Photos from PDX

After downloading the photos from the weekend, I realized I didn't take that many photos and I only took the camera out of the house once. Anyway, here are a few shots from our weekend at Grandma Cumming's house.

Mae styling a new hat.

Mae with Pearson's bear from childhood.

At the Children's Museum.

Already knows when to fold them.

A new hiding place?

A Trip To Portland

We got home late this afternoon from four days in Portland. Thanks to Grandma Cummings for hosting Mae and I while Pearson went skiing with his "boys" in Bend, OR.

Highlights of the weekend:

• Reading a new nursey rhyme book that Grandma C. bought about 600 times. I think I am going to be saying, "hickory, dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock..." in my sleep tonight.
• The Portland Children's Museum. I will have to say it beats Seattle's. And the rotating exhibit was Curious George. Mae loves Monkeys.
• Me eating my way through the city, including Pok Pok, Bunk, and Papa Hayden. All I can say is yummy.
• Grandma C's and Mae's first outing to the zoo without either Pearson or I. Mae's favorite thing was getting to see the monkeys.
• Relaxing in someone else's house (that is also bigger and cleaner then ours).
• Long walks with Ditka and Mae.
• Mae taking a three and half hour nap one day (unheard of).

I will post pictures tomorrow.

My Dearest Mae

My dearest Mae,

Happy 18 month birthday or happy year and half old day!

I guess the thing that has most been happening this month is your speech. It seems that everyday you learn a new word or repeat a word that I have said. Your mom and dad are in full on "watch what we say mode," because who knows what word you will decide to repeat next. You still continue to continually ask, "what is that?" when we are reading. You point to a picture and say, "what is that?" You have done this for some time but now I turn the game back around on you when I know you know what it is. You have also started to play the game, "who is that?" when we are out with people or looking at a picture. It is pretty cute when you point to someone and say "who is that?"

A good thing has happened this month and you have become pretty interested in babies. You acknowledge and exclaim when you see a baby in a carrier, car seat, or stroller. I am hoping that this bodes well when we bring home your new brother or sister. You also sleep with your baby doll every night and at naps. You give her kisses, feed her, and give her a paci. You are already a natural nurturer. Again, hope this continues when a REAL baby enters the house.

I also was struck the other day that essentially whatever you say or do is because I (or your dad) have taught it to you. It is a little scary and a little exciting. For instance, I think that I must clean the house constantly because you now enjoy making a mess (dumping your milk everywhere). ) One day I told you, YOU had to clean it up and handed you a towel. You did just that! Now, I believe you make a mess just so you can clean it up.

I joke with your dad that you are either going to be a truck driver, a bus driver, or marry a truck or bus driver because you are fascinated with both of them. If you see one, you exclaim, "bus!" or "truck!" like you haven't seen one before. Your dad has fueled your love for buses even more by starting a little outing for you two. He takes you on the bus! You ride it to the water where you go look for boats and birdies (also two of your favorite things). Your dad has also taught you this funny trick, where if we ask you "what do you do when you look for birdies?" You reply in a whisper, "shhhhh, birdies." Since your dad was so successful with the whisper part I expanded it to, "what do we do when the baby is sleeping?" You whisper, "shhhhh, birdies." Pretty funny.

Your love for songs and nursery rhymes is insatiable. You could have me sing or say a nursery rhyme for most of the day. You also demand, "more" quite a lot when it comes to this department. I both love and loath it. I mean really how many more times can one person say, "hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon..."? You think countless.

As for physical development, you are still Mighty Mae. You love to go to the park where you go down the slide (totally on your own) - even the big one. Another thing that totally surprises me is that you STILL only have six teeth. All the kids we know, pretty much have a full set by now but you only have six. You haven't even had any new ones come in, in months. I just am waiting for them to come in with a vengeance.

I guess that is all for now my curious, independent, confident, lovable one and half year old. Cheers to the second half of your second year. I am sure it will be as great as the first.

Love Always, Mom

18 Month Stats

Today, Mae had her 18 month checkup with Dr. Sheridan, even though her 18 month birthday is tomorrow. Her stats are tracking pretty much the same - lots of brain and a smaller than average body for her age, among her peers. She is holding true to being Mighty Mae.

Weight: 22 pounds, 9 ounces (25th percentile)
Length: 30 and half inches (25th percentile)
Head Size: 47.5 cm (75 to 90th percentile)

One thing to note about today's examine. After the examine (checking her ears, heart, eyes, body, etc..), Mae asked for "more." Dr. Sheridan said she had never heard a kid ask to be examined more. She then commented how relaxed Mae was and understanding of everything for her age. I, of course, puffed up my chest very proud of my daughter. It didn't last for long....five minutes later she was getting shots and screaming bloody murder.

Scenes from the Weekend

This past Saturday was pretty busy for us. We started off with our usual walk [me and Mae]/run [Pearson and Ditka]. The walk resulted in a nuclear meltdown by Mae, which took about a half hour of consoling to get her to "normal." Reason for the nuclear meltdown, have I mentioned Mae does not hold up very well in the cold? More like her little hands don't fair so well and since it was especially cold (in the 20's) and very windy, her hands were frostbite by the time we got home. And yes, I put gloves on her but she was in the weather shield of the BOB and she had taken her hat and gloves off, I assumed she was too warm during the walk. Then I went to a baby shower for our friend Katelyn and then we all went to our friend Hadley's 2nd Birthday Bash. By the end of the day I was exhausted.

I vowed Sunday would be much more relaxing and it was.

We started Sunday morning off with Mae's favorite weekend breakfast - pancakes!! She can pack away quite a few.

Then Mae retreated to her room to catch up on some reading.

Here is how I found her after 10 minutes.

She then decided to partake in her favorite pastime, watching for buses and birds.

Oh Crap!

Mae has taken to saying "Oh" and then what sound distinctly like "crap." It could also be "Oh, truck!" but it sounds way too much like crap to me (and to my mom who also heard her when we were on the phone today). Also, I am pretty sure that I say "oh crap," especially when something happens such as water spilling all over the floor, forgetting something in the house, etc...

Even though they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, I don't think it is in this case.

Our House

I don't think I have mentioned but we are most definitely going to be moving in the next couple of months to get more space for baby #2 and a rambuncitous toddler. We aren't looking for anything huge, just an extra bedroom and hopefully so more "living" aka play space.

This is a little tricky since we aren't going to be selling our house. We had a real estate agent come in and decided it was in our best interest to rent our place and rent another house. We got most of the paper work ready and took a few photos of our house recently. I thought I would show you where we have spent the last four and half years. And who knows if we can't find anything to rent we might be welcoming Baby #2 here as well.