Countdown to 16

We were at a friend's house and Little Miss decided to get in a little driving practice before her learner's permit in about 13 years.

The Master of the Mudroom Mountain

Little Miss is becoming a climber.  She now climbs up to the bench in the mudroom.  She plays with the lights.

She explores the alarm.

She ponders how to get down.

It took some talking through, but she's mastered getting down on her own.  

Another surprising trick she found while up there was locking the door.  She turns it just enough that you can't open it from the outside.  Luckily, I saw that she did this and unlocked the double doors in the play room when I went outside to mail a letter.  When I came back to the door it was locked and she was standing guard.  I asked her several times to unlock the door, pointed to where she needed to turn the knob, shook the regular door knob, and made a big fuss through the glass.  She simply continued playing with the light switches.  I did wind up having to go in through the play room.  It looks like it's time to hide a key somewhere just in case.  While I'm glad that she's learning new skills and developing confidence in her climbing abilities, I think it's time to start challenging that skill to other places, like the playground.

Lounging with Puppy

What could possibly make a better pillow when hanging out on a rainy day?

Silly Smiley Girl

That is all.

Homecoming Friend

I feel old admitting this, but last week was my 15 year college reunion.  Nearly all my friends made it back, and my mom came down so hubs and I were able to join everyone in town for a fun kids-free weekend.  This reunion had an extra special treat- my friend who has a baby three days younger than Little Miss brought her daughter a little early so the girls could have an all-weekend play date with my mom.  We picked them up at the airport Thursday morning and the girls wasted no time making friends.

I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that they looked at each other and were holding hands by the time that the car started moving.  We headed to the library for story time and then headed out to the courtyard to explore.  They checked out the fountain together, followed each other around, 

 and eventually sat down on a bench together for a photo op.

It was a very early morning for our little Southern belle, so we headed back home for lunch and naps...except our poor little friend was too wound up to sleep.  After Little Miss woke up, I offered to let my friend and her husband have a nap while I took the girls for a walk.  She fought the good fight, but after 11 hours awake, I got our little friend to do this:

Finally, some sleep.  And where was Little Miss who had already napped?  Just hanging out on my back giving me some cuddles.

Letting the girls meet and play while the parents got to hang out and spend some extra time together was such a good start to the weekend.  Where are the pictures of the moms together?  The families together?  Any pictures of the huge group during homecoming? Good question.  None of those were taken.  Oops.  It was an awesome weekend though, I assure you.

Stripper With a Zipper

It's starting to get cold at night so we've made the switch to our winter pajama collection.  After having to get used to footies again, Little Miss is enjoying her new clothes.  Another thing she's enjoying?  Zippers.  She likes being able to start at the top and unzip all the way down.  She fusses if I snap the button at the top blocking the zipper when I do diaper changes.  This is the result.

If only she could rezip them herself.  Perhaps by Spring she'll have that mastered.  Let the fine motor skill development commence!

Hiking Sleepy Dust

This weekend we decided to take advantage of the cooler temps by going for a family hike.  We went on an unpaved trail this time so we could also take Huck along.  Little Miss enjoyed the view and took advantage of the rhythmic swaying with a little snooza-palooza.