Magrilless

Maggie is a hiking fool! She has gone for a hike almost every day for the past week and a half. And she rocks it! She can go a couple of miles and is excited about rocks and sticks and smells and climbing up and running down. Perhaps her favorite one was the mud hike we took after a huuuge rainstorm. The trail above our house turned into a muddy running stream, so we put on our water shoes and went for it. This picture is after we walked home on the streets, so she’s much cleaner after puddle jumping than on the trail.

And just so you know, if we should be invited over to your house, one of the last things I’ll say before leaving is “Maggie, go find your pants please.” A Collins through and through.

Come visit us in February for fresh salad from the garden!

Hmm. Did I miss a Monday? Sorry, dedicated audience. We’ve been busy hosting wonderful hordes of visitors. Maggie has been in hog heaven. Grandparents, great grandparents, more grandparents. Parties, playdates, hikes. This little extrovert is eating it all up. “Margie, come in my room!” “Baba, look what I have!” “Baka Sue, tell Scotty he’s a silly goose!” She has been nonstop. Go mode. Hostessing and visiting and soaking up every moment someone is willing to pay attention to her. The one half day when it was just Maggie and me in the house, she was so bored she just resorted to yelling at me. No reason except I’m just old mom and I chased away all the fun people. But never fear, there were soon more lovely relatives for her to buzz around and she snapped right into her little bubbly self again. I think Great Grandpa put it rightly when he said she’s a pistol. Oh, what are two introverts going to do with this bundle?

No excuses about today being Tuesday. I just plumb forgot what day it was yesterday. Apologies…

For those of you on the edges of your seats about potty training, we’re not even calling it that anymore. We are potty pros. Maggie hasn’t had an accident in forever, weeks. And half of the time her sleeping diaper is dry after naptime. Though she still puts up a fuss if I dictate when she should go (like if we’re leaving the house and will be in the car for a prolonged period of time, for instance), she can get the job done for a couple of marshmallows. Yesterday, in fact, Bill and I were gardening (being neglectful parents) and Maggie was watching TV inside. When we came inside a bit later, she had gotten up, gone to pee, wiped by herself, and come back to continue her movie (she forgot to flush, so we had evidence). Wow! She is also a pro at going outside and often prefers it, although she doesn’t get a marshmallow for that. Maggie’s also getting the gist of “bathrooms equal private moments;” oftentimes she’ll tell me “a little privacy please” and make me go away while she poops.

So she can now spend days at a time at any of your houses without you worrying about diapers. Should I post a calendar for you all to sign up on?