Ah, the joys of introducing solid food. Madeline had her first taste of spaghetti the other night, and she looooved it. She is going to be an Italian food freak like her mommy, I can tell. The bruschetta and calamari are just around the corner, no doubt. :o)
It just amazes me that she is starting to catch on to all of these things that seem so grown-up, like eating the same things that Dave and I do. She’s also finding more words every day... she’s got "mama," "dada," "ba" (for ball), and "pee" (for peek, not for actually peeing -- although wouldn’t that be handy???).
What also amazes me is how much these little steps are what I take joy in now. Before I had a kid, this kind of stuff would have probably given me about 2 second’s pause and an "oh, that’s nice" if a friend or relative’s child did them. Now that I’ve watched Madeline from the very beginning of her life, and seen each incremental step she has taken, I feel so much wonder at each additional step she accomplishes. It’s simple entertainment, but you can’t beat it.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Summer Days
This year, the late days of August have really been making me nostalgic for the summers when I was a kid. I'm sure that having Madeline gives me the chance to relive some of that same happiness with her -- watching her enjoy some of the wonderful experiences of summer.
Some of the most vivid memories I have are of spending time at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson’s house. They were so good to us -- it seems like I had everything I could’ve wanted in those days. Mom would drive us into town, often with our bikes loaded in the car, too, so we could experience the fun of biking on pavement, a rarity on the farm. Kristie and I could cruise up and down the block, around the sidewalks and over to the church parking lot. We never ventured much further than that, though -- the cross streets were too busy with traffic for us to brave them.
If we were in the mood for a walk, we could go to Dumont Park or Poynter’s store for penny candy. With all the sidewalks, we could play gigantic games of hopscotch. The backyard at Grandpa and Grandma’s had a little patio slab with a swing to sit on. When renting movies was the newest rage, we would get movies and watch them in the cool air-conditioned house while lying on the soft caramel-colored carpeting.
Dinner always seemed to be tender, roasted-all-afternoon roast beef with potatoes and carrots. It was so good, but I’d make sure I saved plenty of room for the homemade ice cream Grandma had made for dessert.
On Saturday nights, Grandpa would go work at the races and bring home bags of Jasper’s caramel corn. Then he’d drag the extra mattress up the stairs from the basement and Grandma would make the bed for us with soft sheets that had a huge rainbow on them. We’d usually be too excited to fall asleep for a long time, so before drowsiness set in, it was fun to study the light slanting in from the streetlights outside -- so different from the complete and utter darkness at home on the farm.
Now that I’m grown up, I realize how much they did to make us happy and give us these wonderful memories. They surely had the same stressful grown-up worries everyone does, but I had no awareness of anything but the comfort and fun of a summer at Grandpa and Grandma’s.
Some of the most vivid memories I have are of spending time at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson’s house. They were so good to us -- it seems like I had everything I could’ve wanted in those days. Mom would drive us into town, often with our bikes loaded in the car, too, so we could experience the fun of biking on pavement, a rarity on the farm. Kristie and I could cruise up and down the block, around the sidewalks and over to the church parking lot. We never ventured much further than that, though -- the cross streets were too busy with traffic for us to brave them.
If we were in the mood for a walk, we could go to Dumont Park or Poynter’s store for penny candy. With all the sidewalks, we could play gigantic games of hopscotch. The backyard at Grandpa and Grandma’s had a little patio slab with a swing to sit on. When renting movies was the newest rage, we would get movies and watch them in the cool air-conditioned house while lying on the soft caramel-colored carpeting.
Dinner always seemed to be tender, roasted-all-afternoon roast beef with potatoes and carrots. It was so good, but I’d make sure I saved plenty of room for the homemade ice cream Grandma had made for dessert.
On Saturday nights, Grandpa would go work at the races and bring home bags of Jasper’s caramel corn. Then he’d drag the extra mattress up the stairs from the basement and Grandma would make the bed for us with soft sheets that had a huge rainbow on them. We’d usually be too excited to fall asleep for a long time, so before drowsiness set in, it was fun to study the light slanting in from the streetlights outside -- so different from the complete and utter darkness at home on the farm.
Now that I’m grown up, I realize how much they did to make us happy and give us these wonderful memories. They surely had the same stressful grown-up worries everyone does, but I had no awareness of anything but the comfort and fun of a summer at Grandpa and Grandma’s.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The Mommy Blog
Just a test run to try out this whole blog thing... I have been meaning to get my act together and start blogging.
Today I finally have an excuse to try it out since Mike & Sarah have one of these things for the soon-to-arrive little one.
I'm hoping to post stuff on here from time to time to keep everyone up-to-date on what's happening.
The ongoing development at our house these days is that Madeline is getting justthisclose to walking. It's coming any time now, I can feel it. She is working out her sense of balance, and it's fun to watch her take little toddling steps every so often. Nothing I'd call "walking" yet, though.
One thing she did yesterday that made my jaw drop: Dave and I were doing our regular trade-off of entertaining/feeding/changing/preventing bodily harm to herself with Madeline. Dave had just made dinner and was cleaning up; I had just changed Madeline's diaper. Dave says, "Tell Mommy 'thank you,' Madeline!" And she said something that sounded like, "Tangoo!" I'm still in shock.
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