Month Four

In June Alice started to seem more, as one friend put it, “inhabited.” Her personality started to form, and she started engaging with the world around her more. She started shaping her own language – one that consists almost entirely of fart noises. She also began grabbing everything within reach and putting it in her mouth. No more jewelry for Mama for a while.

Laura went back to work in June, which meant less time to take photos and a few days of Mama crying on the way to work. But Alice started developing new friendships. Two days out of the week she goes to Marti’s Place, which is an in-home daycare about a half mile from our home. Marti is the quintessential nurturing grandma, and her two full-time staff Hillary and Angela are seasoned veteran moms. They take excellent care of little Alice, and she loves it there.

Alice also hangs out with our friend Rachel and her two daughters Annaliese and Jenneke one day of the week. They spend a lot of time going on walks and exploring the neighborhood. And the girls do a great job of teaching Alice the ropes.

In mid-June, we flew to Illinois to see Nana, Uncle Andy, Aunt Michiko, Dick and Jane, Uncle Kim, Craig and Susan’s clan, Rich, the McGrady clan, Cynthia, and a bunch of Jeff’s friends. We visited the Hall family farm, heard great stories, and took a photo in the corn field.

At the end of June we drove to Ashland for Sarah’s wedding. Alice was a champ on the 5-hour each way drive, and a good time was had by all.