Outside Girl Returns!!!!

SATURDAY, MARCH 10th

Here's Zoe last Saturday (March 10th) after our new playgroup. We were originally put onto a waiting list for a "Stay n Play" group that meets at the UIUC Child Development Labratory, but then last Friday we got a call telling us a family had dropped out of the program, so we could come starting the next day if we wanted... so that's what we did!!

It turned out being a lot of fun- new babies and parents all around and lots of new toys and activities to try :)... Zoe had a great time with a rocking horse, some contact paper (YES socks stick to contact paper when it's laid out sticky-side-up on the floor), a slide, and some big blocks to name a few. After playing awhile, a snack was provided, then we sang some songs and went on our way. For us that meant heading OUTSIDE into the spring-like weather!

Zoe was thrilled to be able to walk through the grass once again- this time mostly under her own power (as opposed to last fall). Discovery mode is in full swing here in this picture!


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14th

Today we met at Meadowbrook Park for our play date!!! It was windy, but it was really warm, so we took a walk. Little baby Lindsay slept the entire time (funny how you forget all about teeny baby days once your little one is only a few months older), and her doggie Sadie (the golden retriever whom you can sort-of see in the background of the right side of this picture) enjoyed some exercise, too. Cathy and I were donning capri pants (YAY!) and Rachel even wore shorts! SO you know it was really beautiful weather :) I had to take Zoe's long sleeve shirt off halfway through our walk because she was getting too warm!

3/4 of the way through our walk, Zoe was making a HUGE fuss in her stroller, so I picked her up to carry her for a bit (May did the same thing :)). When I picked her up, she was all wet in the pants, so I figured she was dirty. I found that REALLY odd, since I had changed her just prior to going to the park... well as it turned out, her diaper was almost completely dry and what had made her all wet was her bottle of apple juice that had leaked all over her and her stroller seat. She has successfully stained a good portion of the seat now, and I really hope I can get the stains out!!! They're rather unattractive and they look suspiciously like "pee" even though they're not. Blah.

After all 4 mommies, babies, & Sadie finished the loop through the sculpture garden, Mia cotinued to walk to Lindsay and Sadie so Sadie could get out some more energy :) She's still a puppy, so she's got a lot of energy to spend!!! At that point, May and Zoe and Natalie took an opportunity to discover wood chips. We tried keeping them from eating them (and the dirt), but that didn't always work... Zoe didn't taste any until May pulled out Zoe's binky- which I suppose Zoe took as a hint that she was supposed to try eating the chips, because that was what she did almost immediately :) She hated it. In fact, it made her scream & cry (to the point where her tongue was quivering)! After her short-lived tantrum, she was back to 'discovery mode' and was no worse for the wear :-P


After finishing Sadie's walk, Mia decided to head home while Lindsay was still asleep, so it was back to just the 3 mommies & babies. While Natalie got a snack, May and Zoe hit the swings and MAN, oh MAN did Zoe love it! She was laughing out loud, which you can imagine by looking at this picture :) She was even leaning back and forth as the swing moved, as if she were already learning how to "pump"! I'm sure this was just her natural reaction to the sensation of swinging, but it was really neat to see :). Her legs were just kickin' and she was having a great time. After awhile, Natalie joined us at the swings, and we had all 3 girls blowin' in the wind :)

Before long, May and Natalie were ready to go, so they packed up their things and headed home. Zoe, however, was FAR from being finished playing outside. She roamed around and walked a bit longer, then another friend from the library showed up so we went back to the swings with her! After letting Zoe & Audrey swing a bit, us mommies decided to have some fun too, so we went to the 'big kid' swings and held our little ones as we did some swinging ourselves. It was quite refreshing :)

After about 3 hours Zoe was finally ready to head home. Daddy called and we decided to meet up at Taco Bell before heading to the free concert that was at the library tonight. Well.... Zoe fell asleep in the car. SO daddy picked up a couple of burritos and brought them home where I had successfully transferred Zoe from sleeping in the car to sleeping in her bed (PHEW!).

She woke up late for the concert, so we didn't get there at the beginning of it, but we also didn't end up staying 'til the end of it either because it wasn't all that entertaining. The kids playing the string instruments were OK, but their teacher had very little 'classroom control', and also didn't really know how to speak to an audience, so we decided to just spend some time playing in the children's section. Daddy & Zoe played with some puzzle pieces (along with another little 2-yr old boy) while I got a couple of picture books and CD's to enjoy.

All in all today was really busy, but it was also a lot of fun! I didn't even mention the fact that Zoe helped me run errands this morning!!! We dropped daddy's lunch off @ the high school and picked up a few groceries this morning, too. Zoe's such a great babe. I am truly blessed.

On that note, I should get to milkin' and to bed. She's had a few rough nights lately- I think she's workin' on some new teeth. Right now the only ones that have officially cut through are the bottom middle 2 and the top left middle one. You can see some others under her gums, though so I'm pretty confident that they'll be coming through before we know it :)

TTFN!!!