Milk chugging on autopilot

Ale shows off her bottle handling skills and tactile sophistication, thanks to Tita at day care who taught her this...

Ale shows off her nascent standing skills with Edwin and Audrey

Ale does San Francisco Bay

Ale enjoys a cool breeze and the SF skyline on a bay cruise with Justin and Ariel...

the youngest cousin with the oldest cousins

Alejandra gets entertained by her cousins Justin and Ariel, who dropped in for a visit last weekend.

the vicissitudes of...poop

New parents' favorite conversation topic...poop. Ale's been keeping us guessing of late, oscillating from an explosion every 4-5 days (watch out!) to a regular rumble once or twice a day. Last Friday we flew out to Kansas City for the wedding of my close friend, Jason. During the reception and while cutely adorned in her green flowered dress, Ale decided to unload while sitting on my lap. The butterscotch found a path of lesser resistance than containment which led onto my shirt and pants! Arrghh! The next day on the flight back, somewhere over Kansas and at 35,000 feet it was again time to make a deposit. Team Critter had to improvise an adroit bum scrubbing on the seat between us. Ale was soon on her way with fresh, clean cheeks, but we probably gassed out the dude seated behind us!

a trio of smiles...

This one is actually from her baptism May 11...

Exogenous carbon...

Ale gives her best "this isn't a boob...that's not right!!!" face to greet her first spoonful of mush, rice cereal suspended in breast milk.

Razzberries!!!

Ale discovers her inner razz and gives a private concert....Nothing like being woken up at 5 in the morning by your daughter blowing razzberries in your ear!

Hi, toes...

Caught in the act! Ale displays her plastic flexibility and munches on a few toes...Hey, they're not there to just look pretty!

the hitchhiker...

Trying out the backpack hiker on the shaded trail of Black Mountain. Ale got droopy eyes and fell asleep about 10 minutes on the trail...

the latest milestone...sitting up!

Ale shows off her latest skill- sitting up...She's been practicing this for several weeks now, but she surprised me this afternoon by staying upright!

Stand-up comedy

Ale shows off her laughs as Big Mama provides some slapstick humor...

Alejandra demonstrates her amazing manual dexterity on the critter slots

Uh-oh...I can now butt-squirm out of my chair!

Ale demonstrates her burgeoning skills at wiggling herself into trouble.

Supercharging Ale with a squish-kiss...

Chubby-cheek powers, activate!

Ale strikes a pose in her bunny towel, "High Five, Big Mama!"