recent pictures

This kid loves the park. Any park. Actually, scratch that. Anyplace that has a swing and a slide. Her favorite words, at the moment, are "outside,", "park," and "play."

She's very into climbing the equipment by herself - getting up the stairs and to the top of the slide on her own (don't worry, worriers - I'm always right there behind her.)

Rain? Pshaw. That's what towels were made for - wiping off slides.

Preferring to lie on her tummy, feet downwards, Mae avoids getting her bottom dirty or wet while also giving her tummy and knees a comfortable moistening

She'd live in that swing if we let her

I can't believe how long her hair is getting

All by herself. Little miss independent.

At the lambing barns.

Everything Jayna does, Mae copies

Helping Hayliegh walk. Mae's very supportive like that.

"Ducky ducky quack quack," quoth my daughter

Not phased at all by one another, the 16-month-old and the goose found themselves in a stand-off. "Where's my bread?" asked the goose. "Where's my quack?" queried the toddler.

beach + LOST premiere = Mindy was here

Last weekend Aunt Mindy came out for a visit; thus, we went to the beach (duh), and watched LOST. These are just the things we do.

It was rainy; however, Mae was just thrilled to "go ousside."

I love that shot.

I asked her what the waves say. She held up her arms and went "roar!"

She was very perplexed as to why she wasn't allowed to go play in the water. Normally, that's what we do at the beach. But we're not normally at the beach in 45 degree weather.

At Cape Lookout.

Next, for the LOST season premiere (don't ask me why I always capitalize all 4 letters - for some reason I think it looks better than putting the title in quotes), we all dressed up as fan club members of Driveshaft. If you don't know what that is, I'm not going to explain it to you.

The tape on Mae's shirt has a label that says, "Driveshaft Demo # 1: You All Everybody"

Get it? Inside nerd joke!

Here's the rest of our coterie. And yes - we all painted our fingernails black in honor of Charlie. Even me. It was . . . awkward teaching class the next day like that. I showed them my Driveshaft shirt and, not surprisingly, they all rolled their eyes at me.

tricyclist

We inherited a handy tricycle from Hans and Elvia (thanks again, guys!), which Maeby has decided she loves. Her feet don't reach the peddles yet, so she just sits with her legs hanging down and steers while I push from behind.

While I don't have any photos of her on the trike as of yet (it was too rainy for my camera), I did snap a few of our big girl sporting her first bike helmet and decked out in her cold weather gear.

new bath video

Mae dressed herself today

While I was working on the computer today, I felt a tap on my arm, and then looked down to see a diaper sitting in my lap. Turning around, I spotted a bare bottom scurrying up on the couch, its owner shrieking in glee at her new-found sense of freedom.

At that point, I decided to take her upstairs and get her dressed for the day (she'd been sporting just the diaper since breakfast a few minutes before.) Once in her room, Mae began collecting her wardrobe for the day, insisting on certain pants, a certain shirt, and certain socks (which she promptly removed and threw into the bathroom.) However, not content to stop at the conventional combo, Mae also insisted on donning a swimsuit, a winter cap, and a plastic ring from one of her dishes for a necklace. Oh, and she also needed to put her swimming-towel on.

Here's what happens when I allow my daughter to dress herself:

You really get the full effect with the hood up.

After a few minutes, most of the ensemble had been discarded, but the swimsuit and makeshift necklace remained for the duration of the afternoon.

Oh, and here she is last night after donning my sweater (yes - she put this on herself)

While this is not as good as being naked, she was still rather happy with herself.