We have a problem with one of our cats. Verbo has a terrible habit of chewing on things, to the point that she consumes pieces of whatever she’s gnawing on. Many of our paperback books have covers with pierced or missing corners. Most of our electrical cords have teeth marks in them (scary, right?). Maya has lots of toys that used to have tags on them and now have shredded nubs instead.

Maya – 9 months old

We received a little tutu in a box of hand-me-down clothes and had been dressing some of Maya’s stuffed animals in it. One day, we noticed that big chunks of it were missing. Verbo strikes again. We figured we better dress Maya up and get her picture before the tutu was completely consumed.

Maya – 9 months old

This also let us show off Maya’s first moves toward being a proper biped. It took her a little while to figure out crawling, but now she’s a force to be reckoned with. Working in the office during the day, I’ll hear the telltale slap-slap-slap of an approaching crawler. Soon after, a grinning Maya will crawl around the corner and pop her head in. She can also climb up the stairs (but not down yet). She can pull herself up to standing and even manages to tentatively cruise along the furniture from time to time.

Maya – 9 months old

As always, it’s so much fun to watch her figure things out. It wasn’t that long ago that we were wondering if she’d ever learn to crawl. Now it’s hard to slow her down.