Where the Wild Things Are

As a rule I am not a fan of zoos. I find them depressing and remain skeptical of their true conservation value. However! I have a 2 1/2-year-old, and she likes animals, so off we went to the National Zoo a few weekends ago. The weather was perfect - a crisp, sunny fall day - and we were in and out before the crowds arrived. We saw zebras, orangutans, gorillas and some cute but kind of odd pygmy horses from Russia. Here's a pictureof Mabel, Dylan and the gorilla. I have helpfully highlighted the gorilla for your viewing pleasure.

Stylish, Take 2

In an important update to our previous post, Mabel is now also sporting two ponytails when the spirit so moves her.

Stylish

Mabel came home from school yesterday with her hair in a ponytail. It's crazy how different she looked! She was very proud - she referred to it as her 'ponyhair'. As in, "Mommy, I have ponyhair. You no have ponyhair."

All the News

Mabel likes to mimic everything we do - including reading the paper every day. She will sit on the couch with Dylan in the mornings now and 'read' with him. Very sweet.

Tip Her Over and Pour Her Out

Mabel wants Grandma Sandy to know that she can now sing 'I'm a Little Teapot' all by herself. Sometimes her little teapot is 'short and snout' - but she sings it likes she means it - with real conviction. And we all know that's what matters.

The Very Snazzy Ladybug

We're a little late with the Halloween post, but trust me when I tell you we all had a great time. Mabel dressed as a hot pink satin ladybug and was, needless to say, really, really stinkin' cute. Whenever I asked her what she was going to be for Halloween in the weeks leading up to the big event, she would say (very loudly), "YadyBUG HalloWEEN!" while pumping her fists up and down. She does love the yadybugs. We had a parade at her school and also had the kids + parents from her playgroup over before trick-or-treating. Here are a few snaps from the parade, which was Total Cute Overload.

From the Corner Office

Here's Mabel's school picture! It looks very official, like she's just been promoted to Senior Vice President of Wagons, Tofu Hot Dogs & Tigers.

Visiting Shepherdstown

Last weekend Mabel and I drove to Shepherdstown for a Grammy & PopPop fix. We took a nice long walk with Grammy from their house, all the way down the alley to the Little House, then back up German Street (with a stop at the Sweet Shop for snacks) and home. We saw lots of dogs, interesting babies and other assorted attractions. Mabel was asleep within five minutes of getting in the car to head back to our house, and slept in an extra hour the next morning. All in all, a highly satisfying and successful trip.

Serious Sliding

We got Mabel a very cool playset for the backyard a month or so ago. She calls it her playground. As in, "Play on playground, Mommy?" Hard to say no to that. I took this picture when we were heading out to school yesterday. If you look very closely you can see her tongue curled around the corner of her mouth. We take sliding very seriously at our house.

Rainy Sunday

Dylan was working today so Mabel and I spent the day together ... mostly on the porch, becauseof the rain. Lots of sidewalk/porch chalk, watching the rain, scanning the passers-by for dogs, etc. Mabel has been very interested in wearing my WWF hat lately: "Panda bear hat, mommy!"

Cake!

My colleague Julie made the most delicious pound cake for an office birthday celebration, and was kind enough to send some home with me for Dylan and Mabel. Judging by how much Mabel enjoyed her piece last night after dinner, Dylan will be lucky if he gets a bite. When she was eating it I asked her for a taste, and she gave me a very small piece. As I was chewing it she said, "No, Mommy. Give it back. Mabel's cake." Can't say that I blame her - in general, cake is awesome, and this cake was double-awesome.

Happy Girl

Mabel has started saying "Cheese!" whenever she sees a camera headed her way. I took these this morning as we were getting ready for school.

Crocodile Rock

Today was Mabel's first day back at school after more than a week off. She's now officially in the two-year-old room, along with lots of her little pals from our neighborhood playgroup. We drove to Indiana (Mabel calls it 'Indy-hanna') last week for a Hyland family gathering and had great fun with the cousins, all boys, ranging in age from 5 years to nine months. I managed to take a grand total of seven pictures the whole time ... here's the best of the lot. I think Mabel looks a bit like Sir Elton John with these glasses on.

Hair Cut!

Mabel had her first haircut over the weekend. She was a little apprehensive at first but after about a minute was fine and very interested in the goings-on all around her. She likes to talk about how 'MayMay got hair cut, wear clippy!' (The lady who cut her hair gave her a small pink barette to wear. Of course, we promptly lost it ... but take it from me, she looked adorable.)

** I can't for the life of me get the pictures to appear in the correct order .... so the 'after' picture shows up first. Oh well. I'm sure the very smart readers of The Nugget Chronicles can piece the action together just fine. **

Cold Snap

Mabel heard it was going to be a bit less out of control hot this weekend and wanted to be sure she dressed accordingly. Please direct your attention to her new favorite thing, last winter's purple fleece hat. She wore it to bed on Friday and has had it on most of the past three or four days. It's a good look, don't you think?

Sitting Pretty

We spent last Sunday visiting Grammy and PopPop in Shepherdstown. It was insanely hot but we managed some time in the garden while Mabel played in the new sprinkler from G & PP, which she loved. But you know how it always seems the toys kids like the best aren't toys? By far the highlight of the trip for Mabel was figuring out she could climb up onto the storage seat of PopPop's walker and then wait until one of her royal subjects pushed her around. Like a queen on her throne, that one.

Quintessential Nugget

I feel like this picture perfectly captures the essence of Mabel. Loves hats (witness the fireman's model) and stickers (on her shirt, also tightly clutched in hands), constant snacker (watermelon stains on shirt, also probably some kind of cheese), stuffed tiger always close by (unfortunately on the floor in this instance), and will sneak a pacifier if you let your guard down for long enough (approximately 34 seconds). Love this kid.

Helping

Mabel is very helpful. She likes to help bring the paper in every morning, help feed the cats, help carry my Diet Coke into the living room, help make Dylan's coffee, help clean up messes on the floor with about 19 baby wipes ... the list goes on. She also enjoys pulling her step stool over to the counter in the kitchen to help supervise whatever's going on. This picture is from tonight, after her bath, when she wanted to see what Dylan was doing (answer: making chicken salad). She has also begun picking out her outfits. Tonight's selection was the always-in-style diaper + rain boots.

Happy 4th/5th of July

Here's a pic of Mabel before the Independence Day parade at her school. It was very cute; each class made their outfits. Mabel did great until she saw me in the crowd (me and three other parents .. I was kinda hard to miss), and then she broke the line and insisted on sitting with me.

Summer 2010

A few recent pics of our girl. Yum, yum, yum!

Bird is the Word

Mabel's favorite stuffed animal right now is ... an eagle. Kind of unconventional, but, we applaud the originality. She also likes to put the eagle in a diaper. "MayMay eagle diaper, please." Who can say no to that? [With apologies to our national bird.]

What We're Reading

It is well-documented that Mabel is a big reader. Her favorite at the moment is 'In My Tree', about an owl, and it comes with an owl finger puppet sewn right into the book, if you can believe that. Mabel calls it 'May May owl book' and its whereabouts are a constant topic of conversation. As in, "May May owl book, are you?" (When the owl book isn't immediately visible.) Or, "Owl book, please." (When she wants you to read the owl book to her.) This weekend she has been referring to herself as 'May May Hanna', and was understanding that we all had the same last name: Mommy Hanna? yes! Daddy Hanna? yes! Hammy (Hamlet) Hanna? yes! Owl Book Hanna? Ummm ... sure, why not!

Hair, Hair!

Regular followers of The Nugget Chronicles are aware that our titular heroine did not, for quite some time, have much hair to speak of. Those days are gone, my friends. Look at all the gorgeous blondey curls! Is a proper haircut far behind? My dad had very blond, curly hair when he was a baby and was called Puddin' Head for years as a result. We may be looking at Puddin' Head Hanna, the Sequel.

The Big 0-2

Mabel is two! I'm a little tardy with the post, but nonetheless we have a very grown-up girl in the house. She spent the day having breakfast at home with us, then at school with her pals. I made cupcakes (devil's food with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles) and took them in for a surprise after lunch. Mabel got two birthday crowns, a watering can shaped like a dolphin, stickers and a new book with an owl finger puppet. ("May May owl book!") And we've been having a great weekend helping her celebrate ... out for bagels this morning, some good hang time in the backyard pool, learning how to wash our hands at the big sink, lounging with Elmo and reading books. Here's a photo montage of our activities. Happy Birthday, Mabel! (Or, to quote the birthday girl, "Happy May May!")

Girls' Night Out

Tonight Mabel and I met our friends Kate and Orla for dinner at the diner. Orla is in first grade and Mabel was enthralled by her, as you can see from the picture. Orla was very sweet with Mabel and kept a good eye on her for me. Picture compliments of Orla's mom, Kate.

** Interesting historical note: the green jacket Mabel is wearing used to be Orla's! We love a good hand-me-down.

Breakfast of Champions

Mabel now takes her meals at the dining room table, thank you very much. Yesterday Dylan introduced her to cereal and milk in a bowl (as opposed to dry cereal with a chaser of milk) and she is over the moon. Please be assured she takes her new responsibility as a grown-up cereal eater very seriously.