Sweet Baby James is growing up and little hints of the toddler she will soon become are starting to show through in her budding personality. This strong-willed child knows her mind, has unbelievable determination, and can be very intense (I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised about that after some of the crying sessions we witnessed in her earlier months). Like her daddy, Hen will gratefully and enthusiastically eat anything that is offered to her. Like her mama she can be noisy, stubborn, and smiley all in a single moment. And boy is she on the move! Crawling, cruising, and climbing around our home to get quickly to the things that catch her eye. Lately she has been quite drawn to the tantalizing record collection on display in our living room; a few times a day she will pull Bob Dylan and Nat King Cole from the shelf and take them out of their plastic sleeve. Later we will find that plastic sleeve crumpled in a corner somewhere and wet with saliva. Fun!

Her facial expressions crack us up daily and she has recently mastered a very high-pitched screech that she uses when she feels excited or annoyed, needs attention, or is just plain feeling cheeky. Current favourite tricks include waving hi and bye, playing peek-a-boo, pulling off her socks so she can eat them, chatting nonstop, and pointing at us when we ask “where’s mama?” or “where’s daddy?” She has perfected the stare-down at an early age and we are very aware that we will have our hands full for a long time, but are loving that we get to raise such a curious and mischievous little sasspot!