Baby monkey

Madeline was happy this morning ...

... but she was less happy when she had to say goodbye to Anna and Neal.

She did have a good day at daycare. She and another baby babbled to one another as they bounced in their respective exersaucers, and she sucked her thumb and gnawed her feet. Daycare also included a few short naps and several more substantial feedings. Anyway, things went well enough that Summer picked her up and brought home some big smiles.

Despite her bouncing, Madeline was still full of energy. She did her best to climb all over Summer.

That was how I found them when I returned from work. Madeline soon started to fuss -- her naps had been short, and she was sleepy. So after a quick dinner we took a walk, which did the trick.

When we got home we parked Madeline in the yard and watered the plants &c. Not too long before bedtime Madeline woke up -- disoriented at first, but soon displaying smiles ...

... for a short play period in the yard. She seemed extra-interested in everything around her.

And she clung to my face like a baby monkey.

She enjoyed standing on my chest and watching the leafy tree branches blowing in the breeze.

And sitting worked well for tree-viewing, too.

In fact, sitting's going very well.

Crawling's still a work in progress, though as you can tell from today's pictures (and as I'm pretty sure I've repeated several times now), Madeline's getting very active. She's also generally quite good about bedtime, so after twenty minutes or so in the yard she was ready for a fresh diaper, a clean outfit, a snack, and then sleep.