Shortest Beach Trip Ever

We found ourselves at Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA.  Not a bad place to find oneself.

That's Mark, the right-most person.  Frances is standing in front of him, but she's hard to see.

Chandler's a runner, like her big sister.  Look at those 18 month old legs go.

"C'mon, mom.  Stop taking pictures and let's go."

"Dad, help!  I've got sand on my feet."

(All those rocks came home with us, of course, because we don't have enough rocks and pebbles around the house already.)

About 10 minutes after we got there, the sky looked decidedly like this:

And then it poured.  It was our shortest beach trip ever, but we'll be back.

Ramona Thwarted!

Frances announced that she wanted chapter books.  I dutifully trotted myself down to the library and picked up some books I wanted her to read and love, books like Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh, Just So Stories, etc.  I was particularly excited for her to read Beezus and Ramona, both because I loved it as a kid and because I thought she would appreciate a story about an annoying little sister.  The book sat around and sat around and Frances refused to get interested in it.  So I came up with a plan.  I asked Mark to just casually lie down and start reading the book to himself.  I figured that would pique her interest.  Mark thought that was the best request he'd heard all day.

The plan worked great - sorta.  Frances did track down Mark almost immediately to ask what he was up to.  But then, she decided to "read" the book to him.

Afterwards, again, she refused to have any interest in Ramona.  What she really likes is My Little Pony drivel, though she did pick up a Greek myth with Pegasus the next time we went to the library to return poor Ramona.  Don't worry though.  I picked up a Ramona book on CD to listen to on the next Maine trip.  Then she won't be able to escape my plan!

Peaches!

I heard through the grapevine that Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA, was having a peach festival.  We'd never picked peaches so we obviously needed to give it a try.

Frances is all in favor of picking that begins with a hay ride.  She stuck a piece of hay in her mouth without any prompting from us.  Don't know where she learned that posture.

I mentioned that her Sir likes to do that with straw, too, so the straw stayed right where it was for the whole ride.

And this one thought hay rides must be fun because her sister was doing it.

"Come on, sister!  Into the trees!"

Chandler caught on right quick, at least to the general idea of peach picking.

Some of the finer points of peach picking were lost on her, like not throwing the fruit.  She also didn't quite understand keeping the good fruit in the container and leaving the bad fruit out.  Mark had to do a little surreptitious editing.

Back at the farm stand, a bluegrass band was warming up.

Bluegrass was a little lost on Chandler, too, but...

...Frances was very attentive.

We've had peach streusel muffins, peach galette and peach jam, and if you make the mistake of inviting me to your house, you'll have peach jam, too.

How I spent my summer vacation

Giving mama heart palpitations.

Here she is standing...

And here she is getting ready to jump off, hence the heart palpitations.

Friday Adventure

I think I've mentioned before that many area attractions have free admittance on summer Fridays.  We haven't really been taking advantage of them this summer because Chandler's nap takes up such a large chunk of the middle of the day.  But Darby's mom, Cindy, asked us to join them for a free trip to George's Island, one of my favorite summer attractions.  I decided to ignore Chandler's need for sleep, just one Friday.

Here's Adler, Darby and Frances heading out to George's.

And that's it for my George's pictures.  Yep, completely failed in that category, but the kids mostly stayed at the playground one hundred feet from the dock and I couldn't be bothered to get out the camera.  Chandler stayed awake and happy for a looong time, and she and Darby both napped on the boat coming back from the island.

We ended up at a very nice splash park very close to the harbor.  The kids got to romp in the water and generally mess about.

That's Chandler and Adler waiting for a water spurt to launch the truck into the air.  That kept them busy for ages.

Then there was a lot of snacking.

These kids get along so well together.  It is one of my life's greatest pleasures right now.

More love for JP

After we left the food trucks two weeks ago, we wandered over to a street fair with Frances's friend Darby and her family.

Frances immediately zeroed in on a hot dog, because the wonderful Thai and vegetarian food trucks weren't up to her standards.  It is the summer of hot dogs, after all.

While Frances finished her second dinner, the rest of the kiddos tried out some hula hoops.

Chandler didn't get it quite as well as Darby...

...but it wasn't for lack of trying.

I could watch this kid try to hula hoop for a very long time.

Fifty-Seven Months of Preschooler Frances

Fifty-Seven Months Fun Facts

• Reading:  Frances doesn't really like reading for me, but I know she will read three letter words for her beloved teacher, Clarissa.  Some words she has conquered are bag, cup, log, sun, pin, pot, can, tub, and bug.  Clarissa sent them all home on flashcards.  Frances won't read the flashcards for me, but I'm keeping them anyway, in case Frances changes her mind.  I'm trying not to be a pushy mommy, but I want to hear her read so much.
• Music Education:  Recently, "Hey, Jude" was playing on the radio.  Frances said, "What's this?"  I said, "Hey, Jude."  She said, "Is it the Ants?"  I said, "Yes."  This is how I get my jollies.  It's sick.

Eighteen Months of Toddler Chandler

How are we at 18 months already?  How?

Eighteen Month Fun Facts

• Verbal Skills: Sigh, a little.  No great strides here, but maybe some baby steps.  On one trip to Whole Foods, she used the sign for "more," but she may have thought it was the sign for "yogurt melt."  She loves those things and I was holding a bag of them.  Chandler said something that sounded like "nana" while pointing to a banana.  Her word for dog is now down to one syllable, so it doesn't sound as much like "daddy" anymore.  She says "Go!" if I say "one, two, three" while she's sitting at the top of a slide.  This last one is a little exciting, a little scary: she sings something that sounds like "Let it go" from Frozen.  We don't even listen to the soundtrack, so I guess she got it from Frances.  I'm hoping next month she conquers saying "mama."  Fingers crossed.
• Motion: Very, very interested in hoping.  She can get one foot a few inches off the ground, but I bet she'll have it mastered soon.
• Nicknames:  Her father calls her "Chandler-Bandler."  Frances calls her "Chandly."  I call her "Chewie" (her initials are CHU), but only in texts to my sister.  All so bad.
• Teeth:  This is where things fall apart a bit.  Chandler suddenly has twelve teeth, four of them in place and eight of them in the process of coming in.  To look at her, she seems to be handling it very well - not a lot of crying.  But, about six weeks ago, I noticed Chandler was pulling out her hair (and eating it, but never mind). I consulted Chandler's doctor.  She guessed that it was a pain management technique for her and prescribed Lidocaine to rub on Chandler's gums.  I've been medicating her steadily for a month(!) now but Chandler has less and less hair all the time.  The pediatrician said if it became a bad habit, we could shave Chandler's head and stick bows on her head so people would know she's a girl.  I said that didn't sound like us.  Mark is fine with the shaving; I'm not there yet, but I'd like to give her a chance to grow back some hair before freezing temperatures set in.  Poor bubby.  Oh, and I had mentally set aside a week this month to pull the paci, but her doctor said not to until this teething/hair thing is figured out, so the pacis got a reprieve.
• Books:  She just loves the lion in Dear Zoo, although she will tolerate Brown Bear, Brown Bear.
• Sleep:  See teeth, above.  I don't dare ignore her crying in the night ("Maybe she's in there ripping out her hair in pain!" I say to myself), so the nighttime sleeping has fallen apart a bit.
• Stats: 32.75 inches tall (76%) and 23 lb.s (55%)
• Difficulty: On a scale from newborn to two year old (or three year old, pick your poison), we are definitely moving closer to the two year old stage.  Suddenly, Chandler will screech and arch her back when I try to put her in her car seat.  Or screech and protest when I don't let her go up and down the steps again.  She is suddenly a terror at restaurants.  I'm trying to savor each and every sweet moment, while putting a survival strategy in place for the next two years (it involves a lot of activity away from the house).  Luckily, there are still many sweet moments.  She is so darn cute and enthusiastic.

Chandler meets finger paint

I had read somewhere about making potato stamps for kids to use with finger paint.  I'd been meaning to get around to it for awhile, but hadn't quite.  Then I read in a child psychology book how important it is for kids to get messy and enjoy themselves, and I noticed that Chandler was having me clean her hands a lot and volunteering to help me clean up messes.  Time for some paint/mess.

But first, some banana.

Now, some paint.

And a potato stamp.

Doesn't she look like she's enjoying herself?

Enough of this foolishness.  Chandler got taken directly to a bath - no need to drag the messiness all over the house - and had one of her first baths without her big sister.  She loved it!  She spent about a half hour pouring water, walking from one end of the tub to the other, and lying down in the tub, just like her big sister.  Usually, her sister is in the tub with her and they spend their time competing for space.

I'm not so sure Chandler relished the paint, but she did have a great time messing about in the water.  I wonder if that counts.

Waking Up Frances

Chandler often wakes up before Frances.  Then she "gently" helps Frances wake up, sometimes by screeching at her and sometimes by climbing into bed with her.  That Chandler, she's a good climber.

If only it was always this idyllic.

Corn, with a side of dancing

My kids haven't been dressed very often this summer.

Yep, just a typical dinner at the Hayward-Uptons.