A fun day w/ Ba...

Well, C was in a "Mommy, take our picture" kind of mood...so, of course, I oblige. When the camera came a courtin', Miss M turned into a major ham & made her mission in life to become so fast that I would be unable to capture her digital image for posterity. Fortunately, the camera has a relatively quick shutter speed, so in the immortal words of Leo from Little Einsteins, "Mission Completion."

On a side note, today proved to be an interesting outing for the family. Our close friends, John & Wendy (aka Uncle John & Aunt Wendy to the kids), are moving to Savannah (*insert C pouty face by me*). So, to celebrate, we went to lunch at a local restaurant (very family friendly, w/ yummy food).

Miss M decided that absolutely no highchair could keep her contained, resulting in Ba (aka Dada) having to keep a squiggly toddler (who seemed to develop additional limbs, taking on an octopus persona) on his lap, feed said toddler, all the while trying to eat his reuben. Miss M rapidly decided lunch was done and chose to go on the lam - several times. With a rapidly expanding waistline, I have been unable to keep pace or remain on the lead lap with Miss M. Therefore, Ba bounced up and down (much like a weeble, wobble), laid chase to the heir to the Nascar Points Cup and chased our Speed Racer throughout the restaurant.

Laps led our driving diva behind the counter, as well as an attempted breakout through the front doors. Thankfully, Miss M turned on the charm. The counter employees were very understanding as Ba sprinted behind the counter and extricated Miss M before additional havoc could rein. C summized the situation best by saying (referring to Miss M and the employees), "Maybe her wants to help them work."

Miss M earned a new nickname - the Toddler Houdini, Miss Monkey, or Octo-toddler - take your pick.

Happy 1st Gotcha Day Mena!

We celebrated our one year anniversary with M today. She got two special treats: a piece of cake and a baby doll we got for her in Ethiopia. (When going through the bag of Gotcha Day gifts, I noticed the gifts are almost all for older children. So, while she's too young to remember receiving the same doll before, she may get it for a few more Gotcha Days. My grandmother would be proud: She loved to give recycled gifts and cards--and then would deny it and pretend to be insulted when you pointed it out.)

C was so excited when he got home from school today. His class had their first trip to the library. And he could not believe that they let him take a book home with him. But he also made sure that T and I understood that we had to return it next week. He and I sat down on the couch to read it right away. Until he decided that he wanted to look at the pictures first (though he did tell me what was happening). By the time he was done looking at the pictures, he was ready to play on the computer. But M had just arrived downstairs from her nap and plunked herself in my lap. So at least I got to read about Clifford to someone!

Labor Day at the Zoo

M has been very interested in animal flash cards and C's Big Backyard magazine so we decided to go the zoo for entertainment today. As we've already been to the NC zoo a few times, we went to the Riverside Zoo in Columbia, SC. It's smaller and more compact than the NC zoo which was generally a positive on a very hot day with young kids and a pregnant wife.

The kids had a good time, though C was consistently ready to see the next animal rather than the one we were actually viewing. He especially liked lion, the tiger, and meercat (oh my; wait, that's not how it goes...), and the fish--especially the sharks--at the aquarium. He was amused by the "laughing" macaws. The funniest scene occurred at the tiger area. The tiger was apace about and roaring regularly. So C, and then M, roared back him. He'd roar, they'd roar back--loudly. Cute. Lots of good pictures to see below.


M has discovered belly buttons and now randomly pulls up any of our shirts in order to poke our belly buttons. Her own is not as interesting for whatever reason. C is mystified by the innie vs. outie issue. T has attempted to save us from the one of the most important mysteries of life by explaining it to us. Fortunately, I didn't understand so it can remain a mystery to me. Maybe C understood as he hasn't asked again; or maybe he realized he really didn't want the answer. Many mysteries in life are that way...they are much more interesting when they are mysterious.