cherry blossoms

Mae has been a little resistant to having her photos taken recently. She's a total ham for my phone camera, but she pouts as soon as I pull out the DSLR. I think she senses my anxiety when I'm trying to get a "special occasion" photo.

When the cherry blossoms bloomed a few weeks ago, I took Mae to the park with the big camera. I led her underneath a beautiful cherry tree with flowers cascading to the ground all around us and took off my lens cap. Activate toddler defenses! She used every trick in the book: pouting, jelly legs, and running away while giggling (so cute, so frustrating.) I dug deep into my arsenal of bribes. (I'll give you a treat when we get home! We can go to the swings after we take photos!) But she didn't want pleading, stressed mom. She wanted silly, playtime mom.

We moved to another spot and talked about the flowers and the bees for a bit. Then we played one of her current favorite games, sure to induce a giggle fit.

Mae: Mom, sing a song.
Me (in a quiet, lullabye voice): Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me. Small and white ...
Mae: Sing it loud!!!
Me (full volume, off-key): CLEAN AND BRIGHT, YOU LOOK HAPPY TO MEEEEEET MEEEEEE!!!!!!!
*cue giggles*

Mae also struck up a conversation with a couple who was out for a walk. She told them that daddy was at home because he has an ouchy head. They told her that daddy was probably suffering from allergies. I told them that a more likely culprit was the wedding we attended the previous night.

We finished our park visit with a ride on the swings. Plus, I gave Mae a pink frosted fortune cookie I'd snagged from the wedding reception. I think she earned both for this photo shoot.

butterflies with granE

I have LOTS of blog catching up to do.

Last month, GranE came for a long weekend "maecation." We had a fun visit... hitting up the usual spots (coffee shop) and a new one (butterfly exhibit). Here's my interview with Mae about the highlights of the weekend.

Caitlin: I'm gonna show you some pictures from GranE's visit. Do you want to help tell me about them?
Mae: Yeah.
C: What are we* doing here?
M: Eating some jellaayy beans. (This kid has Easter on the brain.)
C: Jelly beans? That's not jelly beans. What is that?
M: Jelly cookie.
C: Jelly cookie. Where are you?
M: We're at the coffee store. Wif GranEEEEE.

*I finally got to tag along on the Mae/GranE morning coffee visit, and it was everything I'd hoped for!

Mae stayed home with GranE on Thursday while I went to work, so we got lots of fun photos throughout the day.

Caitlin: What were you doing in this picture?
Mae: Making some baby's food. Then it dropped on the floor and said "OH NO!!"
C: Ha. We took a good video of that didn't we.
M: GranEEE.
C: What did you make for baby for breakfast?
M: Salad and carrots.
C: And what's in the cup?
M: Coffee.
C: For baby??
M: Yeah.
C: That's silly.

*Interview pauses while we go outside to watch a group of runners pass*

Caitlin: What are you doing here?
Mae: Riding my bike by myself.
C: (Trying to prompt her about the cute new outfits that GranE brought...) What about your clothes. Tell me about your pants that you're wearing.
M: Hedgehog pants.
(Which doesn't make sense until you see her shirt in the following picture.)

On Saturday morning, we went to the butterfly exhibit at the conservatory. There were butterflies everywhere!

Caitlin: Can you tell me what we were doing in this picture?
Mae: Going to see the butterflies. GranE and Daddy and Mae and Mommy.

Caitlin: What did you like about the butterflies?
Mae: Papers.
C: What did you do with the papers?
M: Try to hold it up, but that butterfly, that one butterfly, doesn't come on the paper! ... I tooted.
C: You did.

Mae: (Eating a Kit Kat.) This is crunchy.
Caitlin: It is crunchy. What are you doing in this picture?
Mae: Hugging GranE!

Lastly, Here's some drawing Mae prepared for GranE's visit. This is Daddy, Mae, and GranE (from left to right). She has entered the "tadpole" drawing phase, where people are just large heads with stick limbs. I particularly love the large, staring eyes and blankly dissatisfied expressions. Each week the drawings evolve to have new details like eyebrows or toes. (So many toes...)

And here are my other favorite drawings from the week. Can you tell what they are?

I think the crab on the left is pretty obvious, but the guys on the right are neither caterpillars nor anthropomorphic spines. You have to use your imagination to picture snowmen with that many body segments!