Afternoon on the River

While Daddy worked on the deck (pictures coming soon!), the kids and I waded down at the river. Baba and Marge spent most of their time searching for clams and snails. Here Baba displays one of his new pets:

Margie’s quite the daring little thing. She waded halfway across the river into water up to her chest without stopping to think twice. It’s a good thing she’s signed up for swimming lesson in a few weeks, because she has no fear of the river, other than a theoretical idea of danger passed on from Mom and Dad.

Margie just came up to me and signed “More milk please.” Children amaze me!

River Baby

Junior took his first splash in the river today. The camera captured his look of concentration, which for serious Junior means he’s enjoying it quite a bit. He sat in water up to his chest and kicked his feet and cooed at the river.

Awhile back Uncle Jay pointed out the similarities in his and Junior’s physiques. Judging from this picture, he may be right. (Back at ya, there, Wimpy! ;0)

Caricatures

Our local library held a party to kick-off the summer reading program for kids. I took Baba and Marge for a couple hours of popcorn, Kool-Aid, crafts, face painting, and (best of all) free caricatures:

A Strawberry By Any Other Name

Baba and I spent most of the morning picking strawberries at the local produce patch. Today was Baba’s first time assisting in this task, and he seemed to enjoy it. He also did a pretty good job, but he’s going to have to learn to work while he’s talking if he’s ever going to get anything done. As we combed the berry bushes, we discussed how strawberries came to be called by that name. Baba made up a game where we took turns presenting a hypothesis concerning the nomenclature. My first guess was that the berries were low to the straw-covered ground, thus becoming “straw berries”. Baba initially agreed, but then he pointed out that not all strawberry plants have straw on the ground near them (the ones in our garden, for instance), so he didn’t think that could be the reason. His best guess was that the stalks on which the berries grow look like straws. I can’t argue with that! By the end of the game we were coming up with some pretty wacky answers . . . I doubt there’s much of a chance that the person who named the fruit was playing with a straw and happened to make the shape of the namesake berry.

First Food

Due to Junior’s more frequent nursing the past couple of weeks, Daddy and I decided that he might be ready for some solid food. Of course, I use the word “solid” in a comparative way. For Junior’s first non-Mommy food, I boiled up some brown rice and pureed it with Mommy Milk. Can you guess his opinion?

Surfer Pirate

I put Margie in her room for rest time about an hour ago. She asked to take a pair of sunglasses with her, and I consented. As I walked into her room to tuck her in, she looked at me through the dark lenses and said, “Ahoy, Dude!”

Seems she has her maritime characters a bit confused.

Happy Father’s Day!

We want to say a BIG Happy Father’s Day (especially to Papa K) from the Cartoon Family! The kids spent the day down at the river:

Happy Father’s Day!

Milestone

Look at what Junior can do! . . .

No, Doggy!

I wanted to bring your attention to the comment posted by “The Chauffeur’s Wife” on Monday’s entry (scroll down to the end of the entry). Her husband is the great friend who picked us up during the tornado warning last week, hence the nickname. She’s a great friend herself, and the kids have enjoyed the occasional surprise gift of coloring books, stickers and candy (not to mention rice cakes) from the Chauffeur family.

The Chauffeur’s Wife pointed out that Margie is making more use of her sign language than I expected, although it didn’t quite work out the way she hoped.

P.S. – We have ripe strawberries in the garden!

Tag-Teamin’

I can hardly believe I’m going to say this, but . . . Junior slept ten hours straight last night! I went non-dairy again last week, and I suspect that might have something to do with it. He slept an eight-hour stretch a few days ago, and he hasn’t done that since the last time I was non-dairy back in April. So it looks like Mommy will be abstaining from dairy for awhile. That’s a tall order for a Cheesehead, especially one whose parents own a Dairy Queen. Yikes!

Now lest you think Daddy and I had a full night of sleep last night, I should inform you that the kids had a tag-team arrangement worked out. Junior took the night off, so Margie stepped up to the plate. Around 2:00 AM, precisely when Junior would have woken us had he chosen to do so, I sat up in bed with the eerie feeling someone was standing outside our bedroom door. At first I saw nothing, but then the form of a three-year-old girl appeared in the hallway. Margie ran to me looking a bit confused. When I asked her what was wrong she said, “I can’t find my pillow.” I took her up to her room, and the pillow sat on her bed right in the usual spot. I tucked her back into bed and found a sippy cup of water for her (which is what she is usually seeking when she prowls the house in the middle of the night).

Margie just came downstairs a few minutes ago, and I asked her about the episode last night and why she couldn’t find her pillow. She said, “It wasn’t on the other side of the bed.” Of course.