I guess I’m out of the habit of posting, and another month has gone by!

Raley is now 18 months - almost 19. She’s not the biggest talker… she doesn’t say a lot of words, and refuses (refuses) to say the word “mama.” She knows the word, knows who it refers to, but just won’t say it. Instead everyone is “dada.” Oh well… it will happen, right? But although she doesn’t say a lot of words, she does know/understand a ton, including some pretty obscure ones…


Future zoologist, maybe?

Other recent “hobbies” include trying to fit into small spaces (although it doesn’t always end happily):

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I can totally fit on this bookshelf!

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I fit into this cat carrier, but then decided I didn’t like it!

So, yeah, taking that last picture might qualify me for “bad mom” status since I took the picture before helping her get out, but it’s all for the blog!

Climbing to the highest places possible:


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Linus says, “Wait a minute! Whose perch is this?”

And stacking things:


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Taller than Raley!

This last picture merits some explanation… one of the kitchen cabinets that we hadn’t put the childproof locks on yet is the pantry/food cans. While I was in the kitchen with her, she started taking cans out of the cabinet one at a time. Then she stacked most of the cans (the bottom of the stack). Then we went and ate dinner and played for a while and I left the stack of cans and didn’t think about it. Then I had to step out of the room for a second (bathroom break, I think). When I came back around the corner, she was in the hallway carrying that jar of salsa (OK, I didn’t really realize that glass jars were in that cabinet!). She took one look at me and giggled and then raced into the kitchen towards her stack. I immediately envisioned broken glass, cut toddler, mayhem, etc. So I raced after her, but in the seconds that it took me to get in there, she had placed it right at the top - too big to totally fit on the can of olives, so it has a jaunty perch. But perfectly balanced! We went into the (more childproof) living room, and then I snuck back in to take a few photos :). And then we bought the locks for the jars/cans cabinet.

So that’s the Raley update. I have whale pictures and crafty things, too… we’ll see if I can get them posted before Halloween (but don’t hold your breath!).