Last Day for Dogs

We brought Ruby down to Popham Beach State Park on the last day dogs are allowed until November 1. The tide was super-high, but we managed to find some beach and sand to get into our clothes.
You can see, the beach has eroded over the winter too this dramatic point. (Don't worry, grandmas- she's not as close to the edge as she looks)


Evvie was pretty excited about her seashells (or "sissues" as might better phonetically represent her dialect) and driftwood. Brushing sand off the log was a ner second for exciting activity.

It's still so much fun to discover new things with her. Showing her the nuances of the world helps me to really see them, too, and that compounds the joy of having a child. Seeing her delight in the smallest things that I might otherwise overlook makes me as thankful for life in general as well as for her precious existence.

Images of a Big Messy Breakfast

Toast with almond butter, raspberries, blueberries, & yogurt.
She's not usually this messy, but we had sticky-handed game of peek-a-boo in the middle of eating.

Dog's Don't Understand "Pop Goes the Weasel"

Clearly Evelyn is the more enthusiastic of the pair about her new game. She's quite fond of climbing into the toybox recently, and now that she's discovered that she can "POP" out of it, the comedy level quadruples.

She's been doing great this week after a difficullt few weeks. At daycare on Monday Hallie got the "We need to talk..." from her provider regarding how unhappy Evvie's been there. She sobs and wants to be picked up. She does like to be picked up a lot at home, too, and we worry that we're coddling her too much. The defensive parent in me wants to shout out that she's teething, has been sick, and is 17 month old- prime for maximum separation anxiety. I think it's a combination of all these factors, and now that the illness is gone, she & I had a great day Tuesday, she had a very successful day at daycare on Wednesday, and so far she's been an independant champ today. I've been able to get some work done as she amuses herself around the living room and checks back every so often.

She also ate a farmer's breakfast this morning- a whole piece of toast with almond butter, about a1/2 cup of chopped raisins (she doesn't chew them much, and they often come out whole), 4 oz of yogurt, and dozen or so frozen blueberries. Strictly meat for lunch, though as she scarfed the curried chicken I made her. (She had been off the meat lately, but if you can somehow make food yellow, she'll try it.)

She made a few calls this morning, babbling to Grover, I think. She was probably telling him about how uninspired Ruby dog was by her new game.

Kitty Feet

Yes, Evvie only knew her Great-Grammy Kitty for a few months, but she evidently responded to her pedagogic bipedal discombobulation.

Maine Maple Sunday

Today was Maine Maple Sunday, and we thought it would be fun to get the girls together to visit a Sugar House. It had snowed overnight, so the day was pretty for late March. All the dingy snowbanks were coated with a pristine new layer and the tree branches were highlighted against the sky.

The day was a so-so success.

We visited the Norlands Living History Center with the prospect of a working sugar house, oxcart rides and a big pancake breakfast with fresh maple syrup. Unfortunately, we seemed to choose the wrong place to visit, as it was super crowded and the pancake makers were unable to keep up wth the demand. After a disappointment for breakfast, however, we did tour the barn and saw a ton of great animals.

I found out that Evvie knew the word "Ox" as she pointed to an animal that I was about to call a cow. She was right, though, and I was astounded. She clucked at the chickens, oinked at the pigs and ogled the cows. We also saw a newborn (1-day-old) lamb. Joe remarked at how it was already standing after one day. It took Evvie 10 months to do that. (But the lamb will probably NEVER say "Ox").

Somehow I missed taking any good pictures, but here's a few anyway.

Evvie was pretty much ready for a nap at this point, so we had do leave before the carriage ride or trip to the sugar house(something to shoot for next year). Ava and Iris had more energy, so hopefully they enjoyed the remainder of the day!

After napping on the ride to Grammy and Grandpa's, we had a great afternoon climbing the stairs, playing animals on the computer, playing outside on the pad, and watching the birds.All in all it was a very eventful day that wore us out.

First Babysitter

Saturday night Evvie had her first experience with a babysitter in our house. (But don't tell her, she has no idea). We put her down to sleep at 7:00 and left for a concert at 7:15 at the Chocolate Church Arts Center.

The show was John Hammond and he was AMAZING! The guy has been around the blues music scene for over 40 years and it's incredible that only a small group of people have heard of him. He wailed.

Anyway, we came home after a few hours and Evvie hadn't made a peep. Easiest $20 the babysitter ever made.

Face First in the Driveway

Potty Talk and the Messy March Blues

Evvie's been poopin' up a storm since Thursday. Yes, it's the big "d"- diarrhea. She's run-down and sick with a rashy irritated bottom. Not to be outdone, mama got the barfy belly over the weekend, too.

I'm living with a bunch of sickies.

Evvie did have enough energy Sunday night to find these "stickers" in mama's bag and stick them to us. We labelled ourselves so we wouldn't get confused as to who was who.

In more uplifting news, the nasty March snowbanks got covered up with a new coat of pristine white, before that white changed to sleet, freezing rain & rain that knocked out the power. This killed our basement sump pump and caused a nice flood among the boxes and unfinished projects that clutter our basement. Was I thinking that I was ready for spring?

It's been an exhausting five or six days. Evvie's finally turned the corner and is feeling better, and our hopes are that mama will, too. With any luck the harbinger of spring will be a bluebird with a basket of marshmallows, puppies, fluffed towels and things less nasty than these past few days have brought.

The Playground

This weekend finally saw a bit of a thaw, so we took advantage of the sunshine and limped down to the community playground. (Ruby & Hallie are still a bit lame, although Evvie's active enough for both of them)

Evvie had a lot of fun swinging, playing in the snow, and going down the slide. (Daddy was caught enjoying himself a little bit, too). The play halted when an navy plane flew overhead and we all had to stop to make plane sounds.

(nnnnnneeeeeeouuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmm)

Quick Quiz:
What's more fun?

A) Climbing up...

B) Sliding down?

---

In other news, Evvie uttered her first complete sentence Saturday night on her way to bed. (Drumroll please...) It was: "Bye bye Dada". Although only four syllables and just two words, it does qualify as a complete sentence. In fact, it's better grammar than I'm usually able to mumble before my own bedtime.

Overdressed, Dressed Pretty, and Underdressed

Here's some fun we had with the free stickers we got from...some organization. Evvie had fun sticking them on her kitty, on Daddy, and then finally...well, you can see where she decided the stickers were fun.

Today was music class day, and it started out like most others- with Evvie leaned up against me watching intently. When we stood up and started to get more active, though, she became much more interactive with the other kids in the class. Cecelia is about Evvie's age and was very interested in Evvie's dress. It had stars all over it (And it just so happens the Cecelia's favorite song in "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". They became fast friends, sharing shaker eggs and swapping scarves to dance with. I was very pleased.

This picture is from a few weeks ago, but the outfit is the same as the one that wooed a new friend...

Weekend in New Hampshire

This past weekend we visited some friends in the great state of New Hampshire. Evvie rode really well and enjoyed the ski trip we went on (see photo).

I was a little concerned about her sleeping through the night- a feat she has seldom accomplished flawlessly in a new enviornment. Amazingly, though, she slept..well, like a baby. It must have something to do with all that fresh air.

The following day after breakfast we took a trip to a great sledding hill. Evvie took the task very seriously in her one run down the hill. She did not hate it. She did not whoop and holler. She observed the situation and filed it for later examination.

After that, momma took a run down the hill which resulted in a dramatic overturn and crash. Unfortunately, it also resulted in an injury. Her right knee was bent too far in the spill, and she could not put any weight on it. Nate and Suzanne had to sled her off the hill on a litter, and we headed back for ice and ibuprofen.

Evvie took an active interest in mom's injury when she realized there was melitng snow involved.

Hallie had great acute care in the apartment. The team consisted of two health care pro-fessionals, a rugged helpful man, a cute comic-relief baby, two interested dogs, and myself, the interfering papparazzi. We decided to head back to Maine early and get our home base established before heading to the ER. (Which, incidentally, we never did do).

Hallie's now resting her leg and feeling quite a bit better- she was able to drive today, although we're still waiting to see the specialist to really check her out. Hopefully she'll be 100% soon, but until then feel free to call her soooooooo lame!

Peek-A-Boo!

She wanted my hat. I didn't know why, but I don't usually ask when she wants something like that.

She got the hat.

The game, as you can see, is age-old.

The fun, however, never stops.

These Boots Aren't Made for Walkin'

SNOW DAY!

Let's stay inside and Play!

Momma got a day off today, so the whole family got to start our weekend early! We built a fort in the living room and made a big turkey for dinner (that makes a total of FOUR turkeys at home today!)

Momma also did some stretching, which Evvie found utterly hilarious. Tomorrow we're off to New Hampshire to visit our friends and ski on some of the new fresh snow!

Paper Hat?