Practice Makes Perfect?

 A's baby cousin is coming to stay with us for the weekend, so we decided to start practicing with a baby doll a few days ago. Here are the results...

 First we worked on putting the baby in the stroller...

 That didn't go super well.

 Then A put the baby to bed...upside down, and a little more forceful than planned.

 Then A fed the baby...chicken?

 Then she took the baby for a walk...backwards.

 Slammed into a few things and did a wheelie or two with the stroller.

Then the stroller got stuck so A tipped it over.

I would say, overall, the lesson didn't go quite as planned, but A sure tried hard! Although I am not sure how much my sister will care how hard A "tried" if I returned her child tired, hungry, and with a few bumps and bruises :)

xoxo

Daily Mom

Really, Buddy?!?

If you haven't heard, Maryland is a hands-free state. About a year ago, they passed a law that made it illegal to talk, text, or email on your cell when you are in the car driving. This makes a bit of sense, however, news on the street is there has been more accidents due to people trying to hide the fact they are texting...so not sure this is working. But, I do agree on not talking on the phone when you are driving, well without blue-tooth or something modern like that. I used to do it, but I do feel having your hand up, holding your phone, can cause some distractions, and if nothing else just another blind spot. So, you can imagine my surprise when I was heading to gym with A today and I saw the following, as I pulled up to a stop light.

I wanted to do a citizen's arrest, but since I don't have a front license plate (illegal in MD), have no idea where my registration is, rarely remember to carry my license, and had my cute sleeping daughter in the car, I just snuck a quick picture. You better believe I plan on pulling this out as collateral next time I get pulled over though :)

xoxo

Daily Mom

The Perfect Escape

You know when you are on the brink of a major meltdown because you feel like you have been doing the same thing over and over again. And the mere thought of going to the zoo again in the sweltering heat, or pushing your way through the thousands of other strollers crowding the mall hallways, or even playing in the family room wants to make you pull your hair out?

Well, I was close to that...then we headed up to my parent's beach house in Connecticut for five days. Despite a cranky, teething kid, who has more snot pouring out of her nose than a classroom filled with allergy prone children; and four days of on and off fog mixed with a little rain, we had a blast!

Our last day up there was perfect. We woke up and looked out over the clear, calm, Long Island Sound to see a few small island bobbing on the horizon and beckoning us outside.

As soon as I heard A stirring in her crib, I raced in there to let the fun begin. We started our day with some banana pancakes and a nice long walk with the dog, who actually showed some signs of fatigue after 45 minutes. Then we dropped the dog back off at the house, packed some toys, and headed to the beach to let A get her first real feel of the sand. She loved it, scooping up sand with her shovel and her hands and filling up her buckets. Then it was time to test out the water...freezing of course, but it didn't stop her from splashing all about, filling her diaper with salt water and sand.

After the beach she needed some down time, so we changed her shorts and loaded her onto my bike for a ride. Now, A is a very social little girl, and she didn't disappoint. Every person we passed got a wave and a "hi" and she even threw her hand in the air and shouted "weeee" as we raced down the hills.

Finally it was time for a nap. A family nap :) before some more fun!

When we arrived, my mom and I went out to get some necessities for the summer...one of which included a water table!!!! We ended up going with the Lagoon Sand/Water table, but just put water in both sides to make it less nasty and more fun! So obviously that was a huge hit all weekend. A loved splashing and investigated everything about it.

Finally, it was getting near dinner time, which meant our fun at the beach was coming to a close...so we said good-bye to the water one last time till July and packed in the car for the long drive home.

xoxo

Daily Mom