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.