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.)

Splashes Splashes!

So Much Playing

This Tickle Bug is so precious! When she woke up this morning, she wanted to wear her Halloween ladybug costume instead of getting dressed. Who are Mama and Daddy to tell a Sweet Girl no? So, clad only in a onesie and a marginally too-small Halloween costume, this morning was all about buzzing around and smiling, with chubby cheeks only barely contained within the costume. Later today will be a trip to the book store. Daddy says he'll be making meatballs for dinner, which is one of Baby Girl's favorites, too. This is the last day of Daddy's vacation so he kind of wants to take it easy, but Wee Goblin sees no reason to slow down now. After a vist from Grandma Raye last week, a visit from Grandma BJ the week before, and a seemingly infinite number of cupcakes, ice creams, smoothies, and trips to the zoo, aquarium, movies, and park, this Little Werewolf is getting spoiled!

When Grandma Raye came to visit, she brought Tickle Bug a special bath towel (good thing, since we're having so many baths — read on!). It has a little hood that helps dry Sweet Girl's hair and it's big enough to completely engulf a sopping-wet Little Werewolf. Best of all, it's very soft, and it feels good after a nice, steamy bath. Grandma Raye's friend Eva made it, so Sweet Girls sends her a very special thank you! In fact, a little half-naked Jawa was seen running around the house last night after her bath, wearing only the hooded bath towel and nothing else.

Much of Daddy's vacation time has been spent with Little Monster at various parks and playgrounds, from feeding the ducks to showing Grandma the best slides in town to playing in sandboxes and climbing on all sorts of things. It's been so hot this summer that almost all of these play excursions have coincided with bath night, whether bath night was originally planned or not. If there's one thing for certain, it's that this Tickle Bug sweats like her Daddy. Poor girl.

Grandma Visit, Part One

Tickle Bug has enjoyed her week because it had a special visit from Grandma BJ. As you can see from Snarla's enraptured face, it was a grand old time, filled with a trip to the movies, dinner at Mama's restaurant, lots of gifts, and a whole bunch of tickles. Little Monster got up first thing every morning to spend time with Grandma over coffee and viewings of Wall-E and Finding Nemo. Mama took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a little bit and Daddy lay around grimacing and limping home from half-days at work with a pulled muscle in his back.

After Sweet Girl said goodbye to her grandma this morning, she had some breakfast at Ria's Bluebird then came home for a few hours, then went out again for ice cream at Morelli's. After that came a trip to Best Buy and a walk around the Edgewood district, enjoying the comparatively cool day and taking big jumps when Mama and Daddy lifted her by her arms. What a day! Sweet Girl already misses her grandma, but she tries to be a big girl about it with all the other adventures going on.

The other day, a special gift arrived from Nona and Papa Den. It was fall of all kinds of good stuff! Inside was a sprinkler toy so Little Werewolf can have a swimming pool alternative, a pair of princess slippers, a sock monkey, and all sorts of other good stuff. With all the gifts from Grandma BJ, the summer surprise from Nona and Papa Den, and the baby doll Mama picked up at Target the other day, this Little Monster has more fun toys than she knows what to do with! Oh, and Mama's friend Amanda gave Sweet Girl a copy of Chutes & Ladders and Daddy also gave her a lift-the-flap book about a bay at the beach. This Wee Goblin is going to get spoiled!

Bath Night

Sometimes, no matter how sweet a Wee Goblin is, she gets a little grimy with the day's adventures and needs a bath. This is doubly true when the Sweet Girl in question lives in swampy-hot Georgia, where 80-percent humidity is a dry heat, and where the mosquitos are the size of tennis balls and sound like helicopters. Bath night helps keep a girl squeaky clean and ready for more fun the next day. Look how long Little Monster's hair is!

After a relaxing bubble bath comes a chance to wear a comfy robe, put on some soothing lotion, and read some books before retiring for the evening. Sometimes, if Little Monster is especially fortunate, ice cream comes after bath time. The final step in Tickle Buglet's nightly ritual is a healthy regimen of vitamins and tooth-brushing. Sweet Girl actually likes to have her teeth brushed and take her vitamins, so it's not the ordeal you might expect. Except for the parts where she wants extra brushing of her tongue.

As Mama learned the other day, sometimes Ruff Ruff gets "toots" and needs his diaper changed. In these cases, Baby Girl is happy to lend a hand. She spreads out a kitchen towel, puts Ruff Ruff on his back, cleans him up with some wipes, and puts a diaper on him. Such a sweet baby girl, to share the comfort of her diapers with her pal Ruff.

In Trouble

Daddy has been working weekends of late to help prepare for the Year One delivery that his team is completing. So consider his surprise when he came home yesterday to find some "elective artwork" that had mysteriously appeared on the hallway wall near Baby Girl's bedroom and bathroom. Little Monster pulled out all the stops for this one — no settling for mere washable crayons for her. This mural's media is Sharpie. Well, at least it was in the right place, because the hallway is where Papa Den and Grandpa CJ have their artwork hanging as well. Perhaps this Little Werewolf is the product of too much fine art culture.

Occasional badness aside, Sweet Girl has been proceeding by leaps and bounds with her mastery of letters, numbers, and colors. She's strongest in colors, and she spends pre-bath time discussing the colors of the rug on her bathroom floor. While she definitely knows the names of individual letters, Wee Goblin doesn't necessarily know which letter is which, and she's happy to recite a hodge-podge of letters to go with whatever actual letters she sees. Still, it's very promising to hear the names of the letters. We can worry about recognition later. Counting is Sweet Girl's favorite game, and she loves counting everything from the fruit in The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the sprouts and sausages she has on her plate at meals. "Two!" is her favorite number.

You might be surprised to see so much hair so quickly on this Tickle Bug. She was bald-headed for so long! It used to give her mother fits, and Mama used to give Daddy the stink-eye, on the assumption that it was somehow his fault. But all that has changed, as Little Werewolf is possessed of a flowing mane of springy locks not unlike those worn by the lion in The Wizard of Oz. She imagines the wind whipping through her hair as she rides her rocking motorcycle, and occasionally the sunlight shines through them like the halo of a little (hungry) angel.

Happy Father's Day!

Active Girl

A lot has been going on!

First and foremost, Little Monster now has a big girl bed. A few weeks ago, Mama removed the rail from the side of Bug's crib and moved the mattress down to its lowest setting. Little Werewolf has taken to her adjusted bed like a champ. Indeed, on the weekends, Mama and Daddy are often woken by the sounds of Tickle Bug's door opening, stompy feet thundering into the living room, and subsequent demands for sausage.

And those demands for sausage aren't the end of it. Hand in hand with the big girl bed has come the ability to open doors. Nothing is safe, so Mama plans a trip to Ikea to pick up a few doorknob devices that will hopefully keep this Little Monster from throwing late-night parties outside her room or scrambling out to the yard when she hears a kitty walking across the top of the garbage can.

Miss Fuss also enjoys playing with her tea set, which was a gift from her friend Liam for her birthday. It was an unexpected hit, and now Tickle Bug can be found having tea parties with her friend Ruff Ruff (whom she accused of having toots a few days ago or pouring Daddy a cup of tea and bringing it to him on a saucer. She even pretends to sip!

Daddy has been very busy at work, since his team is finishing a year's worth of work on their extended project. It's by no means finished, but it's a significant milestone. This past week, Mama worked a lot, too, because she picked up a shift from one of her friends at the restaurant. That hasn't changed Tickle Bug's happy-go-lucky demeanor one bit, however. Wednesday night she and Daddy had a wild wrestling match in the living room while Mama did the dishes. Thereafter, Sweet Girl took a bath and her crazy curls kept her stuffed animals company.

The other weekend, the whole family went to the Grant Park pool to enjoy a splash. Nobody checked the times of the pool opening, however, so the pool trip had a little bit of a warm-up on the playground and some cheeseburgers before swim time. Little Monster definitely enjoys the pool. She spent most of her time jumping with Mama in the deep end or playing with the big flower sculptures that used to show water but are now just decorative. Miss Fuss did not want to leave! The logistics of nap nec

essity, however, eventually won out and a prolonged sleepytime occurred.

Bug has also had her first visit to the dentist. The dentist informed Mama that Sweet Goblin's drinking habits need to change a little bit. No more whole milk on demand — it's 2% only at meals for this Little Werewolf and water throughout the day. Daddy could probably learn a thing or two from Baby Girl, given all the coffee and tea he drinks at work, but since when has Daddy been quick to pick up good habits?

Madeleine is 2!

Birthdays only come around once a year, so Madeleine has to celebrate in style! Mama made a pan each of manicotti and lasagna, and Joddie and her boyfriend Evan came for dinner with Lucky Dog in tow. There was much reading of books, opening of presents, eating, and of course playing with new toys. Little Monster thoroughly enjoyed her yellow cake with chocolate icing, and even managed to clean up some pasta.

Grandma B.J. and Grandpa Roger sent a Little Tikes car for our little Flintstone girl, who will move her feet in the car, but only if Mama or Daddy obligingly pushes. There was also a Little Mermaid ride-on/push toy that makes lots of wonderful noises, a bucket of sidewalk chalk, a princess dress from Grandma Raye that Munchkin is particularly fond of ("pretty dress" as she calls it), and some graphic design puzzles for age 3 and up that she mastered within minutes of unwrapping. PoppaDen made a good call on those.
A weekend in Georgia is never complete without some outside time, and this past weekend was no exception. After a morning of errand-running, Mama and Sweet Goblin donned swim suits and hung out in the backyard. Mama hoped to convince Madeleine to play in the hose, but we apparently need to buy an actual sprinkler before she will deign to run through the water. We'll try again this weekend.

Madeleine and Mama took some cupcakes to Miss Megan's house to celebrate her birthday with the "kids" that she plays with on days that Mama has to work. Mama especially enjoyed spending a few hours watching Madeleine play with the kids, climbing up the slide and going down by herself, then letting Ruff Ruff take a turn, and in general wreaking havoc on Miss Megan's patio. Madeleine took home some balloons and got to wear a "Birthday Queen" crown for the occasion.

Miss Priss shows off her cheesy smile for the camera. This is in our backyard, with her brand new car in the background. Word has it that Aunt Joddie was responsible for coaxing this grin out.Aunt Joddie also managed to capture a few family shots, which are rare. We're actually quite fond of this one.

Impending Party!

Tickle Bug turns two this Thursday, but the best time for a party is on the weekend before, so you can dance and sing and run around and yell as much as you want at your birthday party. That's just a few hours away today. Madeleine expects her friend Oliver to join us today, along with his parents, and there's also a planned visit from Joddie who will be bringing Madeleine's favorite houseguest, Lucky Dog. Mama is making lasagna, manicotti, and cupcakes to help celebrate the event, and Daddy was up until midnight last night putting together one of Sweet Girl's gifts.

Yesterday also saw a little bit of pre-party, as Little Monster had patio lunch with her parents after going to Toys 'R' Us to "suggest" a few birthday gifts. After Sweet Goblin's lunch came a delicious sundae, which she wasted no time in demolishing. She also got right into the spirit of a Mexican restaurant patio by chowing down on chips and salsa (necessitating much drinking of juice to assuage the heat — but then she dove right back in) as well as no small amount of guacamole. Who is this omnivorous Little Werewolf?

A Passel of Pictures

With all of Mama and Daddy's travel, it's been a while since our last update. Suffice to say, it's been busy catching up, but Tickle Bug has been enjoying all of the attention from both her parents and her grandparents on Mama's side. Without further ado, then, here are several of the pictures from the past few weeks of jet-setting.

Busy Buglet

When you are a sweet baby girl, the world is your oyster. That's certainly how Little Monsters sees things these days. With so many fun things to do on the weekend and so many upcoming adventures, it's hard to catch your breath! And with the backyard getting green again, fun times are no further away than just outside the door. Mama mowed the grass last weekend, and if one thing's for certain, it's that Madeleine has a place to play and host her giraffe pool when it simply becomes too warm not to take a splash day.

Of course, there's far more to do in the world of a Wiggle Worm than just rampage through the yard. This past weekend, Madeleine met all of her friends at Zoo Atlanta. Her favorite animal was the elephant, of course, and she seemed wary of the gorilla exhibit — probably because Daddy suggested leaving her there. Even after Sweet Girl started getting a little tired of seeing all the animals and running around in the sun and riding in her little red wagon, her friend Oliver came over to the house to have lunch. Oliver, handsome devil that he is, got a goodbye kiss from Baby Girl when he and his parents left for the afternoon. And the night before that, she hung out with Kasper on the deck in Dru's backyard during her birthday barbecue.

Speaking of birthdays, someone has a birthday coming up, and it's not Daddy. (Daddy doesn't need any more birthdays.) Mama has some exciting party ideas, and hopefully, Oliver, Kasper, Liam, Spencer, and the whole gang can once again visit to wish Tickle Buglet another fun year of happy smiles and crazy tickles. Until then, Little Monster will have a grand old time, from the Renaissance Festival this weekend to a trip to see Grandpa Roger and Grandma BJ the week after that while Mama and Daddy shuffle off to a mysterious place called Mexico.