Botanical Gardens

Yesterday we paid a visit to the Botanical Gardens (after making some adjustments to Maggie's outfit) and had a great time. Maggie loved feeding the ducks, fish, and turtles (and herself -- she always snacks on the bread we bring for the ducks!) She's getting really good at throwing and can actually get the bread out into the water now. We had a nice walk around the gardens, too.

This is what happens...

...when Daddy chooses the outfit in the morning.


To be fair, this only occasionally happens -- usually it's fine, even good.

The photo has been edited to protect the identity of the innocent.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Patrick and Maggie went all out for Mother's Day this year -- they surprised me with a fancy new camera! Happy Mother's Day to me, indeed. :) I'm so excited. I have no idea what I'm doing yet but took it on its first outing yesterday. We visited not one, but TWO farms -- first a berry farm for pick your own strawberries and then the local goat farm for their spring festival. An abundance of pictures below -- I may have gone a little overboard. :)

We had a great time picking strawberries! It was a beautiful day and perfect weather for it. The berries were plentiful and sweet, and Maggie just gobbled them up. You'll see her face gets messier and messier as the pictures go on!










The strawberry farm was fun but it was definitely topped by the goat farm, where we saw pigs, chickens, lovely big shaggy dogs, and of course goats! Big ones and adorable baby ones, too.









That last goat kept trying to eat Maggie's shirt -- not only did she not mind, she kept handing it to him to nibble on!

Thank you, Patrick and Maggie, for my lovely Mother's Day present!

And of course, happy Mother's Day to my mom as well. Thank you for being such a wonderful mom (and grandma)! Maggie and I send you lots of virtual hugs and kisses today. :)

Eighteen months

Maggie turned eighteen months last week! I feel like she's grown and changed so much over the past few months. She seems like such a girl now, definitely not a baby. For one thing, she's talking up a storm! She has so many words now that I wouldn't even try to count them. Some of my favorites at the moment -- she says "night night" and "I love you" (pronounced "I luh oo") when she goes to bed at night. She calls her toothbrush an "aahhh" (because we tell her to say "ahh" when we brush), the phone a "hi," for obvious reasons, and trains are "choo choo." She says yes and no (yes is "yeauh") and is really very agreeable at the moment -- she almost always answers questions with "yeauh" even when she clearly hasn't understood what we're asking. I'm sure that won't last. :) When she wants to do something by herself (or doesn't want to do something, like washing her hands after eating), she pushes us away and narrates it as she does: "poooosh." She isn't putting words together yet, so it amazes me that we are already having conversations with her. For instance, the other day she came home from going to the store with Patrick and communicated to me that she had ridden the kiddie bus they have there and that they put money in it (I usually just let her sit in it but don't turn it on). I was so tickled that she had actually told me that herself!


She just started going to a mom and tot gymnastics class last week, and she loves it! She's still a very physical kid and pretty coordinated, I think. She's always been a climber and still is. She loves jumping on the trampoline at gymnastics (well, trying to -- she's still working on jumping with both feet at once!), jumping on the furniture at home, running as fast as she can, turning in circles, doing somersaults, etc. She's a mover all right!


She's turned into the proverbial sponge and is learning new things left and right. She's constantly picking up new words and will try to say just about anything ("okeydokey" being one funny example from the past few days!) She knows some of her shapes and has already learned a few letters -- she likes to point them out in books, on t-shirts, etc. We're working on colors but so far she just calls everything "blue." One fun development lately is that she's started learning people's names (besides mama and dada, which she's had for a long time). She calls her grandma "Munga." She knows a lot of her friends' names and often asks if we're going bye bye in the car to see some of them, or talks about them if we've recently seen them at playgroup/gymnastics/playdates, etc. This interest in particular playmates is a pretty new development. She has a few older girls that she just loves, talks about all the time, and follows around when we see them. It's really cute!


She's been very into pretending things with her dolls and stuffed animals lately. Anything and everything we do regularly with her transfers to her babies. She loves to feed them and give them drinks from her cup, give them baths, change their diapers, push them around in the stroller, put them to bed ("night night!"), and read stories to them. Very sweet!


Maggie's still a fantastic sleeper. She pretty consistently sleeps around 12 hours at night, with 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps each day. She rarely wakes at night and usually, if she does, it's because something is wrong -- it's too hot or she's out of water, for example. Once we correct the problem, she goes right back to sleep. And she does occasionally sleep in, which is such a treat! Today we didn't get up until 8:45. Yes, I'm spoiled and I know it. :)


Maggie's still a pretty good eater, and she still loves cheese above all else. She doesn't like much meat, unless it's processed (hot dogs, bacon, pepperoni), or steak. :) She does eat some vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, Brussells sprouts) and most fruit. If she's hungry and we're having a meal she likes, she can really surprise us with how much she puts away. Patrick and Maggie go to Waffle House for breakfast almost every Sunday, and she loves it -- she eats so much, it's hard to believe she can fit it all in there.


Right now, she loves: playing outside (especially with the hose), going on the swings at the park, going bye bye in the car (she asks "bye bye? car?" 10 times a day, even if we've just gotten home from somewhere!), any and all animals (nothing new there!), reading certain books (Wheels on the Bus, Guess How Much I Love You), trains (as long as they don't get too close), heavy machinery (ditto), cars, trucks and buses, playing in the sink, coloring, jumping, and running. She dislikes: having her diaper changed, going upstairs to bed and for naps (she's started using passive resistance and lying down on the floor to avoid both of these!), getting too close to trains, heavy machinery, etc., bugs, and, surprisingly, a lot of new situations. She used to be fine with just about anything, but now she's a little more hesitant or even actually upset by new places/people/things, which has sort of taken us by surprise as it's been a pretty big change.


She's happy, loving, stubborn, sweet, busy busy busy, and a ton of fun these days. I can't wait to see what the next stage will bring!