At the lamb farm, year 2!

Almost exactly a year to the day after Elsie's first trip to the lamb farm, we made the trek again. A few notable differences:

-we lacked the company of our dear friend, Hannah, who has since moved cross-country in pursuit of a job. Hannah, we miss you so much!
-at 9 months, Elsie loved all the animals and I had to hold her back from trying to get into their pens. At 21 months, Elsie was terrified of the bunnies sitting on volunteer's laps. She loved the calf, the turkeys, and especially the pigs, though, (she happily reached into the pen to scratch their ears).
-the 2011 weather was about 20 degrees, and even the barn was a little chilly. In 2012, it was a balmy 80 degrees, and Elsie wore shorts!
-last year's big attraction was the baby lambs- Elsie could have watched them play for hours. This year, she has happily entertained by running between the various pens for about 45 minutes, then spotted the owner's jungle gym through the open barn door and decided that she needed to go to the park. Right now!

Watching turkeys:


Note the volunteer holding the lamb off to the side- he WAS sitting on the hay bale. Then Elsie finished petting the lamb he was holding, and started pushing at his arm, saying, "Sorry, sorry!". He thought it was hilarious, and moved aside so that she could climb on the bale and jump!




Getting ready to pet the piglets:



Baby lambs- only a few hours and days old!:




A few comparison photos from 2011- Elsie sitting on a lamb fleece (she LOVED it!), and watching the lambs play. Note the height of the fence!

1 Puppy + 1 Mama-Made Easter Dress= Happiness

Discovering old toys...

...made new by a winter hiatus! Boy, was I excited to find my turtle sandbox all ready to play with when the snow melted!

Puddle walks!

I have had so much fun this spring going for Puddle Walks in my boots from Grandma Dorothy with Mama. I am REALLY good at splashing, now that I have perfected my jumping skills! Here are some photos Mama took on a walk a few weeks ago:


Mama didn't think that I was paying attention when she read me the Narnia books when I was little, but I was. I found Lucy's magical lamp post in our neighborhood! I love to play by it- I keep waiting for the Faun Mr. Tumnus to come! So far he hasn't made an appearance, but I know it's only a matter of time.


Mama and I found the first sign of Spring this year- a little cluster of green daffodil stems coming out of the mud!


I really like to play in the tree forts that are underneath big evergreen trees...Mama says I must have gotten this preference from Daddy- I guess he had a fort just like this when he was little!


Some more splashing!





And just a few of me smiling in the first real sunshine of the year!

You know you live in the Midwest when...

...you have a series of pictures like this that were taken within 20 days of eachother! I love Wisconsin!

Singin' in the Flower Store- a guest post from Mama

This afternoon Elsie and I took a trip to the flower store to check out the stock of Spring gardening supplies. Elsie entertained me by singing the whole time..."Lalalalaldadadabaga lalaladadadada babababadadadaga"...making up a tune as she went along.

After listening to this for five minutes while we stood in line at the checkout, the cashier remarked to me, "Boy, that little baby is really trying to talk!"

I laughed, and explained to her that Elsie could talk, but was showing off her "humming" skills.

The cashier smiled and turned to Elsie, asking, "Can you talk?"

Elsie stopped singing, looked at her, clearly said, "No, thank you!" then turned away and continued her "song". Silly girl!

Miss Adah!

Today after yoga class Mama and I walked to the park with my friend, Miss Adah. Adah held Mama's hand and I held Adah's hand, and we walked a really long way (at least a block!). Then Adah and I decided we wanted to be carried, so Mama picked us both up and carried one of us on each hip and Adah and I held hands while we were carried. When we got to the park, we had a great time. We swung together, slid together, and climbed the jungle gym together. Boy, was it fun! We even shared our snap pea snacks with each other. It sure is nice to have such a great friend!




When Adah's Mama came to pick her up, Adah took a bad fall on the concrete. She cried and cried, and I didn't know what to do. I gave her a bandaid from Mama's bag, then tried to wipe her tears with a wipe, but she still cried. Finally I remembered that I had some stickers in Mama's bag, so I got those out and put lots of kitties all over Adah's shirt and arms. That made her feel lots better, because she likes kitties almost as much as I do. It's nice to be able to help my friends when they are sad!

An unconventional way of doing things.

I like to bounce A LOT. There is a really fun bouncy car thingy at the park I like to ride on. Mama tries to get me to sit on it and hold on to the handles, but I have an unconventional way of doing things.


And here's a quick picture I accidentally took of Mama at the park (okay, Mama cropped and centered it, but it wasn't bad for a first shot, huh?).

Lazy blogger...

Sorry I've been such a lazy blogger lately...with all the record high temps we've been having (82? In the middle of March? REALLY?), Mama and I have been running around town all day and haven't taken much time to play on the computer. We have been taking lots of pictures, though, so we will have new blog posts. As soon as the weather calms down and we get over our spring fever.

In the mean time, here are some pics of me at the park by our yoga studio. There is a big pond with a boardwalk through it, and I love to play there and watch all the waterfowl. I love the Canadian Geese (HONK HONK!!) and watching the ducks swim and dive ("Mama, duck fall! Duck fall!"). There are two playgrounds at the park (one for ages 2-5, one ages 6-12), and the little one is just my size. I can do everything by myself, which is lots of fun! Not to imply that I don't like the big kids' play structure, too...I like Mama to go down the huge slides with me! I also make her hold me up to the monkey bars so I can "hang"...it's LOTS of fun, and makes me giggle! And the best part about the park is that there are almost always lots of babies there playing...I love helping them learn all about playing on a jungle gym!

My first 2nd Birthday Party!

Some of my friends are getting really big! Last week I went to my first 2nd Birthday Party. It was for my friend, Dexter! No more little-kid, play-at-home birthday parties for us...we are having real parties now! We went to a big building that looked like a grocery store, but when we got inside it was all filled with bouncing houses! I bounced and bounced and bounced and did some sliding and dancing, then bounced and bounced some more! It was one of my best days ever. Mama tried to get some good photos, but I was moving way too fast! There was just so much to do!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Friday was Dr. Seuss's birthday, so Mama took me to the library for his birthday party. I was a little confused because I didn't actually see him there, but then again maybe he was just hiding because he's shy.

For his birthday a troop of local kids came and put on four numbers from their production of Seussical, The Musical. Boy, were they good! After every song (which I danced along to, of course), I turned to Mama and said "More singing, please! More!".

When the songs were over, we all had a green-eggs-and-ham breakfast. The muffins were my favorite part...I liked to lick the crumbs off the muffin cup.

Mama didn't get any pictures of the singing because she didn't want to scare the kids (they were really little, and SO talented!), but she did snap this quick photo of me waiting in line for breakfast. Don't I look happy to be at the party? Mama wanted me to sit still for a better shot, but I was too busy playing with my friends!


Boy, was it a fun day! I hope Dr. Seuss invites me to his birthday party again next year!

Reading with Papa Todd

On my way home from Auntie Manda's house I got to stop and spend time with my Papa Todd. We had a really good time! The water heater leaked, and the laundry room flooded, and the water was turned off so I didn't have to wash my hands THE WHOLE TIME I WAS THERE! Plus, Baby Gavin came to play, along with another little baby girl. The best part was reading with Papa, though. I showed him how to lift the flaps in one of my favorite books. It's a good thing I was around to show him how it was done, so that he can explain it to Baby Gavin later on!

Big Kid Bed- another guest post from Mama

It has been an exciting week around our house- on Sunday, Elsie figured out how to climb out of her crib. Off came the front of the crib, toddler-bed style, and in came one deliriously excited toddler eager to exercise her new sleeping-time freedom!

The first nap in the big-kid bed didn't happen (see video for details).



The first night was even sketchier, despite me sleeping (?) on the floor next to her bed. By Nap Attempt #2, the lack of sleep was catching up with all of us. The result?



Ah, glorious success! The next few sleeping times were touch-and-go, but I am happy to report that, exactly one week after the start of our adventure, our little (big!) girl is happily entering Dreamland from the comforts of one very stuffed-animal-and-babydoll encumbered big kid bed!

January 11, 2012

A much-delayed guest post from Mama:



January 11th, 5:00pm, swinging at a local park. 56 degrees!

Upon waking up on January 12th....Elsie is the only one in our house who is happy to see that winter had returned: