Haws Household: Molly-15 months

And though she be but little,

she is fierce.

-Shakespeare

When tiny, little Molly went scampering up and down the climbing wall at the park the other day, my friend brought up that Shakespeare quote. And now I have been scouring all the cute signs on etsy because she NEEDS it on her wall. That is my Molly, oh, that is my Molly.

I mean, look at those tiny little stick-legs! Have you ever SEEN anything so tiny and adorable and hilarious in all your life?!

She has no fear. But she is not reckless. I actually find it quite fascinating to sit back and watch her at the park, or at play. Will used to be somewhat reckless and just fall, or face plant, or sprawl down the stairs quite frequently until he was steady enough to not. Molly, even at ten months old when she was walking and learning to go up and down stairs, is very methodical. You can see her little leg reach down, search for solid footing, test it out, and then she continues on down. I love watching her and thinking about how her mind is working. At the park she was mastering...everything. She may be a tiny one, but oh man, that does not stop her! She finds a way to get around. I even watched her hang on to a step on the climbing wall by just her fingertips, sway for a minute, catch her toe on the next step, and keep going. Not even a squawk out of her. I can't help but be a little proud. But it definitely does a number on how much I'm worried about her growing up years!

Oh my Molly, with your eyes that fill up your entire face. How I love you.

I'm trying to think of other milestones. She does everything. She feeds herself, except I do it a lot to escape the mess. She can completely use a cup on her own now. She is FINALLY more manageable to brush her teeth, although I do sit above her and pin her arms to her sides, haha. She thinks the top of the table is her personal stage. She LOVES soft things. Teddy bears, stuffed animals, blankets, Will's Olaf costume. She carries them around and snuggles up with them all day long. It's the sweetest. Not so sweet, she has already hit full-on tantrums. It is SO staged, which I find hilarious. If I tell her 'no', she immediately throws herself on the ground (carefully, one time she even slowly and silently lowered her head backwards and then immediately resumed her screaming haha), usually face-down, and does this terrible fake-scream and will occasionally look up at you to make sure you are noticing her distress.

When Will was in the hospital she won over both babysitters by 'cuddling' after her nap. It is probably my favorite time of day-that cuddle I get after her nap. And yes, she is down to only one nap, no thanks to daylight savings time. Ruff. Although, she's a pretty happy camper on that amount of sleep (unlike a certain brother of hers who just kills me when he doesn't get enough sleep) and so I can't complain too much. She also just lays down to sleep. No crying, no fussing, no complaints. Just tucks a bear under each arm and closes her eyes before I even walk out. Now THAT is awesome.

Waving. She puts her lower jaw out a lot. I used to worry that it was just like that, but it's ok. She just does it on purpose.

What else about Molly. She usually goes to nursery, even though she still has three months to go. But she sits up with everyone for snack and doesn't cry and gets right in playing with everyone, so no one minds too much. She is in the 75 percentile for height, but still around 10th for weight. She can EAT though. The other morning Ruth ate one pancake, Will ate two, and Molly ate THREE plus sections of orange. She usually eats TWO pieces of pizza and just generally packs it in. I have no idea where she puts it, but I'm definitely not too worried about that skinny little thing. I guess she just uses up too much energy getting into and onto EVERYTHING.

She really is just the sweetest. The tiny babe stages are just so bittersweet. She still has those baby soft cheeks. And I still use baby wash and lotion just so she smells just right when she gets out of the tub. Her hair is still downy soft and she is still so tiny I can wrap her up in my arms and just LOVE her before she squirms. My FAVORITE thing is that she hugs you now. She wraps those teeny little arms around my neck and squeezes. There is nothing better. I hope that we get baby hugs in heaven. It seriously is the highlight of my days. It makes everything better. Even when Ruth and Will get into glue and scissors without asking (and yes, that did happen today, and no, it wasn't pretty). Also, her little screech of "MAMA" is my favorite, even though it is a pretty shrill screech and not too easy on the ears. My other favorite thing is her big-smacking kisses. She even brings me dolls and kisses them and then has me kiss them and it goes back and forth for awhile. I love hearing that smacking sound and she knows it. It's a pretty devious little grin that kisses me and she has no problem turning it on when she wants something, haha.

Oh yeah, she has also started 'singing' along with the other kids in the van lately. Ruth sings songs pretty much word for word. Will joins late and LOUD on the last word of every stanza and Molly just generally hums over the hub bub in baby babble. I love it. OH she also fake laughs. The other day we were driving somewhere and Sterling was so enchanted by everyone. Will and Ruthie were doing something--I think saying a word that they thought was funny--and laughing HYSTERICALLY about it. But the best was that they'd laugh and laugh and then Molly would pipe in with a forced "HA. HA. HA." and then Ruth and Will would go off in fits of laugher again. While there is often whining and bickering from the back of the van, it is definitely worth it to hear that magical laughter every now and again.

And to end, here are a few pictures I caught of Ruth and Will playing in the back the other day. I don't know what they were playing, but one would pretend to be dead, be carried off, and then be kissed to wake up. It was seriously the most adorable thing I have ever seen.