Today there were two moments that fall under this category. Both times I had turned away and turned back to find Moira doing what I like to do myself.

The first time I caught her eating something that had been left lying around. Chocolate, or more specifically Galaxy milk chocolate (mmmm). She was very happy about this discovery, having never had chocolate before. While wasting some on the floor, devoured the bits that she could free.

The second time she was usually quiet when I was in another room. I poked my head out and checked her, not letting her actually see me. She was hunched over a book, concentrating on each page as she slowly went through them. Moira is a book lover in general - maybe it comes from watching us read so much :)

The past few days we've all had colds. It started with Moira. She probably got it at playgroups. Now Darcy and I have it as well. It hasn't taken us down completely but it is very draining. Particularly when Moira is cranky enough about her cold to keep everyone awake.

Bleah.

Moira reached 11 months on December 24th! I'm writing this after the holidays though so there's a bit of development to cover.

December 24th and 25th:

Moira stuck in the snowbank
Moira with her stocking
Santa brought Moira a fun activity tent that she enjoyed exploring
Our gift stripped tree

It came in the day before yesterday - and boy was she cranky about it.

Now we just have to wait for the matching one on the other side, which should pop through soon too.

See inside for some links to holiday photos of our family...

We've been putting off installing the third safety gate to block the stairs going up from our main floor. Apparently we need to get a move on it.

Moira was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Just now she climbed up and onto her first step.

She then proceeded, with a little encouragement but no help, to climb the *entire* staircase.

Eeep.

Last night we visited friends and Moira got to stay up late. She actually didn't get too cranky and really seemed to enjoy some playtime with their older kids. It was nice for us too :)

This morning she slept in a bit and has been doing great. She needed a little help with her stocking (a book and some crayons). She pulled out her one gift all right (plastic keychain with buttons/noise) and we set up her "Santa" gift - a tent a little taller than she is standing that has different activities on each side. Her favourite so far seems to be watching/dropping the balls, which make a rattling sound, on the little chute they go down, zig zagging, on the side of the tent.

Teeth! Moira currently had four - the two upper and two lower front ones. With these she has been happily tearing into toast strips, crunching cheerios and gnawing on apple.

She's been drooling like mad though and so we expect the two teeth on either side of her two top ones to break through the gums any day now. We can see them just underneath. Luckily for us she hasn't been quite as cranky about it as she was with the previous teeth.

Last night Darcy and I went out to a RIM dinner. My Mom was great and came down the day before yesterday and babysat Moira last night. We were a little worried about how she would do, but she was good with Mom and was fine for the short time we were gone - sleeping a couple hours in Mom's arms actually.

Unfortunately, we've been having sleep battles with her. Moira woke up when we got home around 10pm, after 2 hours of sleep, and didn't want to go back to sleep or be in her crib. It took a little more than an hour for her to go out and she was *not* happy about it.

:(

...but the dinner was nice and it was a fun chance to be out and relax it bit. The relaxing bit was made easier knowing Moira was home with my Mom who she'd gotten used to and had no problems handling her.