A Crawling, Curious Baby and Other Random Thoughts

We have a crawling baby in the house now (well, we have had for about 3 weeks). It brings with it a whole new level of parenting. The disciplining and training have begun. Our curious little girl is into everything! Her favorites are the dog's bowl and the wireless router on the bottom of the end table. She was interested in lamp cords, but a few firm spankings on the hand have quenched her desire to play with those. The hand spankings (hand slapping sounds so....cruel) have slowed her down when going for the dog's bowl, but she's still a little interested. She now stops and considers for a moment before reaching for it. She does occassionally change her mind and crawl on to something else. 

In addition to the crawling, Evelyn is also starting to pull herself up some. Again, she has favorite spots to practice this skill. She scares me most when she pulls up on the tiled ledge of the bathtub. The whole time I'm hurrying to move her, I have flashes of her slipping and busting her head. 

In other (not baby related) news, we are preparing for the holiday season. 95% of the Christmas shopping is done. We are gearing up to decorate next week and looking forward to starting new traditions. My mind is turning of fun, family traditions we want to start with Evelyn. I'm looking forward to reading Chriistmas/winter books, Christmas pajamas, pictures in front of the Christmas tree, looking at Christmas lights, evenings in front of the fire (probably with the a/c turned up full blast), and making ornaments. Chris and I have always loved the holidays, and it's just so much more fun with a little one. 

Let's not forget Thansgiving next week. I've enjoyed the season of reading "thankful" posts on Facebook and even contributing a few of my own. While it's always nice to pay special attention to our many blessings this time of year, I long to be better at maintaining such a thankful attitude throughout the year. 

One last thought...I typed this post on our new iPad (family Christmas present). It's quite nifty. I'm not sure how to edit and do spell-check, so forgive me if there are many errors. :) 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!