Monster on the Go

You may have noticed that posts here are few and far between. We're sorry about that — it's just that this Tickle Bug's life seems to be one of always going somewhere, doing something, meeting some people, and having a precious few moments for naps in between.

To that end, Mama and Daddy have set up a new blog for Sweet Girl that's a little more conducive to mobile devices and Little Werewolf's upbeat and active social calendar.

Join the continuing adventures of Little Monster over at

http://machilli.tumblr.com

where we're able to post updates as we get them in any place that has wifi or 3G coverage. It'll hopefully let us post more frequently and maybe even in greater volume.

We're still going to keep this around just because there's no reason not to, but it's our intent to start using that other blog with greater regularity. Madeleine says she'll see you there!

It's Fall!

Mama likes to bake, so sometimes a fall afternoon means a batch of cookies, especially since this week was a little cooler outside than the usual Georgia furnace. But then, by the end of the week, it was almost 90 degrees again. So you have to savor a cool day like a spoonful of cookie batter.

Sweet Girl shows off some of her fall and winter outerwear. In addition to knowing that her hat is pink, Sweet Girl has been counting to 12 (she sometimes gets stuck on 7) and reciting her letters. It's not long now before Tickle Bug is doing long division and writing stories!

At the pumpkin patch, Little Monster decides that the pumpkin she wants is larger than she is.

Riding on a vintage farm truck. Perhaps you'd care for a gourd?

The visit to the farm that had the pumpkin patch had all sorts of fun activities. Here are Sweet Girl and Mama feeding the goats at the petting corral. Madeleine also saw roosters, hens, a cow and her calf, two handsome horses, some ponies, and a pig race!

Madeleine is an expert at navigating the corn maze. She did the easy maze in about five minutes and the harder maze in about 20. She also picked an ear of corn as a memento of her odyssey into the heart of McDonough, GA.

Visiting a pumpkin patch is hard work, and it means you have to eat a hearty meal afterward. Sometimes, even Ruff Ruff needs a forkful of mashed potatoes after a hot day on the farm.

MJ-isms

While spending the last few days with Little Monster alone and with Daddy, Mama has noticed that Madeleine is developing quite a personality. Some of the favorites from the mouth of this babe:

When seeing a tissue in the trash can: "There's boogers in there!"

When requesting which animals are on Old McDonald's farm: "Duck! Horsey! Snake! Bee! Giraffe!" (Mama isn't sure what noise a giraffe makes, but for now Baby Girl is satisfied with "honk, honk!")

When seeing a boa constrictor that a zookeeper had out at the safari this weekend: "Pet the snake? Give kisses?"

When asked why she wanted to be a duck for Halloween: "Walk around go 'kak kak'" which loosely translated meant she wanted to be able to walk around and say "quack quack".

When visiting Mama at the bar and seeing a lady she didn't know: "Hi lady!"

When seeing Mama dressed for the day and asking to get dressed as well: "Wear pretty dress like Mama?"

When hearing Daddy unlock the door coming home from work: "Daddy here!"

When reading a book in the car: "Elephant sad, lost his daddy. Elephant cry."

Mama can't wait to see how Madeleine's developing language lets her express her thoughts even more.

Safari Weekend

Sweet Girl has been fighting off an icky cold of late, so she's been spending lots and lots of time outside so that the fresh air can do her some good. Yesterday she and Daddy went to the park with every intention of feeding the ducks, but when the parking was too dense on the street and they had to resort to the garage, Tickle Bug decided instead that she would rather eat funnel cakes at the fair in the park and play on the playground with lots of other kids. She was certainly a sweaty little goblin after such a rambunctious good time, but it helped her get some good air in and some of those nasty ol' germs out.

Today, Little Monster woke up to a surprise. It was her friend Lindsey's birthday celebration, so as part of the party, Madeleine and Oliver joined Lindsey at the Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari! With friends and parents in tow, Baby Girl hopped into a safari van that Eric drove and she fed every animal she saw in the park. If you asked her which was her favorite, she'd probably tell you it was either the zebra or the giraffe. But you know how this sweet girl is with animals. She fed goats, deer, pigs, llamas, cows, yaks, and even a camel! And then, at the zoo, she fearlessly met a boa constrictor that was older than she was and pet his scaly hide.

After her big day at the safari park, she picked up some new medicine at Target and came home to watch the Cowboys really stink it up. But Little Werewolf is no fair-weather fan. "Seahawks, ew; go Cowboys" remains her mantra. She and Mommy and Daddy watched the rest of the games and had a lazy afternoon spent with lots of chasing, a little bit of ice cream (even though she also had a cupcake at the birthday picnic), and a good bath. She topped it all off with a few books read by Mommy and Daddy and a little bit of singing before bed. She even got away with not taking a nap today! Hopefully the icky sicky is burned out of her system and she can get back into the business of being a Tickle Bug without her cough. We know she's looking forward to seeing the kids at Miss Megan's tomorrow and telling them about her animal adventures.

Lots of Fun

Daddy has been traveling a lot, which means Mama has plenty of time to spend with Little Monster because she doesn't work when Daddy's away on business. It makes for lots of good times with one particular Tickle Bug who has been especially close to Mama. Sweet Girl's hair is long enough to wear in pigtails sometimes, too. It's funny because at the end of the day, Little Werewolf tends to pull her ties out of her hair — but her hair is so curly, it tends to hold the pigtail shape. Here, Sweet Goblin mugs for the camera and shows off her unruly post-pigtails. Don't let her face fool you. That's face she makes whenever the camera shows up.

Last week, Mama and Madeleine had a chance to meet up with Madeleine's friends from Miss Megan's daycare at the zoo. Since the zoo is by Madeleine's house, it was very easy to see her friends when they went on the field trip. Depending on when you ask her, Baby Girl's favorite animal is a giraffe, an elephant, or a monkey. Sweet Girl is a veteran of the zoo, so she also had a great time showing her less experienced friends where the cool parts of the zoo were and what the best exhibits to visit were.

Tickle Bug is also well on her way to being a big girl because she's already wearing Pull-Ups and using the potty. It's a win-win situation for her because when she does a good job, she earns a candy. She's also very enthusiastic to wash her hands, brush her teeth, and take baths with her toys and princess bubbles.

Now that's it's football season, you can bet that Little Monster is participating in Football Sunday with Mama and Daddy. She's already developing some favorite teams ("Go Cowboys!" Go figure...) and some rivals ("Seahawks, eww..."), and it's fun to watch her have a good time and laugh as Daddy hollers at the games and Mama rolls her eyes at Daddy.

A Picky Gourmand

This morning, Mommy (new phrasing!) and Daddy took Little Monster to Carpe Diem for brunch. As it turns out, Sweet Girl had a ravenous appetite: She ate French toast, strawberries, bananas, bacon, watermelon, grapes, some of Mommy's biscuit, and some of the cream from Mommy's coca, all topped off with a big cup of milk. What a little hound! There's even a bit of dancing that occurs at the breakfast table.

She ate a lot last night, too, at the Highland Tap. Most of last night's dinner was macaroni and cheese, but there was a little bread and a few French fries on top of that. She tried a little bit of calamari because Daddy told her it was like an octopus, but she didn't like the sweet chili sauce.

Of course, no trip to the Highlands is complete without a stop at Paolo's gelateria. Here, Wee Goblin had her own cup of white chocolate gelato augmented with a bit of Mama's pistacchio gelato and Daddy's violet gelato. Sweet Girl also sampled a ladybug made of marzipan, but she decided she didn't like it and spat it on the sidewalk. Such a delicate flower, this Little Werewolf.

Aces and Eights

Sorry to all the Madeleine followers — Daddy has been traveling a lot and no sooner did he get back than Sweet Girl and Mama visited Papa CJ for the state fair in Iowa. We'll get some of those photos up for you soon, but until then, enjoy this vintage photograph of Tickle Bug from back when chased away the Clanton Gang from the OK Corral. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)