Baseball

The other day, Papillon and I found ourselves visiting my parents, and it happened to be a lovely day, and also happened to be a day when there was a baseball game happening within walking distance of the house.

So off we went to take in some sunshine and some baseball.

This was not Papillon's first game. But I think she enjoyed this one a little more than last time....she was a bit young for her first game!

What better place to wear a baseball cap, than a baseball game.

Cherry Blossom Festival

The other weekend, we met up with Mon Amour's cousin to explore DC and take in the sights of the Cherry Blossom Festival.

It was Papillon's first metro ride.

As with most new experiences, she was generally unphased by the situation.

We watched the parade for a bit. It was about as exciting as you would expect - fun bands, cool floats, and other random things.

We were all enjoying the sights and sounds....

...when suddenly, this happened:

The car pulling one of floats burst into flames. Seriously. The engine kind of exploded with fire.
Luckily no one was hurt and as you can see from this picture, the firemen took care of the fire pretty quickly.
Once the crowd realized it wasn't a terrible crisis - they all seemed to enjoy the excitement. For added fun, when they tried to tow the car away, just as a big cheer arose from the crowd, the car, fell off the tow truck with a bang! This prompted a gasp followed by much laughter.
Eventually they did succeed in removing the car from the parade.

Possibly my favorite part of this whole story is that, just before the car fire, the float carrying the Festival Coordinator had just gone past. As an event planner, I understand the fear of having something go wrong onsite. Therefore, I can only imagine how the Coordinator's would have stopped if she had glanced behind her float to see that the 2nd half of the parade was no where to be seen! Haha. Poor woman. I do not envy her her job.

Anyway, nothing like a little car fire to make a parade that much more exciting!

Even though it was overcast, and beyond the peak bloom for the Cherry Trees, they were still quite lovely.

We attempted a family photo before the fun was over...but apparently Papillon was not interested.

Our second attempt was a smidgen better...

Just Cute

A Picnic

A couple weeks ago we headed out to a local park to have a picnic lunch with some friends.

It was mildly chilly, but still a wonderful day to be in the great outdoors.

Papillon busted out her spring sun-protection hat. (Side note: the importance of the use of sunscreen, is without fail, the ONLY thing or pediatrician reminds us of at our appointments...on this occasion, we didn't use sunscreen, but at least we brought a hat!).

Papillon kept giving our friend evil glares; in this photo she has redirected said glares at her toy pelican.

Fun friend!

After our picnic lunch, we walked around part of the park where there was this pretty sweet looking old house.

There was also a miniature train track, and apparently the park offers free train rides for kids once a month. Sadly we were there on the wrong day, but we will definitely have to go back. Despite not getting to ride the train, our one friend very much enjoyed exploring the tracks...he is a civil engineer and informed us that the replica was actually remarkably similar to real train tracks!

There was also a little swing set, and so Papillon got to lounge in a swing for a little big.

A First and Last

Some time ago I decided that perhaps I would try taking the dog for a walk with Papillon in our "umbrella stroller".
It sounded like a good idea...

...but it was by far one of the most ridiculous failures of my parenting career to date.

First, I think we have a poorly designed stroller cause I kept tripping over the back of it and the handles are waaaaay short. (it was from freecycle, so I can't complain too much)

Second, Marge was afraid of the stroller. That made things exciting.

Third, the streets around here are not stroller friendly. Thank heavens the straps on this stroller work otherwise poor Papillon would have landed on the pavement many a time. (Yes, I suppose this was partially due to my poor driving skills...but its really tough to drive a stroller over pot holes when your dog is freaking out and running circles around you)

I have never felt in so little control of the situation during an outing with my child. If any neighbors saw me, I am certain they were thinking very patronizing thoughts about my apparent failure to walk with my little family.

So that may be the first, and last, time that you see Papillon in that umbrella stroller. I am considering re-freecycling it cause its just not going to work for us.
Papillon will be riding in the sling until she can walk.
At least that is the plan right now.

Outgrown

I recently went through Papillon's clothes and pulled out some things that Papillon has (finally) outgrown. This wasn't the first time that I had done it, but I think it was the first time that I realized that she really has grown. We really are way beyond the newborn stage now.

When she was little she wore these tiny mittens.

These adorable socks don't stay on for 30 seconds anymore.

The sweetest pair of shoes that never really fit her (they were too short and wide)

She use to be this little:
But she's not anymore.

(side note: Perusing the pictures of her as a sleeping newborn still scare me. I do hope that whenever I have another newborn, I am able to enjoy newborn sleep and not be terrified of it)

You know your the mother of a baby girl...

....when your mismatched socks look like this:

Yup. 4 different pink socks with no pairs.
What can we say, Papillon likes her pink.

Papillon the Dog Person

I have mentioned Papillon's love of this tiny dog before, but had to post a couple pictures.
She really truly loves this little creature

What's not to love about its beady little eyes.

I truly think Papillon loves dogs. Her love for Marge is forever growing; and the other day she was watching a video and while for most of the video she stared unmoving at the screen, when some dogs showed up on the screen she started dancing and making very excited sounds!

When the cats came on the screen...she stopped dancing. Seems she is already a dog person.

Cuteness in the tub

9 Months

Papillon is 9 months old as of yesterday.

At her 9-month check up she was given a clean bill of health and we got her official stats

She weights 16lbs 8 oz. (tiny 10th percentile)
28 inches long (70th percentile)
18 inch head circumference (90th percentile)

She is long and lean, with a large head.
In other words, she is my pint sized snuggle bug.

She was about the size I expected her to be, though I am still a little amazing since she is an eating machine! I was sort of hoping for a little more plumping, but what can you do, pint-sized is adorable.

At 9 months, Papillon....


....goes to bed around 7:30pm and gets up between 6:30 and 8am.

....takes 2-3 naps a day. More and more often its only 2 naps, but I still really enjoy her 3 nap days. Naps are usually 1-1.5 hours long.

...eats 3 meals a day and sometimes a snack.

...nurses 4-5 times a day, but it is definitely becoming less of a priority for her.

...has figured out how to feed herself graham crackers, but hasn't figured out how to get the cheerios from her fingers to her mouth.

...has 1 definite tooth with 2 more working there way through.

....rolls over from time to time, but only randomly. She doesn't crawl yet, but she is pretty good at scootching around. She also enjoys standing and walking holding on to your hands.

....her hair is growing like crazy. She can now where little clips.

...is still working on waving and giving kisses. Its a slow process, but I think she will figure it out pretty soon.

....loves watching dogs, or other little kids, etc. Anything that is smallish and moves she loves to watch.

...is starting to recognize people. It takes her a while to warm up to new people, but she loves hanging out with people she recognizes.



Happy 9 months, Papillon!

Related

This is a random photo from Papillon's baptism....

...mostly posted because, Wow, I never realized how much my little brother and I look alike.
(or how good Papillon is at the raised eyebrow of skepticism)

The Playground

Ever since our recent failure to get Papillon onto a swing, I have been determined that she should experience a swing!

So a little while ago, my mom and I took Papillon to a local playground.

We tested out the slide. She was generally unamused.

Then we tried the swing. This is what Papillon thought of the swing:

We call that a mix of apathy, confusion, boredom, and a longing to be out of the swing and chasing the other kids on the playground. But mostly apathy.

Oh well, it was a good first try. And I think she did have a good time watching the other kids on the playground, so all in all, our playground trip was a smashing success!

Feels Like Spring

A couple weeks ago, when it was sunny and 70 degress out, Papillon and I ventured outside for some random fun in the spring sun.

Papillon thought the sun to be a bit too bright.

I attempted to get some cute shots of Papillon and the first of the spring flowers, but she preferred to pick the flowers and tear the petals to pieces.

Oh well. And least her destructive little hands are super-cute.

As are her tightly clenched toes.

Momentous Moments Missed...

This past week two blog-worthy things happened that I neglected to blog about.

The first is that this week marks 1 full year in our city house. It's really hard to believe that we have been here for a full year already! Crazyness.


And the second momentous moment has to do with Marge...

This week marks her 3rd Birthday.

(Side note: I have the best grandmother ever...she even remembers to send my dog a birthday card! Love you, Nannie!)

Yup. Marge is three.

Happy Birthday, Marge!
We are sorry we didn't throw you a party.

Disassembled

Back before Papillon was born and we were yardsale-ing like crazy, we bought a fun little play mat. I recently pulled it out of the closet thinking it would be a good thing to put as a semi-permanent fixture in the kitchen. The very hard floors of which are tough on Papillon's head when she randomly face-plants so I thought this would be a good remedy for that.

And it would be if Papillon wasn't able to pull the mat apart.

It was day 2 of having the mat down and Papillon figured out she could pull the "A" out of the puzzle. From there, there was no stopping her. It usually takes less than 5 minutes for her to have the whole thing in pieces.

Some times it looks like she is thinking very hard about how to put it back together.
"I think the green one goes over here, and the yellow one goes next to the stars"

This may actually be the best $1 we spent at a yard sale. She loves taking it apart.
But, I think it may be a while before she masters the re-assembly process.

Until then I think I will be getting a lot of puzzle practice.