Baby Girl Is Surprised!

Just kidding. I found this online.

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."

More Pool Time!

Daddy swears, some sort of aqua-goblin is growing up in this house. Sweet Girl has been to the pool twice this week and is planning on a few more visits next week. This morning, everyone got up early for a visit to the park and some pool time. It started with a big breakfast of bananas, cereal, and lots of milk, and Daddy sneaked Little Monster a few tiny pieces of bacon when Mama wasn't looking.

When Wee Goblin arrived at the park, she got to play on her favorite jungle gym — the one with the double-slide and the tunnel. Daddy was preoccupied with the public skate park right next door, but Mama told him that if he tried it, he'd probably blow his knees through his face. Instead, he played on the swings with Tiny Terror and chased her up and down the ramp.

When it came to pool time, Baby Girl was all business. She walked around the shallow end, played in the fountain, met another friend (this is in addition to the new friend she made on Thursday's pool visit) and even went for a swim with Daddy in the deep end.

What's in store for this week? There's lots of potential. Miss Madeleine is using her doll stroller with less and less reliance, so Daddy is convinced that she'll be walking on her own by the end of the weekend. Mama ran into Nicole (Baby Oliver's mother) at the grocery store, so they'll be meeting for lunch on Monday, which suits Tickle Bug just fine, as she likes to see Oliver. She also likes to play with Lucky Dog and Joddie, as you can see. The world is truly this Sweet Girl's oyster!

Splash Goblins!

Well, we had a rough start to the day, but it seems to be turning out a bit better. Miss Fuss has been waking up a bit earlier than normal again, so Mama and Daddy are having a hard time adjusting. Perhaps some more teeth are making an appearance. After a morning nap and some beef stew for lunch, we slathered on sunscreen and put on swim suits and prepared to head out to the pool. When walking out to the car however, we found out that Mama and Daddy forgot to switch the car seat from Daddy's to Mama's car. Whoops. Seeing as how Madeleine was already dressed for the pool, Mama dragged out the baby pool. Little Monster was so excited to crawl all over the giraffe that she would barely let Mama blow it up! Once we got it downstairs and filled with water, MJ was off and running. She could hardly wait to splash about. Here she is in all her wriggly, wet glory:

It seems like every week is a busy week for Miss Fuss, and this week is no different. The earlier visit to the pool was going to happen again today, but Liam was sick, so Sweet Girl visited him and made him feel a little better.

Daddy spent a lot of the week chasing down various pieces of information for the mortgage agent, so Little Monster inches closer and closer to having her own house and yard. Regrettably, the only picture we have of Baby Girl is one in which she's having a moment of distress. So here she is, in all her frustrated glory. We know that she actually enjoys the house very much, and Mama and Daddy can't wait to turn her loose in the long hallways and wide rooms to put the finishing touches on her walking.

One of Tiny Terror's favorite hobbies is taking stuff out of shelves and scattering it on the floor. Daddy hopes it's an early manifestation of Bauhaus reconstructivism and that maybe he'll have a little architect on his hands. Mama is somewhat more pragmatic in her outlook and enjoys the twenty-plus minutes of peace one of Sweet Girl's experimentations grants her.

Swim Goblins!

Today was Madeleine's first visit to the pool. Well, not counting last summer when Miss Fuss wanted nothing to do with the cold water and chlorine. Mama and Baby Girl didn't stay very long, and of course Mama forgot the camera, but MJ had a great time walking around the shallow end and playing in the fountains that were the perfect Goblin height. Something tells us the pool will be a regular thing this summer - especially because the days are already in the 90s.

Side note: Madeleine attempted to make friends with a little boy who was much smaller than herself, but was walking on his own. We found out he is 14 months old - and a good four inches shorter! Poor Miss Fuss will have to be gentle with these weakling boys.

What Child Is This?

It was a long holiday weekend for Little Monster, but there was a lot of rain, so we didn't get to go to the pool like we had planned. Instead, we went to a cookout at Vincent's house, where Sweet Girl played with a fire truck and ate a little bit of a hot dog. Baby Girl stayed up very late that night, and didn't make it to bed until nine o'clock.

Wee Goblin has been reading a great deal lately. Among birthday books, old favorites, and library loans, this is one Little Monster who has inherited her parents' love for books. Even though she can't truly read, she loves to page through books, point at the pictures, and tell her own stories about what she thinks is happening. We've heard ripping yarns about everything from Maisy and her panda to Curious George's antics at the zoo to princesses at a glamorous ball. Sometimes Miss Fuss has her books upside down as she's reading them, but that's okay. There's no need to discourage what we hope becomes a lifelong habit.

Another habit that Tickle Bug took from her parents is her adventurous palate. There's nothing this little critter won't eat. She loves kid favorites like grilled cheese, hot dogs, and burgers, but she also challenges herself with almost everything put on her tray. The other day, Daddy made a barbecue meatloaf that had spinach, pimentos, onions, and poblano peppers in it, and Baby Girl ate about 13 pounds of it! Today, Daddy made a faux caponata out of eggplant, asparagus, onions, and tomatoes, and Sweet Girl polished that off, too. French toast for breakfast, split pea soup for lunch, squash casserole as a snack — Little Monster certainly likes to celebrate the gustatory wonders of the world around her! If only one thing is certain, it's that this Little Monster isn't a finicky eater.