The beginning of discipline

For those we speak to daily, you know that we have had a glimmer of the terrible twos over the last few days. We decided to continue with the time-outs in an effort to establish some good rules around this house!

Maggie was sitting on the time out step today for throwing the playdough. After her minute of 'quiet reflection' I went to her, knelt down to her level, looked her in the eye, and said, "Maggie, you are sitting in time out because you threw the playdough at mommy. We don't throw playdough in our house. I love you and you are a good girl. Let's go have a good day together." That is the line I always say to her. Then I give her a hug and a kiss.

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes, spread her arms, and said, "ahhhhhhh, Mama!" and then leaned in for a hug, then planted a big kiss on my cheek and ran off. I was hugging her and really had the impression that she was forgiving ME! Or feeling sorry for me because I was in time out. Whatever her intentions, it left me very confused!

Yesterday, she was also sitting in time out for a similar reason. The entire minute, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Joooohn, Johhhhhhhnnnnn, JJJJJOOOOOOHHHHNNNN, JOHNNNNN!" That would be her daddy's name and she was screaming it in the nagging way that I do when I am calling him while he is upstairs. I had no idea I sounded that annoying!

Where your money is going...

To support Homescapes in Carmel! Thought you would enjoy this one Bill :)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102322609

I did it...

Well, I did not actually do it. But, Maggie did it. She LOCKED herself in my car. I will save you from all of the boring details, but just so you get the idea...

Me: In my sweats, early morning heading to farm & then to work out.

Maggie: Cute as a bug in her car seat with her snow boots on and a blanket (thank goodness because it was 30 degrees!). Had a great time pushing buttons!

Police who came to my rescue: really annoyed at the airhead blonde mom who allowed her daughter to 'hold' her keys while she walked around to the driver side.

Darling husband who was already at work: Rushed 35 minutes home with the spare key just in time to see us driving away happy in our warm car.

Note: Don't ever hand your keys off to a little one in the back seat!

Groundhog Hiking Day!

A note from clever Cousin Amy straight from the mouths of babes. I could not resist posting on the blog. I hope you have a great Groundhog Hiking Day!

"For months, Raizy has been telling us that soon it would be Groundhog Hiking Day. Today, it finally arrived. (Raizy says its the first day that's nice enough to go on a hike in the spring, so it may not be too late for YOU to celebrate Groundhog Hiking Day.) The order of the day includes going on a nature hike to look for groundhogs. No groundhogs were spotted in the Smith's festivities today, athough the girls did see some frogs and a turtle at the nature center. After your groundhog-scouting hike, return home, change into your pajamas, and play. Raizy notes that if everyone isn't in their pajamas "the celebration will be ruined." Happy Groundhog Hiking Day to you and yours."

Ha! She is adorable.

New obsession...

SHOES! She laughed and laughed when she put on dada's uggs. She is too cute. Thanks to Uncle Johnny for the shirt and the high expectations (no pressure here girly)!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Getting ready to boogie in the kitchen with momma! In Momma's shoes!Step, step, step...

Ta Da! PS. see the paint spots on the wall? I am happy to report that our kitchen is now painted and there is no more blue tape. We are almost done!

Helping Dada

Maggie was a big help putting the final touches on the kitchen. She took her job very seriously!

Little missy sitting under the bridge

Moment: Bee song

I thought I should explain the picture a few posts down with Maggie & Dada running around the kitchen like bees.

Maggie loves the bee song. You know... the BEE song. Well, if you spent any time in my house growing up you know the Bee song. My brother John plays it on the piano and as kids we would run around after dinner acting like bees (I can't believe that I just admitted that!). Yes, we had television and other things to entertain us... but we would always run around like bees. Doesn't everyone? (Brian, do you remember the Bee song?)

Anyway, I take Maggie to music class once a week and the teacher gave me a CD to take home of all of the songs we sing. One of them was... the BEE song! I taught Maggie the bee dance and now she starts a buzzin once we go downstairs every morning. She even has bee stickers on her shoes and points them out to Grandpa. I think that she is channeling her Grandpa Win... who really loved bees.

The Moon

Walking home for the park tonight, Dada pointed out the moon. What's that Maggie? Mooooon.

Mooor cookie???

Scene: Maggie sitting in her high chair at the farm. Dinner is served. Full plates are sitting before us.

Maggie: "Mooor? Moor? Moooor?" (translation: More) Pointing to the freshly baked cookies cooling on the counter.

Dada: "No. You can not have any cookies until you are all done with your dinner."

Maggie: Looked down at her plate, looked up at the cookies. One second passes, hands go up in front of her giving the baby sign for all done. "All done, all done!!"

Adults in the room break up in laughter. She is clearly smarter than all of us put together. I hate to admit that we did not see that one coming!!

Before I forget...

18 month check up went well. She is healthy and happy (did I mention cute?).

***For my records***

Weighing in at 28 Pounds... the 90%
Growing to 33 1/2 inches... the 97%
And her head is 19 inches around... the 90%

18 months

Happy 18 month Birthday to our little girl.

Guest writer tonight... Dada!

Maggie Jane Smith continues to be the center of our world. She is lucky to have us and we are lucky to have her. Everyday is an adventure of patience and discovery. We learn as much from her as she learns from us. It has been a wonderful experience to see the world through her eyes. She is clever, energetic, funny, opinionated and loving. If all parents were as proud of their children as we are of ours, the world would be a better place. We love you little Maggie!

Fun after dinner!

Maggie narrowly avoiding a bee attack from dada!!!

Hello? Are you there? We were practising talking on the banana phone tonight!

Exploring the museum

Baking cookies with mom!

She was such a good little helper in the kitchen! She loved the cookies!

Bath time!

Cutie after bath time

What is this? Why did it take so long to get here?

When we were in CA, a very strange car pulled up in front of the house, the guy got out, took a picture of the view, and then got back in and drove away. Not that big of a deal right? People park at the vista all day long. But look at the roof of the car. I believe this to be the google street view picture car. Here is the guy out of his car and taking his very own picture (car on Left, guy on right).

FYI, street view is where you can type in your street and city into google and up will pop a picture of your house. Creepy. Well, we got curious so we typed in our address in Ohio. There it was... our house! Then, we typed in the address in CA. NO PICTURE YET! As you know, we are only 45 mintues from Google headquarters, yet they have not taken pictures of our street? Why did it take so long? We will have to check back in a few weeks to see if the picture of the house has Maggie & I standing there in our pajamas taking a picture of them!

I can't believe I FORGOT to tell everyone...

We saw the WEINERMOBILE!!! As you can imagine, we were very excited that when it pulled up outside the Children's Museum. Maggie daydreaming in the hot dog.

Erin directing traffic

Princess Maggie

Thanks to Cousin Courtney, Maggie can not get enough of her 'hat'! Yes, that is a little bit of breakfast smoothie still left on her face. Whoops!

Maggie's words

Her current words:

Hi
utohhhh (meaning, oh no!)
Bye
Yes
No
Mine
My
Lamby (her favorite stuffed Lamb)
Mommy
Dada
Granpa
Grama
Baba
Whoops
WOW
Mo (more)
Peese (Please)
All done
See
Sit
Book
Cat
Dog
Milk
Up
Down

Ok, I am now realizing that she actually knows alot of words. I have been keeping this list as she was talking today. But... there were too many!

Go Trojans!

Maggie has found a new favorite team... USC! She wore this outfit to go see our friend Mike, an Ohio State grad. Cousin Kelly is her main influence on the team choice. Not sure what Dada is looking at. But, it sure looks exciting!

Crab

Did everyone read Orangette this week (check the blogs I read over on the right)??? Sums up my love for Dungeness Crab and the beauty of Sourdough bread and white wine. My version also includes my darling husband... the expert crab cracker. He is one of those wonderful people who cracks the entire crab before eating. And he also cracks enough crab for everyone! Once it is cracked, with proper ceremony, we dig into the pile of lump crab and drench it in butter. I love him for this, and so much more.

Heading Home

We had a great time in CA. We are heading home this morning. Here is a parting shot of us and our friend Erin. Enjoying the sunshine and the Bay Area Children's Museum. Of course, it was taken by our dear friend Katherine.

Why I love being a stay at home mom

Today Maggie found her shadow. It was so amazing. We spent a good hour jumping around trying to step on it. So cute.

Bath time with Maggie & GP

But mom....

Maggie explaining to mommy that the camera is in fact hers...

Maggie Smith, 17 months old

Maggie is 17 months old and she is hilarious. Funny. Really funny. She is also really busy, loving, cute, and wants her way. My friends have lots to say about this age... but most tell me it is 'the calm before the storm'. She is super cute, charming, and it feels like she will turn 2 any day. You know what happens then. Temper tantrums.

This weekend she enjoyed mommy's girls night out in Pebble Beach. She was so pretty last night at dinner with her little bow. This morning at breakfast she decided to take a bath in the water glass. Not my ideal display of table manners, but oh well!

Pictures to follow...

More from Disney!

Baba and her cake

The girls and Mickey Mouse

Me & my sweet dad

More from Disneyland!

Not sure what Maggie was scared of... we were just on the train ride around Disneyland!

Excited with Uncle Johnny
I don't think that she liked the Dumbo ride!

At the entrance on day 1