Let me preface this post with a bit of a disclaimer. I'm 9 months preggo, past my due date, and doggonit I'm tired. I keep my little 17 month old busy with all kinds of fun, engaging and educational activities, I promise. We read books, we sing the alphabet, we go to the park, we have play dates, we eat fruits and veggies at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and in between for snacks...and yada yada yada. This girl hardly ever watches tv. But occasionally when I'm puking every hour during my first trimester and resemble Mr. Burns from the Simpsons or when I haven't slept in a week because I'm up peeing every 15 minutes at night, the afternoon calls for a quick Blues Clues break on the couch with mommy. She usually loses interest before we get through half of the show, but today I'm a day over my due date and feeling it in every way. So, we popped some popcorn in the popcorn maker (*note: healthy snack!) ((*note note: can you tell I'm trying to feel better about my lazy, preggo mom decisions lately??)) and watched an episode of Blue today. It was her first sit down in front of the tv with a bowl of popcorn in hand and I've gotta say, the girl's a natural. Belly hanging out, eyes glued to the tv, and the fist shovin' in the popcorn. I was amused. Girlfriend can "veg" with the best of 'em.

One bonus to going past my due date - another day with my built-in ice cream table. (That's not a pint...)

Beans, man. They sure are fun. Hours and hours of fun. We've been on a dry bean trend lately. Some measuring spoons, cups, and a few fuzz balls for good measure and we're set for the afternoon.

When she's not beanin' it up, she's reading a book to herself or trying to escape mommy's hold. She took her first steps a month ago and now she's little miss independent. There's nothing worse to her than having to hold mommy's hand. She always looks at me like, "mom, c'mon. i can totes walk on my own! what are you thinking trying to hold my hand??" And just like that my little baby's a toddler. And you better believe that sentence makes me cry a little.

The following picture sums it up well - this is me trying to hold her hand while crossing the parking lot entrance, and June making a break for the parking lot entrance, trying to pull her hand away.

Her favorite time of day is waiting for daddy to get home. Sometimes we wait for him on the street corner by the rocks that she loves to play in. Evidence of her independent walking streak can be seen here on her nose. The poor girl's busted it numerous times at the park this week. And life is as it should be for our spunky little toddler :)

I've got a few weeks left of this pregnancy and I'm definitely feeling it. I'm slowing down, folks. About the only thing that sounds appealing these days is parking it on the couch with some ice cream or a box of donuts. So I've got to be creative to keep up with my crazy toddler. Yesterday I grabbed the popcorn maker and introduced her to it's wonder. We popped a bowl, toddled (yes, we both toddled) back to the couch, and shared some fresh popped popcorn. Entertaining, healthy, but most of all, a couch related activity. Score.

My favorite part of this activity came when June noticed she wasn't getting her fair share. She would take one kernel at a time, eat it, and then go back for more. But halfway through the bowl, as the kernels were disappearing, I noticed her stop and watch me take several kernels at a time and pop them into my mouth (because that's how I roll--"several" may be a bit of an understatement).  Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched me do it again. She looked down at the bowl as if realizing that it was disappearing faster than her little tummy was comfortable with. And as I reached down to fist my next bite, she grabbed my hand, shook her head back and forth, threw my hand out of the bowl and said, "nah!"

I tried to go in for a few more kernels and she quickly intercepted. Fairs fair. When did my girl get so smart?

Spring starts early in Sacramento. It's February and the birds are chirping, blossoms are popping, the sun is shining, and June is sporting her sunglasses. Constantly. I love that she loves them so much. They definitely pair well with her sassy personality.

Love my spunky girl.

Since waking up from her nap this afternoon, June's been sitting in her crib chattin' it up with her teddy bear and cracking herself up. So naturally, I took this opportunity to get out a shovel and the chocolate ice cream and plop my 35-wk-preggo self on the couch, waiting for the first "ma-aahmm" request from her to get up from her nap.

It has now been 45 minutes of jibber jabber and belly laughs. Aaand I'm out of ice cream. Nap time for the day is officially over I guess.

She's on the Move

There are only two things in this world that captivate our always-busy, can't-sit-still, soon-to-be nine month old. She is completely oblivious to anyone or anything else around her when these two things come into view. Nothing brings her more joy than FOOD and BOOKS. 

She can't get enough of either. I find it so interesting that, generally speaking, babies LOVE books. June's been mesmerized for months now. They're her favorite toy. She can spend half an hour just flipping through the pages of her board books (which I will admit is mighty convenient for her mama). There is something about books that all the electronics in the world can never compete with. When I had a classroom full of electronic savvy, t.v./ipad/video game obsessed second graders, there were days when all the games, treats, and tireless song&dance teacher perfomances did nothing to engage my kiddos. The second I switched on an educational video, no matter how outdated and mind-numbingly boring, they were hooked. I had twenty 7 yr old zombies staring at a screen in my classroom. YUCK. 

But...you know what? Books had the same effect. For all of my students. No matter their reading level, the book topic, or time of day. I usually read anywhere from 3-8 read alouds a day, and my kids were always captivated. I loved it. And I love watching the same effect on my own little kiddo.

So naturally we use these two obsessions as motivators to crawl. She's been rolling from wall to wall as her means of transportation, which was all good and fine, but we upped the ante with a few books and some Cheerios. And ladies and gentleman, we have the beginnings of a crawler.

There was a will, and by golly, the girl found a way:

(She snuck our avocado in a not so sneaky way).