Fall colors

Yesterday we went for a beautiful simple hike up a hill near our house that we've been admiring for a long time. Matt had spotted a trail and it of course took us right to the top to a scenic outcropping where we enjoyed the sunshine and the fall leaves.

Lucy said a new word while on our hike. She pointed to the moon and said "moon!" She did this a humber of times the entire walk just in case we didn't hear her. She was pretty pleased.

Lucy and dada near the start of the trail.

Lucy was working hard, gathering sticks, and running around. She also decided to pick and graze on the plentiful cranberries which have just recently ripened. We're pretty happy that our little 17-month-old knows that she can eat these berries and without any guidance from us. She learned from past experiences berry picking with us.

A snack of cranberries is of course followed by some mama's milk. Lucy and I sat at a lovely spot and relaxed together while I fed her.

We headed back down the trail shortly afterward. What a great discovery - we'll be revisiting this spot again.

Seventeen Months Old in September!

Our little girl lights up our lives each and every day more than we ever could have imagined with her beautiful personality and ridiculously cute ways. Lucy is about 20 pounds and is 29.5 inches tall. She's almost half mama's height already! There is so much love that comes from Lucy in the form of kisses and hugs constantly all day long, starting with the minute she wakes up in the morning. Both kisses and hugs have their own unique vocal "mmm"s and "mnnn"s that come with them. Too sweet.

Lucy is very much into eating now. The other day she grabbed a freshly picked brandywine tomato and wanted to take bites out of it...so we let her indulge of course. She also enjoys eating peas fresh off the vine while in the garden. Lucy loves Thai coconut curries, Italian pestos, Indian-spiced salmon and pretty much everything we can get her to try!

There are not many new words to report...still practicing the ones we previously listed. Lucy's level of understanding is remarkable to us. We are positive she knows much more than we think she does. We've seen some frustrations in her stemming from being unable to voice exactly what she needs or wants and we imagine learning to say more words is right around the corner. Reading long and more complicated books have been a fun pastime for mama and Lucy during the day and at bedtime. Her level of concentration is quite high, more than we expected at this age.