Oktoberfest

Too much Oktoberfest revelry can lead to emergency napping in the pumpkin patch.

Goats in Your Face

Frolickin'

How we spent our Friday. She is kind of a scowl-y frolicker.

18 months

To celebrate Matilda's semi-annual birthday today we went to the aquarium and baked a pie. It looks like she is petting the rays here, but really she was just trying to lick saltwater residue off the edge of the tank. Sharing her drink with a new pinchy friend. Yes, she did indeed dip the nasty kitchen sponge into the cream mixture for our peaches and cream pie.

Matilda's Room

Now that the futon is gone, we are awaiting the delivery of Matida's new mattress and bed to begin transforming our office/guest room into her room. As you can see she is already clearly claiming her space.

Tim & M inventorying all her toys. Kicking back on her new pillow and looking through her photo album.

I Heart Craigslist

I posted an ad to sell our futon yesterday at 3:43 pm. By 4:16 I had someone interested and this morning they picked it up. It feels so nice to have the big open space in our office that I want to start purging the apartment. With that response time I could clear out a whole closet while Tim is at work Monday!

Growth Spurt

Shirt: Too Short

Pants: Too Short

Shoes: Too Tight

Hammer Time

This past Saturday I ran my first post-baby race, the Nike Run Hit Remix. Thankfully the chip reader at the starting line malfunctioned, so I don't have to disclose my real race time. But overall it was super fun and felt easier than I expected. I think all that running pushing M in the stroller is getting me in better shape than I knew. I didn't take my camera but I did find this one for sale on the official photo site of the race. Somehow the racing chip glitch lost all record of Gaurav competing but we found proof otherwise. Also, this guy on Flickr has lots of good shots from the VIP lounge (including a random picture of Sarah's butt?) where we all got to recharge post race with a huge breakfast spread, Jamba Juice and beer. All the while being entertain by the musical stylings of Mr. MC Hammer himself. It was like going back in time. I also really enjoyed hearing Baby Got Back as we pushed through to the finish line. The whole thing was so fun that on the car ride home Sarah & Gaurav convinced me I should run the Muddy Buddy race in November. And poor Adam agreed to be my buddy!

Fashion Sense

Today Matilda & I had our first of what I assume will be many struggles over dressing. As I was getting out a tee shirt for her I kind of rhetorically asked, "How about this one today?" She shook her head no, said "owl" and pointed to the pile where the owl shirt normally lives. I explained that the owl shirt is currently living in the enormous pile of dirty clothes and wasn't an option. Instead I pulled out another tee and offered up a choice between the originally rejected tee and this new one. She flatly refused both and requested the owl shirt repeatedly. After some negotiation we settled upon this one with ants. And then went to work on that laundry pile.

VIP

As members of the zoo, we are eligible for the free docent led tours offered several times per month. We finally got around to signing up for one last weekend and it was fantastic. We were the only people who signed up so we had a private tour! Here you can see our entire tour group, except Tim who was of course acting as photographer. Our two docents were really knowledgeable and fun so it was super informative. We discovered that two of the zoo residents, Maggie the hippo and Methuselah the alligator, came from the old zoo in Griffith Park. We also got lots of background scoop on upcoming exhibits, fun animal anecdotes and "urban legend" type stories that all the docents pass around. Tim said it was his favorite trip to the zoo ever. It also helped that the weather broke a little and the animals (humans included I think) were all a bit more active and frisky in the cooler temperature.

Vacuum

Matilda is not a huge fan of the vacuum lately. She doesn't outright cry, but she is clearly stressed when it comes out. She spends the entire time the vacuum is running saying "mama" and watching me nervously. After our most recent vacuuming event she was very clear in her wishes. As I turned it off she walked right up and said "bye bye" while waving frantically at the appliance. I asked if she would like me to put it away and she responded "please" while continuing to wave and point toward the closet. The whole exchange cracked me up and also made me really amazed at how much she can communicate now. She has been nodding yes or no to answers for only a month now but we are already so dependant on those answers.

Stellar Parenting

You know it's been a good day when your toddler has handed you both a piece of poop (during toddler playtime, not hers) and a shard of glass (from the pint glass I broke three days ago in the kitchen).

Big Footed Bunny

I finished this Big Footed Bunny quite a while ago, but finally got around to photographing her this week. She is my first bunny (from another Wee Wonderfuls pattern) and the first stuffed toy I have made for Matilda since Beta Kitty. I am pleased to find that M really likes her, although the dress is a bit of a problem. Matilda really prefers that Bunny goes naked and even just getting a photo of her wearing the dress was a trick. Here you can see M's pudgy little hand going for the dress. She also likes to help Bunny hop, in the form of thrashing her up and down. My favorite part is Bunny's little tail sticking out of her dress. Next up I need to finish the matching dress I have planned for M. The pattern is just so darn complicated and intimidating. But I am motivated by the though of how potentially adorable they could be together.

Sea World

A photo recap of our fabulous Saturday:

Matilda makes some underwater friends at Sea World. Watching another amazing show with Uncle Gordie. We wisely choose not to sit in the splash zone. The belugas were amazing.
After Sea World, we met up with even more family. Matilda was excited to see her cousin Alison again and they explored the pier together. Giving out fish kisses to the filthy carts used by the sports fishermen.

TMI

You can file this potty training update under blog-as-baby-book since it may be too much information for some readers. For a few weeks now Matilda has been alerting us when she needs a new diaper, usually with a repeating chorus of "pee, poo, pee, pee, poo." We took this as a signal to step up the potty game and acquired a training toilet for her. As it turns out, she won't actually sit on the little potty and prefers using the regular toilet with her smaller seat balanced on it. Handily, this leaves the small potty free for GI Joe to keep her company in the bathroom. Each time she sings her pee poo song we offer a spell perched on the potty; frequently she accepts. Both Friday and last night she actually performed and was rewarded with huge praise and stickers, which she promptly ate. Matilda cannot be trusted with stickers and treats them just like the peanut M & M's my mom used in potty training us.

Beach Fun

We had an action packed weekend visiting with family in San Diego, Shamu at Sea World, and Gigi at Disneyland. Matilda said a visit to the beach would make her weekend complete so we made a pit stop in La Jolla for some splashing this morning.
After each wave she would look up to me and say more "more please."
Getting kisses and a cuddle from Daddy after getting a big splash in the face.

Fun Times & Happy Girls

You can't really see it well here but M is cracking up.



Gigi almost has her pinned.



Having too much fun.

Grounds for a Bath

Food in the hair is pretty much par for the course around here. Especially lately as Matilda loves to dip her food and we have been experimenting with various dips. During the course of our research we have discovered that sour cream cannot simply be wiped out with a washcloth post-meal. Unless you like a rancid smelling baby, sour cream is cause for a bath sooner rather than later.

Still Hot

106 Degrees today. Thankfully the power was only out for 2 hours last night and we have been hiding out in the AC. Although we only have our thermostat set to 85 to try and limit our stress on the poor transformers.

Trying to Beat the Heat

New Friend

Matilda & I finally got to meet Molly this week when we played at the awesome Venice beach playground with with her and her mom. The rumors of her cuteness have not been exaggerated and we look forward to more fun times together.

"Hey, give me back my shoe."

Who doesn't want their name on rice?

Outlets

Matilda models her haul from our outlet shopping foray yesterday. She runs to the mirror lately to check out new outfits or accessories.

Overalls are so cute they should be mandatory for kids:
Some crazy tights for the cooler weather we are dreaming of this week: