With a little help from her walking coach (aka Grandma) Mavis has been walking on her own. She's not exactly happy about it, but she will do it occassionally. Usually just a few steps, but Friday Grandma got her to walk all the way from the kitchen to the front door by herself. Mavis is still a bit upset with Grandma about this incident nearly 2 days later. What Miss Mavis prefers is to hold onto someone's hand while walking. And not just anyone. Has to be female, or a kid. If she agrees to walk with me, it's usually so I can walk her over to Mommy, where Mommy will hear for the 829th time that day, "Wanna walk?"
It all started about a month ago. Mavis and I were hanging out one Sunday afternoon, and I turned on a football game. Mavis looked up from what she was doing and started clapping and squealing and shouting, "Buhball! Buhball!" I was a bit surprised, but I had no idea that it was the beginning of an obsession. Soon, she started recognizing radio clips of football games. She recognized football-themed signs in grocery stores. And each time, they were greated with an excited shout of "Buhball!" More than once, her first word after waking in the morning has been "Buhball?" It seems as if she's asking, "Is there a game on today?" One night while we were visiting my dad for Christmas, after Cara carried her around to give goodnight kisses, Mavis turned to the television where a game was on and said, "Bye buhball."
But this time we forgot to get a picture next to the 23 pound turkey. Unlike last year, when Mavis didn't really notice, this year she weighs as much as the turkey & did notice, although she wasn't sure what to think & refused to try any. Maybe some of her mama's people have pictures they could send on of her next to the turkey??? (who was raised Catholic after all?). Here is Mavy, sitting pretty next to her hard core cousin Sarika, who was bored for most of the weekend. Mavis had a really really good time playing w/her 5 year old cousin Grace, who helped her walk (it didn't hurt Grace's back). Also, Mavy's daddy made the turkey & some really good dressing & turkey soup the next day. Thanks daddy. Happy times had by all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving; hope everyone else's was just a good.
Mavis enjoys toast with cream cheese.
Mavis meets snow for the first time! (we'll say the same next year). As you may tell from the picture, she was not too impressed & wanted up immediately. It all melted within a few hours, but there were reportedly inches more the next day. This picture is just a few feet from where Mavy saw 100's (one hundred?) of ducks feeding, thanks to Grandma's Barb's generosity.
2 weeks ago we headed to Louisiana, the 7th state for Mavy to visit, for a wedding. This is Mavis at a truckstop in Winnie Texas, just next to the TX-LA border. She was in a pensive mood, considering all the big rigs she saw just before her eyes. Shortly after this picture, she practiced walking in the time honored tradition that breaks every parent's back. By the way, we were on the way to LA for a wedding of a Tear (I'll give you $10 if you know what a Tear is).
On our way to Baton Rouge, Lousiana, we stopped at Avery Island, near Lafayette, to see the Tabasco Factory, where the original Tabasco Sauce was manufactured. It was gorgeous, & really neat to see. They make 700,000 bottles a day. Yes folks, you read that right, they ship them all over the world. The factory building, as you can see, is beautiful. Most of the peppers are produceded in Central America now. The "island" is gorgeous, but only an island in the Louisiana sense of the word. Mavis was cranky & needed a nap & made us miss the alligators.
This is the happy family, all fancified up for the wonderful wedding of Andre to Elena, at this amazing plantation house from the 1700somethings, right on the bank of the Mississippi, just outside Baton Rouge. It was a wonderful time & quite beautiful & a little wierd to think of the history. As is true for most history. We went on to visit blighted New Orleans the next day. Jeff may post some depressing, overwhelming video from that. It was amazing to see what happens in this country, under our very noses. So very much more real in person. Again, history usually is a little wierd.
Somehow, Mavis is already in love with phones. She has been for months now. She got her own little toy cell phone for her birthday, and she loves it. She usually answers it faithfully when it rings, but as you can see from the video, she is a bit annoyed when no one talks back to her.
Mavis isn't quite walking on her own yet, but she's getting close. She loves to hold onto your hands and walk. She's also using her "First Steps" walker, and is getting around fairly well with it (as you can see from the video.) She's just started "cruising" -- holding on to a stationary object for support as she takes a few steps. In fact, last week she actually crawled up on to the coffee table. It was pretty funny, but she got scared once she got up there.
She's also talking up a storm, with new words almost every day. Here's the current list:
Mom/Mama/Mommy Dad/Dada/Daddy Clock Light Dog (basically her first word, but she never says it anymore) Boo (she loves this one. yesterday I was in the shower and she pulled back the curtain and said "Boo!" Car Ball/Balloon (uses the same word for both) Cracker (one of her favorites -- she says "crack ooo" Duck/Quack (not sure which she is saying, but it's one of them) Baby (another of her favorite words) Book No (she just learned this one, unfortunately) Shay (her favorite teacher at daycare)
She's even putting words together. The other day, I was leaving. She waved at me and said "Bye" then turned to Cara and said "Dad Car"
Mavis was a bumble bee this year. A two-headed bumble bee, apparently. She screamed when we first tried to put the costume on her, but once it was on, she was fine with it.
Surprisingly, it seems that car seats weren't really designed for babies in enormous costumes, but we did manage to get her strapped in.
Veronica -- a goldfish, or, rather "koi" -- lets Mavis hang out in her exersaucer
Loretta shares her raisins with Mavis. Mavis had never had raisins before and she apparently liked them -- or at least liked seeing how many she could stuff in her mouth.
Once again, Mavis got dressed up to root her team on in the midst of a bunch of Longhorns. She was much more stoic about this year's loss. As far as Mavis knows, OU has never beat Texas.
A few weeks ago we went to the Austin "Art Car Parade." Actually, we missed the parade, but we got to see a lot of the cars that were on display. Mavis didn't quite know what to make of them, but you'll see that's quite understandable when you have a look at some of them.
How do you steer a canoe car? With a paddle, of course.
A car covered in choreographed singing lobsters. Yep.
Here's Mavis and me with one of my heroes -- Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black, aka Black Francis of the Pixies. Frank played an instore at Waterloo Records, and we got right up front. He was kind enough to pose with us after the show.
Last week, this cute little dog decided to adopt us. She showed up in our front yard and just hung around. So, we put her in the back with Zed and put up posters around the neighborhood hoping someone would claim her. No luck. Mavis loves her. She calls her "Da Da," as she does most dogs. Unfortunately, we just can't keep her. Thanks to her Grandma Barb, she's had a heartworm check (negative), three months of heartworm treatment, a flea bath, three months of flea treatment, rabies and kennel cough vaccinations, city registration, a new collar and a new leash! She's all ready to go to her new home, so please help us find her a good one if you can. Oh, she also has a bit of a limp, but the vet says he thinks its a strained ligament. It seems to be getting much better already.
Mavis got all dressed up for a party. She then was showing off how much she loves the rocking horse her daddy made for her. And boy does she love it. She will sit & rock for all she's worth. Even though her feet don't quite reach the foot rests yet. She mostly knows to hold on with two hands. And she goes for it.
Although Grandma Barb's not in this photo, & apparantly we didn't get any photos of Mavis w/her, Barb & Bopa were in town this past week to celebrate her 50th birthday. It was a fun party, on the boat, but first Mavis hung out w/them at the Austin Motel pool.
Yes, it's true, at 13 months & 3 weeks, Mavis has figured out how to crawl. Only has her own unique style, where she crawls a step or two, sits, spins a bit, then repeat until you get where you want to go.
Mavis gets her first lesson in diving. She did actually, get dunked in a bit on accident, but recovered like a champ. She quite likes the swimming pool.
Swimming made Mavis hungry for graham crackers, while dad enjoyed her floaty.
We went camping for the first time last week. The nights were really cool, into the 50s, so it seemed like a good time to try it out. We went to McKinney Falls State Park, pretty much inside Austin city limits, so if it was miserable, we could easily get back home. But it was great, Mavis loved it & did great. Here's what camp looked like.
With a little help from her walking coach (aka Grandma) Mavis has been walking on her own. She's not exactly happy about it, but she will do it occassionally. Usually just a few steps, but Friday Grandma got her to walk all the way from the kitchen to the front door by herself. Mavis is still a bit upset with Grandma about this incident nearly 2 days later. What Miss Mavis prefers is to hold onto someone's hand while walking. And not just anyone. Has to be female, or a kid. If she agrees to walk with me, it's usually so I can walk her over to Mommy, where Mommy will hear for the 829th time that day, "Wanna walk?" 
