margaretyagan

Today was a very gloomy day and I was very glad to have gotten to spend so much time outside yesterday!  We stayed in all morning and after my nap we headed over to Nana & Grandpa’s for lunch.  Nana had cooked some zucchini which I liked a lot more than whatever baby food Mom and Dad brought with us!

We didn’t stay as long as usual  because Mom and Dad had some plans, which apparently didn’t include me!  As soon as we got back home, Rachel rang our doorbell.  She came in and played with me and Mom & Dad left for a date!

I had a really fun time with Rachel and by the time Mom and Dad got back it was dinner time.  We played after dinner and then got ready for bed.

Friday was a bizarre day in that not a single picture of me was taken!  I don’t think there have been more than 10 such days in my entire life.

I wasn’t in a great mood this morning; I was clinging to Nana a lot and wasn’t too enthusiastic about play time. I totally rejected the fritatta.  I fell asleep almost instantly at 9:00 and woke up in totally great mood.   It was another beautiful day, so Nana decided to have my first-ever picnic!  We went out in the yard — Nana with her cup of coffee and me with my lunch.

Much to my surprise, we had a guest show up — Dad!  He got home early today and took a break to play with me in the yard while Nana went for a little walk around the block.  Dad left and we had more fun in the sun before coming inside to play with more toys.  It was so nice not be wearing socks or a coat or even long pants!

I woke up from my nap and Dad was back.  Before long, Mom was, too!

Saturday was a really busy day!  Of course it started with my weekly trip to the grocery store with Dad.  All of the usuals were at Dominick’s and I was being especially cute so everyone was saying hi to me.  After breakfast but before my nap, Mom, Dad, and I went to Home Depot to buy some stuff for the yard.  Thankfully, they did all the manual labor during my naps and I just got to enjoy the benefits.  I slept well and the productivity continued after I ate lunch.

We hopped in the car and went to Target, Gap, and Old Navy.  I had a lot of fun crawling under the door in and out of Dad’s dressing room while he was trying on jeans.  I took my afternoon nap and then we all celebrated the beautiful day by taking a trip to the park. I swung, I climbed, and I even hopped with Mom on one of rides.

By the end of the day I was pooped and I fell asleep pretty quickly.

I was in a great mood this morning.  I ate a really big breakfast and didn’t even take my nap until 9:45.  The big news today is that it was a beautiful and I got to spend a lot of time outside!  I love my slide and the little fence that marks off my part of the yard.

It would have been  a perfect day except that I didn’t feel like taking my afternoon nap!  I ended up crying in my crib for about 30 minutes before Nana rescued me.

I had a fun morning, though I got tired a bit earlier than usual.  I drank a lot of milk, but didn’t really go for the egg (which I usually love!).  I got to my nap right at 9:00 and slept for about an hour and a half.  I woke up in a great mood, dancing in my crib and holding my stuffed puppy by the tail.

For the third day in row, I’ve been eating tomatoes in my succotash, which I really like.  Nana and I played hide-and-seek for almost an hour!  The suitcase turned out to be a great hiding place for everything!

I gave Mom a tough time during my bath (constantly trying to stand up!) and then totally threw her for a loop when I chose “Good Night Chicago” as my good-night story.

I woke up with Mom and was happy to get to start my morning playing with Rachel.  When Nana got here around 7:15, we had a little happy screaming session to welcome each other.  I slept for about an hour at 9:00 and then played with Nana for most of the day.  We didn’t get to go outside, but we still had a really fun day!

I got up relatively early today, which made Mom happy because she got to spend about 15 minutes with me before she left for work. Dad was working from home today, so he brought me downstairs and played with me until breakfast, which went even in the absence of oatmeal (my favorite!). I managed to finish the yolk of my hard-boiled egg for the first time in a few days.

I was in a great mood all morning, but not much happened before my nap. It was such a gloomy and rainy day that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go outside at all. Anyway, I decided to make my own cheer!

When I got up from my nap, Nana was there to greet me and I did my special crib dance for her, which made her even happier. We played downstairs with special attention to building towers of blocks and knocking them down. We also had a few fun visits from Dad every so often.

Lunch was especially yummy, because it had both succotash and raspberry parfait. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that. We played some more and for snack I had a huge cup of milk along with half a banana and some cheese. I was in my crib at 3:30 as usual.

Mom was supposed to be back for her doctor’s appointment by the time I got up, but she wasn’t so Dad covered for a few minutes down in the office until Mom got home. I played with Mom until dinner time, when Dad came upstairs and joined us. After I finished eating we all played together until my bedtime!

Wow, I used to have tiny thighs!

I got up around 6:00 but it was a good twenty minutes after that before Dad came in and got me up for the day.  We went down to the office to try to be as quiet as possible so that Mom could get some rest. 

Here I am dancing…with myself:

I had a delicious breakfast — I still love my oatmeal — and then Mom came down and joined the fun. The first game we played involved playing with my “Rock-a-Stack”:

Then we played hide and seek:

After my nap, it was lunch time and Dad was desperate to get me to eat my parsnip & parmesan dish that I rejected last night at dinner. Apparently he and Mom are big believers in positive reinforcement:

Before my afternoon nap, we made a family trip to Oberweis; it was our first trip of 2009 and I expect there to be many, many more. We pretty much went every weekend last fall until it got too cold for ice cream. I colored with Dad in a coloring book and then explored the joint with Mom:

We got home and I ate a snack and got ready for bed. I took a really, really long nap and I woke so late that there wasn’t too much time to play before dinner time (in fact, we started dinner ten minutes late!). Dinner took a while (the positive reinforcement bit wasn’t quite as effective this time). Dad gave me a quick bath and got me ready for bed.

Today got off to a very unusual start when Mom got up with me in the morning.  Perhaps the most reliable, consistent part of my weekly schedule is on Saturday morning, when Dad gets up with me and we go to the grocery store.  It was fun to get to spend some quality time with Mom in the morning while Dad enjoyed his birthday weekend with some extra sleep.

Dad came down around 8:00 and played with me and Mom until my nap time.  When I got up, Mom put me in a dress and we took off for Dad’s birthday brunch with Nana and Grandpa.  We met them at Francesca’s (the same place A/C had her birthday brunch a few weeks ago) and we had a great meal.  I got to eat pancakes and eggs off Dad’s plate and Grandpa let me taste almost everything from his plate, including peppers, chicken, and potato!  Also, I hadn’t seen Nana in a week, so we had some special bonding time, too.

After brunch Mom, Dad, and I headed back home and hung out.  We decided to retire my Jumperoo, which had so many fun memories.  It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago Mom had to put phone books under my feet so I could reach!

Grab some popcorn, this is a long one:

Dad and I made our weekly trip to the grocery store, but our regular friends weren’t there because the early morning shift had already gone home.  It was still fun and there were certainly a lot more kids around.

After we got back it was time for my afternoon snack and then nap.  I got up and hung out with Dad (Mom was napping) and then they both helped feed me dinner and then played with me before my bath.

I got up and since it was a Friday, I expected Mom to get up and be hustling out the door.  But instead, Mom decided to take the day off because she had been traveling so long!  Mom and I went downstairs and Grandma Droste hung out with us until we took her to the train station.  I’m going to miss her and I hope I get to see her again soon.

When we got back, it was time for my nap.  I got up at 10:45 and “helped” Mom wrap  Dad’s birthday presents by ripping up the paper she was using.  We played all afternoon but we decided not to leave the house because it was still pretty chilly.

When I got up from my afternoon nap — Dad was home!  Dad was so excited when he came to get me out of my crib.  Mom and Dad had waited for me to open his birthday presents — and just as I helped Mom wrap earlier, I got to help Dad unwrap.  Thanks to the practice I got at my birthday party, I’m very good at unwrapping!

Here I am showing off my mad athletic skills (or total lack of interest):

The three of us hung out the rest of the evening and Dad was sure to spend every possible minute with me — he said that I was one of the best birthday presents!

Well, here was my official present for Dad — a kiss:

That sure beats the sign I made him last year!

I woke up on Thursday and for the second day in a row I woke up to see Grandma Droste! We got dressed and played peek-a-boo in my room with my puppy (who needs a name, by the way!).  We watched the birds in the trees and noticed that it was a much nicer day than it’s been in a long time.  We knew we’d be spending some fun time outside!

Breakfast was a bit messier than yesterday.  I really fought to hold on to my own spoon, which caused food to go flying, but I got (most) everything down.  After I ate, I played with my bibs,  the dish towels, and the plastic ware in “my” cabinet.  Then we walked to Dominick’s to get a few things and Grandma let me buy a new balloon to go with the two that I still have from my birthday!  I couldn’t decide between the frog and the rabbit (I mean, come on, they both go “hop hop”!), but I eventually decided on the rabbit.

After lunch, we celebrated the beautiful day by spending time in the yard. I’m really starting to appreciate how nice it is to have our own space to play when we don’t want to go to the park. I worked with Grandma planting flowers but I also played on my slide:

While we were outside, Mom came home! Yay! I hadn’t seen her in 8 days and I missed her so much. Of course, the three of us spent a lot of time playing together the rest of the day. She gave me my snack and put me down for a nap. When I got up, I was so happy to see that Mom was still here! But she was so jet-lagged that she could barely function! So she took a rejuvenating shower while I played with Grandma until dinner. Then it was bed time. I hope Mom’s here when I wake up1!

A year ago was my first night away from Dad!