Gracie's Costume

 

 

Can you guess who I am??

My first mobile blog test post!

Mischievous Giggles

While I was checking my email this morning, I heard a burst of giggles, followed by little feet pattering out of the kitchen and on down the hallway. My mama's instinct was telling me something was up, but I thought I'd finish what I was doing, then go find me a Gracie. But just a minute later, more giggling made me look up to see Grace coming back to show me she had my kitchen towel, stolen off the refrigerator door. Once she knew I'd seen her, she turned and, with more giggles, toddled off back towards the hallway as fast as she could go. Thank you, God, for letting me be Grace's Mommy! :-)

Peek-a-boo at the Park

New Words

Grace is really chattering these days; this morning she picked up a book and sounded like she was reading it to me, in her own little language. She loves sitting on things, and she'll pat my glider when she wants up, and she'll say "rock". Well, Mama knows that's what she's saying anyways. Most of the time she prefers the noises things make though, so a car or truck is "vroom".

Her new favorite pasttime is helping Mama sweep. When I forget to close the pantry doors, I'll frequently find she's pulled the broom out and is attempting to sweep the kitchen floor. She's a good little helper, but we're hoping to find a shorter broom very soon. She gets really upset when I'm trying to sweep up a mess and she can't help! It was funny the other day though, I'd dropped a dish rag on the floor, and she squatted down and started scrubbing the floor with it, just like she's watched me do countless times around her highchair. Children really are little mirrors!
 
 
 

An Ill-Planned Drive

Last Saturday, we thought it'd be fun to take a day trip over the Olympic Peninusla and revisit a state park Caleb and I had driven to when we were dating. It had been such a fun trip before, and the autumn leaves were beautiful, we just assumed everything would work out this time too. Unfortunately, Grace had officially outgrown her infant seat, and it was a little more complicated than we'd expected getting Grace's new carseat installed, so we were a little later getting started than we'd planned. And then she cried, loudly, until we stopped for a very late lunch at Jack in the Box. She finally slept after that, but neither of us had double-checked how to get there, so hours of driving left us hours away still when she woke up from her afternoon nap. We'd ended up on Highway 3 driving through an industrial looking area with no playgrounds in site, so we took a half hour detour to a little state park on some island. It wasn't quite what we were hoping for (our hoped-for colorful leaves were replaced by tall evergreens), but Grace had lots of space to run and play, and we had a fun time picking apples and feeding them to a friendly deer.

On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's, and had a blast on the play-structure. (Kids are a free pass to play again!) We took Grace up to the top, and I took her in my lap down the slide. We wore her out pretty well, and she slept the entire way back. We're planning a repeat in a week or two, but this time we'll check the map first. :-)

Grace's First Joke

 

It's a car seat; get it? :-D

September Review

We just reformatted our laptop and got everything set back up again, so I've been going through the photos from last month, and thought I'd post a few.
 
Our playgroup kind of fell apart for the summer, but several weeks ago we had Anna and Adeline over, and the girls had a fun time climbing all over Aslan.

 
One of Grace's favorite pasttimes for last month was emptying my diaper bag every chance she got. She seems to be losing interest in it now, but I still have to make sure it stays zipped if I want to be certain of it's contents!


 
While Mom was visiting, we took Grace for a lengthy drive (it started out as a trip to the zoo, but she fell asleep in the car) up to the outlet malls. We didn't buy anything, but had a fun time watching the fountain and playing peek-a-boo.


 
The afternoon after my mom left, I took Grace to Kelsey Creek Park. It's totally my favorite park at the moment - Grace loved the toddler-sized playhouse, though she wasn't quite big enough to crawl through this maze.

Belated Photos at the Bells

These got missed in my first upload...
 
 

Belated Photos at the Bells

Caleb finally dumped his camera this morning, and I thought these were too cute not to post. :-)
 
 
 
 

Grace's First Drawing (Attempt)

 

Actually, Mama and Daddy did most of the scribbling, but Gracie helped. A little. And yes, that is black crayon remnants stuck to her mouth.

Shoe Attempts

Grace has really been trying to figure out this shoe thing lately; just yesterday I caught her in the hall trying to put her doll's shoes on her own feet. She got her toes just barely in one of the shoes, and tried to walk, but it didn't stay for very far.

Grace's First Happy Meal

My mom came up for several days last week to stay with me and Grace while Caleb was at the Mars Hill Men's Advance (that's their name for the men's retreat), and she bought Grace her very first happy meal. Mama split the chicken nuggets with her, and Grace had her first sip of Coca Cola out of a straw. (My mom slipped her a drink while I was in the restroom. :-) ) She enjoyed a couple french fries too, but bananas still reign as her favorite food. You really have to search for them, but McDonald's even has toys for babies, and Grace had fun opening and closing the doors on the little farmhouse long enough for Mom and I to finish our own lunches. It was great fun! :-)

And for comparison's sake, here's Grace's very first McDonald's run, with Pappy and Mimi just a week after she was born while Mama and Daddy were at Scott & Helen's wedding reception. :)