Imagine It!

Well, hello, Madeleine fans. Sweet Girl is sorry she's been so scarce. It's been a week since her last adventure here, but she's had no shortage of adventure. Little Monster caught a brief cold during the middle of the week, but it didn't stop her ceaseless pace of making the world hers.

After her last pool excursion, Miss Madeleine decided to keep it close to home and splashed around in her inflatable giraffe pool in the courtyard. About halfway through this engagement, she decided the pool wasn't the place to be and took a spirited crawl through the grass. What could Mama and Daddy do? When she decides things, that's pretty much how they're going to be.

Alas, Bathtub Duck is probably on his last legs. When Wee Goblin had her bath last night, the faithful duck couldn't keep his inflation, and no one could find the leak. That didn't stop Baby Girl from having a kicky-feet frenzy in her bath, but she will sorely miss Duck One. Hopefully Duck Two will prove as dependable, and perhaps a bit more durable.

Today was a great time. Sweet Girl took Mama and Daddy to the Imagine It! Children's Museum downtown. Inside is a wonderland of indoor playgrounds and toys, and a whole lot of new friends to share them with. Baby Girl wasted no time in checking out the scene, from taking a trip through a grocery truck to playing in the under-two playground to "fishing" in the artificial river and rolling around on a baby water mattress. But don't take our word for it — here's the evidence!

Miss Fuss tending to her flower beds.

"Of course I'm supposed to be pulling these fish out of the river and putting them in my mouth. It's why they're here."

Baby Girl makes friends with Alexander, who will one day be a lineman for the Bears, Daddy says.

Kisses for Puppy Dog!

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brains!"

It may look like fun, but it's hard work and requires a lot of focus.

She'll cross that bridge when she comes to it.

Most of the time on the water mattress was spent trying not to topple over, with lots of stiff-leg counterbalance going on. Baby Girl's infancy mastery of physics is astonishing.

Playing with a tube full of jingling bells held her attention for almost ten solid seconds.

Giggle Girl might have a future as a delivery truck driver.


"I know you said it's time to go, but that doesn't make it true."