Fourteen months! (March 21, 2011)

Scarlett is 14 months old! She "talks" on the phone non-stop, but the problem is that she's figured out that real phones -- in particular my iPhone -- are far more exciting than her play phone. But if a phone isn't handy, she'll work with whatever she can find -- a banana, a barrette, a spoon, you name it. It's actually pretty funny to see her put a bread stick or some equally random item up to her ear and say, "hiiiii!"

Scarlett picked her 14-month birthday to reveal her latest word. He's everyone's favorite red furry friend ... Elmo!

Scarlett fell in love with books this month. Before, she was just so-so about them, and now she can't get enough. As much as we want to encourage her to read, it's quite the challenge to figure out how to stop at some point (there's only so many times in a row you can read "Pajama Time" without losing it). It's sort of like throwing the ball for Winnie; once you start, she just doesn't want to stop. She can point a few things out in her books, like the bellybutton on one of the babies or the kitties in Goodnight Moon.

Scarlett also helps to pick up her toys now. I doubt she really knows she's cleaning up ... she probably views it as the fun counterpart activity to the one of her favorite games, "take everything out of the container/drawer and toss it around the room."

Scarlett has become a bit of a night owl. Sometimes she'll stay awake for a really long time after we put her to bed. If we didn't have the monitor, we'd think she was asleep, when instead she's in there talking, singing, or groaning. A few nights ago she was in her crib at 8:30 but stayed up for over TWO HOURS standing at the side of her crib and looking out the window (she can reach to open the plantation shutters from her crib; might have to move her crib away from the wall if it becomes a problem). She just watched the cars going by, people walking their dogs, and who knows what else. We actually took turns going outside to look up at her and even shined a flashlight into her room to get a better look. It really was quite funny, and now that I think about it, we're lucky nobody called the cops. After dramatically tossing her stuffed animals out of the crib (apparently Scarlett needs her space when she sleeps), she finally called it a night around 10:30.

Scarlett can now stand well without holding onto anything, and can take a few steps between the coffee table and the couch, but she's still not officially walking.

Here are some shots of Miss Scarlett on her 14-month birthday.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Scarlett let the good times roll a few weeks back at the Oak Cliff Mardi Gras parade. (It was smack in the middle of nap time, but who can nap when there's an awesome parade in your neighborhood??)

Harper hooks Scarlett up with some beads.



Scarlett kicks up her heels. Let's get this parade started!



Chris was also ready to get the parade started so he could stop being the main attraction. (Note the grimace. And by the way, I just asked Chris how to spell grimace, and he asked whether I meant the facial expression or the purple McDonald's monster. Really?!?)



Waiting for the parade to start and snacking on delicious empanadas.



It finally started. Hooray!



















A good time was had by all. (Which was lucky for Scarlett, seeing as how that's as close to Mardi Gras as we're going to let her get until she's 30.)

Tupperware Party

Scarlett loves the Tupperware drawer, which is conveniently placed at Scarlett-level in our kitchen. We just let her have at it, since hey -- it's Tupperware. She takes the pieces out one by one, and depending on her mood, either places them gently to the side or tosses them dramatically in every direction. Here she is in a "fling the Tupperware with wild abandon" kind of mood.