Fountain Fun

So, for those of you not familiar, Millennium Park also has this giant fountainland called Crown Fountain that features 50-foot tall glass block towers that splash water out at each end of a shallow pool. Dave said it was like the Ganges of Chicago. Our friends have a 2 1/2-year-old and suggested we being swimwear - which I did bring to Chicago but not to this outing, because I thought we wouldn't actually do it. Wet squirmy baby who just started walking with hard soles that week + wet concrete + big crowd + gosh knows what kinds of germs are in that water + big kids running and splashing unchecked = I wasn't so sure we'd actually participate. Here's a quick overview of the scene from the sidelines:

And here's Madeline checking out the situation from her stroller. M: Hmm... looks fun.

M: Do you honestly think you could show me this and I'd sit here quietly? Seriously, let me out now!!

Me: Ok. We'll give it a try for a few minutes. How bad can it be?

Here we go... getting our feet wet with little Hazel and our friends keeping a good perimiter.

However, this 13 month old wanted to run freely about. Our Miss M. is very independent and was happy to explore far and wide. "Bye, Mommay!" She cannot be contained on dry land, so on wet concrete with a city of feet at our feet, and after a few slips, and knowing there wasn't a tub of Purell nearby to dump her in like Achilles, let's just say I aged a little more that day than on your average day.

And here we have us several minutes later when it's time to call it a day. "Bye-bye fountain!" We were also up against naptime, and Madeline never has a hard time letting us know when we've gotten too close to that limit. Time to head back. Though, she dried off and shook it off quickly - we caught that Transformers thing on our walk back to the hotel.

Our Kind of Town

Earlier this summer, we had a chance to breeze through Chicagoland too quickly. It was a short visit with too much to do and see, but it won't be our last, and we're already looking forward to our next trip up. I've been way too long in getting these cataloged and put up, but at last here are some clips. You should know that when we got out of the car at our hotel (the Omni Hotel, as Oprah says, "in the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile") Madeline literally looked up and all around and then waved. Just in general at the sky and everything around - she waved to say "Hello, Chicago!!" It was awesome.

Here's our little city girl out for a walk in the Gold Coast a block from the lake. She loved the wind in her hair almost as much as she loved undoing the velcro on her shoes. She also loved to wave at random passers-by. We'd find people waving at us when we were out walking a few times, then looked down to find it was because Madeline was waving at them.

They were filming the new Transformers movie while we were there, and we walked right by one of the sets. That's what's going on in the background here, though I didn't notice that random guy's head in the middle of my shot. It was one of those "quick, let's take a picture now" kind of moments, but we got it.

We met up with Aunt Laura and a whole gang of Chicago friends for lunch and a trip to Millennium Park. A cloudburst nearly ruined the outing, but thanks to some quick texting and a group of SMC Chicks who like to plan things, we met up from different directions at Macys' food court (which we had completely to ourselves) to eat our picnic lunches before going over to the park. Here's Madeline with her godmother and another irresistable treat - a water bottle. Madeline LOVES those things for some reason.

Here we are at a quick stop at Cloud Gate, or "The Bean" sculpture in Millennium Park. I love how Dave and Madeline have the same squinty face when you look from their noses up.

And this is pretty funny - a family self-portrait in The Bean... for some reason, we're all making almost the exact same face, which kind of makes me laugh. We might look a little dorky, but that's ok. We're happy too. :)

First Haircut

Madeline arrived 14 months ago with a nice head of hair. It kept growing and growing... which brings us to Madeline's first haircut! Mom and Dad chickened out on cutting it at home, so we took her to a kiddie hair salon. Here's the before photo as Madeline waited her turn.

Then it was off to her chair, cleverly disguised as an airplane. It was either that or a cop car, and I'd like to keep my daughter out of cop cars for as long as possible. Plus, Madeline recognizes and can say "airplane!"
After I suggested that we should "cut the hair in the front short, to keep it out of her eyes" and "we can leave the hair long in the back" it was decided that Rachel would explain the concept to the hairdresser, so as to avoid our daughter ending up with a mullet. Can someone explain "bangs" to me again? I thought that's what I was saying!
Just a little off the top!
Explanation complete, Mom watched with some apprehension as the haircut began. (NOTE: Let Mom explain: The haircutter's hair was blue. Blue. We just wanted to keep a close eye on the situation - that's all I'm saying...:)
Madeline has always enjoyed having her hair combed.
She's a great girl, but some distractions were necessary when the cutting began.
Bubbles were a big help!
How's it look so far, Mommy?
Mum-mums are also good for a few moments distraction.
Almost done and looking good!
What just happened?!?
How do I look?

4th of July

Here's our little firecracker in red, white and blue on July 4th.

Asleep

Sometimes we check on Madeline before bed, and sometimes we find her like this... knees tucked under her and behind sticking up. At the risk of waking her up, we had to take this shot a few weeks ago. She was left undisturbed, thankfully, but it would have been worth it regardless.

Bookshelf Frog

Believe it or not, Madeline (sometimes-not all the time) actually likes to put things back after she gets them out, which is a trait we're encouraging and modeling, though we don't necessarily expect her to continue this enthusiastically. In the meantime, I'm loving it. Here's a picture of Madeline's bookcase, after she's pulled books out and put back on her own while I was in a different room (incidentally, just this week Madeline knows and says the word "back":) She also pulled Frog out from her crib and stuck him in along with her books.

Wimbledon 09 and 10

What a difference a year makes... Last year watching Wimbledon, Madeline looked like this:

And here is one year to the day (June 26) later:

We think it's pretty cool that Madeline's birthday will always be around Wimbledon, and are looking forward to taking her there someday to celebrate.

Party Swim

Madeline just loves the water and kicks, splashes and has a great time. She can even say "pool" now when she sees it.


Her eyebrows show she's set on doing something purposeful with that ball.

This picture is funny... Here we have Dave's friend Kevin and his son Michael, who was said to have been flirting with Madeline this day. In this snapshot Madeline looks like, "eeh what's next," while Michael tries to get her attention, while Dave keeps a wary eye on him and Kevin thinks it's funny.

Backyard Party

Madeline hosted a little party for a few friends the weekend after her birthday. Here she is right before heading out to enjoy the festivities.

Miss Brittany came too - We're happy for her new nursing job, but I know Madeline will miss her too! :)

She suited up in her swimwear and got to try some cupcakes.

I think she's getting the hang of and starting to like this cake eating stuff!

No Hat

Madeline has some adorable hats, but prefers not to wear them. She likes to say "hat" when she sees Dave put his on before our walks (and in this video she's looking at his hat on the table next to her), but when it comes to wearing one of her own, she has a pretty strong opinion illustrated here.

Father's Day

Madeline got her daddy a special present for Father's Day... a cordless power screwdriver. Now that she's walking around so much, she's going to need some more babyproofing, including cabinet protectors that have to be screwed in one at a time. This should make that job (and assembing various other toys for her in years to come) a lot easier.

More Birthday Cake

We had to get a few more pictures of Madeline's first birthday cake... here her eyebrows are furrowing over it.

She seemed to like it pretty well - this face is just precious.

We realized she didn't need a bib at all since she wasn't a bit messy about eating her first piece of cake.

She got the hang of it after a while...

... but I think she was wondering what all the fuss was about.

Birthday Cake

Here we are lining up for a family self-portrait before cake.

Madeline has quite a reach... she can get to things we don't expect her to be able to get to, as she demonstrates here. She really wants a piece of that cake!

Well, she really wanted to check it out, even though she might not have realized she wanted to eat it yet. Here she managed to get some icing on her fingers and isn't quite sure what to do with it.

So she scooped a bit with her right hand to taste it instead of shoving her left in her mouth. What a little lady.

Happy Birthday, Madeline!!!

Madeline's first birthday was Sunday, June 20. It was also Father's Day, which made both extra special. We can't believe our darling baby girl is already a 1-year-old! She's toddling all around, too - she's accomplished so much in such a short time! Her vocabulary is ever-expanding, she understands so much and she's developing a keen sense of humor along with her amazing personality. Here she is birthday morning looking like she has something to say:

Here she is after getting dressed in her birthday onesie, ponytail and cupcake clippie looking a little more civilized:

And just before we headed out on our morning walk looking very cool as always: