Helen's new favorites

Keeping up with a baby's changing tricks is a fun but fast-moving game. This week, some of Helen's favorite things include:

• Nodding her head "yes" in response to anything someone says to her. She does it while wearing a bit agreeable grin. Not very confident that she knows what she is agreeing to, but if you ask the questions correctly, it can be lots of fun to have her smile along with you and nod. Only occasionally will she decide to shake her head "No" instead - but she still grins so you can't really hold it against her.
• Waving hello and goodbye. She actually seems to be starting to understand this one. She appropriately waves her arm as people arrive or depart at the front door. And a few other random times, too, because it is so much fun.
• Swinging. She already started getting into the cupboards a few weeks ago. Now, for variety, she likes to pull herself up on the cupboard door (like a chin-up) and swing back and forth on it. She grins about this one, until she accidentally shuts herself inside the cupboard with her fingers pinched on top. 
• Climbing. Our baby safety gate at the top of the stairs has a bottom and top rail between which the vertical rails are hung. The bottom rail is about 3-4 inches off the floor. Helen hoists herself up to stand on the bottom rail, then shrieks with delight that she is that much closer to figuring out how to scale the gate to freedom. She especially loves it when she finds the gate unlatched, because then she can swing (like a cupboard door but better!).