So very fitting, that I should be writing this post about her last month as an infant, as I approach the end of her second year of life. Only three more weeks until my littlest baby is two years old, and I am far from ready.
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| (This one turned out to be one of my all-time favorites.) |
That same day, Tom, Abby and I went to Farm Day in Falls Church, an annual autumn celebration. There were lots of fun things to see, like blacksmithing, ponies, hayrides, and a petting zoo, but somehow all I managed to take pictures of were Tom and Abby.
The next week, I documented Abby's newly-perfected crawl at one of her first playdates. I had joined a Mommy Group a couple of months before, but us mommies started off just meeting with the babies for lunch. Eventually, we set up a schedule to take turns hosting at each others' homes, and the babies finally got to play together. I think that the very first playdate we met for may have been the week before this one, but I forgot to bring a camera to that one.
There actually were other babies hanging out in the family room of my friend's home, but Abby took advantage of the wide open space in the living room (something we didn't have much of in our own apartment) to break free and crawl to her heart's content.
The following weekend, cousins Tara and Adam came down from New Jersey to visit. Determined to find something fun for us all to do, I took to the internet to find out what would be going on nearby. It turned out that their visit coincided with the Taste of DC, so we all went down together to check it out. The food was great, and and a good time was had by all. I took this picture of Abby while we sat and listened to a jazz concert in the midst of the festivities.
That evening, we hung out together at the apartment.
Abby enjoyed both story time and dinner time with her cousin, Tara.
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| Cousin Adam provided conversation, and moral support. ;) |
As out-of-focus as this one is, I'm including it because you can see the two new teeth that were making their way through on the bottom by mid-month (October 18th).
And this one, taken that same night, and also not the greatest quality, because it really captures the spirit of so many moments that we had with her at that age. She was, and still is, such a source of joy and amusement to us. I only wish I could remember the story behind this picture; clearly, Abby was doing something hilarious.
On the 23rd, we got Abby all dolled up to attend a special Mass in which my father was installed into a Diaconate program, which we will complete next summer. This was also the first occasion in which it was chilly enough for us to put her in the adorable pink hat that her cousin Christina gave her back in April.
Here she is, back at my parents' afterwards, in her pretty pink frilliness.
Though, really, due to the hat, she just looks like a little elf.
I debated about using this next picture. It's not particularly flattering, and looks like it should be the basis of a baby drunk-dialing meme. But it marks (if I remember correctly) the first time that Abby reached a standing position from the floor (rather than pulling up to it on something), and held it.
Her shirt was soaking wet from drool, by the way. From about 3 months to about 15 months of age, we often had a bib on her because she always had a tooth, or two, or three, coming through, which made her drool more than I ever thought was even possible. I'm so glad that stage is over, and that Michael has not proved to be remotely competitive in that regard.
Of course, one of the most exciting things about the month of October was that it gave us an excuse to put Abby in a costume. Her Mima bought her a Tinkerbell outfit, and she made the cutest, chubbiest little fairy that you ever did see.
With attitude!
Abby also got to attend her very first Halloween party.
She had a lot of fun, and even did pretty well during the group shots that we took of all of the babies in attendance. She was one of the only ones who didn't fuss or cry through the whole ordeal (which was probably mostly just good luck on my part, to be honest).
Though, she did try, at one point, to fly right out of the shot.
Then came the very beginning of November, when Abby was just shy of one year old, and the first of many earth-shattering developments: Abby learned to climb.
So, yeah. That barricade that Tom and I threw together from diaper boxes filled with books, covered over with blankets and pillows? Thoroughly useless from that point on. And thus, a new era began...
