Evelyn these days...

Evie is enjoying the new independence that has come along with her crawling. She can now explore when and where she'd like, she can pull up on all sorts of things to gain new perspectives and, as she has been testing out lately, she can also climb on top of things (such as her folded up pack-n-play and baskets). She doesn't seem to have too much fear.... :) Here are a few pictures we've taken in the last few weeks.
Pulling up: Evie loves to see what she can pull up on and she has been experimenting lately around our house. This first picture is a very common scene these days: two little eyes popping up above the coffee table and she struggles to get up. She likes to hold on with her mouth for support (or teething ;)).
Evelyn's fort. We turned her tummy time mat into the tunnel and she loves it. It is her little fort and she likes to crawl in with her toys and play. She also likes to play peek-a-boo with us through it. :)
Squinchy face. Evelyn has come up with this new face that she loves to make. We call it her squinchy face. She wrinkles up her nose and mouth and then breathes as loudly as she can through her nose. It is quite funny. Here are a few examples from after her diaper change the other day. :)
The toy basket. We used to have a basket of games under our coffee table. It is now a basket of toys. :) Evelyn loves it because she can pull it out any time, climb up on it, find the toy she would like. You can see this process below: delight at having all her toys there, the decision of which one to play with, and chewing on the final selections. :) I like it because it makes for easy clean up and storage.
Fountains. When we went to look at our new car we had some time to spare so we went to a park in Richmond. This park had a very thrilling fountain. You can see Evie's sheer delight and awe.
The Piano. Evie does like to play the piano, but she also likes to play *under* the piano. It's her second favorite fort. Here she is examining the pedals and peeking around one of the legs. :)
Balloons. Balloons are Evelyn's new passion. We were at a friend's birthday party the other week and they had a bouquet of balloons. Nothing more exciting could be imagined by Evie. She flipped out. I've never seen so much flapping and kicking and squeals of delight. :) Nathan's mom got a giant frog balloon from her work for her birthday and this is the highlight of their house, according to Evie. Here's Evelyn holding the whole bouquet (*quite* exciting).
 
As you can imagine, Evie both plays hard *and* sleeps hard. :)