We call her "scooter".

This is Madelyn's preferred method of getting around. She has no interest in crawling and she's becoming a more efficient scooter each day! 

Sideways view...

Bribery works and Face painting

It's been a long time since I've gotten a good photo of Oli, so I did what any desperate parent would do for a great shot - I bribed him with a lollipop, and it worked!

ENJOYING his reward :)

Lately, Oli has been getting into all kinds of messy situations. One afternoon he rubbed Desitin all over himself. Another day he went into my makeup-bag and painted the bathroom sink and floor with mascara. Last Friday, while I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, Oli climbed onto a book shelf in our office. He found the white out and a red marker and painted his face. We tried removing it with olive oil, baby oil, nail polish remover, and soap. The marker stains came off but two days later he still had white out on his face. Brian decided to try goof-off and that did the trick (goof-off is a chemical used to remove paint and glue from surfaces; but don't worry, Brian took precautions to make sure it didn't get in Oli's eyes).

Friday night.

Sunday morning - still had some white out on his face.

Maddie - 9 months, 9 photos

At 9 months Madelyn says "da da," "ma ma," and "pa pa," all at random times of course, but it makes Brian and me happy to think she's calling us!  She doesn't crawl and gets very upset when I lay her on her tummy. She prefers to get around by scooting on her bottom. When Oliver does puzzles on the floor she scoots really fast from one side of the room to the other to get her hands on the pieces.  

Today was a beautiful day for photos. I sat her on a chair in front of our house and snapped away (I stayed VERY close to her to make sure she didn't fall off the chair). 

  

Enjoying the swings at Tom Brown Park.