House

We've now both moved into and bought House!

(There was no post last night because we didn't get internet until today.)

When we moved in, Madeline and Petey explored House thoroughly.

Madeline did some solo exploring too.

And, altogether, we had a generally good time of it.

Perhaps because we were careful to put Madeline's room together before picking her up from daycare, she went through her bedtime routine and went to sleep without a frown or a peep.

This evening she was a little crankier, perhaps because she was sleepy -- she fell asleep before dinner, but she woke and perked up for pizza ...

... and the ice cream we got to celebrate closing on House!

For our part, Summer and I have been celebrating with prosecco since Madeline's second successful House bedtime.

Grumpy day + House

Madeline was mostly kind of grumpy today.  This makes sense given that she's still recovering from her illness and most of her usual home universe is currently residing in boxes lining our apartment walls.

There were a few things that really cheered her up, though: Elmo videos, the promise of a taco at Chipotle ("Taco! Taco!" she exclaimed, though she didn't seem that excited when she actually received said taco), and House.  We visited House to drop off plants and some other stuff for the shed.  Madeline helped:

Even if her boxed-up current home has her a bit confused, House seems to make her happy.  Hopefully it will tomorrow, too, as tonight's our last in the apartment.

Farewell brunch, getting ready to move

Madeline was feeling much better today.

She had a happy morning playing with Grandma Susy ...

... and shoving more and more creatures into the largest of her food chain friends.

While Madeline napped, the rest of us maintained a flurry of apartment-packing activity.  Then it was almost time for Grandma Susy and Uncle Alex to return to Delaware, so we went out for a farewell brunch at Olga's.

When the meal had been eaten, Madeline danced ...

... and ran around like the little wild child she is.

Then we posed for pictures.

Bye bye Grandma and Uncle!

With Grandma and Uncle gone, Madeline had to resort to watching the U.S. Olympic women's volleyball team take on South Korea.

After she went to bed, we had another packing flurry.  Now just about everything's already ready for the big move Monday morning.

Exciting!

Sick days

A rough night for Madeline precluded yesterday's post. Here are yesterday's pictures (she had a fever, so no daycare):

Now she's whimpering again, so here's today's picture without further commentary:

It's late

Here's a picture!

Convalescing

Madeline was home sick today.  The rest of us were some combination of the two, too: I stayed home to do both work and childcare but was not sick; Summer was not home but was sick; and Grandma and Alex were both home and sick.  Illness didn't stop folks from typical convalescent behavior like staring out windows, though.

By this afternoon Madeline seemed to be feeling better.  She helped Uncle water our delicious plants:

But she recognized that he did the lion's share of the work, and she applauded accordingly.

Then we hung out a bit and Madeline told stories.

Finally we dug around in the frontyard mulch, looking for bugs and such.

Then this afternoon Summer came home, spirits were high, and the party commenced:




(Here's the original video for the hit single "Hamster Time!")

Sent home sick

Madeline was sent home sick from daycare today.  She definitely seemed a little off (though she was still able to take care of Bear and share her milk).

Summer and Grandma Susy both feel a bit unwell too.  Sadness cake.

Familial assistance

Last night Madeline didn't sleep much or well.  It seemed a stuffy nose kept her (and us) up.  So this morning there was much yawning and eye-rubbing and a bit of crankiness too.  Plus at her usual naptime Madeline only went down for half an hour.  Still, we got in some coloring ...

... including individual instruction from her artist-uncle Alex.

And later Grandma took Madeline to the playground, where there was much playing ...

... and after which there was much napping.

This familial assistance allowed Summer and me to pack up most of our bedroom -- phew.  And later this evening, more familial assistance allowed Summer and me to go out for an anniversary dinner -- thank you family!

Visitors, getting ready to pack

When Madeline woke up this morning, two new people were here: Uncle Alex ...

... and Grandma Susy!

They're going to help us pack up and prepare for our move.  In the meantime, Madeline has been trying on Uncle's shoes ...

... and clothes.

We also took our once-usual Saturday-morning trip to the farmers market.  There, Uncle pushed Madeline on the swing.

Eventually we wandered away from the market and toward our usual food truck.

Madeline was too sleepy to eat much -- she napped in her stroller on the walk home -- so back at home she ate some string cheese, peach from the market, and watermelon from Delaware.  Mmm.

And as we geared up for productivity this afternoon -- dropping off donation boxes, for example -- Madeline somehow ended up with masking tape on her nose.

It's too late for me to think of a good title

Every morning we have to wake Madeline up -- she's become an enthusiastic sleeper. Today, to honor Friday, we let her sleep in until about 7:30.

After daycare, though, she was her typical wild self.

As we get ready for our big move, Madeline encounters interesting things like my dear old friend Kitty (who remains hidden away most of the time, until she's repaired):

To keep Madeline occupied while Summer did some more packing in her room, she and I colored.  We started with crayons, but Madeline decided they weren't vibrant enough, picked them all up and returned them to their box ("Back!"), closed the box, put it on the shelf, and returned with markers instead.  That resulted in this:

... after which we spent some time washing her hands to get ready for bed.  Once she'd been pajamafied too, Madeline found another piece of moving-related jetsam -- her old car seat:

"Baby!" she said.  And then it was bedtime.