An awefully cute bundle of energy

She passed her 15 month well baby visit with flying colors. She is now just shy of 31" tall and 23 lbs. both around the 50th percentile (that average her daddy was looking for a few months back).

She is trying to talk. She can say Mama, Daddy, Dog and Duck(anything with wings and a beak), Owl, Ssss(as in snack or what a snake says), jibberish that we think is "Mommy help" and "Me Some" (i.e. I want some). She signs: more, please, fish, thank you. And she can point to most of her body parts.

Slowly but surely her teeth are coming in, though the lack of them doesn't stop her from eating much of anything. Fruit is still her favorite with meat a close second.

She loves to help with anything especially emptying the silverware from the dishwasher, putting clothes in the washer or dryer, closing drawers and doors, picking up the things she pulls out (books, tupperware lids, etc). She even helps with the remodeling project (picking up screws and scraps or eating the tape measure).

She loves the swings, slide and sand at the park and is always eager to jump in the stroller to go on an adventure. She loves the swimming pool or playing in water and sprinklers in the back yard. So far only one unripe tomato has been picked.

She loves to give kisses and is very sweet to watch with her baby dolls.

Her favorite game with daddy right now goes like this.
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"

That's my Midwest Girl!

From Corn on the Cob

Mara's Artwork

Mara created beautiful artwork today!

Family Traditions

Is that the Incredible Hulk you ask? If you know the Hall's you probably know they have A LOT of family traditions. Some are really cool like opening the Bible as the last present and reading the Christmas story and some are, well, cheesy, such as the great heart that hops on his point, if they don't hold sentimental value from your childhood, like they do for Tom. One of Tom's favorite Easter traditions is dying Easter eggs. We even did it last year when Mara was 12 days old.



This year she was able to dive in (literally) and have her own fun with this tradition. So here is a photo documentary of our Easter Sunday 2008. (Saturday was spent gardening in preparation for Mara's birthday party next weekend.)

Checking out the Easter Bunny goodies.


Already for Church.




She scored her first taste of chocolate while I made the traditional Lamb cake. This is one tradition we have adapted to our own by changing to chocolate and keeping the head on or 6 years running. Funny story about making the cake. As I was pouring the batter into the mold Mara stuck her hand into the batter. But our child who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth (remember the dirt photos) would not taste it off her fingers. So the taste came later when Daddy was licking off the spatula.


Hunting eggs with daddy.


And the grand finale before a second bath in the sink and a nap.

"Eggs you say?"



"And we put them in that pretty colored stuff?"


Daddy reconsiders the advisability of giving a not quite walking 11 3/4 month old a egg outside on hardscape.


"I like the white ones, I'm going to see what mom is up to."


"Hey, I have an audience!"


"Ok, I'll try the colored ones."



"When are they going to figure out I don't like these things. This looks more like my kind of fun!"


"Who me?"

Learning Explosion

Mara has exploded with new things she can do!

Climbing the stairs: Yes she had experimented with this trick before, mostly following older kids, but this was all her own. She just wanted to see what Daddy was doing upstairs.

Squirrel and Magician: This is a dinner table trick where Mara hides her food next to herself in her chair as if she was a squirrel packing it away for the winter. She then pulls out a carrot stick, piece of banana, or piece of pasta as if she made it appear.

Just one of the guys girls: She smiles and laughs at her own bodily functions (like burps and toots).

Animal noises: Most kid's first animal initation is a dog or a duck. Mara has mastered the snake!

Talking: Aside from the snake, we have a few "mama" sounds amongst a nearly constant string of "dada"...and she totally knows what it means.

First Step: Last but certainly not least, she took a step -- a very sloppy one -- but a step. We sat 4 feet apart and bribed her to go between us with coveted toys. She reached out and took a lunging step between us, going from mommy to daddy and daddy to mommy. She is now walking behind her push toy like a pro across the living room.

Roadrunner

So Mara just had a funky curl thing in her hair yesterday from the moment her hair dried out of the bathtub. So I added to it by playing with a bow in her hair all day. I put it in, she'd pull it out and offer it to me. I'd put it back in and she'd pull it out. I'd put it in my hair and she'd pull it out and offer it back to me again. So this was the bed head she woke up with this morning. And just for all of you (who left us all kinds of comments, so fun!) she decided to play cheesy for the camera, enjoy!

Changes around here

Hi all. You are all very special to us and we love that you keep up with our lives through this blog. We are sorry to have to add this additional step to your viewing pleasure but have decided this will be a safer environment for us to share Mara's stories, pictures and videos. So please come back often and enjoy. If you don't mind please leave a comment so I know you read and keep you on the permission list (it is limited). If you'd prefer a different email address or know someone I forgot just let me know.

Mara these days is enjoying the beautiful weather we have had hear. She brings a big smile to Daddy's face by happily saying Dada when he asks. She happily samples everyones food, plays with the magnets on the fridge and the Jet Dry cover on the dishwasher, but she clearly does not want to be encouraged to walk. Books, baby doll and balls are her toys of choice.

Also I finally got around to updating the links if I forgot you please let me know. I had to do these from memory as I never transfered my bookmarks from the old computer.