Pea Soup and Playgrounds

A few days ago, Baby Girl took her new wagon to the park. Here's a minute or so of her tearing up the playground, going backward up the slide and rampaging across the little bridge on the jungle gym.

When Daddy was just a wee gremlin, brachiating from tree to tree in his Grandma and Papa's backyard, one of his favorite meals was split pea soup. It seems that Little Monster has inherited his taste for soup, because she loves the stuff! Today, Daddy made some split pea soup from the hambone left over from Christmas dinner and it was all Tickle Bug could do to wait for the noodles to boil.

Christmas Monsters

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, Joddie and her mother came over and the dinner was great. Little Monster had glazed ham, horseradish mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pearl onions, sweet potatoes, and salad. Her favorite part of dinner was the croutons, and of course a little bit of the ice cream that came with apple cobbler.

Sweet Girl had a lovely Christmas in her new house, getting up early to open presents and then having a fine Christmas breakfast as prepared by Mama. Let me tell you, this Little Monster made quite the haul this year! Sweet Goblin seemed to be on everyone's mind, and for that Mama and Daddy thank their wonderful families and friends for making it a happy yuletide despite not being able to spend it in Texas like they did last year. Perhaps next year will see everyone back in Texas....

Christmas morning began with presents, which Madeleine opened from the "cargo bay" of the wagon Grandpa Roger and Grandma BJ gave her. She was instantly enthralled with it, and asks for rides in her "wagga" by name. Other popular gifts were the overalls and baby doll Grandma Raye sent her, the angel ornament with her name on it sent by Uncle Cameron and Aunt Anne, the karaoke microphone stand sent by Uncle Reade and Aunt Jamie, and the telephone (with a recorded message!) sent by Papa Den and Nona. She also spent some of the morning chasing around her early Christmas gift, Gigi the cat. Daddy has about ten minutes of raw video footage of Sweet Girl opening presents, which he'll get uploaded once he gets it edited down to something presentable.

After opening gifts, Baby Girl took a ride down the street in her fancy wagon, where she waved at the neighbors and met a little boy who was riding his bigwheel with his parents. It was a very comfortable ride, spent reading a book from Grandma Raye and sipping on refreshing juice. As you can see from her picture, she was very proud of her wagon and enjoying the ride immensely.

Today while Mama was at work, Daddy took her for another wagon ride down a different street, which was a little more hilly. When you're Daddy, you just have to put your back into it and pull the wagon, but when you're a charming little Tickle Bug, you can just relax in your wagon like you're Cleopatra on a litter and watch the scenery go by.

A Tickle Bug Christmas Eve

Kisses for Mama.
Upstaging the tree!

Sunday Playtime

It's a great day today -- the sky is blue, the air is crisp, and Cowboys won last night. While Mama was at work, Daddy and Sweet Girl went out to play in the backyard. While the video is full of classic Tickle Bug (lots of grunting), it really comes into its own about the two-minute mark, where Madeleine hears the train nearby and the barking dogs. She punctuates her excitement with some "Woof! Woof!" of her own. The whole thing rounds out with a wee tumble, after which, Little Monster remarks, "Ew! Ew! Ew!" in response to getting a handful of dirt.

Quick Update: A Few Party Pics

The Days of Totoro and Roses

If there's one thing Baby Girl likes about this December, it's holiday jammies and Christmas tree lights. Each morning she enjoys breakfast with Mama (and Daddy, since he's on vacation) in the glow of the living room tree. She has a few gifts stashed under that tree, but for the most part, she's been very good about not trying to sneak a peek before the big day.

Little Monster is also learning words at an amazing rate. She can ask for her juice, request her favorite movie by name, recognize doggies and kitties and bunnies on sight, and even demand more sausages if you're slow about forking them over. On bath night, she asks for "bubble." She knows where to take her trash, when to stand back from being too close to the television, and where to put the laundry. She's certainly come a long way from being the utterly dependent critter who found solace in the pink burrito at night!

Today, Tickle Bug has a party with some of her friends at Daddy's office, which is sponsoring a kids' Christmas party. She also wore her new Christmas dress to take special pictures this morning. Ever the ham, she had some pretty ridiculous poses.

Last night, Sweet Girl spent some time scribbling on a pad of paper she found. It was pretty exciting to watch, because you could see her learning how things worked in addition to expressing herself by making them work her way. Such a creative girl, and so smart!

Holidays Happening

Now that Tickle Bug has a full-sized house, she needs a full-sized tree, so last night after dinner at Steinbecks, Mama and Daddy bought one. The previous tree was a miniature affair, but this one is the real deal, and after spending half an hour choosing the one she wanted, Sweet Goblin helped Mama decorate it with lights this morning. She makes a very excited "Ooh!" sound when she sees it, and Daddy and Mama expect there'll be a lot more Oohing and Aahing once all the presents are scattered around beneath it. Don't tell Little Monster, but they both have a very special present picked out for Sweet Girl this year.

The weekend was long and full, with Mama and Daddy having a party Saturday night and Joddie coming to dinner on Sunday. Sweet Girl stayed up late on both nights! On Saturday she watched Totoro three times until Daddy finally said no, which resulted in a little bit of fussing. But then Elena came to stay while Mama and Daddy went to the party, so Tickle Bug had the chance to help Elena with her homework. On Sunday, Mama had to work, so Baby Girl helped Daddy make stuffed cabbage while they watched football together. She likes to watch things boil on the burner, so it was a grand old time making the orzo to put in with the cabbage leaves. When Joddie came over, she brought Lucky Dog, and after her bath, Little Monster couldn't stop laughing when Lucky Dog chased Daddy around the living room.

Baby Girl is very enthusiastic about her baths now that Mama puts bubbles in them. In fact, tonight she specifically asked for bubbles -- even though tonight isn't bath night. This Sweet Girl sure gets attached to things.

Madeleine has also been collecting some great pajamas. Here she is in her nightshirt, but she also has some Christmas pajamas that Grandma Raye sent that she's worn two nights in a row. A few instances of Naked Baby have occurred at night, so blanket sleepers have to be augmented with a safety pin. Otherwise, when Mama or Daddy goes into Tickle Bug's room, they're greeted with a hurled blanket sleeper!

Turkey Time

It's been a while! November has been a very busy month, so finding time to get blog updates together has been difficult, but now that Daddy has a few days off work, everyone has a moment to breathe.

Tickle Bug spent the early part of the month pretty sick. Her friend Liam had some kind of ick, and when she visited him at the Children's Museum, she took his bug home with her. It was a boogery, snotty kind of ick, and Miss Fuss became intimately familiar with the functions of Vick's Vap-O-Rub. Daddy wanted to throw all that fancy, new-fangled, pseudo-medicine out the door and use good, old-fashioned Rawleigh's Medicated Ointment, but Mama looked at him like he was some kind of witch doctor. Daddy pleaded his case -- not a day went by during his childhood that he didn't have a quart of Rawleigh's in his nostrils, and he turned out just fine -- but you know how Mama gets.

Unfortunately, Baby Girl's appetite waned a little bit during her dread cold. It's very strange to see Little Monster lose interest halfway through a sandwich or to turn down meatballs -- Daddy's homemade meatballs! -- but she had to let this funk run its course. Luckily, she didn't lose any weight and still has her bulbous little baby belly, but her eating habits did change. Only with a steady regimen of plastic dinosaurs, watching Kiki on the couch, and a sugar-and-honey throat soother was Sweet Girl able to get over her crusty boogers.

This week, Mama's parents and Uncle Nick visited from Corpus Christi. They came in time to share some chili with Sweet Goblin, to take her to everyone's favorite barbecue restaurant, and to chow through as much Thanksgiving turkey as anyone could handle. Little Monster helped rake leaves in the yard, which she greatly enjoyed with Mama while Daddy peevishly pretended to be busy in the house, getting Thanksgiving Dinner ready. She gave everyone so many kisses last night during the Cowboys game! Just this morning, Grandma BJ, Grandpa Roger, and Uncle Nick headed back to Texas, but they got the chance to spend several days with Tickle Bug, even visiting Mama's work (and maybe sneaking a few Christmas gifts into the attic when Baby Girl wasn't looking...). During their visit, Wee Goblin stayed up very late, so we'll see if a sort of late-night entitlement persists in their absence.

Daddy still has a few vacation days left after Thanksgiving, so he'll have some fun times with Baby Girl, even though Mama has to work tonight and tomorrow. Today has in the cards a visit to the park to see the ducks again and who knows what else?

Turkey Tail didn't make it out this year for photographs, but Sweet Girl nevertheless wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving and festive winter holidays!

Update In Progress

You may have noticed some delays around here. Mama and Daddy are sorry about that. Daddy's working on something he hopes everyone will like, which is taking a lot of time and Internet power.

Over there in the sidebar is Baby Girl's new Twitter feed. Twitter allows users to make brief little status updates -- perfect for a little girl on the go. When we can't make a full blog entry, we'll just post a little remark over there to keep you apprised of what's going on.

Until the thing Daddy is working on is finished (it's almost done, he promises), please enjoy this vintage picture of Baby Girl. It's from July '08. Look at what a little critter she was back then! Now she is six feet tall. As you can see down here, she's quite a Christmas elf.

So Many Parties

Baby Girl is Miss Popularity when it comes to parties. Today she had two to visit. Lucky for her, the diaper rash she has been suffering has mostly cleared up, so she was in a fine mood for friends and parties. Breakfast was pumpkin pancakes with bananas and sausages, which got her ready to go for a big day.

Her first party was to celebrate Liam's birthday. Liam just turned one, and he celebrated the day dressed as a dinosaur. Sweet Girl got him a That's Not My Pirate book as well as two books by Dr. Seuss. If there's one thing Little Monster loves, it's books, and she took the opportunity to share some of her favorites with Liam. While she was at the party, she played with all the boys: Liam, Spencer, Kasper, and Thomas. She also rode in a swing on the porch and found a lizard. For lunch she had some of the hot dogs and bratwursts Mike had cooked on the grill, and some of the pumpkin muffins that Eva baked that Little Monster loves so much.

After a few hours at that party, Sweet Girl joined Mama and Daddy for the Football Sunday party, which was hosted by Theron and Melissa this week. Even though she arrived at the party at three o'clock and hadn't napped, she was just fine and very social. She got lots of kisses from Katie the dog, harassed/petted Theron's old cat, and watched and giggled as Penny and Katie (both dogs) chased each other around the yard. All of this made Giggle Girl decide that she wanted a puppy dog of her own, so we'll see what comes of that. For the rest of the afternoon, she spent time at the patio table with Mama and the girls, playing Scrabble and eating snacks, and in Daddy's lap, watching the games and hooting with the boys. She even discovered ice in a bucket and had a good time fishing it out and crunching it. Only when five o'clock rolled around did Little Goblin decide it was time to head home.

When she got home, Little Monster had a bath and a nice warm bowl of clam chowder. After that, it was definitely time for bed! She didn't make one peep all night, and slept in until nine a.m.! Mama got some more work done on the bedroom mural while Tickle Bug lazed about, then made sausages, eggs and oatmeal for breakfast. Sweet Goblin did a number on that, then shortly thereafter headed back down for a nap. It's hard work being the social butterfly!

Halloween Time

Well, Mama can say that she tries to keep up with the blog, but it has been very difficult of late. Lots of work + little sleep = few blogs. Hopefully this nice long one will make up for it a bit.

On a fluke, Mama had Friday night off and Daddy had a half day, so the family took a little trip to Atlantic Station for some shopping and dinner. We stopped off to see Aunt Joddie and Lucky Dog, then made a few stops at stores and enjoyed burritos at Moe's. It was starting to get late and dark, but Little Monster seemed to be in good spirits, so we decided to run home, change into costumes and head over to Nicole and Eric's for the Wigwam Day of the Dead party. Then we got home, and things went south. Poor Goblin had an excessively icky diaper that resulted in an immediate bath, and Daddy decided to just make a quick pop-in on his own at the party while Mama soothed the dragon and put her to bed.

Halloween dawned a bit rainy, but not too cool. Daddy and Madeleine hung about the house while Mama worked, and when Daddy had to head to a work party not fit for Little Goblins, he dropped her off at Aunt Joddie's to help hand out candy. She was in full Sweet Girl mode, and charmed a whole lot of trick-or-treaters in her ladybug costume. Mama arrived from work shortly after Daddy left, and Aunt Joddie was sorely disappointed that she did not get more alone time with MJ. Madeleine was very helpful, running around the porch and giving candy out to kids all by herself. Thank goodness most of the kids were very patient with her.

Mama and Daddy stayed out way too late Halloween night, so Sunday was a lazy day. We had some lunch at P.F. Chang's, with Baby Girl eating a little calamari, a few rice noodles and some broccoli before deciding that was it and she was ready for a nap. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football and playing games in the living room.

All weekend poor Madeleine has had a very sore bottom. We think it's mainly due to teething, but as a result she has developed a pretty severe case of diaper rash. According to the nurse at the doctor's office, the best remedy is air, which means.... BARE-BOTTOMED BABY!! Let me tell you, this little girl loves running about the house with no diaper on. Hopefully she won't fight us too hard once it's all cleared up and we can go back to diapers again.

We have started a bit of potty training. Nothing too serious, but Madeleine will tell us "Pee pee" which usually means she just did, and will grab at her diaper when it is particularly icky. She will sit on the potty too, although nothing has happened yet. Maybe when Grandpa Roger and Grandma B.J. are here for Thanksgiving they'll help.

The mouse on the computer isn't working very well, so it's difficult to post pictures, but Mama put a bunch of them on Facebook, so click here to see:
Fall 2009 Album

Duck Dock and Pumpkin Patch

Daddy took off from work Friday to spend the day with Mama and Sweet Girl. Little Monster had such a good time with the ducks the other day that on Friday, Mama and Daddy decided to bring her back to the park. When everyone got there, a big flock of geese had taken over the dock and when they saw Wee Goblin heading their way with bread, they all got up to come meet her. It was very exciting, and Miss Fuss had to stay in Daddy's arms to avoid being spirited away by a press gang of geese. The ducks followed the geese, so everyone got some nice, stale bread. After seeing the ducks, Little Monster visited Noni for some pasta while Mama and Daddy had sandwiches.To wrap up the day, Sweet Girl went to Petco to look at the kitties, turtles, hamsters, and fish. It's always exciting to see so many animals in one place!

Speaking of animals, on Saturday Baby Girl visited a pumpkin patch. They had a petting zoo there, and if the housepets at Petco were exciting for Little Monster, the petting zoo at the pumpkin patch was downright amazing. She got to play with bunnies, pet a pair of goats, speak with a wide-eyed calf, and even ride a pony! She also wandered the pumpkins to look for a favorite, but she didn't find one to her liking. Unfortunately, she didn't have a chance to jump in the moon bounce because too many kids were playing in it, but the pony ride was so much fun, she wanted to ride twice.

Football Party

As they say in Where the Wild Things Are, it was quite a wild rumpus around here today. It was Mama and Daddy's turn to host Football Sunday, so Daddy made a pot of chili from the recipe he got from his dad. That chili was too spicy for Baby Girl, but it didn't stop her from having a grand time with Spencer, Hafthor, and Emilia. At one point, the kids were making more noise than a whole house full of adults -- it was quite a cacophony of toys, games, crashing into things, and climbing over things. Sweet Goblin was a charming hostess, and she did it all with only the barest portion of a nap. Hey, when it's party time for a Baby Girl, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little bit.

During the football party, Little Monster had all sorts of adventures. She ate cookies, she shared her toys with her guests, and she turned her room into a playroom for anyone who wanted to come throw down. At one point, her bed was a corral of wild child caught mid-hootenanny. Much book-reading went on, as did much cracker-eating and friend-making.

At the end of the evening, both Mama and Daddy were completely wiped, and Sweet Girl's brief nap proved too much for her to bear. As much as she wanted to watch the Bears-Falcons game, she was just too tired. After brushing her teeth and reading about how Madeline Loves Animals, she went to bed with a great party under her belt. Now all that remains is the cleanup tomorrow... but that can wait until hopefully both she and Mama get a chance to sleep in. Who knows? If Mama makes more cookies tomorrow, there might be a chance to lick the mixing spoon again.

Reading books with Emilia.


Having chow mein and sweet chili calamari at Doc Chey's.

Wearing a jaunty cap with Totoro to run errands in the Highlands.

Daddy is Old!

Just kidding. He's just a bit older than he was yesterday.

We've had a bit of a rough weekend over here. Miss Fuss has been feeling under the weather again, running a low grade fever and not eating her normal massive amounts of food. We even made a trip to the emergency room late Friday night, but gave up on seeing a doctor after waiting for three hours. Don't worry, if Munchkin is still not up to snuff we'll take her to her regular doctor this week.

Despite the icky-sickys, Little Monster has had a pretty fun weekend. She spent Friday night out with Aunties Joddie and Nicole, Tracy and Kasper. Saturday she received an early Christmas present from Aunt Angi (Mama's sister) and knew immediately that it was meant for a Tickle Bug because of the lack of wrapping on the brightly colored box. Mama hadn't planned on making her wait for it, but once she saw the box it was all over. She could hardly wait for Mama to put it together before she started bouncing away and making music on her new ride-on horse.

Today we are off to run errands before the new babysitter, Elena, comes over to spend the evening with Little Monster. They met last week and absolutely adore each other, so we're sure there won't be any issues while Mama and Daddy go out for some dinner and drinks.

Words/signs MJ has learned:
Mama (finally!)
Daddy (very clearly "Daa-dee")
more (sign)
eat/drink (sign)
cheese
kitty
puppy
up (when she wants to be picked up or put down)
bib (word and sign)
bye-bye (word and wave)
baby
hi
all done/all gone (sign)
no (word complete with head shaking)

No More Rain! Just Boogers.

Daddy got it in his head that he wanted to watch The Point with Baby Girl, because years and years ago, he watched The Point with Papa Den. Sweet Girl, on the other hand, had no interest in sitting still for such fare. Daddy wants to try again -- Little Monster liked all of the pointy shapes and contrasting colors, at least -- but he's resigned to the possibility that it might just be him watching this old classic by himself.

Right now, Little Werewolf is all smiles, but those smiles are 90 percent boogers. Sweet Girl is getting over her cold and just moving past a shot from the doctor's visit, so she's not at her best. It's resulted in a few cranky afternoons early mornings and early evenings, but she still has toothy smiles for everyone at some point during the day.

Sunday, Tickle Bug went to Dru's house with Mama and Daddy for a football party. There, she played with Ginger the dog and gave her kisses on the nose. So sweet! She also ate some pepperoni puff pastries, some of Oscar's avocado nachos, and even some sweets. She played with Daddy's beer and hung out with Fred a little bit, too. A lot of people came to Dru's party, and Giggle Girl charmed them all.

Tonight, Miss Madeleine had a box of raisins on the way home from Anna's house. When she got home, she had a little bit of tuna fish (some of which she wore on her eyebrows) and a little bit of her new favorite, sloppy Joes. If there's one thing this girl does well, it's eat, and Mama and daddy are finding clever ways to sneak additional vegetables into Little Monster's mostly meat-and-pasta diet.

Rain Can't Stop Miss Sunshine

Since she's started walking, Sweet Girl has truly made the house her own. In fact, she's so fearless and far-ranging that Mama has had to break out the baby gates in an attempt to corral the Commando Goblin from setting up ambushes all over the place. Little Monster isn't exactly clear on the game of chase — sometimes she chases, sometimes you chase — but she definitely likes to scour the entire range of the house in her hide-and-seek endeavor.

Little Werewolf scored major loot the other day. First came a visit to the doctor: In addition to being a little bit boogery right now, she is 23.5 pounds and 33 inches. Long and lean, so they say, with a runner's physique (plus a bit of baby belly). After the doctor and a few shots, Mama took Tickle Bug to a consignment sale, where she took home a nifty new rocking chair, a dinosaur playset, and some sweet new kicks. Just about time, too, since the Pedoodles Grandma Raye got for Wee Goblin are almost too small already! What a growing girl.

Today was a little dour. Georgia has been having terrible storms, and Daddy's road to work was delayed because of a mudslide and a collapsed stretch of pavement. He came home early only to find Mama worried that there was an animal upstairs. Daddy didn't find it upstairs, and he thinks its a squirrel, which Miss Fuss would enjoy no end. As it was, her sunny disposition lifted the dreary day, and she spent the evening after dinner reading a magazine and looking for pictures of puppy dogs.

The Final Word: We're Walking!

Who is this helpful girl you see? It's Tickle Bug, of course, and she's giving Daddy a hand in the kitchen. Little Monster really enjoys spending time in the kitchen, whether it's stirring things in her little pot, blowing on pasta steaming on the stove, or clamoring for her breakfast sausages. She's especially enthusiastic about the dishwasher, where she grabs silverware from its tray and hurls it into the interior. Let's hope she remains such a vigorous helper when it comes to chores several years from now.

But let's get down to business. Baby Girl is walking! She can easily traverse the whole house, from the living room to the reading room and back again. She's quite the explorer, and isn't afraid to poke around in Mama and Daddy's dark room when the lights are off, or in the bathroom where she takes her baths. It's a good thing there's a door in front of the upstairs staircase, because Daddy saw her climb a flight of stairs at the babysitter's place when he picked her up yesterday. Sweet Girl has a kiss for you at the end!



In case the idea of Little Monster trundling unassisted all over the place isn't scary enough, consider this little ghost's seasonal Halloween fright-fest. Boo!