eggs and baskets

Little M had already logged several hours of egg hunting before we even made it to Easter Sunday. We got started on Saturday at the zoo's annual Bunny Bounce. The "real" egg hunts were full of excited, sugarhappy big kids, but the toddler hunt--which mostly consisted of piles of plastic eggs all over the ground--was just about our speed. M grasped the finding and collecting concepts immediately.

The weather was bright and sunny, but cool enough in the shade for M to rock her fancy Peter Rabbit sweater from dear Auntie Laura...

She was very interested in what all of the other kids were doing and mostly wanted eggs that other people had already "found."

The whole thing was exhilarating and ultimately exhausting and led to a long, long nap in the Ergo on the walk home.

We got some more egg/basket practice in that afternoon, though. Lots of eggs in and out of the basket. Over and over. And over.

Of course, the cats love anything light enough to be batted across the living room floor, so they were totally into the eggs, too. And sometimes the basket.

Bunny ears? Nope, just the photobombing Rody.

By Easter morning, M probably thought she had this whole basket thing figured out.

Until she, Finch, and Eleanor discovered the thing called Easter grass. Which this mama will never, ever again put in a basket of any kind. Ever.

Fortunately, we used paper "grass." Recycled, recyclable, and--arguably--entirely edible.

After the initial grass excitement, M displayed only passing interest in the actual contents of her basket. Which is fine. Because Mama was going to eat that chocolate bar anyway. M did spend a couple minutes looking at one of her new books...

And then we discovered another basket on our back porch with little M's name on it. This one was apparently more interesting...

...to everyone.

Mama and Daddy were especially amused by the tin of sardines. That bunny sure knows our kid.

All dolled up, we went to Grandma and Grandpa L's for the afternoon.

Cousin Jonah displayed his mad bubble-blowing skills.
M was impressed.

The highlight of the day for M was yet another egg hunt. She had some trouble actually finding the eggs but there were plenty of big people around to help her. 

Clearly, this was some serious business.

Sort of.

And of course, at the end of it all, there was another big, fat nap. Because that's how we roll.

where we've been, part one

I know. I know. I didn't mean to be away for two months, I swear. It's just that things kept happening. When I would start to think about catching up, I'd feel so overwhelmed that I wouldn't know where to start. And then, I'd end up even farther behind. Which, if you know me well, you might recognize as an underlying plot theme of my adult life.

But 2013 is going to be a good year for us. One item on my long list of resolutions involves Follow Through. With that in mind, I'm determined to post in this space at least once a week.

I can't just leave a giant two-month hole, though, in our story. And so, dear reader, I'm going to dump a bunch of pictures on you, in a few installments, until we're caught up.

Which brings us to December...

First, we met this guy:

Luckily for us, Mr. Santa is an incredibly sweet and patient man. Maybe next year, M will more excited and less traumatized. Maybe.

Then we flew--on an airplane! two thousand miles!--to Ohio for Christmas. If you're wondering, the smallest member of our party turned out to be a great traveler. She made lots of friends and managed to take naps at all the right times. We traveled with a minimal amount of gear and plenty of optimism. Which was, apparently, enough to get us through to our final destination.

M met her Ohio uncles for the first time.*

She visited with her great-grandparents.*

On Christmas Eve, we dragged M to two different church services. She was a real trouper, sleeping on all the car rides and charming everyone she met in both congregations. She even humored her Mama by staying awake for the candle-lit singing of Silent Night at the end of the second service.

Unfortunately, the late-night escapades took their toll and Christmas morning itself was pretty cranky.

Crankiness didn't keep the little dear from mastering the art of opening presents, though. In fact, she was passionate enough about the process of shredding and eating wrapping paper that no one's camera was fast enough to keep up with her.

Posing for pictures with gifts didn't really work out, either. Maybe next year. Or the year after that.

After breakfast and presents, there was a nice, big Christmas Day nap.

In the evening, we had our fancy dinner. While the finishing touches were put on the meal, M played with her GreatPa while the two of them sat in her great-great-great grandfather's rocking chair.

Of course, Christmas was the main focus of our trip, but Ohio also came through with one of Daddy's holiday wishes: Snow!

As it turns out, snow is cold and wet and babies don't like being plopped down in it. Even for one second. This particular baby didn't cry, but she made it very clear that she was not impressed by the Boxing Day mini-blizzard.

In general, M had a great time, in a house full of people that Absolutely Adore her. She spent her days being held, tickled, and generally entertained. She also mastered crawling and even started pulling herself up on things! All the oohs and ahhs of encouragement probably didn't hurt.

Our trip home was surprisingly smooth. Dad went back to work the next day, and Mama found herself trying to distract a baby who'd grown accustomed to having a half-dozen people around to play with at any given time. Needless to say, there was a bit of a transition period. Then there was that whole three hour time difference...

All mutterings aside, though, I think it's safe to say that Miss M had a doozy of a First Christmas.

*And her dear Auntie Katelyn!

**And her Great-Aunt Glenna!

grandpa

We were entertaining again this week.

The last time Grandpa Ohio visited, little Miss M was just a month old. Sure, she was cute and all, but, holy cow, was she tiny! And also a little boring. Her primary daytime activity was sleeping.

How quickly things change. 

For better or for worse, there was very little daytime sleeping this time around. In spite of a debilitating nap strike, M adapted very quickly to having three grownups to boss around. She and Grandpa had lots of together time, both inside and out--in spite of some cruddy Seattle weather. For some reason, though, every picture I have of the two of them seems to include our ratty red couch.

There was reading on the couch,

--with and without cats--

Skyping with Grandma,

and lot of just sitting around, being chummy.

We were all sad to say goodbye at the end of the week, except for M, who didn't realize until the next day that she was missing one of the grownups that she used to have wrapped around her little finger. Then she turned extra-clingy, trying to figure out what had happened to the sweet guy with the mustache.

Don't be too sad, though, everybody.
We're already gearing up for an exciting Ohio trip at Christmastime!