mimipapas

Thats how Madeline refers to her grandparents. One word-mimipapa. Not only did she get to see Mimipapa D this past weekend, she gets to see Mimipapa L at the end of this week. Very exciting! I took lots and lots of pictures this week, so if you've got Maddie Fever, you're at the right place.

First, I give you Miss Olivia. Its hard to believe she's five. I remember so well when she was the only baby in our family and how we doted on her. Now she's the big cousin ( and soon to be Big Sister again, so I learned this weekend!) I may be biased, because she is my neice and I think everything all my neices do is wonderful- but she is quite an artist. She drew me a picture of Curious George and the man with the yellow hat that is now on my fridge. Really, it blows me away what this five year old can draw. Maddie helping Papa in the backyardThe garbage can had no destination, but Maddie felt quite important helping Papa drag it all over the backyardMadeline and her cousin Jack. As Christina stated in her blog, its really become evident how close in age these two are. I mean, duh- they've always been about 9 months apart, but now that she is 2 plus and he's just turning three, they seem to share similar interests( cars, bikes, swings- ha ha). This picture looks timeless to me, it seems to catch their 'toddler-hood' quite perfectly- Maddie in a box, and cousin Jack trying to push herGiving the flower a bath

And this I have to throw in there to illustrate the State of Curliness that is Madeline's hair. I get compliments all the time on it, apparently it comes from Greg's side of the family. Look at how beautiful and curly it is. This means Maddie will spend most of her life trying to straighten it, of course. We girls are never happy with what we are given.

Saturday , we went to the Japanese gardens at Roger Williams Park- it was beautiful

Maddie loved running over the bridges. Swings were a big part of the weekend... at the park......and at mimipapa's house. She kept saying' Close-a-eyes!" while she was swingingI love how she scrunches up her whole face just to close her eyes.We had lots of fun !

Spring has Sprung!

What a Spring-y day we had today. We also had a no-napping day and Madeline was out for the night at 6:49pm. This will be a picture heavy post.

Aunts Kim and Donna bought Madeline a tricycle for her 2nd birthday. She. LOVES. It. She loves the helmet too. After she's done with the bike, she won't take her helmet off. It must make her feel official or something- who knows?

Daddy taught her how to use the 'pretzels' to move- lol thats what she calls the pedals!Actually those pictures were taken yesterday. This morning the scene went like this. 8:30 am. Ready to Roll. Mom, whats taking you so long???

We discovered the streamers ...And then it was time for some slide action...Then Maddie's new favorite game of "UP.......DOWN"Greg got home early from work and we went to the park, Land of a Thousand Slides( thats not actually the name, but there are a lot of slides there.) Because Maddie was overtired with a capital O, she was like a maniac and flew down every one of them. Then because she was overtired, she started getting loopy, so we decided to go before she hurt herself.
No better way to end a day than with bubbles in the backyard before dinner.

Busy Busy Day in a Busy Busy Town

*First, an apology for the typos . I type too fast and have no figured out how to go back and edit my blog. So hopefully everyone gets the gist of what i'm trying to say. And now....

Ok, Busy Busy day in a Busy Busy Town. Yeah, we had a busy day today. Busy Busy Town by Richard Scarry is Madeline's new favorite book. She calls it the cat book because there are cats in it. I think its pretty cool b/c I used to love those books when I was little. I took it out from the library, but I'm going to have to get her her own copy.
So our day... I took her to the library this morning for some train table action. There was quite a few kids there for one of the library programs. At 10 o'clock, they all left to go into the room, and Maddie yelled " Bye! See you soon! Have fun!" All the librarians were laughing.
Then she fell in love with a little blond haired boy at the train table. She kept trying to show 'boy' (as she called him , ha ha,) her trains, or get him to do a firetruck puzzle or do building blocks with her. When he showed little to no interest in her, she upped her game. She followed him around, trying to hug him. I was dying ! She really has never done that before- usually she could take or leave ( mostly leave) most other kids there-she took a liking to Boy and that was that. It was so funny to watch.
Then we had to rush home to eat lunch. I joined a Mothers group and I had signed her up for an art project today. It took place during her disappearing nap time, so I wanted her to eat and then have her fall asleep in the car. That would suffice as her nap. She was interested in the art project for about 7 minutes( impressive!), and then wanted to go next door and play with toys. She would not let me leave though... she's really having bad separation anxiety.( if anyone can give me tips on how to help me with this, I'd appreciate it). So we finished up her art project and left.

Nexy stop: Target. It had been a day and a half since I was there last.

Then when we got home, she and Greg played outside with sidewalk chalk, the soccer ball, she helped him pull weeds, blew some bubbles, and she played in the shed- (which she thinks is her house). She spent a good two hours out there. I LOVE SPRING!!!! Actually, I really don't, but I am loving the longer days and the warmish , non rainy weather. The winter, though not really cold here anymore is l...o...n...g, so yay !!!! for spring.

The best part of a busy busy day ? Now Maddie is a sleepy sleepy girl. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Its Official - She Likes Dirt

Madeline and I visited Samantha and Emma on Saturday. Or, as they are known in my house"sammyemma'. One word. The three of them got in the wagon and asked me to pull them( !!!) I tired, really I did, but even Maddie was saying " faster!". I'm no Uncle Greg, I just pulled them around in a circle once or twice. And then sat down because I was about to have a heart attack. Note to self: get.in.shape.

So what i discovered, although its not too hard to figure out, what I discovered is Maddie likes dirt. She likes playing with a shovel in dirt. She likes pouring dirt on her pants. She likes getting dirt on her hands. And I'm pretty sure she likes eating dirt. She also was digging (pun intended-ha ha) the baby worms. When it finally stops raining here , I'm going to embark on my first season as a gardener. I think it will be something I like, it kind of runs in the had a nice garden already set up. Basically, all greg and I were to do last fall was cut everything down, and then this spring we wait for it to grow again. Sounds easy enough right? Well, yesterday he was raking up leaves and pulling some weeds, when he calls me outside. " uh, i think I just pulled out the flowers. Weeds don't have bulbs at the end of them right? " So the score for those of you keeping track at home: Greg and Jessica as Green Thumbers- zero. There is no competition, we're going to beat ourselves, I'm sure. Maybe Maddie can save us...

I *almost* surrender

Almost... but not quite yet. I refuse to believe my ever-challenged napper is giving them up for good at 2 years old. I ignore the fact that she'll only nap for 3 out of 7 days, and sometimes those naps are while we are driving somewhere. I silently tell the Nap Gods" See?!? I told you so!" when she naps for 3 hours.
But more often than not lately, after about an hour of hearing her in her crib jumping up and down, I know I have to give in. I know when I open the door and see her socks off ( that is the unversal sign for " I'm not napping , mom" in this house. I have no idea why- but once the socks are off, I can kiss naptime goodbye) that she won. There will be no nap. So then I implement the poor man's equivelant of nap time- Quiet Time. Its not as effective as nap time, but it will have to do. Usually it involves her monkey blanket, her monkey lovey, a paci and the couch. Oh and the TV- Calliou, Curious George, Max and Ruby... I try to tackle my 'to-do' list , but usually I end up snuggling with her. Look at her, how can I resist?


I am loving the way she plays with her baby doll. This particular doll has no name, but she's always crying and in need of comfort. Madeline will ask her " Us a matter, pookie?" and say " awwww" as she hugs her. Its so cute She has also been known to manhandle baby doll as well.
Thanks for stopping in!