Assisted Walker

Hannah's new favorite activity - walking (with the help of mommy or daddy's hands - or better yet, one of each). It's pretty darn cute. She reaches to you from her seated position, saying "help me stand up," then takes your hands in her kung fu grip and starts toddling off in her direction of choice. Occassionally she'll free up one of my hands to grab something off the floor or hold onto the couch or the wall - or Oliver - but then she looks up at me and reaches for my hand again. She loves to look up and smile, as if to say "look at me, mom!" She got so upset when it was time for bed because she was having so much fun walking!

We had a fun time indoors this past weekend, given the really cold and rainy weather. We took Hannah to the final music class of the spring session and saw her friend Marianne there. It was quite a surprise - we went to an earlier class than usual and we didn't know Marianne would be there! After that Hannah had a playdate with Marianne and Ryan. Meanwhile, daddy built Hannah a magnet/chalk board:

It still needs some finish work (momma's job), but Hannah was very excited about it. My neighbor built one like this and we thought it was such a great idea. It's right in the kitchen, so hopefully this will provide a great distraction over the years while mom or dad is cooking dinner.

On Sunday daddy continued on the magnet/chalk board project while Hannah and momma went to the library and the toy store. After lunch and nap, we went to the mall to play on the "breakfast food" (statutes that kids play on). Hannah was mostly interested in walking around and watching the other kids.

Hannah cut her first molar this weekend. Poor little girl was in pain! She only has her two front bottom teeth, so it was a bit surprising for a molar to pop up. She seems to be doing fine now that it has cleared the surface of her gums. This weekend was also the first time we only put Hannah down for one nap each day. She's been doing that at daycare for the past couple weeks, so we figured it was time. She was pretty exhausted by the time she went down both days - she even fell asleep while I was changing her diaper before her nap on Saturday. Pretty funny.

Hannah is getting so much more interactive. She wants us to play with her - she'll give us toys and then put her hand out for us to give them back. It's so fun to see her being more social. In fact, I think she's pretty social at school (but not with the kid that bit her on Friday!). I think watching all the other kids walk around (most in her class are walking) is really encouraging her to get up and go. We'll see, she could be walking off on her own pretty soon...