Things to chew on

Today was my last day with Babykins before she begins fulltime daycare. This morning she spent almost three hours there. Afterwards, we played on the floor.

Madeline likes to make this face often now. I think she's chewing on her finger to relieve teething pain.

She also really likes to chew on her foot. It seemed like she had her foot near her mouth most of the time today---during diaper changes, while playing, before-during-and after naps.

Example below. Holding cheetah AND foot.

I guess Petey didn't notice that Madeline has a chewing fetish (or maybe he thought it was limited to parts of her own body) because he placed his tail dangerously close to her mouth. Luckily, she chose to pet him instead (unlike this baby). [Max says she looks like George Bluth in this picture]

Smiles!

Thumb back in her mouth.

Pensive baby

Happy baby

Reading baby. (I'm beginning to think this tongue thing is her thinking face).

We took a nice walk to the Edge in the afternoon. I took her out of the stroller and we hung out for a little while. She wanted my iced chai.

She fell asleep on the walk back. I knew moving her inside would wake her up so I took her into the backyard and watered the plants. It really was a glorious day weather-wise.

Anna and Neal came to visit us this evening! They head to Boston tomorrow, but we'll see them again on Sunday.

Please excuse some sentimental mama ramblings: I thought I would be sad today as it marks the final transition to daycare for Madeline, but mostly I reflected on how incredibly amazing the last 4.5 months have been. Max and I are so lucky to have been able to spend this time with our daughter, and I feel incredibly blessed by this. (Full disclosure: I am now crying.)

Housekeeping

*** UPDATE ***

The rewritten June 29 post appears below.

***

Blogger is freaking out. It won't work in chrome, and it just ate the post I wrote -- and repeatedly saved -- in IE. And it's after midnight. So: no post tonight, but I'll try to redo tonight's post tomorrow. Apologies.

Tempus fugit

Alas, the text that originally accompanied this post has been swallowed into the gaping maw of the spider of the interwebs. My poignant thoughts on my last day of leave are lost forever. Here instead are some thoughts the day after.

Yesterday Madeline picked out her outfit by reaching for it; she smiled when she got to wear the lovely yellow dress.

I responded to her smiles with kisses.

We were going to go to the zoo because we've watched Madeline develop over the course of our previous visits, and it seemed she might appreciate the animals more now that she's so aware. But no sooner had our tires touched highway than she started wailing, and we pulled off for India Point Park instead.

As it turned out, India Point Park was plenty stimulating.

And the weather was nice.

So there were some smiles to be had.

Later, after picking up our friends' son from daycare and playing at a nearby playground for a while, we went to the farmers market. It was hot, so we enjoyed some fake Del's lemonade. Madeline wanted some, too.

But I distracted her with pine cones.

So ended my precious period of paternity leave. Tempus fugit.

Goodbye Greene Grandparents, Goodnight Little Bunny

This morning Madeline had to say goodbye to her Greene grandparents who were heading back to Delaware. It was sad for all, but Madeline tried to cheer everyone up with her big smiles.

She was so smiley that I began to wonder if she is in the easy period after a new development hump. She giggled and smiled in her swing as I got her things ready for daycare.

Daycare today went well, despite some maternal misgivings. In just 2.5 hours she watched the other babies (and herself via a mirror) in the exersaucer, took a nap, ate some and spent time in the outdoor swing. She was pretty happy after I picked her up and brought her back home.

And then she was very good about going down for a noon nap. After the nap, she spent some time on her SEASprout quilt where she managed to suck on all of her toys, one by one. I tried to get her to do some tummy time, but she wasn't very happy with that today. She gets so frustrated when she can't propel herself forward. I tried to convince her that rolling would be fun by doing it myself. She found that rather amusing but did not give in ("geez Mom, rolling is so two months ago").

Since it was a nice day (albeit quite hot), I thought it might be time for a stroller ride. Unfortunately, Madeline did not agree. She started crying mightily a few blocks from home and I had to carry her home while pushing the stroller (I think I tweaked my back in the process). We made a stop in the backyard where I thought I could water our container garden. Again, Madeline had other ideas. She didn't want to be on the blanket outside. She gave me a look like, "aren't there eagles here that might eat me?" So I held her and we did some practice walking and sitting--but mostly just enjoyed the sunshine and buzzing bees and the birds flying by.

You can see she was getting tired here...

Tripoding:

We then retreated to the AC in the bedroom where Madeline enjoyed the fan, ate and took a snooze on me. We then picked up Max from work, stopped by the vet to get catfood, ventured to Babies R Us to get supplies for daycare and stopped by the grocery store to pick up a fast dinner (after a failed attempt to visit Red Robin, which is new to RI but a place I frequented in high school). This was probably for the best as Madeline screamed most of the way from Babies R Us to the grocery store (and then from the grocery store to home). This was our fault--no one likes Warwick traffic! But once she had a meal and a diaper change, she was back to being a very happy camper. She especially enjoyed bathtime tonight.

And Max and I did too. We are the ones that usually play with all her squirter toys! Although today she was mostly interested in chewing them. [An aside: after reading some of those Amazon reviews, maybe we won't let her chew them anymore!]

After bedtime, we did the bedtime routine. She even stayed awake for both her goodnight books: Good Night, Little Bunny and the all time classic bedtime book, Goodnight Moon.

Good night little bunnies everywhere!

Napping machine

Today Madeline was a napping machine. First she took a long morning nap. Then the day was so nice that we had to go for a long walk around the neighborhood, and she slept through most of that.

There was a little time for smiles and kisses:

But in under an hour Madeline was again rubbing her eyes and yawning. It took a little while to get her down for the third nap, and she wanted no part of the crib, so I ended up rocking her for over an hour as she snoozed.

When she woke up, the house was full: not only was Summer back from lab, and not only were her grandparents still on hand, but they'd also picked up great aunt Linda along the way! Madeline admirably survived the onslaught of adulation.

Tomorrow the grandparents are returning to Delaware but things will still be bustling: also tomorrow Madeline has another couple-hour daycare visit, and Wednesday will be our last official family leave-day with her before I'm back in work on Thursday, when Anna and Neal are stopping by briefly before a longer weekend stay, and then she's in daycare Friday. Phew.

Blithewold

This morning Madeline was too excited by everything!!! to nap properly. After all, there was much fun to be had.

But as the hours passed, a nap looked more and more necessary.

Luckily, we had a perfect nap-inducement in the works: the drive to Bristol to visit Blithewold. I spent three years going to school within very easy walking distance of Blithewold but never visited and therefore never realized how lovely it is.

Madeline, too, was captivated by everything: stonework, fountains ...

... trees -- the largest sequoia east of the Rockies and other interesting specimens like a weeping beech, a "swizzlestick" willow, and lots of false cypresses -- a bamboo stand ...

... and a pond where we tried to track frogs by their resounding "ribbits."

We found some, including this mutant (or trauma-survivor) with only one eye.

Here's its neighbor, a two-eyed frog, for comparison.

From time to time we stopped to enjoy the scenery.

And Madeline enjoyed grandma's funny faces and noises, too.

After a walk along the bay and a tour of the mansion, we found a spot out of the way of the family reunion happening at one part of the grounds and the wedding happening at another. Madeline had a diaper-change and a meal, always a recipe for smiles.

And she practiced her standing -- though she had absolutely no interest in taking steps today -- looking ever more like a toddler. Well, maybe not a toddler, but a bigger baby anyway.

On the drive home, Madeline finally began a proper nap. The nap proved so powerful that it carried over into the yard, where we watered the plants and passed a little more time enjoying the green outdoors.

Grandparents and grill

Madeline woke from her first nap full of energy. She asked Summer, "What shall we do today?"

Summer said they ought to work on standing, so they did.

Then we went to the farmers market for important supplies like chicken, coffee, squash, and a cream soda to split. On the walk home, heading south on Cole Avenue, we encountered the Greene grandparents heading north to meet us!

Back at home, Madeline seemed overwhelmed for a bit, as she has the last few days, but it wasn't long before she embraced her starring role. She waved (!) and chatted to all of us happily.

Grandma tried to show her some advanced waves, but she's still getting the hang of the basics (to go along with her newfound "hi"-saying skills).

Lucky Madeline got to go on another walk, this time to Seven Stars for drinks on their patio (and a nap for Madeline), to Lippitt Park, and then home again.

Next we inaugurated my fathers' day grill with a cookout. Our spirits were generally high, though Madeline's couldn't be located with any exactitude.

As grandpa showed me the grilling ropes, grandma showed Madeline a clover flower.

Beyond grandma's lap and the clover flower, there was a lot to take in.

So Madeline had to take a step back and gnaw on grandma's knuckle for a while.

Soon the food was just about done and it was time to head inside. Voila! Madeline was witness to a successful inaugural cookout.