Maya's Conversations

Maya has been pretending a lot with her Bunny Bear.  Today, when I was putting her down for her nap, she was having a conversation with him:

Bear: Mommy?

Maya: Yes, sweetie-pie?

Bear: Me so saaaaad.

Maya (snuggling him up in her blanket): It OK.  Me snuggle you.

A Politician.

A very quick story.  Maya had an accident during her nap today.  She started crying so I went up to get her.  I told her it was OK and started taking off her wet clothes and stripping the bed.  She started saying, "Bela.  Potty."  I said that Isabela didn't go potty, but she insisted that Isabela had gone potty in Maya's bed.  Even with all evidence to the contrary, she stuck to her story.  We may have a politician on our hands.  :o)

Morels and Ledge Park

A few weekends ago we went hunting for morels with the WI Mycological Society.  And wouldn't you know - we actually found some!  Isabela found her very own morel without any help.  She was very proud of herself, and she should be!  A lot of people in the group didn't find any.

After a successful morning of morel hunting, we decided to stop at Ledge Park, near Horicon Marsh.  I hadn't been there since I used to bring my students there, eons ago.  I had forgotten just how neat it is.

Jake climbed up into  a cave with Isabela.  She was great at climbing up.

She was a little nervous about climbing down again, as you can see...

She did great though, and was raring to try again.

And again. 

No shortage of things to do around there, but no more morels. 

That's OK.  There are some things even more precious. 

Looking around

We have been visiting a lot of parks and natural areas around Madison lately and the girls have been having fun as usual. 

Digging in the dirt, wading...

poking around in water and everywhere else.

and of course the inevitable falling in when Mama only brought extra pants and not an extra shirt.

It didn't dampen her fun at all though.  I love these girls.

Pool Days

Isabela went under the garage and dragged out the kiddie pool about two months ago.  Two months ago it was not very warm in Wisconsin.  In fact, it hasn't been warm enough to fill it until this past week.  That has not kept her from asking almost every day though.  She could be wearing her winter coat and still shivering and she will ask if it is a pool day.  Sorry babe, nope.

Finally though, we are having a heat wave.  The girls have spent the last couple of days with their swimsuits on.  They hardly come inside. 

They eat outside too, which makes washing them off from the inevitable messiness of mealtimes very easy!

The clothesline partially hangs over the deck and yesterday I had sheets and blankets on it.  The girls would hide behind the blankets and then run and jump into the kiddie pool.  There was a lot of screaming, laughing and splashing.  The neighbors always know when we are around.  I do not have quiet children. 

The Lion King!

On Mother's Day my mom came down to take Isabela and me to The Lion King, which was playing in Madison.  So much fun.  She had given us tickets for Christmas and Isabela had been talking about going ever since. 

I think that she was overwhelmed by the magnificence of it all.  Afterward we kept asking her what was her favorite part and she always said - ALL of it. 

I thought that the best part was watching her.  She was enthralled from the very beginning.  About halfway through the first act though she told me she had to go potty.  We were right in the middle of a row and I told her when the song was done we would go.  Until intermission, I offer to take her to the bathroom after every song and she would insist that she could hold it.  She didn't want to miss a moment.  I have to say that I would have enjoyed that part of the play more if she wasn't sitting on my lap insisting that she could hold it.  It made me a little nervous.  She made it though, and our row let me buzz out of there right away at intermission.  I think that they were a little nervous too.

It was such a wonderful experience and she enjoyed it so much that we will have to try and take her to more of these kind of things.  Thank you Mom for the wonderful time.  It was great to spend it with you and my little girl! 

Zoo

The same day as the Aldo Leopold Center we met some friends at the Henry Vilas Zoo.  We have been going to the Zoo a lot lately, but we still haven't seen the whole zoo yet this year.  It is a great zoo and it was a beautiful day to be out and about.

The otters are one of my favorite exhibits.  They actually seem pretty happy, unlike some of the other animals. 

I think that the tiger would have liked to hide.  Poor thing.  I still think that zoos are important, educationally, but I do feel sorry for the animals. 

Maya was having a rough time.  She fell off of rocks when they were playing, she fell off of steps, and she just fell.  There was blood and tears, but she is one tough girl.  The tears never lasted for long and she was back in the game. 

At the end of a busy day I bought them popsicles.  I had them finish before we left, and they immediately fell asleep - green mouths and all.

Aldo Leopold Center

We have been trying to get away at least once a week.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the Aldo Leopold Center in Madison.  The girls had a great time and we walked and walked on the trails there, poked in the pond, watched birds and most interesting of all (and probably the activity that they spent the most time at....

watching and trying to catch ants.  Goodness.  They could have done that at home!

Drawing in the dirt with a stick was another favorite.  I just had to laugh.  Oh well.  It was free.

Schlitz Audubon Center

The same weekend that I mentioned in the last post, we also visited the Schlitz Audubon Center in Milwaukee.  Wow!  What a place.  They were having their Earth Day Celebration and there were tons of people there.

Isabela flaunted her creative fashion sense like usual.  I think that she had on at least three shirts.  Layers are important, right? 

Maya was her usual self too.  She didn't want any help.  In fact, would we please step away - a little farther, a little farther - so that we wouldn't even think about helping her. 

Never ones to miss opportunities, they jumped right into the fun.  Isabela made several friends right away by introducing herself and her sister to anyone who would listen. 

I kept Maya still for long enough to put in pigtails by distracting her with some of the Earth Day cake that they were serving. 

And they played in the sandbox building houses with rocks and sticks.  Isabela conned some kid into watching hers while we went on a walk.  I hope he isn't still there. 

There were animals to hold.  Isabela was fascinated by the snakes.  She had a hard time sharing when her turn was over.

And animals to net.  There was an unbelievable number of fairy shrimp in this pond.  The girls were there until they closed.  The staff there did a wonderful job and amazingly no one fell in. 

Maya had to go have one last look.  She saw a spoon that some one had dropped in the pond and insisted that I fish it out.  We were celebrating Earth day after all!

Urban Ecology Center

Jake  and I are almost done with the house (finally!).  So a few weekends ago we decided to take some time off and go to the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee.  Very cool place.  We had been meaning to go for a while and were especially interested in the architecture.  We are in the planning stages for building a zero energy timber frame house and so we are very interested in sustainable buildings. 

There was a slide that could only be reached by a very small door outside.  It was difficult to drag the kids away! 

There was also a really cool climbing spiderweb - as Isabela calls it.  So much fun!  There was more too - Wisconsin animals, a climbing wall and even more.  We saw a movie about mushrooms and then went on a mushroom hunting foray.  We didn't find anything, but the girls had a blast looking.  We soon got separated from the group as the girls made their own discoveries, as usual. 

Sweetness

Isabela took it upon herself to teach Maya to ride the trike.  She is a great cheerleader.  "Come on Maya!  You can do it!  Great job! Yea Maya!"  So sweet.  I watched them out the window for a while and when it appeared that Isabela was not going to let Maya take a plunge off of the edge, I went back to the infinite household chores.  They were out there for quite a while, and there wasn't even any screaming or crying!

Then they decided that they wanted to take their naps outside.  I thought that it was a little chilly for that, but they insisted that they were fine.  Of course I was send on lots of errands for blankets and pillows, but they got pretty cozy.  Isabela rocked the hammock for a long time and Maya fell asleep. 

Isabela didn't sleep , but snuggled very quietly with her sister until Maya work up crying because she had an accident.  I was not surprised.  We got everything cleaned up and they took the rest of their nap time inside. 

I love sleeping outside, with a cold nose and a warm body.  I am glad my kids like it too.  Camping here we come!

Odds and Ends

 

I know that you all know that I live with a bunch of goofballs.  As you can perhaps see from these pictures.  Isabela is a camera hog and I just realized that I usually have a lot more pictures of her than of anything or anybody else.  "Mom!  Take a picture of me Mom!  Mom!"  But I am getting ahead of myself.  I now present for your consideration, Isabela and Maya's Adventures!  (Various loud noises - crashes, bumps, screams and laughter)

 

Isabela is a great big sister, she really, truly is.  She has her high and low points in sisterhood, but overall she is wonderful.  She somehow found her empathy recently.  Whew!  I don't know where she had misplaced it, but suddenly she started realizing that other people get hurt, and want attention, and don't particularly like her crashing into them.  Who knew?  She is thoughtful and actually wants people to feel better.  She will bring Maya a toy or blanket when Maya is crying to try and make her feel better, she will get out bowls and spoons for everyone if she is the first one down for breakfast.  She has been wonderful.  Of course it isn't all rainbows and lollipops, but overall, she is doing great.

I have been putting Maya's hair in pigtails recently.  I love how it looks and I was trying to remember why I hardly ever put Isabela's hair in pigtails when she was that age.  Then I remembered: I couldn't catch her.  I put her hair up in a topknot all of the time because I could do it as she was running.  There was no way to get her to sit still long enough for pigtails.  Wow.  I am glad that Maya is a little more mellow.  I remember Isabela absolutely exhausting me by the end of the day.  She still does - if I found a way to siphon off 1% of her energy I would be the most energetic mother on the planet.