Playgroup this morning was at Bolton Park. The gang was supposed to go to the pool there as well, but it doesn't open until 11:30. That is a little too close to nap time for my tastes, so after some play in the park, we went to lunch at our favorite warehouse store with Emma. Caroline and Emma had just spent a few seconds eating dirt before this picture was taken. Apparently eating dirt makes Caroline happy. Maybe she won't be so expensive after all.

Emma came over this afternoon to join Caroline at Turkey Hill Park. Apparently it's now a waterpark - within minutes of getting here, they were both stripped down to their diapers (without any parental prodding or intervention) and demanding the sprinkler be turned on. It was appropriately hot, and when the girls weren't trying to injure themselves on the swingset or by sitting on chairs they had stacked together, they had fun squirting each other with the hose and their drinks. This picture is remarkable in that Caroline allowed Cheryl to put her hair into a ponytail, and left it there for nearly an hour - which is about an hour longer than she had previously allowed. It probably helped that it was an abandoned hair elastic from Emma.

Caroline has been on an eating rampage for the last couple weeks. Her weight really hasn't gone up much, but she looks a bit taller. And she costs more.
Emma came over this morning for some backyard exercise; the girls managed to get good and coated in water and sand before their naps. It started raining this afternoon, so we went to a McDonald's indoor play area for the first and last time - from the ground level it looks relatively clean, but on an Emma retrieval mission, Nicole reports the upper levels had torn foam, used band-aids, syringes, etc.

Cookout at Aaron's. Thunderstorms drove us indoors. The kids had a ton of energy. Caroline and Cheryl had fun. I ate too much, and don't feel so well right now.

Allison and Matthew hosted playgroup this morning. When Caroline wasn't negligently trying to run down the more distracted kids with Matthew's motorized jeep, she was running through the Elmo sprinkler displaying her ridiculous collection of mosquito bites, and coating herself in ice cream. One more ice cream eating clip. Despite the messiness, ice cream cones were a hit, and I'll be picking up some cones for my wee one on the next trip to the Teeter.

In other news, Caroline's new trick is to respond to "I love you, Caroline" with "I love you, Daddy" (or "Mommy" if Cheryl prompts). So, for a few more days, we'll continue to overlook the way too early wake-up times and the often irrational demands and tantrums.

Finally, my video camera's battery is running low, and I haven't come across the charger in our unpacking (said unpacking is still in the very preliminary stages, since we figure we have the rest of our lives, as we're NEVER MOVING AGAIN). Anyway, it will be back to still shots after today.

Emma came over this afternoon and the girls beat the heat with the sprinkler. Caroline refused to wear a bathing suit, exposing her to plenty of mosquito bites on her back. More short clips: 1 2

Caroline, Emma and Clayton went to an assisted living home this morning to entertain the residents. Afterwards we joined Alanah and Aaron at storytime at Reynolda Library. Caroline was having a great time until the group leader decided to sing "You are My Sunshine", which inexplicably and without fail causes Caroline to begin weeping. The threat of singing it to her is actually an effective punishment as well.

This morning, Caroline joined Emma and Alanah at the movie theater for a screening of the Polar Express. Caroline was very excited to go to the movies, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, although the film was mediocre. In the afternoon, Emma came over, and the girls played briefly in the sprinkler before coating themselves in the sandbox. I then enjoyed chasing them around the yard with the hose.

Caroline is enjoying a post-lunch lollipop in this picture. Other than not getting all the candy she begged for, it was a good day for her - we read a bunch of books, she got some Emma time at their favorite store, we had some wagon time around the neighborhood with mom this evening, and our new favorite team brought a professional national title to Carolina for the first time.

We had Emma, Aaron and their parents over for a cookout this afternoon. Caroline did not play nice - she had to have a few timeouts for being way too territorial with her toys and even with some of the chairs in the backyard. For the most part, however, the kids had fun, and hopefully the other parents did too.

Just a little test video. Kinda dark. Wanted to see what's possible with YouTube.

These are the moments we savor, with the champagne of beers.

The playgroup went to the Baa Moo Farm this morning. The children were able to pet goats, pick up eggs from the chickens, and pet and milk the cows. Each station had hand sanitizer to keep germs from spreading. Caroline, fortunately, had no problem keeping her hands clean, since although she was interested in watching the animals, she would get no closer than 10 feet to any of them and was disturbed if they paid her any attention. Clearly she's a city girl.

A great Flag Day. Wearing our red, white and blue, we joined a bunch of friends at Reynolda Library for storytime this morning. Although shy at first, Caroline quickly got into the singing and playing. After a long afternoon nap as the remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto passed over, we took a walk to Polo Park, and had the swings and jungle gym pretty much to ourselves. Following some tasty chinese food for dinner, we took a jog around the neighborhood with her wagon, alternating who got to pull. And as we were returning up the driveway, Caroline demanded a rematch at basketball (no joke!) - I am so proud of my wee one's competitive drive.

It's Cheryl's favorite holiday, and sadly she's still away on business. Caroline and I are disappointed to celebrate without her, but the party must go on.

Caroline and I joined Mikey, Bobby, and Alanah (along with parents/friends Carley, Mandy and Dodie) at Bolton pool for some fun in the water this morning. Caroline was pretty reluctant to get fully immersed, but I plan to give her getting plenty of chances this summer to overcome that fear.

Caroline and I played some hoops in our driveway this evening. I really put the smackdown on her.


This is one of the few open looks at the basket she got, only because I was taking a picture. And she still missed the shot.

Cheryl's away for a few days on a business trip, so Caroline had me all to herself. It was a very good day for us - she slept late, ate very very well, took a fantastic 3 hour nap, visited with Bobby and Mikey, and went to bed with little complaint. We plan on going to the pool tomorrow morning and having friends over tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully the good times will continue.

After a feverish Thursday night/Friday morning, Caroline made a speedy recovery Friday afternoon (shortly after a trip to the doctor to make sure she had nothing serious). By Friday evening, she was just dandy again.
Last night we took her a cookout at her boys' house, and she got to splash around in their kids pool and throw hot dogs on the ground. Today we all slept in (though Caroline was the first up, unfortunately). Between thunderstorms, Caroline relaxed in the backyard while the unpacking inside continued.

Caroline was a bit lethargic this morning, and took an uncharacteristic 10am nap (so we missed playgroup). When she woke up, she had a fever, and was not a happy camper. Once again, she was burned by a certain park. After an afternoon nap and some ibuprofen, her appetite and fiestiness returned by the evening.

This afternoon we went to Miller Park, and though I have no pictures to prove it, we met up with Emma, Nicole, and Emma's new brother Alec. After their departure, Caroline spent another half hour working out on the equipment - she took a three hour nap this afternoon, I really wanted her to go to bed at a decent hour tonight. It worked.

Aaron and Alanah joined Caroline for some playtime on the swingset and sandbox this afternoon. In development news, Caroline is counting to 20 pretty well now, and Cheryl reports that she led many of the songs tonight at the Little Gym. Now if she'll just go back to waking up at 7:30 or later, all would be perfect.

Cheryl started her job today, so I had plenty of time to influence Caroline alone. We went to the park this morning with Aaron and his dad, then took a good long nap (she really has to stop waking up at 6:15am), then played for hours in the backyard. I took three pictures in the park; in each, the kids were initially looking at me and smiling at the camera. This was the best one.

Caroline was the center of attention for the boys as Mikey, Bobby, and Aaron (and their parents) came over to our new place tonight for a little cookout.

Caroline was quite excited to eat her pizza this evening. Not only did she put on a headband, but she did a little dance. She seems to be adjusting well to our new home.

We really should be taking some pictures - there's now a void of 3 days with no new photographic evidence of Caroline's experiences. It's not entirely my fault, as I've been quite busy unpacking and finishing up the cleaning on the old place.
Today's milestone - Caroline's first falling down the stairs at the new place. She took a tumble down the last few steps, cried a bit, then continued climbing up and down with no learned fear. Not a good sign. Other than that, she went to the playgroup (at Miller Park this week) with Cheryl and watched some neat thunderstorms tonight.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate Nicole, Ben and Emma (but mostly Nicole) on the birth yesterday of Alec Porter, Emma's new brother. Welcome to the world, Alec!