Magrilless

We’re back to the land of computer hardware! DC was fun, although we spent very little time in the District. Mags and I hung out with Aunt Annalise and Uncle George at their house and at the Ritz while Bill went to conferences and toured government buildings. (I think we had more fun.)

Cherry blossoms were first on our agenda. They were very pretty, but you know, not as spectacular as my imagination had conjured up. But Maggie really liked just being allowed to wander on the lawn and run around picking up sticks. She spent quite a lot of time going down a hill and then up it, then down, then up. And applauding for the little kids on stage singing in Japanese.

That was our big outing. Then it rained and we went mall walking (yeah yeah, I know, but it was attached to our hotel in the boonies and there was an awesome play area where Mags climbed and scooted and slid and got patted on the tummy by a little boy). And every morning we took the elevator down 18 floors to the spa and had a nice swim followed by a luxurious shower and cucumbers on our eyes (Maggie tried to eat hers).

One of the big successes of the trip was when we dropped Maggie off with babysitters and went out to dinner, just us grownups. It was the first time we’d left Maggie with “strangers” (i.e., not blood relatives who’ve known her since she was two days old). We were a little nervous about how she’d do, since she normally clings to my leg at Gymboree and won’t let me get out of her sight for quite a while, even though we’ve gone twice a week for forever. But not to worry. We took one step into these people’s house and she was off and running for the basket of toys. Never looked back. Awesome!

And now back to normal life where children get colds and parking tickets have to be paid and no one wheels in waffles for breakfast. Woe is us.

Since when can Mother Nature play April Fools pranks?

Oh Maggie. Top picture: unrestrained, uncensored joy and happiness. Bottom picture: watching and waiting to see what important thing there is to learn.

She’s all dressed up in the bottom picture because we went to a party. Our church here is turning 150, so we went to the birthday party. We thought there was a cake contest, so I baked Julia Child’s Queen of Sheba cake, and Maggie and I dressed in chocolate browns for the cake parade. There was a cake parade, but no contest. But I still think we would have won at least most coordinated. I think Maggie looks like she’s stepped out of the Sound of Music in her little apron dress. She was the most popular party goer and was suuuuch a trooper, staying out an hour after bedtime and eating grown-up food and listening to singing and talking and generally showing off how precious she is.

Yesterday we had a sort of dress rehearsal for our trip out west. We got in the car around 10, drove for an hour to Salem, got out and did stuff for a while, then back into the car to drive during her nap time. She did great. Gave us hope. And entertained Salemites with her oft-repeated Ring Around the Rosie antics. Hmm. Maybe we can charge admission and get a gas fund going.

A good week. One of those where you just want to write in this blog “Maggie is awesome” and leave it at that. She’s gone on walks around the neighborhood on her own two feet. She’s learned new words: fish and sock. She can almost put together a sentence: bib off. She explored and explored and explored at the children’s museum. She walked out of the grocery store without me (okay, that wasn’t so awesome, but it turned out fine once I caught sight of her walking through the front door). She helps take her shirt over her head when it’s time to undress. She figured out how to smoosh out all the butter or jam from a packet at restaurants. She blows kisses and waves to people on the street when she’s walking down the lane. She got two new molars up top without much complaint. She ate a chocolate cupcake by herself with moderate success. And she learned four elements on the periodic table*!

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Awesome. Maggie’s awesome.