Mary's first mess

I took this picture three weeks ago:

Here is why it is significant: This was Mary's first solo mess. She commando-crawled across the living room and into the dining room, negotiating her way through a maze of table legs and chairs until she discovered the old cabinet (that's been tagging along with me since college when it was discovered in the basement of our tiny old rental house apparently supporting the ground floor from collapsing--gotta love those college student dives!) Mary opened the cabinet doors and dumped out the play-dough supplies. All by herself! What an independent woman. She no longer must rely on her brother to participate in mess-making activities.

We have since entered a new era. Mary explores the house, dumping out, opening up, and toppling over. She also pulls herself up now, so there are more messes to be made now that her reach is higher. And she's discovered the buttons on the stereo system (ugh!). I love her curiosity and careful determination. But am I really ready for all this again? (Let's just say David wasn't exactly the kind of baby--or toddler--who liked to sit around. I'm still recovering from his babyhood!)

[By the way, Mary is officially crawling up on her knees. She's been commando-crawling since she was five months old. For the past month she has been crawling on her knees a few inches accidentally now and then. Earlier this week she began crawling on her knees for short distances, but preferred the army-man thing for the long haul. And tonight she finally discovered that the quickest way to Mom is using the knees.]