Mmm ...
And zoom in to check out those bottom teeth!
... spends some time playing (here, banging the cup and the ball together) in baby jail before daycare ...
... and comes home with an appetite.
Now, carrying on a new tradition, she's fighting sleep.
Next came swim class. Madeline again concentrated hard on reaching the rubber ducky I'd tossed.
Afterward, she was happy ...
... but also very sleepy.
After her nap, she and Summer played in baby jail.
But the rest of the afternoon was a dance of Madeline's displaying sleep cues while resisting sleep. We missed a prenatal group reunion when she finally fell asleep -- and stayed asleep for two hours. Unfortunately, we caught the whole Eagles game.
Mmm.
First up: a visit from great-uncle and great-aunt. Alas! All my pictures came out blurry.
Madeline had a little while to enjoy her relatives and to play with her new wooden block puzzle at home, and then we all went to Olga's for a lovely brunch.
The woods were damp and full of interesting little creatures and bright-colored fungi. For instance, we saw a snake!
Madeline saw it, too (zoom in and you can spot the snake at the tree's base).
We paused for a picture at the first bridge, where the most interesting creatures were red dragonflies.
Then on our way past the old Gardner family cemetery, we ran across a baby snapping turtle nestled in a clover bed.
Madeline was intrigued.
Soon we reached the second bridge, which was broken, partly submerged, and, for our purposes at least, impassable. As we retraced our path, Madeline fell asleep.
Back at home Madeline was refreshed but Summer and I were rather sleepy, so we let the baby romp around the bedroom. She made her way to the closet and immediately pulled out a pair of Summer's shoes.
Most of the rest of her time was spent exclaiming each time a cat wandered through the room and then trying to catch the much-faster cats.
It's not an uncommon occurrence, but baby seemed uncommonly happy nonetheless.
She's also fond of eating.
Crawling, too, but I didn't get a shot of that today.
Baby warmed to this fashion statement right away.
Debacle part 3:
... and pulling herself up on the sides (today she held herself steady with one hand and tried to figure out what to do with the other one!).
Then a day at daycare -- more teething pain -- followed by a quiet evening at home. We read One White Wishing Stone to recap our beach trip.
And Madeline enjoyed delicious pizza (well, a bit of mushroom and some whole-wheat crust to gnaw).
Again she did not want to go to bed; again I expect none of us is likely to sleep terribly well.
She happily sported her swimsuit and hat ...
... but we decided it was still chilly enough to merit a robe, too.
Summer carefully documented each step of our trip across the street to the beach. Here we are under the house, among its stilts.
And here we've climbed and descended the stairs over the dunes; the house is in the background.
The next step was for baby to walk on sand. She was intrigued ...
... and even more intrigued by a clam shell her great-grandma found for her ...
... and still more intrigued at the vast expanse of sand she could both sit on and play with.
And so she played ...
... and displayed her clear approval.
She just couldn't get enough of the sand.
But a proper beach experience involves more than just sand: after all, what's a beach without an ocean?
... and then got splashed by a big wave!
She enjoyed that, too, but we returned her to the safety of the sand nonetheless. She played some more with her mother and great-grandparents (finding seaweed, sticks, and a skate egg case) as I took a quick dip in the relatively rough surf.
She had a bit less on the ride home, though the experience was smoother than we'd feared it might be. Lots of sleeping, a little crying, three stops, and 8 or so hours after departure, we arrived safe and sound in Providence.
