up to three & 1/4 years
this quarter
- fun trips
size
- 39 inches
- 33 pounds
activities
- visit from Aunty Marty
- trip to Strasburg, PA
- trip to grandparents
- trip to Baltimore
- trip to Va. Beach
- county fairs
- trip to scenic railroad
interests
- duh: trains
- slugs, lightning bugs
She had a cough for the better part of two months. She then went to an allergist a few times. She was on three inhalers for two months. Eventually we stopped taking them and she has been fine.
Talking
In early summer, she evolved yet again in the talking realm. She's extremely conversational. She no longer answers "yes" or "no", but always "yes I am" or "yes I did". And then generally goes off on a full explanation.
And she's incorporating a lot of conversational structures into her comments. Example: I asked her if she played with Nicky at school. She replied: "Ye...let's go back to the beginning. First of all, Corinne pushed me."
Visit from Aunt Marty (6/2)
Man, did she dig having her Aunt Marty around. She followed her like a dog, opting to sit on the ground outside the bathroom when Marty showered or did otherwise.
Slugfest!
Every night at 9:15 we take a flashlight and go slug hunting. We sit on the front porch and shine the flashlight at the dozen or so slugs emerging from the garden.
Train Trip!(6/16)
Or more accurately, trip to see trains. Drove to Strasburg, PA to see Thomas. Wonderful time, although insanely well-attended. The drive up and back corresponded to her nap. Stayed in a hotel, saw horse-drawn buggies in Amish country, saw an excellent real steam engine Thomas, had a nice ride in beautiful restored coaches, played a lot around the station, got some new toys, saw a great model train layout. Would've been fantastic even without Thomas-- we missed a bunch of attractions.
Trains
Her love of Thomas is reinvigorated-- perhaps bigger than ever. But it's slightly different. She used to be into anything that has to do with trains. Now, it's focused primarily on the Thomas characters, and she plays with her engines as one would dolls; she carries them around, and only a small fraction of the time is spent moving them on the track. She wants to hug them, and talk to them, and make voices for them, and line them up, and wrap them up.
Rhode Island Trip (7/4)
Visited Grandma and Grandpa. And just to even the score, Aunt Annie was the only Aunt to come to RI when we were visiting. Maddie followed her around just as she did with Aunt Marty last month. Loves her Aunts. We watched Tall Ships, went to the beach, played with the Lawn Monster, and had a cookout.
Baltimore Trip (7/21)
We went to see Thomas again. Smaller crowds, different coaches, ferris wheel, balloon animals. Still fun. But we had as much fun going to Lexington Market downtown for lunch and the Baltimore Zoo with its fun children museum.
In Your Face, Daddy!
Maddie has a bit of a lisp. When she asked me to go "downthtairth", I asked her to try to say "sss" without sticking out her tongue. While putting together a puzzle with letters and animals, I said: "Look- it's a sssnake! Can you make a sss sound like a snake?"
She said "thhhhh".
I said, "Honey, you can't make that sound while sticking out your tongue."
"Daddy, the snake does!"
Trip to Virginia Beach (8/11)
We stayed at a hotel on the beach. Not too much beach time, but we did play miniature golf, eat out a bunch, ride a family bike, and visit the mini-amusement park.
A web of contradictions
She is petrified of the surf, screeches if you try to let her swim alone with her water wings (despite her proven ability!-- see last fall's diary!), but she LOVED the very jolting Dragon ride at the amusement park. Similarly, it's almost impossible to tell her how to do something, but she's constantly grilling us to learn how the world works.
