Something Fishy

Matilda is a fish fiend. Any time you ask her what she wants to eat she'll say fish, Last week we broke every limit-mercury-consumption-for-young-children rule by feeding her fish every single day. Oops.

After a satisfying meal of fish and chips, Matilda got an even more rewarding fish encounter on the commercial fishing docks in San Diego last weekend. One of the boats was emptying its holding tanks and there were anchovies escaping all over the place. The fishermen threw a few on the dock for us to show M. After a few minutes of observation and flopping we then fed them to the waiting birds or sea lions.

After the close encounter with fish, Matilda has added a new item to her repertoire of animal charades. Dogs, meerkats and eagles have been the previous favorites. Now, however, it is common to find Matilda flailing around on the floor flapping her mouth open and closed. Since fish are naturally much quieter than eagles we are encouraging this behavior. Our fellow restaurant patrons have been somewhat perplexed by the sudden appearance of a screeching eagle at our table demanding fish.

Earning Her Keep

I put Matilda to work tonight making dinner and she was a great helper. She washed potatoes, washed Swiss chard, splashed the cabinets, salted the sweet potatoes, stirred the veggies, and wiped up all the water on the floor afterwards. She also acted as taste tester sampling raw chard stalks, raw sweet potatoes, olive oil, butter, salt ("More!"), milk, poultry seasoning and Gruyere. And yes, it was a potato heavy meal, white potatoes and sweet - don't judge the dietitian. You need balance over a week, not every day.

Mango Cornflakes

Sarah brought a box of mango cornflakes back from India for us to enjoy. Since Gaurav is still back there for another week we made this video as evidence of Matilda's enjoyment. Thanks guys!

Puddles

Too-Ee-Or-I-Ix-Ev-Ate-Ine-Ten!

She won't ever count one, she knows it's the loneliest. She also almost always whispers as she counts - not one to show off I guess.

How To Pass 10 Hours on Amtrak

Our train trip to Tucson was fantastic. Matilda has turned into a train nut and agrees with my strong recommendation of train travel for toddlers. Here are Matilda's ideas of how to stay entertained on your long journey (keeping in mind that Amtrak is notoriously late and a 10 hours trip really means 12+):

Explore the train: swing from the curtains, play daredevil standing on the seats as the train rocks and your mother repeatedly pulls you down, see how many times you can bonk your nose with the tray table, run up and down the aisles exclaiming "THIS" and pointing at each new person you encounter.

Enjoy the scenery. When it starts to get dark and you can't see outside, shout "More, More" to see if that resolves the situation. Play, dress up, snack, color, read, play some more.

Make friends with your neighbors. Share snacks and books with them. Alternately you could choose to not make friends with your neighbors and follow Mama's example by yelling at the crazy/drunk lady who felt it appropriate to bellow parenting advice/other random craziness to her fellow passengers. Enjoy dinner in the dining car. Get to know your dinner companions by shouting "This?" every two minutes, prompting your mother to repeat their names (Jean and Charmaine). Laugh about the fact that your meal ($25: 1 entree, 1 milk, 1 glass red wine, 1 slice of "treat") cost almost the same as your fare ($31).
For your last resort, you can turn to everyone else's favorite way to pass time on the train:

Pinky Pink

Matilda put together this matching outfit today quite well, very girlie. She was rocking the cowboy boots on our damp walk to the library. We are all a bit under the weather here and taking it slow.

Coming Soon....

Tales of Train Travel

Summer Preview

While the grandparents are all being buried by snow and subjected to really cold weather, we are enjoying a gorgeous week. While unable to make snow angels, Matilda is thinking of you guys and trying to make do with sand angels.

Braids

Matilda has been asking for braids all week, just like cousin Mary Beth had. I had been busy telling her that when her hair got longer she could have them. To my surprise, she already has enough.

For Sarah

Morning Discovery

This was the view as I peeked into M's room this morning. She didn't fall out but continued to sleep hanging upside down like this for a bit longer. When we heard her wake up and checked back in she was climbing back to the middle of the bed. It would not have been her first tumble out. She has rolled out twice at night, both times right into this mountain of stuffed animals.

Another Grimsey in LA

On her way to Australia for the semester my cousin Mary Beth visited this week for a few days. Matilda was instantly smitten and gave her the grand Hollywood tour complete with a zoo visit and play dough time. We also hit some of the non-toddler-oriented tourist destinations:

The mandatory trip to see the Hollywood sign. For Mary Beth this view was not close enough, she is super hard core and hiked to the top of Mt. Hollywood with her roommate! During dinner Matilda got serenaded by Hollywood's Thai Elvis when our super friendly waitress snatched her up for a trip to the stage. We got Matilda to do some heavy lifting during our visit to the Batcave.

In preparation for her months in Australia I felt a trip to the Australia section of the zoo was in order. The animals surprised us with quite a show. Not only were the koalas awake, but they were running around the enclosure antagonizing the kangaroo. This photo was take immediately after a big wrestling match as the koala retreated.Bon Voyage at the airport.

Stay Puft

Full Speed

Seems that Matilda's early morning power breakfast left her with plenty of energy. She was super charged this morning. She spent a good thirty minutes just running laps around Union Station as we waited to meet Sarah for lunch.

Coffee Debate

Matilda woke up last night at 3:45ish and despite the entire battery of back-to-sleep trick, repeated ad nauseum, she refused to return to (or allow anyone else to) the sleeping state. At 5:20, I finally gave in to the repeated chant of "food, cereal, eat?" (For the record, no we aren't starving her, I could not believe she was hungry. At dinner last night she ate more than we had ever seen, clocking a full 90 minutes grazing in the high chair.) The entire time she ate her two bowls of cereal and 1/2 slice of peanut butter toast I struggled with the question of coffee. Do I admit defeat and start my coffeepot, or hold out in the hopes that she (and I) will go back to sleep, allowing me to happily postpone my morning joe until a more reasonable hour?

In the end my desperate hope for sleep kept me strong and I postponed coffee. I can't prove correlation, but she did go back to sleep at 6:30ish and remains that way now as I start my second cup.

Future Method Actor?

Here Matilda is displaying her fake laugh.

I Blame Tim for The Three Stooges

This is Matilda's latest favorite song. It has been her bedtime "lullaby" of choice for two weeks straight now.