February 22, 2012

Today was a great day. Maggie woke up early (for her) and we did our usual morning routine. After breakfast we took a walk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for being out and about. We walked to a park that is further away than our usual park. As luck would have it, there were 3 little kids playing there already. Maggie and I practiced introducing and asking to play while we walked up. And when we got close enough she took off yelling, "Hi, I'm Maggie, what's your name?" Wow.

She played with the older two kids (the little one was not quite 2 and she pretty much did her own thing) for a long time. It was so cute. She and the little girl (5) decided they would be best friends and then that they were a prince and princess (I think Maggie was the prince). At one point Maggie ran across the playground yelling to the girl, "I want to marry you." When it was finally time to go home, Maggie was hot and tired. As we started walking she was falling and crying to be held. At one point she sat down on the sidewalk with her back to me. At first I was going to insist she walk but she was so obviously tired and out of it that I carried her for a little while. She just laid on me like a rag doll for most of the walk home. As we got closer, I put her down and made her walk. I feel pretty strongly about older kids not being held constantly or pushed in strollers, so I wanted to establish that if she wants to take a walk, she has to walk.

When we got home we drank lots of water and went straight up to nap. She insisted she was hungry though, so we came back downstairs, where she didn't eat. So we headed back upstairs and she passed out. When we got up, she insisted we go to the restaurant. I have never heard her ask to go to a restaurant, it was quite funny. Nana and Gran took her to get Mexican food and said she ate a ton.

When she got home, we started out on another walk just as her Daddy showed up. We walked to the closer park where she ran around and played. Because Mom had taken her outside first to show her stars, I had just followed out after putting my shoes on. I never even thought to take her potty (we ALWAYS go potty last thing before we head out on a walk). So imagine my surprise when she announces, we need to go home so she can tee tee. Oh Lord, Richard jumped the fence to the pool area but the bathrooms were padlocked. So I just pulled down her pants, held her hands and had her go right there. Hey, at least it wasn't poop.

She is so interested in hearing stories about when she was a baby or in my tummy or born. She hasn't been too interested before but she loves hearing them now and requests these stories instead of Little Red Riding Hood which has been our nightly staple for a long time. I tell her stories at night and when we walk and she really listens. She'll repeat the stories to her grandparents or her Daddy.

She's really connecting things to real life. We read Lady and the Tramp tonight and at the end, it reads, Lady and Tramp have puppies and 3 look like their Mom and 1 looks like his Dad. At first Maggie didn't understand they were all siblings; she thought the 3 were Lady's and the 1 was Tramp's. So first I explained, no they are all siblings and have the same parents but these look like their mommy and this one like his daddy. So then she started asking who she looks like. And we talked about how most features (her build, her hair and eyes) are like Daddy but she has curly hair like Mommy and how she looks like Mommy, even though she has different coloring. It was interesting to see her have that connection to the story.