Giraffe-in-the-Box

A few days ago, Morgen went to a birthday party for one of her friends - and what a party it was. Complete with fancy baby-safe animal-themed party hats, balloons, a ball "pool" and a wonderful array of child-friendly goodies to eat, it was a party I'll remember for quite some time. Morgen had the pleasure of coming from daycare (where she basically runs around in circles all day playing with things that she picks up along the way until she drops whatever it is for the next toy) to this party, where she was able to run nonstop for another two hours, with only brief pauses to eat little bits of broccoli, pastina, and chicken. And, she came away with a very cute giraffe hat, which she rediscovered this weekend, right before she discovered that she likes to sit in boxes.

This morning, her love of containers continued to manifest itself. Showing more dedication to one task than I've ever seen before, Morgen transferred all her rattles, little balls, and teething toys from one box into another. She was very pleased with herself when the operation was complete. I wonder if she'll put the toys back again?

(Sorry that the below pic is blurry - Morgen is clapping very quickly to congratulate herself for managing to fit her bum into the box. Since she spent about twenty minutes climbing in and out of it, also very quickly, this was the best shot I could capture.)

A Tale of Two Adventures

This weekend was Jessica and my fifth wedding anniversary, and to celebrate, we decided to drop Morgen off with Jessica's parents and have our first overnight getaway since she was born. We stayed at a very nice B & B (the same one we stayed at on our wedding night), which had a lovely little flower garden outside and a bar next door that featured live country music.

We had a great time. As you can see from the video, however, Morgen had at least as much fun as we did:

Morgen, meet the Muskokas

Morgen had a taste of the good life this past weekend, when we were invited to visit friends at their family cottage on a lake near Gravenhurst.

In between sleeps and snacks, Morgen had huge amounts of fun. There was squealing, there were giggly games of chase, there were beach balls, and large Muskoka chairs...there were boats, and songs to sing, and cherries to eat, and a little girl to play with and learn from and and and. It was all very exciting, especially Sunday morning when she woke up to find her friend STILL there! And to still be where the boats are! It was too cute for words. Oh, one last and: and Morgen put her feet in a lake for the first time in her life, thanks to her kind host who didn't mind getting into the very cold water. She loved it.

Our little girl was so tired on the drive home that she fell asleep in the car and snoozed for about two hours - about twice as long as usual these days. That was nice for mommy and daddy too.

Two for Today

...so that's why they call it a "push 'n' ride." I kept thinking that it should be called "push OR ride," but now I stand corrected.

Personal Value

On our daily subway rides as we head in to the campus daycare, Morgen likes to make friends.

"She's quite the flirt" said a nicely dressed young man in a pink shirt this morning. As we pulled into the next station, I turned the stroller so she could smile and bat her eyelashes at him without having to look around the centre pole. He smiled and flirted back.

And then something new happened. A little boy hopped on the subway, sat down right next to me, and proceeded to munch on his watermelon bits, pretending not to look at Morgen but really staring at her as often as he could.

Morgen dropped the nice looking pink-shirted man in order to size up her newest neighbour. He wasn't as obliging when it came to waving back, smiling, or playing, but he was still more interesting than anyone else on the train. She burbled at him, wriggling in her stroller and whining a bit at me.

"What is she saying?" He asked me. Somehow he knew that she was a little girl, even though she was wearing brown and green this morning. I told him that I thought she was saying hello and wishing she could get out of her stroller to run around a bit.

He showed me his Thomas the Tank Engine snack cup, he told me his name in an undertone. He asked his father to read him a book (father said: "I can't read the book - no one else wants to listen to the words." Definitely didn't win any daddy points that way, but maybe he'd already read the book ten times this morning), and then the little boy said "Was I like that Daddy?"

Daddy said "Like what? There is a lot of 'that' there." I look at the Daddy, but the Daddy is mostly not looking at me.

The little boy thought about it before saying "Was I a baby like that?"

Daddy said "Probably. But maybe a bit bigger."

"Yeah," said the little boy. I looked up at the daddy again and smiled.

Daddy wasn't very friendly - no exchange of knowing parental smiles, just a bit of an odd look in my direction followed by an exasperated smirk and an attempt to return to the neutral expression that is the burden of most commuters on the Toronto Transit Comission. When we started to leave, the little boy said "bye" and the Daddy gave me that weird look again before getting out of the way so I could roll the stroller to the exit. Morgen waved at the train it as it pulled away - she'd never done that before, although she had made lots of adult friends on previous trips.

Arriving at daycare, I helped Morgen to settle in, or tried to. She is still very clingy in the morning, and it breaks my heart every time I have to walk away when she is crying and struggling to get back to her mommy. Still, if I stay and indulge our mutual clingy-ness, it just seems to make it worse.

Crossing the street outside of the daycare, I noticed something scratching my shoulder underneath my backpack strap. I looked down, and that is how I know my quality and worth this morning:

"Old Navy. Size M/M $12.50."

It's not a pricey place, but it isn't the cheapest thing you can find there either. Not a steal, but definitely a deal. I'll take me.