Fall fun

Today was a beautiful fall day. We got some much-needed yardwork done, including raking the front yard. Maisie really enjoyed playing in the leaves as Aaron and I raked and bagged.

Where's Maisie?
There she is!!



She had a lot of fun crawling through our leaf piles, as you can see. She pointed out to us all the airplanes as they passed overhead (saying "Dat! Dat!" and pointing), all the cars that drove by ("Dat!), and the pedestrians ("Dat!"). She also practiced her new walking skills, using the gutter downspout to balance. As you can see, that was also a really good time!


We got some much-needed yardwork done, and Maisie had a lot of fun while we did it! We just hope that next year, she can help us rake. Fingers crossed!

First birthday present

Hey, it's our 100th post! Thanks everyone for following along, and for your comments. They make blogging so fun!

In another milestone, Maisie got her first birthday present today, from her Grandma Jo.

It's this crazy toy schoolbus that she can push in front of her, which we knew she'd really enjoy. She really likes practicing walking, so this is a great toy for her. Plus it sings a catchy little song. What's not to love?

What we didn't figure on is how much she was going to love riding on it! Once we sat her on it and started pushing, we were off to the races!

We pushed her up and down the sidewalk until it was time to go in and eat supper. And when we took her in, she got mad - she did NOT want to stop playing!

Future scientist

This past week was a rough one. Maisie was at home three days, was diagnosed with an ear infection, and is now on antibiotics.

At the same time, she took her first steps! Yay! It happened a little too quickly to catch a picture of it, but hopefully soon we'll be able to post one.

Actually, we're hoping to be able to soon post pictures at all... our camera is being difficult and not wanting to talk to our computer. It makes this whole picture blog business quite difficult. So in the meantime, here's a picture from our visit to the Science Museum today!

Maisie loves to type, so we let her type our name on our Scientist badge. That's why we're "4eww."

We really took much better pictures while we were there, but they're trapped on the camera! So for now, you've got the silly photobooth group portrait.

The science museum was a ton of fun, by the way, and we ended up buying a family membership. Maisie especially enjoyed investigating the Hmong house, crawling around the Mississippi River exhibit, and looking at the bears. So watch this space for more science pictures in the future!

Blog action day!

Today is blog action day - when bloggers worldwide (webside!) unite to talk about the environment. To put you in the right mood, here's another cute picture of Maisie playing outside.

I wanted to say that one of the easiest things you can do to help preserve the environment is to switch your lightbulbs from regular incandescents to compact fluorescents. They are awesome... they last forever (less purchasing! less shipping! fewer materials used!) and use a teensy fraction of the energy that conventional incandescent bulbs do (less coal burned to power your lightbulbs!). All in all - it's an easy, small change to make for the good of the environment.

Happy blog action day!

Busy week!

Sorry about the long time between posts! Last week was crazy - my last day at my previous job was Wednesday, and I started at a new firm on Thursday. So far it looks like it's going to be a great fit, but the changes made our week pretty hectic!

We did manage to get outside and play yesterday, though.

It was an unexpectedly beautiful day, 60 degrees and sunny. Aaron did a lot of work yesterday outside, taking down the porch screens and cleaning out the gutters, while Maisie and I played in the yard. She really enjoyed it - there was a lot to see, touch, and hear! In this picture you can tell that she's talking about something... I don't know what, as she doesn't really have any intelligible words yet, but she speaks with real inflection and tone, so you can tell she means what she's saying!

She's aaaaaaaaaalmost walking now, too. She has a push-along walker toy, and yesterday out of the clear blue, she pulled up on it and started walking along, pushing it in front of her! She looks tremendously pleased with herself when she does that. It's so cute.

I'm glad she's not quite walking yet, though. I'm not ready for her not to be a baby!

Beat the heat, take 2

So today was crazy hot, again. Hello, it is October 7 in Minnesota! Why is it 80 degrees out and so grossly humid? Blech. Some folks were out enjoying the unseasonably warm weather - some actually ran the Twin Cities marathon today! - but we caved.

We spent the day indoors, in air conditioning.

We might be weather wimps, but we were cool and comfortable weather wimps!

The forecast for tomorrow: high of 61. Ahhhhhh.

Swingin!

Today was probably one of the last warm days of 2007 here in Minneapolis. Did I say warm? I mean hot! It got up to 85, plus it's been raining all week so it was really humid as well. We coped with the weather by going to a nearby neighborhood park.

Maisie tried out the swings for the first time, and she loved it!

We helped her down the slide a few times, and she didn't seem to enjoy that quite as much as she did the swings. She did like crawling around in the sand that surrounded the swingset.

I don't think I noted her 11th month birthday! She's getting more mobile and interactive every day. At 11 months, she says "mama" and "dada," though without a lot of meaning to them. She is very interested in airplanes, and looks up to find them when she hears them going over... even if we're inside, and she ends up staring at the ceiling. She is almost exclusively eating regular table food now, with only the occasional puree. Maisie has two teeth - bottom front - the top front two are just about in, but not quite yet, and are causing her lots of problems. She isn't quite walking yet, but is working really hard on it. And - knock on wood - she regularly sleeps through the night!

Opinionated baby!

Maisie has lately been growing very... opinionated. And vocal. She used to be very tractable, but lately, if she doesn't want to do something, she'll let you know in no uncertain terms. For instance, tonight when we were driving, she did NOT want to be in her carseat. She screeched at the top of her lungs all the way from Target to home.

This has become especially true during diaper changes, for some reason. As soon as we put her down on the changing table, she starts screaming and kicking. She hates it!

The only way to keep her calm is to give her a toy, or a bottle, to distract her. It'll work for a few minutes. But as you can probably tell from the look in her eyes... it won't last.

I'm not sure if she's just an opinionated baby, or if this is a glimpse of the toddlerhood ahead of us.

Book shopping

We all knew that Maisie likes books. But today she discovered the joys of book shopping.

We went to BookSmart today, a great new & used book store in uptown Minneapolis. Maisie first browsed in the Food/Food Writing section, showing some interest particularly in Anthony Bourdain. She then moved on to music. She tried to read the copy of Heavy Metal you can see in this picture, but it was shrink-wrapped so she couldn't open it.

We stopped her when she got to first editions & collectables, though!

Skoal Vikings!

Okay, it's been a week since we last posted on here. This week has been very busy, so we haven't had a lot of time to take cute pictures of Maisie! Plus, she's going through a growth spurt that's causing her to sleep all the time. Seriously, she goes to bed at like 6:15 pm and sleeps until 6:30 am, and then takes three naps during the day. When she is done with this growth spurt she is going to be three feet tall. But in the mean time, there's not much time to take pictures of her.

We've also got a super busy weekend coming up, and I don't know how much picture-taking will happen. So to tide you over, here's a picture from last weekend.

I think this picture is hilarious, although Aaron thinks we both look really annoyed. Maisie looks like she is saying "Come on and take the picture already, Dad!!" You can really see how blue Maisie's eyes are, and how long her hair is getting.

As you can see, I'm wearing my Vikings jersey! This weekend the Vikings are playing the Packers at home, and Aaron's friend Emily is taking me to the game! I am SO exited; it's a huge rivalry and it's always a really good game.

We can't wait to see you, Emily!

Dinnertime smiles

Maisie really enjoyed herself at dinner tonight, as you can see!

She enjoyed a tasty meal of edamame and blueberries. Yum yum! Maisie is generally a very good eater, and hasn't rejected many foods that we've offered her. But she especially likes meals where she can feed herself - so much so that when we give her yogurt or purees, we have to make sure she has cheerios, or else she'll grab the spoon and wave it all around. She hasn't really figured out how to use utensils yet. So in that respect as well, the blueberries and edamame were a real hit!

Saturday celebrations

One thing I love about the Twin Cities is all the random little neighborhood festivals that spring up during the spring/summer/fall. Today we went to two of them!

We started out at Woofstock in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis. As you can probably guess from the title, this is a celebration of all things doggy.
We're not huge dog people, as you probably could've guessed, but our friend Brian has adopted two retired racing greyhounds and is really active in that community, so we went to say hi to him and his boys, Boogie and Crash. (Boogie is the black one, and Crash is the brindle.) As you can see, Boogie was exhausted by all the goings-on. Fortunately Crash is kind enough to let Boogs rest his head on his back. They are such sweet dogs. If we were ever thinking about getting a dog, we'd seriously consider adopting a retired racer.

After Woofstock we headed home. It was naptime, but Maisie refused to sleep! So we strollered up to a random little neighborhood celebration not too far from our house. There was a bounce house for the kids, sidewalk sales, deals on cones at our favorite ice cream place, and even a really cool taiko drumming performance.


Too bad Maisie slept through it all! She even missed out on the ice cream, one of her favorite treats. She fell asleep about two blocks from home, slept through the whole walk (including the taiko drums), and woke up again when we were about halfway home.

Oh well, it's not a bad thing. Aaron and I enjoyed a nice walk, and Maisie definitely needed the sleep more than she needed the ice cream.

Maisie & Aaron's week

Maisie's daycare provider took this week off. My supervisor is out on medical leave, so Aaron's staying home all week with her.

Even though it's been seasonably (or even unseasonably!) chilly out, they've had a good time so far - lots of strollering around the neighborhood in the afternoons, going to the park to see ducks and stopping by friends' houses. Yesterday they went to our community library to check out the kids' room. They've also had fun at home reading books and playing with the kitties.

A particular favorite game of Maisie's these days is the chase game. It's pretty straightforward - Aaron "runs" from the living room to the bathroom, to Maisie's room, to the kitchen, while Maisie crawls madly after him, laughing the whole way. When she finally catches him in the kitchen it starts all over, only in reverse.

Mondays are always difficult. But I think this coming Monday will be harder for Aaron than most. Even though it's been hard work, who'd want to go back to the office after spending a whole week at home with Maisie?

Books

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that Aaron and I both love to read. We definitely hoped to pass our love of reading on to Maisie, and are happy to see that it seems to be taking!

We've made a real effort to read to her often, and we leave books scattered about with her toys. In the past she would show us a book she wanted us to read to her - most often it was "Yellow Bird" which was a gift from her Auntie Clare. But as you can see here, as she intently analyzes Sandra Boynton's "Not the Hippopotamus," recently she's started "reading" her books by herself - she will sit with them and very seriously flip through the pages and look at the pictures. She isn't interested in help, and will actually get a little angry if you take the book from her to read it aloud. Excuse me, but Maisie was reading that... thank you!

We're hoping it's the beginning of a life-long love of books!

Visiting Iowa + 10 months!

Happy Labor Day, all! We took advantage of the long weekend and went down to Iowa to visit Aaron's family.

We stayed with Maisie's Grandma Jo, who Maisie loves to pieces. Maisie gave Grandma Jo plenty of hugs at every opportunity! It was really cute. Maisie also enjoyed playing with Grandma Jo's toys, including this awesome car. We also got to see Auntie Clare, Auntie Brynna & Uncle Jason, Cousin Nika, and Grandpa Greg, Peg, and Katherine, and had breakfast on Sunday with Aaron's high school friend Emily! Hi Emily! We want you to come visit us!

We came home on Sunday so we were able to relax today, which is Maisie's ten-month birthday. Yay!

We celebrated by going out to Chiang Mai Thai, one of our favorite Uptown restaurants. We shared chicken satay, egg rolls, fried tofu, and toasted coconut ice cream. Maisie particularly enjoyed the satay and the ice cream, as I am sure you can tell.

At ten months, Maisie has lots of skills. She cruises confidently, and has started letting go of her support when she's standing up. She can only stand independently for a second or two... but I think walking is coming soon! She has three signs (milk, more, all done) and is getting very talkative; she can also recognize several words, including "kitty!" She plays peek-a-boo, claps her hands, and loves to give hugs. She finally got some teeth last week... the bottom front two, at the same time. I don't think the top ones are too far behind. And today's discovery: her armpits are ticklish! It's so cute.

Shoes

I'm not sure if it's a Minnesota thing, a midwestern thing, or a land of ice and snow thing, but around here, it's pretty standard to take your shoes off inside and leave them by the door. You don't want to track all the melting ice and snow, plus whatever's in it (sand, chemicals, etc....) into the house, y'know.

We leave our shoes by the door on a rug that my aunt Donna made for us for our wedding. It may not be a beautiful use for what's undoubtedly a beautiful rug, but it is useful.

It cracks us up to see Maisie's wee soft-soled slippers there next to our shoes, which seem so huge by comparison! That pair only just still fits - she'll outgrow them soon.

Guess how much I love you?

This picture reminds me of a moment in Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney. That book is a staple of our bedtime routine around here. If you're not familiar with it, the storyline is pretty much Little Nutbrown Hare trying to tell his father how much he loves him, but Big Nutbrown Hare always manages to one-up his son. It's cute and funny, and if I'm especially overtired or emotional, it can make me cry with its sweetness.

"I love you as high as I can reach," said Little Nutbrown Hare.

"I love you as high as I can reach," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
That is very high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare.
I wish I had arms like that.

Chasing the kitties

Maisie's favorite game is to chase the cats around the house.

Into and out of the bedrooms, around the living room, and as seen here, under the dining table.

Pretty soon she'll be too tall, but right now she is still little enough to crawl under the table and then stand up to try to get at the cats, who've taken refuge on the chairs.

If she catches up with them, she tries to pet them, but she gets too excited and ends up pulling out handfuls of their fur, or pulling their tails, as we say "Gentle! Gentle with the kitties, Maisie!" Poor kitties. They're terribly patient. Next weekend we're heading down to Iowa to visit Aaron's family. And to give the kitties a little break.

Fussy weekend

Finally posting after a rainy, fussy weekend.

As you might be able to tell from the drool coming out of her mouth, Maisie is finally teething for real. Her two front lower teeth are finally poking through the gum - you can't quite see them yet, but you can feel them. Maisie was cranky the whole weekend, and didn't sleep or eat well. Plus we were housebound by the torrential rain... well, it was a long weekend.

Even though this picture is blurry, I like it because you can see just how much hair she's got. Aaron and I were looking back at some old pictures from January and February the other day, and we were amazed at how bald she was back then! We thought she had so much hair - but look at her now. We may not get her a real haircut for a while, but her bangs are already starting to get into her eyes.

Tattoos

My nephew, Dylan, is all about temporary tattoos these days.

It's not really surprising, I guess; his mom has three tats, and his dad has one (or maybe two) too. Laura usually gets them for Dylan one at a time out of the vending machines at the grocery store. But when Aaron found a pack of 50 pirate-themed temporary tattoos, he knew Dylan had to have them.

Little did we know, however, that we'd all end up wearing them... including Maisie! (I myself am currently sporting a cutlass temporary tattoo on my belly, and you can see Laura's pirate, on her right elbow.)

Maisie's daycare provider Anna laughed and laughed when I showed her Maisie's Jolly Roger this morning.