What a glorious weekend! The sun shone, I went "running" (more like "slowly jogging/walking") for the first time in about 18 months, and Seth had zero work to do! An excellent Saturday and Sunday were had by all. As a family, we took walks, made two visits to the park, watched some TV, cooked many meals, and enjoyed each other's company.

Maya has started cruising. She's taken some small steps while standing and holding onto the couch cushions and coffee table. It's exciting to watch, but also a bit bittersweet: our baby is rapidly becoming a toddler!

Maya made some gustatory explorations this weekend. She fed herself bits of avocado, which she really liked, and Seth and I fed her some hard-boiled egg yolk, which she tolerated but didn't eagerly pick up with her own fingers, like she did with the avocado. We're trying to expose her to foods with higher fat content, so that once she's weaned she'll keep getting adequate fat intake. (She won't be able to drink milk or soy milk right away, since she appears to tolerate them poorly.)

This afternoon Maya enjoyed petting a neighbor's dog. She continues to chase after our cats while laughing maniacally. (And I do mean maniacally. You've never heard anything like it! And it's infectious: Seth and I can't help but giggle when Maya's Maniacal Laughter rings through the apartment!) Fortunately, my constant exhortations to "Be gentle, be gentle" seem to have sunk in slightly---she's doing much less grabbing of animal fur than she was a few weeks ago.

Another piece of evidence that Maya is comprehending things we say to her: This evening, Maya was zipping around her room wreaking havoc while I changed her crib sheet. After pulling all of her shoes out of her shoe bin, she made a beeline for the space heater, then raised her hand to touch it---but stopped at the last moment and pulled her hand away. She remembered it was a "No"! I was fascinated, amazed, and very proud of her. She's learning!