Current obsessions

Melina has several new obsessions that keep her occupied for most of the day. First, she likes to move things from one place to another. I think this is pretty normal behavior for a one-year-old. She will open the buffet cupboard in the dining room, take out one of the green 1970s dessert glasses that lives there, and march it into the kitchen, where she sets it down carefully in the middle of the floor. Then she goes back, finds another one, returns to the kitchen, and sets the second one down. I've seen her do this with up to six glasses. Sometimes if I'm lucky I can get her to put them back, but that doesn't always work.

She also loves shoes. She can say the word "shoe" now ("tchoo") and eagerly sticks out her foot when a sandal comes near. I took her into a baby shoe store and she was overjoyed by the selection. She also loves playing with my debit card. I see a scary convergence of these two interests in the distant future.

Another thing Melina loves is climbing. She had been an enthusiastic stair climber since she was about 9 months old, but now she will also trot up hills, even steep ones, and climb onto chairs and tables. She has fallen a few times, but often she doesn't cry when I think for sure she will. She seems to be a pretty tough cookie.

And then there's the obsession with berries, which I wrote about below. Melina seems to have an innate ability to identify huckleberry habitat, at which point she pipes up with "buoy? buoy? buoy?" When we're at home I've given her enough blueberries to turn her into Violet Beauregard. Lately she's been throwing the blueberries on the floor, though, which means that this obsession is on its way out.