Party Girl

Rosalie went to a "party" tonight at Berry Patch, her school--otherwise known as parents' night out. They had dinner and a movie and put the kids to bed on their naptime mats...and then we picked her up at the end of our date and deposited her in bed. It worked out so well! It was a leisurely night for us, and she had a ball.

So. Here are some unrelated cute laundry list type items to report:

Things that people do that are extra cute when Rosalie does them:
*Pushes another kid on the merry go round
*Finds and identifies bugs and worms in a recently dug hole
*Tells you that the park is "DIS way!" as you are walking towards it.
*Lets you know when you are amusing: "Funny Mommy. Funny Daddy."
*Picks out a tree to buy at Swansons Nursery: "Get dis one." (okay, yes, I totally bought that tree)



Things that people don't usually do, but should, because they're so cute when Rosalie does them:

*Thank the traffic light for turning green ("Thank you, green go.")
*Walk with your head sideways, like a wacky toddler Igor, when you're feeling happy.
*Call your new stuffed animal, which is an eagle, "Baby Seagull," no matter how much education and photo tutorials your mother has administered.

Beach Time

We had a great time at Ocean Shores with Mike's parents last weekend. Very relaxing, lots of beach time. Rosalie can spend boundless stretches of time sitting on the sand and becoming one with it. It's plainly a calming and engrossing time for her when she gets to do this--just moving dirt around, piling it, digging it, sifting it slowly through her fingers. In my opinion, beach sand is one of the most wonderful meditation tools on our planet.

Another great thing about Ocean Shores is the vast expanses of flat running space on the beach. Living in the city has its serious drawbacks. Who wants to tell a kid to be careful when she's running? That's what she's SUPPOSED to be doing! That level of freedom must feel delicious to her. Basically all we have to do is make sure she doesn't run into the water (which she doesn't want to do in frigid weather anyway) or have an unpleasant encounter with, say, a dead seal. We're not ready to go there yet.

Rosalie's getting over The Ear Infection that Ate New York. She had to go through two rounds of extra strong antibiotics to beat the thing, which hopefully is gone. Please knock some wood. In these Ocean Shores pics, Rosalie is post-antibiotics, round 1, right before the next round. Does she look like she's in pain here?


She's so tough; the only reason we suspected the infection was still lingering was a fever spike on Monday and her humming sound. She hums a certain way when she has fluids in her head. It probably sounds cool to her. Anyway, no more fever now, although now she's a coughing machine from a nasty cold. I'll be so happy when toddler sick season passes.