What a fun weekend!

Friday, Madeline brought home Easter treats from school.

She shared her plastic eggs with Petey.

Yesterday, we finally started getting birds at our feeder.

At one point there were a cardinal, two chickadees, and one [something else] all at the feeder at the same time!

After admiring the birds, we went to Lea's birthday party.  The little ones played and munched cupcakes and generally had a grand time.

Madeline was especially happy to get a balloon!

We spent the afternoon romping around outside looking for bugs.

This morning, there was more fun in store for Madeline.  She got a lovely Easter basket ...

... complete with toys, stickers, treats, and even a garden tool.

After indulging her childish side a while, Madeline channeled her inner grown-up and read the newspaper (while sporting several of her new hair clips).

The day was so beautiful that we promised Madeline we'd take her to the playground.  And we did.

After Madeline had a nice nap, we dyed Easter eggs.  That was fun too!

And the eggs turned out pretty well.

We closed out the evening with some after-dinner blanket-fort adventures.  What a fun weekend!

Ups and downs

This week has had its ups and downs. Madeline seemed on the verge of an ear infection and spent a fair amount of her week grumpy. On Tuesday it was, "My head's breaking a little bit. I have a headache. I'm ok." On Wednesday it was, "My ear hurts." Everyone's sleep suffered for Madeline's frequent wakeups.  But today the ear pain and grumpiness were just about gone: "Does your ear hurt, Maddie?" "No." "It's ok?" "It's ok. My ear doesn't hurt."

Even during the head-breaking, headache-y, ear-hurty parts of the week, there were plenty of happy times.  Like this one, where Summer is showing Madeline the seeds we got in the mail for this summer's vegetable garden (a minute later, Madeline had a tantrum because we wouldn't open and plant the seeds RIGHT NOW):

And this one, where Summer and Madeline are just generally silly:

Best of all, it's almost the weekend, and Saturday's supposed to be in the 50s and sunny -- perfect!

Growing

Summer and I have spent our last few days still not entirely well.  Yesterday, I got up early with Madeline while Summer slept in a little, then I ended up asleep on the futon in the afternoon.  Today, Summer got up early with Madeline while I slept in a lot, then Summer ended up asleep on the futon.

For her part, Madeline has been full of energy.

Here she is on Friday night, showing off the bus I brought her back from New York.  She's been taking it to bed most nights -- adorable.

Despite our exhaustion, Summer and I have been out and about -- at least a bit.  Yesterday while Summer got some work done in lab, Madeline and I braved a quite cold Brown Street playground.

Then when Summer had finished, we went to look for seals.

There weren't any this week, either.

On the way home from seal-counting, we stopped at our branch library.  We read some books, and Madeline picked two to check out -- a first!

She's been very excited about her library experience.  This makes us happy.

Madeline woke me up from my futon-sleep yesterday by planting a cracker on my head.

Then she sang an appropriate song:


This morning, Madeline and Petey watched a squirrel clean up some seeds I'd spilled refilling our sunflower bird feeder.

And, speaking of seeds, Madeline showed off the grass she's been growing -- she planted the seeds in this little planter and has been excited to check on it multiple times every day and watch the green shoots spring up.

Later, she put on her tiger hat and mittens and prowled around the house.

There's no doubt more to come today, but I've been a little too tired to post the last few evenings, so I figured I'd take advantage of Madeline's naptime today to let you all know what's new.  There you go!

"My head is breaking a little bit."

Sunday I went to New York for work. I came back last night. While I was gone, Madeline seems to have played just fine.

Now, though, it seems we're all a bit under the weather.  On the drive home from daycare, Madeline said: "My nose is running.  Also my head is breaking a little bit.  It's ok."  We think this means she has a mild headache -- I know I do.

Mid-March (with three videos!)

Three nights ago, Madeline made ball soup, one of her favorite dishes to cook.


Later, we did a dramatic reading before bed.

Two days ago was Madeline's 25-month birthday!  We weren't sure about doing chair pictures now that she's over two, but then we figured why not?

Madeline obliged.

And she cuddled up with Summer to read books on the futon.

Last night friend Taylor visited, but we didn't get any pictures.  When we told Madeline he'd be stopping by, she said, "I love her -- Taylor."  Lucky Taylor!

Today we ran errands in the morning, and I spent Madeline's nap catching up on yardwork.  It seemed like we were away from home most fall weekends, then it rained or snowed or we were away from home every weekend this winter.  The result: lots to do outside.

When Madeline woke up, she came out to help.

She took a break to show Summer her house in the cedar hedge, then resumed helping.

Back inside, Madeline wanted to show off her gymnastics ribbon, awarded for her first place finish in the prestigious category of "Quietest Listener."

We ate an early dinner out and got zeppole to go.

Madeline loved hers.

In fact, she was crazy for it (WARNING: turn down your volume before viewing the following!):


Quietest listener indeed.

Final note:

We've realized we failed to share the results of Madeline's two-year checkup.  She's fit as a fiddle, 35 1/4" tall (82nd percentile), and 26 pounds (40th percentile) -- tall and skinny.  She had to get a thumb prick for a lead test (all clear) and didn't even flinch, let alone cry.

As a reward for your patience in awaiting these data, here's a final video of Madeline enjoying that "one more cupcake" she had after her party on February 24th:

Sunday at the zoo and in the yard

Yesterday, we went to the zoo!  Madeline enjoyed the crazy crane that tried to peck her hand through the glass.

She also, as always, enjoyed the elephants and seals.

But maybe most of all she enjoyed this monkey ball we found (from the American sweetgum tree, apparently first attested to in the west by Hernán Cortés or one of his party noting its "liquid amber").

In Madeline's other hand she's clutching a pancake, leftover from breakfast, that had been bagged and brought as a snack.

At the end of the wetlands trail (whence came the monkey ball) is the new children's zoo.  This is a creative play space full of interesting things to figure out, like a giant xylophone, and these warm slate surfaces and waterlogged paintbrushes ...

... and these colored cloths held together by clothespins and draped across a frame holding up an overturned rowboat (on which Madeline would later bump her head).

What fun!  (Head-bumping aside...)

Later, Madeline and I grilled for dinner.  While we were in the yard, we played with a tennis ball, and we found the four biggest sticks in the yard, and we ate some snacks.  Then Madeline declared this space in our cedar hedge to be her house:

She demanded that I join her there.  We looked for bugs in the stone retaining wall and the damp leaves, but we didn't find any.  We did, however, see a cardinal high up in the maple tree.

Friends, farms, fun

Yesterday, Madeline's daycare was closed.  She and I stayed home, and Ilan and David planned to come over too.  Madeline was excited for her friends' visit.

She bided time by petting Petey.

Soon enough, her friends came over.  They played upstairs and downstairs and chased Petey and ran around shrieking happily.  Tamar had made bread dough, so the little ones got to poke, prod, and shape it; we baked it; and they ate the results and sipped juice boxes.

Then everyone was sleepy and dispersed for naps.

When Madeline woke up, she was full of energy again. 

This morning, Summer kicked things off by making French toast.  Then we visited a bookstore to use the gift certificate Lena and family had given her for her birthday.  We picked out some special books, including one about a farm.  This was especially relevant ...

... because our next stop was a farm!  Last time we visited the home of Pat's Pastured, the farm was on Conimicut Island.  Since then, Pat beat out competitors to lease the historic, land-trust-owned Boesch Farm in East Greenwich.

Today, the farm store was open and the chickens and sheep were out enjoying the sun.

Madeline said, "Look, mommy!  Look at the sheep!  Look, daddy!  Look at the sheep!  Are you looking?"

She really likes sheep.

After visiting the farm and getting a bite to eat, we stopped by the Save the Bay Center to look for seals.

Our grand total for our assigned location still stands at zero.

But we had fun anyway.

While Madeline napped, we did some cleaning and our taxes.  Then this evening, one of Madeline's teachers from daycare came over to watch her so we could visit my favorite restaurant and then see our friend's band in a rare pre-10-pm performance.  What a busy Saturday!

Three weekdays

Monday evening, I was at a meeting.  Summer taught Madeline to blow bubbles.

Madeline was happy.

Yesterday, Madeline played with blocks ...

... and cuddled with her mama.

This evening, Madeline was somewhat grumpy, except when she took a very fun bath!  She made crab cakes, but a turtle tried to eat them, and hilarity ensued.