sky's the limit. it's all so exciting!

back to the hottest day of the year, actually, the hottest three days of the year happened this past weekend and once again our house heated up like an easy bake oven. this next shot of molly has her donning a new do - no product needed - just good ol' sweat. poor girl. but she took it all like a champ. she does much better in the heat than her mom and dad, that's for sure (just look at that smile on her face).

on saturday we hit the pool again for our lesson and this was our best session yet. she laughed and clapped and kicked and splashed. we had so much fun! and our instructor did some safety drills with us where i had to tread water while holding molly. now many, many years ago i played water polo, where i learned the most efficient way to tread water, but even so, that's tough work! i'm glad i got to practice it in a non-emergency situation. afterward i mentioned how hard it was and that i wasn't sure how long i could have done it. the instructor looked at me and smiled and said, you could do it as long as was needed, and you know what, he's probably right. there's something about being a parent that can pretty much make you into a superhero in the right circumstances. anything to protect your child...

but back to the cuteness. the heat meant wearing as few clothes as possible and there were many times when molly found herself bottomless (and topless too). here is a shot showing off her magnificent legs! take a look at those rolls around the knees...is there anything cuter? well, maybe this smile...

and besides crawling like she's be doing it for years, standing up and "walking" around the furniture, eating like a champ, and many other amazing things, molly is also pointing and waving now. actually, she's communicating really well. she understands us more and more and is figuring out ways to tell us what she thinks. tonight in fact, i said "where's harley" and she turned around and pointed at the pooch! i know you're getting sick of hearing this, but you have to admit...genius! directly below is a little video of her in her crib, bouncing up and down and pointing and waving. bye for now!