Austen & Gage

Daddy and Mommy took Austen to Gymboree and she impressed Daddy by climbing one step up a ladder.

Austen uses crawling not as an end in itself but as a means to get to places where she can pull herself up to standing. Her primary interest is standing.

Austen’s first tooth broke through last night. The front right.

When Austen wakes up in her crib, she turns over and starts crawling around. Often her arm or leg falls through the railing.

…then she snuck out to get a head start.

“What do you mean there’s nothing in these eggs? Where’s the chocolate?”

Austen had a gay old time seeing her relatives and crawling for Easter eggs.

With Daddy:

With her rambunctious three-and-a-half-year-old cousin, Emma:

With her three cousins, Erin, Emma and Morgan:

“Why did Mommy put this big hat on me?”

“Keep away from my Easter eggs!”

(Note to Austen: You weren’t actually possessive of your Easter Eggs; Mommy’s teasing. You’re actually grunting in this photo, which you did everyday at this age. We think you enjoyed the sensation of making throaty grunting sounds.)

Two photos. One of Mommy, when she was little, wearing a yellow sweater made by Nana (Emma Lloyd’s mom) and sitting next to her brother Mark. The other of Austen wearing the same ultra-soft sweater while visiting Mark’s house.

Mommy, Daddy and Austen were treated like royalty when they stayed at Heather and Zack’s home for the Easter weekend, which included Erin’s Baptism. They feasted on fish, vegetable quiche, Bloody Marys and black jelly beans.

Austen did well in the car. Thanks to hours of preparation and packing by Mommy and Daddy.

Austen ate Aunt Heather’s bike while she wasn’t looking.

Notice her first words, spoken as the door opens: “Yankee Doodle Dandy”

-Opens the door to her toy house and hits herself in the face. Here she is successfully crawling through her toy house:

-Sits on the stoop of her toy house, and then falls backward:

-Pulls on string tie attached to her toy basket. It’s way longer than 6 inches. Babyproofing must commence immediately!

-Crawls over and whacks Nietzsche. If you know Nietzsche, you know that’s risky.

-Tries to stand up while leaning on the handle of a canvas basket. Crash!

-Crawls off the edge of the futon in the play room and is caught by Mommy. Apparently she doesn’t look down while crawling.

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“What? Me? Causing trouble? I can stand by myself with a monkey in my hand. No sweat.”

Austen went to bed around 8pm and slept until around 7am without a feeding. She did, however, wake once and require some soothing. Mommy and Daddy are feeling uncharacteristically superstitious and thus will not be getting excited about this turn of events … yet.

One day after her 7-month birthday, Austen crawled across a blanket on the front lawn. About 5 feet total. Amazingly, Mommy caught it on video:

[Add video, Rin]

Austen doesn’t do the army crawl — she’s opposed to the military-industrial complex — but rather, she crawls on all fours. Pushing with her feet, she rears up, then with her weaker arms, cautiously plods forward, right hand, then left hand.