Most Favorite-ist Thing

"Is that your most favorite-ist thing ever?" Patrick asked Donald when he presented the hand-made visor he had crafted for his dad at the Abra Father's Day Party on Friday. The kids were so excited to have their dads there for a special afternoon.

The other night Patrick and I were talking and the subject of daddies came up. We talked about my daddy and Donald's daddy, and some other daddies that we know. Patrick had a lot of questions, and in the midst of a bunch of technical questions (age, number of kids) I got this humdinger of a look straight into his little 3-year-old heart:"Do you love your daddy so much and want to play with him all the time?"

Madeline is also a fan. She has always squealed with delight at the sound of Donald's footsteps on the front porch, but now that she has discovered books she's becoming even more of a daddy's girl and is eager to climb into his lap for an endless supply of stories, which he is happy to oblige. We had to buy a replacement copy of Pat the Bunny! She also loves to invite him to "run daddy run" around the kitchen island, which is accompanied by more squealing.

Donald will be wearing his new most favorite-ist thing, and hanging out with his most favorite-ist people on Sunday. Happy Father's Day to all of the great dads out there, and thanks for being the most favorite-ist thing in the world to some very appreciative kids.

Sprayground Spectacular

The brand new "Sprayground" at Lee District Park was the perfect place to be on a hot afternoon yesterday. Patrick and Madeline had a ball checking out the many different sources of spouting water. We never even got to the dragon, pirate ship, and water table workbench, but there are tons of fun things to keep the kids cool all summer long. We can't wait to get back!

The Madeline Report: 18 Months

Madeline's 18 (well 19) month appointment went well. Our girl is just shy of 29 lbs and still entirely too unhappy with the measuring process for any sort of accurate reading on height or head. Her speech and motor skills are developing nicely and she is stringing words together, most often "sit down mama," "no mama no," and my favorite, "run mama run," which is an invitation to chase her around the kitchen island while she squeals with delight.

Madeline loves dolls and music, and does a nice little head bop/leg bend whenever a tune wafts through the air. She seems to be acquiring new words every day. She surprised me this weekend with "robot" and "oscar" (the grouch). "Book! book!" is another new word. She finally wants to be read to and will bring us books and climb into our laps. She loves Pat the Bunny, Snuggle Puppy, and all of the Sesame Street books, but will also gamely listen to the adventures of Spiderman and Batman, and continues to slavishly follow every move her beloved brother "Pa Pats" makes.

My other favorite word is "appy" which Madeline said to me one night a few weeks ago as we settled into her rocker to sing "You Are My Sunshine." When I got to "you make me happy" she added "appy" each time I said it. A few days later we took her trike to Patrick's school to pick him up and as we were rolling along, with Madeline clutching her snack cup in one hand and the handlebar in the other she turned back to look at me and said "appy!"
This is one very appy girl.

Bon Voyage to the Barnes Family

Our beloved Rosemont playgroup has been together four years now, which unbelievably is as long as we were in college. This group has shared so many firsts, it was inevitable that there would eventually be some lasts. The Barnes family—Leef, Paul, Harry, and Charlotte—are off to the UK for three years and we will miss them terribly. We bid them farewell with a fun backyard barbeque on a sweltering Memorial Day that thankfully featured a moon bounce water slide, kiddie pool, and mountains of popsicles. We will miss you Barnes family, but can't wait to hear about all of your new adventures.

Welcome Summer!

Ahhhhhhh Memorial Day weekend. Even though summer in DC can begin in April, I'll never shake my New Englander's love for the official start of summer. We hit the pool, attended a few BBQ's, and took a ride in a red wagon and bought lemonade from kids on the corner, thus officially checking off all requisite Memorial Day Weekend activities.

Little Helpers

It seems like every time I cook these days I have two very eager helpers. Patrick is very good at cracking eggs and likes helping me make "a lot of breakfast." Fortunately we have Madeline, who likes to eat a lot of breakfast, and also stand on the step stool to see what's going on.

I Scream, You Scream

Until very recently the spring weather has been great, and we've been enjoying spending evenings on the front porch eating ice cream cones. At first, Patrick was in a state of disbelief that one could acquire a cone outside of the ice cream store (which is frequently "closed"), but now he sweetly leads Madeline outside while we clean up, then waits like a vulture for her to lose interest in her cone so he can swoop in and score a second dessert.