Muddy Buddy

We had a super-fun, muddy morning participating in the Muddy Buddy race. It is a 6 mile "unique trail running and mountain biking adventure race" that ends with a belly crawl through the mud pit. Here you can see me and my muddy buddy, Adam, standing around, getting all nervous, waiting for the race to start. The course was super hilly which is fine for running, but was terrifying for me on the downhills with my rusty biking skills. The third obstacle, a balance beam, was also particularly cruel with jello legs after 4 steep miles. Below you can see me (in the yellow) emerging from the mud pit, triumphant that I managed to finish the race without crashing. At the finish line! Yes, Adam's mouth is FULL OF MUD. He was rather enthusiastic in his approach to the mud pit: belly flopping in and rolling over to do the backstroke.

Say "Cheese" (with Meat)

Out of the Nest

We have been working on getting Matilda's room outfitted for her transition to a big girl bed. We finally got all of the bed portion finished yesterday: mattress delivered, IKEA bed consisting of 2,000 pieces built, headboard and footboard covered, new sheets purchased. She is very excited about the whole process but we have yet to attempt the actual sleeping-in-your-own-room theory. I love the perplexed look on her face here. "You want me to sleep where?"

Showbiz, Baby

So we are finally hitting our Hollywood stride here in the RD Mama household. Last weekend a scout approached Matilda and me at our farmers market looking for "talent" to be used in a shampoo campaign. I expected to be sketched out by a talent scout but this all seemed legit. I agreed to let him take a mug shot and be put into the pool of candidates.

The talent guy called back today and asked us to come in next week for a photo shoot. It's specifically for mothers with kids so Matilda will be getting a work permit also. How strange! I think I need to watch out or soon I might spiral into a momager of our little talent.

For the record, this was the fuzzy head of hair they found me with. I think they must want me for some sort of ungroomed before shot.

Halloween Recovery Day

Today we are taking it slow recovering from yesterday when we had a busy day filled with sandy jack o' lanterns, trick or treating (Matilda and Grammy) and too much candy (me).

A Halloween first for all of us: a picnic lunch at the beach. A shot of our uncertain chicken leaving her first trick or treating house, candy-less.
Also, I have officially entered NaBloPoMo and will be posting EVERY day this month. I will try to find something other than driveling on about Matilda. Tim is always encouraging me to actually post nutrition related things, but the dietetic portion of my brain is impaired of late. I am very open to suggestion.

Baby's First Loot

We took Matilda trick or treating tonight expecting to just see some decorated houses and watch all the other dressed up kids. As we approached the first house Matilda was intrigued by their scary ghost in the front window, but very apprehensive of the nice couple at the door. She wouldn't go close and ended up just saying "bye bye" mid-way through our exchange, indicating her desires. After three more houses without accepting any candy, she finally warmed up and caught the fever. Matilda really hasn't had any candy to speak of but somehow she knew there was something special about the little crinkly packages. She would just hold them up at us pleading "please, please" as if to say I know there is something more to this. By the end of the evening Matilda was charging up to each doorway and chanting "more" between stops. I think she was satisfied with just collecting the treat, must be genes from Daddy. While she did go to bed without eating any candy, I would say she had a pretty fun day as a little chicken.

Happy Halloween

From our hen house to yours.

Say Cheese

As we were taking pictures of Matilda's Halloween costume this weekend, she surprised us all by smiling on cue. M was maintaining a very serious face and Tim said, "Can you please smile for a picture?" and smile she did! It is so funny to see what her put-on smile looks like. Although I am sure we will come to a time when we don't want the forced smile in every picture and long for the days of more candid expressions.

At the Zoo with Grammy

We had another fun trip to the zoo this morning, this time with Grammy.
Matilda got to practice her alligator balancing act.

Not only did we get to see the three adorable tiger cubs romping, but the chimps put on quite the show today with a big palm tree swinging, chest thumping chase.

Matilda impressed both Mama and Grammy by climbing to the top of this rock wall thing.

Keeping things in the holiday spirit we got the chance to meet Casper, an albino rat snake.

Fun with Grammy's Yarn

Grammy is crocheting an afghan for Matilda and brought it along to finish while here on vacation. Matilda is just as bad as the cats when is comes to assisting and had a blast with the yarn ball. We had to intervene several times as she would go running off into another room while still tangled in yarn and pulling on Grammy's stitches. Threading her toes.

Hungry Artist

Due to the fires this week (which are not threatening us directly, but have resulted in horrible air quality) we have been trying to stay entertained with indoor activities. In desperation I have been busting out the art supplies. Matilda really loves to color/paint/sculpt for about 30 seconds. After that it is all about how much of the crayon/marker/paint/play dough she can eat before I say uncle and pack it all up. This photo does not really do justice to exactly how black your teeth look after eating the tip of a black marker. I can also report that black markers really look blue on the other end and someone at the diaper service is going to be perplexed this week. The markers which were non-toxic were less concerning than the Play Doh which very clearly said "not for consumption" and had no reassuring non-toxic statement. I think next time I will try out my mom's old play dough recipe.

Stylin'

Baby Proofing

I have yet to see onions mentioned in any baby proofing tips. Yet, onions are a serious problem in the RD Mama household. Matilda will not stay out of the onion bin and consequently the entire house is frequently littered with onion skins. This was more of an actual hazard last year when she would choke on the skins. Now it is just a problem in the cluttered-household-makes mama-crazy sense.

Alive

Yes, fair readers, I still live and breathe. We just (if three days ago counts as just) returned from a two week east coast tour of family visiting and are getting back on track here. Hopefully I will soon return to my regularly scheduled blogging. In fact, I think I may try the post-every-day November challenge again so you can look forward to daily instalments of Matilda tales.
Making friends at her G-pop's (aka "bap") farm.