Monday, June 15, 2009

Playgroup at the Museum

We spent this morning at the museum with our playgroup. We played mostly in the indoor play area, and Megan showed a lot of interest in the toys and exhibits and interacted well with the other kids. Megan especially liked the weather exhibit (because it has big spinning balls). Even though we didn't stay too long - about an hour - Megan was still really tired and ready to come home for a nap. For the most part we're down to one nap a day now. I had tried pushing it until after lunch, but I think Megan seems happier with late morning - around 11:30 or so.

Megan and the ball maze:


Megan and the weather ball:


Megan and the clouds:

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Farmer's Market

Saturday morning, Megan and I went to the Durham Farmer's Market. There were a ton of people there, lots of dogs, and a whole lot of veggies. We passed on the healthy foods and decided to support our local farmers by buying a piece of homemade vanilla pound cake...yummy!!! We listened to several groups of people playing music and dancing, and even saw wax candles shaped like ears of corn. Across the street from the market is the Durham Central Park - home to a huge turtle and and giant cardinal with whom Megan enjoyed playing.



Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Megan and the Beach

Since Brian's computer is no longer the only one that can make movies, I decided to put together a little movie of Megan's first time playing in the ocean. And in case you get into the movie and wonder why Canon in D is playing in the background, at Ripley's Aquarium, Canon in D along with ocean sounds played over the speakers the entire time we were there. I told Brian that when I made our video I was going to do the same so we'd always remember our trip!!



Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Talking on the Phone

Megan really loves to talk on the phone. It doesn't matter if it's her toy phone, the house, phone, a cell phone, or the TV remote! If it's got buttons, she'll push them and try to talk. Unfortunately, she does prefer to talk on Mom and Dad's cell phones. I think it's the flip-action that does it for her. She says hi, maybe she'll talk a bit, and then flips the phone shut and says "bye bye!" I caught her in action one morning:



I have also compiled a list of the top 5 reasons you may not want to let Megan play with your phone:

1. She might put it in her mouth and get it wet, and it will be days before it works properly again.
2. She might hang up repeatedly on people who are trying to call you.
3. She might drop it in the middle of the mall (when you aren't looking), and you'll have to go back to find it.
4. She might call your former co-workers who you didn't clean out of your phonebook, and haven't talked to in more than a year.
5. She might set the alarm to wake you up at 4:40 am while you are on vacation.

(And yes, Megan has done all of the above!!)

Friday, June 5, 2009

15-month Check-up

We just got back from Megan's 15-month check-up with the pediatrician. She weighed in at 23 pounds 7 ounces (that's only 5 ounces up from her 12 month visit), but she shot up 2 inches to 32 inches - that puts her in the 90th percentile for height. This explains why she can suddenly reach so many things on the countertops now.

So aside from some good measurements and reassurance that Megan is devleoping just fine, the rest of the appointment was pretty much terrible. Megan started crying as soon as she saw the doctor's stethescope coming towards her. Crying turned to yelling as the doctor checked her tummy and hips. From yelling she moved onto the shreiking when it came time to check her ears. And then came the worst part of the visit: the vaccines. That's right: the crying, yelling, and shreiking was the good part. She got MMR and chickenpox vaccines today. She pretty much screamed MAMA MAMA MAMA through the shots, but the nurse did a really good job and administered the 2 shots quickly.

Now we're back home resting (except that Megan just woke up -- no three hour nap today i guess).  Hopefully the rest of the afternoon will go better than the morning!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

What I'm Reading

I've been an avid reader all my life. In fact, I was born breech and my uncle always said it was because I was sitting up reading in the womb. I've never really cared what I read as long as I was reading something -- though I am particularly partial to Stephen King novels. In the last few years I haven't read much - especially since Megan was born. Other than a few pregnancy and baby related books, I haven't read many books recently that don't rhyme or have farm animals as the main characters.

But since we've started going to library storytimes, I've gotten back into reading. I didn't realize how much I had missed it! Mostly I've been reading fiction: novels and short stories. I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire (as is typical, it's better than the movie, which was really good). 

And surprisingly, I've even read a few non-fiction books. I'm not a big non-fiction reader. Reading is an escape for me and I see little reason to escape into reality, especially when the topic is historical politics. But I was really shocked to find myself plodding through and enjoying George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War. (I did not see the movie before reading the book, but have since seen the movie, and while Tom Hanks was a far better Wilson than I was expecting, Philip Seymour Hoffman was the real star.) 


Another non-fiction work I stumbled upon is a recently published book titled You Are Here by Christopher Potter. It's described as a "portable history of the universe," and is supposed to examine and help explain man's position in the universe relative to all other parts of the universe. But so far it's a really condensed layman's textbook covering major philosophies, mathematics, science, astronomy, all rolled into one. Think: Plato, Newton, Einstein, Galelio, etc. I think I would have enjoyed reading this one more in college, but am slowly making progress through it. Maybe I'll get it finished before a large asteroid collides with Earth and wipes us out -- or at least before I have to renew it.

As for my fiction and other selections, I'm also currently reading Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie and next in the queue is Chris Gardener's autobiography The Pursuit of Happyness. If anyone has any suggested readings you think I might like, let me know!

I'm signing off to go curl up with my book!

Fun at the Library

Each week we go to the library for storytime. But today, storytime was cancelled (we found at once we got to the library). A lot of the other moms and kids showed up, too, so we invaded the children's section and held an informal library playgroup. The library has some large toys for the kids to play with, including a big cardboard castle. We played with the other children (most of whom are younger than Megan), read a few books, played in the castle and ran through the aisles of books. The other kids were having fun crawling around and at one point several of the crawlers zeroed in on the magazine rack and had magazines all over the floor. I'm guessing the library will think twice before cancelling storytime again without some advance warning!! It was still really fun, though!!

Megan picks out a book to read:


Megan playing in the cardboard castle:

Monday, June 1, 2009

Weekend at the Beach

This past weekend we went to the beach for my sister's bachelorette party. It was also Brian's birthday, so we were celebrating lots of things. This was Megan's second beach trip, but by far her most fun trip. She loved playing in the water and sand, and the waves crashing on her didn't bother her at all -- she loved it!!! She also chased birds and waved at everyone that passed her on the beach. Sometimes she would attract on-lookers who would stop to watch her play in the ocean.

Megan splashing in the ocean:



Megan & Daddy playing in the sand. Megan loved digging in the sand.


Megan, Mommy, and Aunt Beth on the beach:


Family picture:


Megan at the sting ray tank at Ripley's Aquarium:




I had a really great time going out with all the girls for Beth's party -- I haven't done anything like that in a very, very long time (maybe not ever!!). I know Beth and all the other girls had a good time, too, and I'm glad I got to share it with her. Congrats to Beth & Kenny on their upcoming wedding!