Delanie spelling some words!

Here's a video from today of Delanie reading/spelling words off her shapes placemat.

Summer Video!

Here is a clip of Delanie in the car, on the way to NH:






After we returned from NH, Delanie started to play a game called, "Going to Uncle DJ's House." Here she is, smiling for the camera in between playing.





This last clip is of Delanie swimming in the pool!

Easton Children's Museum

We got to Uncle DJ's house late Monday, after several days of driving and stops. Cold, dreary rain welcomed us to New England. So, we found the closest Children's Museum to burn some energy!

Easton Children's Museum is located in an old firehouse. For those of you that have been to Marbles, it is similar, except much smaller quarters and more "hidden" activities (puzzles in the walls, instruments, lego hallways, etc). Delanie was immediately overwhelmed by the number of people, which included a field trip of wild 1st graders. She mostly stuck to independant activities in quieter areas of the museum.




One of her first finds was a face paint station, where she got very serious about putting on "makeup."

And, this was the result!

Here are Delanie and Daddy on a pirate ship!

I love this magical scene - Delanie running through a flower garden with butterfly wings on! Priceless!

Sesame Place

En route to New Hampshire, we made a stop at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. Sesame Place is all things Sesame Street, designed for 2-7 year olds. We caught the park on a cloudy day, which made for very few lines. The park also has a lot of non-mechanical features, like slides and climbing structures, which is a huge plus for a toddler.




Dave and Delanie went climbing on these giant nets, which are suspended about 25 feet in the air above the park. The entire structure was nets and net tubes.

Here is a picture of the only "ride" we did - hot air balloons that spun around in the air. Delanie did much better than me, I was complaining of motion sickness from the start.

Sesame Street runs through the middle of the park, and it is built to be played in. Storefronts and staircases are real, so kids can use their imagination to explore. This pictrue was taken while we got caught in the rain, Mommy is under the eave at Mr. Hooper's store!

The shows and parade were the highlights for us. During the parade, several monsters went up and down the side, shaking each child's hand. Think rock concert for toddlers. Delanie went between being terrified and being excited, based on how close the monster actually was.

All in all, a very fun day! It was great seeing how excited Delanie was at the park - she wouldn't even sit down to eat! And, what a good way to stretch our legs during the drive. We will try to stop again on the way back through when we head home this week.

Delanie Sings The Hits

Camping at the Outer Banks

We spent Memorial Day weekend camping at the Outer Banks. We went to Oregon Inlet campground, run by the national park service. The campground was just a few sand dunes away from the ocean. The weather was beautiful, around 80 degrees each day, around 50 at night. We didn't see any rain while we were there.

Delanie loved her first camping experience. Before we left, she talked about camping the entire week before. And once we got there, she was very excited. She did a great job sleeping in the tent and staying near us. We realized that we could have brought more for her to do at the campsite, but she still found lots of ways to entertain herself. And, she loved the ocean! The first day, she spent almost an hour running around and screaming. The water was cold, so she would run in up to her ankles and run back out, giggling. As you can see from the picture, we had the beach to ourselves mostly. Only on OBX can you go to the beach on a major holiday weekend and feel like you are on a private island.

We are looking forward to going back soon!

Rules for Dressing Delanie

Over the past three months, Delanie has become increasingly difficult to get dressed in the morning. She would scream, run, cry, kick, hit in order to avoid getting dressed. Often, we had to engage in a wrestling match to get out of the house, and even then, she would escape and try to get her clothes off.

Well, we have finally figured out how we can get Delanie dressed in the morning without a struggle. Here are the rules for getting Delanie dressed in the morning:

1) The night before, pick out two complete outfits and place them beside the changing table. One outfit must include a yellow shirt. Also, it helps to make sure that both bottoms work with both tops.

2) When Delanie wakes up in the morning, you change her diaper as normal. Then tell her, "We can't go downstairs and get our milk until we get dressed for the day." Milk continues to be Delanie's #1 love.

3) If she starts to protest, we just repeat ourselves over and over.

4) Ask Delanie which outfit she would like to wear. Inevitably, she will choose the yellow shirt with the opposite pants, just to fully assert her independence. "Noooo! These pants!"

Since figuring this out, we have had minimal tantrums and even some cooperation on the task of getting dressed. We are growing tired of yellow, but I will take yellow t shirts over tears any day.

Before we learned this procedure (hideous choice from Easter Sunday):




After learning how to get her dressed in the morning (and purchasing 3-4 extra yellow shirts)

**And no, we have not yet figured out a way to get her hair out of her face!!