New camera!

We got a new camera! Nothing fancy, but this *amazing* piece of equipment manages to capture our beautiful daughter consistently and without weird periods of "shoot, the camera isn't working today."

I fully predict more frequent posts due to this new piece of machinery--so get off my back--you know who you are!!! ;)

If Addie were in 5th grade and had to write a piece on "what I did on my summer vacation" it may look a little something like this:

Dear Teacher,

On my summer vacation, I did a lot of fun things.

I helped my mommy cook...


...and eat. See how neat I am?

....not always :)


I go to the pool with mommy...


Go out for lunch with Daddy...

...chillax on the couch while I watch mommy do housework

Okay, so sometimes I help out...

You want me to clean what now?

Teacher, I love being outside! Daddy took a picture of this beautiful butterfly near our house


I love playing in water and throwing rocks, even when I'm dressed all fancy-like



And I got to go to hang out in Old Town with Gaga




But the most fun of all I am having this summer is being "nakey." I pull on my shirt and say "nakey nakey" as much as possible in attempts to get mommy and daddy to take off all my clothes and let me dance to Michael Jackson's "Black or White" or Abba's "Mamma Mia" (my two current faves). In fact, if I could be naked allll the time, I would.



I'm having the best summer ever.

A conversation

Now that Addie is so verbal, we have regular conversations with her. Granted, her "sentences" contain usually one word--sometimes two--but it's still so much fun. Yesterday I was fixing dinner in the kitchen and Addie was in the playroom when I hear her walk by me, I look down and she has a purse in one hand, a lunchbox in the other and a hat on her head (which she put on herself) and she says brightly:

Addie: Bye!
Me (Monica): Bye sweetie, where are you going?
Addie: Work.
Me: Oh, how fun. Who's going to be there?
Addie: (R)eese.
Me: Well say hi to Reese for me.
Addie: Yup.

30 seconds later, Addie walks back into the kitchen.

Addie: BACK!
Me: You're back from work, how was it?
Addie: Goo(d).
Me: Can I have a hug?
Addie: Yesh. (H)ug.

After a big "welcome back" hug, she's back to the playroom...sigh, I love this little girl!

More quick snaps

Anne came over last week to play in Addie's inflatable pool now that the weather is warm.

Waiting for a quick snack before swimming (I don't think the "wait 30 minutes before swimming" rule counts if the water is 3 inches deep).



And here's one from when I hosted mom's group a few weeks ago. We can never get all the babies in at once--not everyone can make it and then when it comes time to take the pic it's like wrangling cattle to get them all into one place at the same time.
It still amazes me at how different these babies are from last April (when they sat happily and peacefully for the photo shoot)

From Left to Right: Reese, Mateo, Anne, Chase, and Addie

And in case you want to see the same crew (minus Mateo--he hadn't joined the group yet)
From Left to Right: Anne, Addie, Chase, and Reese

Quick Pic

My friend Samantha hosted a playgroup at her pool a few weeks ago and Kristi snapped this photo

First Metro ride!

I was unable to capture a photo of Addie's first metro ride because she was clinging to me for dear life. She was all excited to go on the "choo choo" and didn't even get scared when she saw the train coming into the station--but when we got on, she all of a sudden began whimpering and saying "all done all done" and burying her head under my chin. We only went 4 stops but it felt like it took an eternity for my scared little rabbit. Once we got off, Addie was all proud of herself. "Addie! Choo choo! Yay!"

Our destination was to meet Addie's friends Mateo and Mason at the National Building Museum in downtown DC--they have a cool room called the Building Zone that has tons of blocks and trains and dress up clothes and a little house you can go into.

Here are some photos I got from my phone camera:

Dressing up like a constructionworker fireman. We made some cool siren noises in this costume.

Hanging out inside the cool house

"Hey mom, can you buy me one of these chairs for home?"

We went to eat our snack in the big hall (and I mean BIG: According to the website, "The Great Hall measures 316 feet by 116 feet, and is 159 feet at its highest point. The fountain is 28 feet across and still has its original terra cotta trim." More about this cool building.)



Addie's reluctant smile that means: "can you just let eat my mini-muffin in peace??? sheesh"

A phone conversation

Today, Addie and I were in the car. She has about 5 fake phones varying in degrees of "realness." Today she was talking on her pink plastic nokia (as close to real as she's going to get) and had a conversation with an imaginary friend with pauses between each word to wait for a response I guess. It went a little something like this:

Lo.
Addie.
Yup.
Cool.
My. Eese.
Doggy.
Yup. Mmmmhmm.
Buh Bye

Translation:

Hello. This is Addie speaking. Yes, I'm fine. How are you?
I went to school today (aka co-op preschool that we just started last month).
Maya and Reese were there, we had fun together playing (her two friends were at school today too)
Yes, I like dogs, thank you for asking.
Good-bye!

Rainy day fun

When you have a toddler that wakes up in the 5am hour (and sometimes in the late 4am hour...I kid you not) AND you have rainy days, then it means a lot more hours of the day to fill with activities for someone who has the attention span of an ant.

Last week on a bright and sunny day, I was at Target and on a whim I picked up a pair of rainboots for Addie. They were so darn cute but I considered taking them back because we're all trying to save money these days, but thankfully...my impulse buy came in handy...Addie and I headed out to be Jemima Puddleducks yesterday during a warm afternoon misty rain.


Look mom, I'm wearing boots!

When Addie and I are out after a rain, we like to wave to our reflections in puddles. She always says "hiyeeeeee"

Stomp stomp stomp.

How muddy and dirty can I get my hands before snacktime?

This morning we played "beans". I got out a bag of dry beans and put them in a bowl. Who knew this would be such a hit?

One of Addie's favorite words is "dump" :) Next time we play beans, I'm putting out a blanket--the towel was not a big enough canvas :)

Let's just see how this would feel on my feet...yep...feels good! :)

While I do hope the sun will come out soon, I am glad that rainy days come around here and there because they force me to get creative!