Playing at the Castle Park

Otherwise known as McKee Farms Park, for you Madisonians. Mama and I went there for the first time last week, and my friends and I had a great time. I really liked the swings!


And playing with my friend's ball.



My friend Dexter drove me around in a wooden car for awhile...


Then let me take the wheel.


Cruisin'. Only fifteen more years, and I'll be driving one of these for real!

Elsie plays with Lummox and Gizmo

Just another Saturday afternoon with Daddy.

Today I played with Daddy. We had lots of fun! We did puzzles together. I stood up the whole time,


but sometimes I needed to go on my tiptoes to see what I was doing.


Then I spotted Isiah in the kitty tree and went over to see what he was up to. I chewed on his brush for awhile,


then called Daddy ("Dada"!) over to help me out.

He lifted me up really high so that I could pet Isiah.



We brushed him and petted him and he purred and purred. I love my kitties, and I love my Daddy, too!

Daddy plays in the pool.

Last week Daddy decided to come play in the pool with me. I had a great time splashing around, but Daddy was too cold to sit down.


Finally Mama teased him enough that he put on an extra shirt, then took the plunge into the pool.


It's especially fun when Daddy slaps his hands on the water and cries out "Power Geyser!" and makes a big splash. He's a lot of fun to play with in the pool!

Potty Time!

Just hangin' out on my chair, doin' my thang.
(Thanks for the shoes, Auntie Kate!)

The case of the Mysterious Cooler.

Last week when my friends came over to play in the pool with me, Edie and I noticed that all the Mamas were getting fun things out of a mysterious blue cooler. Whatever it was, we wanted some too, but the Mamas didn't seem to want to share. We were never quite fast enough to get inside it when they were getting things out, so we decided to take things into our own hands.

First we pretended to play in the pool while we made a plan of action.


Then I stood guard...


...and we sent our friend Noah in to do some reconnaissance.



When we saw an opening (the Mamas were deep in a conversation about "baby sleep training"...ha!), Edie and I made our move.





There was no obvious way to get past the latch. Edie even checked underneath to see if there was a secret door we could get into. There wasn't.



Since we were getting desperate, we even tried to dig/scratch a hole through the top. There were actually a couple of deep circular holes in the top already- apparently someone else had the same idea before us.





Digging didn't work either, though. My friend Edie and I tried really hard to open that mysterious cooler, but I am sad to say that the workings of the magical latch eluded us. We worked long and hard, but we never did figure out what good things were hidden inside.

My new pool!

Mama thought I'd outgrown my baby tub, so she and I went to Target and bought me a big kid pool. Wow, is it fun! So big! Mama can get in it with me! I can kick and splash and float! Hooray! Here are some pictures Mama took on our last hot day:




And sometimes when I get out of the pool, I am so used to wearing my swimsuit that I decide I don't want to wear clothes. So instead of getting dressed, Mama lets me fold laundry in my diaper. I'm a good helper!

Fruits of the summer...

I don't remember much about my first summer of life (I just have some fleeting images of a lot of bouncing on yoga balls in the bathroom), but this summer I am learning that it is a great time to be a kid! Here are a few pictures of two of my favorite summer treats:

Watermelon- Yummy!




Raspberries and cherries- in my hair :)


"What? Doesn't your hair look like this when you eat berries?"

Playing with my Adah friend

This is my friend, Adah.



She is really smart! She can stack my stacker toy and do my shape-sorter and can even drink out of a sippy cup all by herself. I think it comes from being almost 13 months old. She is also really good at growing hair- sometimes her Mama even puts it in a ponytail!

Here are some pictures Mama took of us at a play date we had. It was really fun! I got to share my wholey-o's with her (out of the back of the dump truck), we worked on puzzles together, and we played "catch" with my red ball. It's great to have a girlfriend!

Papa's hat

Papa bought me a new hat last week, and I love it! I feel very Jane Austen-ish while wearing it (though I've been told I look more like something out of Little House on the Prairie). Here are some pictures Mama took of me enjoying my new-found shade-maker.

We need four food dishes...

I keep telling Mama and Daddy that the cats don't share very well, but they didn't seem to think I needed my own dish at kitty food time. I guess I'll just have to keep trying...