Crates! That’s the command I use when we’re heading out the door…or when the dogs are being obnoxious…or when I just need a few moments’ peace.

Apparently, it now might also work for Maya.

Appropriately enough, Maya’s newest favorite word is dog-da-da-dog-dog. Interspersed with this is ocassional panting, since that’s the “baby sign” for dog.

Maya’s been checking the crates out for some time now, and they’re one of the best spots for pulling up, since they’re stable AND give a good hand-hold. It’s only today that she decided to climb IN and play around.

Since I’ve caught myself telling her it’s time to go to her *crate* when I meant *crib*, I suppose it’s only fitting.

Climbing out of the crate wasn’t *quite* as easy as getting in:

But, she prevailed without any assistance from mama.

Removing screw-on lids from bottles.

My bathmat is simply drenched in Burts Bees Baby Bee lotion…sigh. But — Maya smells awfully nice, and her skin is so soft!

Trying hard to not think about how much that lotion costs…

I finally got copies of the pictures from the session on July 10…and I love them! True to his word, Tom gave me small copies of each photo, along with a CD filled with high-resolution versions.

Click the picture to the left to view a slideshow of selected pictures from the shoot.

A sampling:

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And…for the gals at the grocery’s Starbucks, we present the Baby Barista:

Maya babbles with her tongue out.

This, IMO, is the perfect baby bath shot — shows body, but the arm is placed just *so*, and nothing shows!

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She ate nearly 1/2 of one all by herself!
(Photos from 7/20)

There’s a certain “style” of babble that’s Maya’s signature these days, and I realized that if I didn’t catch it on video, I’d hate myself for it later. Ever since her teeth came in (she still only has the bottom two), she runs her tongue from side to side while saying, “la-dee-daaaaaa-dee-daaaaa…” Try it. The kid is coordinated; I know I can’t do it.

Two other things in this video I want to remember:

• She hands me toys. This is also true when *I* am the one in the bathtub, which means that during a bath, I sometimes have peek-a-blocks dropped into the water next to me.
• She tosses toys out of the bath, and it seems to be for the express purpose of giving herself an excuse to climb *out* of the bathtub.

The dogs have just been walked. Maya is playing happily with my gym shoe in the entry hall. I’m working at my desk. It’s a typical weekday.

Then behind me, I hear a very *wet* sound. There’s gurgling. There’s the sound of something hitting the carpet. It didn’t sound like the dogs’ puke noises, and Maya is no longer the queen of spitup, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I definitely didn’t expect what I saw.

Apparently, one of my dogs — you know, the ones I’ve just walked — has a stomach bug. There is a fresh pile of dogshit on the carpet. Two feet away, Maya sits surrounded by a very wet, smelly patch of carpet. She ate it, and projectile vomitted dogshit-and-breakfast all over the carpet.

It takes a lot to turn my stomach.

Consider my stomach turned.

No photos for this one…I got that kid to the bath as fast as humanly possible. For now, she’s eating string cheese and chex in her highchair, and the dogs are crated. Wonder how long it’s going to take to get the carpet clean enough for crawling?

Has Little Miss been listening to old REM? (yes, I know…corny)

Just a couple weeks ago, Maya had just discovered that she could pull into a stand — but it was hesitant. Now, it’s a game.

• Can I stand by the tub? Check.
• Can I stand by the exersaucer? Only if the “legs” are out.
• Can I stand next to a slatted closet door? Yes! Even though it’s perpendicular to the ground.
• Can I stand and put my hands on mama’s legs insisting that she pick me up? Oh, most definitely.

The list goes on. And on. The changes happen so fast, if you blink, you might miss them.

***blink***

***blink***

When it’s dawn sometime in the 5:00-5:30am range, by 6:00am, the baby is not understanding of the idea that mama is not ready to get up yet.

On a recent Car Talk, Tom & Ray proposed the idea of a double-dipping daylight saving time, where sometime in June, the clock would move back a second hour, then move forward again in August. I’m all for it.