We are going through our first cold together. At least, I think Sam has the cold. I don't know how she couldn't. There is no body division at this age. She sticks her hands in my mouth, runs her drool over my eyes, all sorts of stuff, and I can only wash my hands so often. So far she seems happy enough, except it is very hard to get her to take a nap. I need a nap!

Samantha has figured out how to work the buttons on her crib mobile no problem. She is turning it on and off as I hope that she'll drift off to sleep. No luck, but she is getting really good at pushing that button!

We all went for a walk in the woods this morning. I figured if I was going to be miserable, I wanted to be miserable in a pretty spot. We went a little different way than usual, ended up in the forest facing the reservoir. Samantha is fascinating to watch in the woods. She loves staring straight overhead, and she touches whatever comes within reach. Ella was thrilled to be out, and in the face of such combined joy, who could let a nasty cold get in the way of some fun. So I stared straight up too, and noticed how pretty the leaves are against the sun. It is definitely true that children have a lot to teach us.

Samantha is now, at 7 months, steady on all fours. She hasn't got the crawl part figured out, but she rocks back and forth on her hands and knees very well. She even gets up on her hands and toes, which I think is hard to do. We definitely have to baby proof the house! A good project this weekend.