We started Maddie on some solid foods. She s a real champ! She loves cereals--rice and oatmeal have both been a success, and she did really well with carrots. Sweet potatoes will be more of an acquired taste.
Of course Ethan now gets to feed his monkey cereal too (before this, he would often prepare a bottle for him, or even nurse--we should really get a picture of that one too--he would love it when he gets older). But now we have a video too of monkey eating rice cereal. Ethan informs me that monkey keeps spitting it out--silly monkey. I guess he'll have to practice some more.
On President's day we went swimming. It had been a long time since we braved the pool with Ethan--before Maddie was born. But we had a blast. Madeline and I just watched from the side, but Ethan and Daddy had a lot of fun. Ethan even dares to to stand on the little playground when the giant water bucket dumps. He's getting pretty brave!
Maddie is a rolling expert now. She often prefers her tummy. Ethan never did get to that point. This means she will probably be mobile a lot sooner, but I think she will be much happier too. We always put her down on her back, but when she wakes up she is generally on her tummy. She is also getting really good at sitting unsupported. This also makes for happier playtime because she can reach toys and actually play with them without much assistance.
A week or two ago we went with some friends to a pretty cool little museum in South Jordan. It is a history and culture museum that has a lot of artifacts and things from when South Jordan was founded in the 1800s. But it also has some fun interactive things for kids to do. This is Ethan's favorite by far. He loves to imagine and act things out. This is a little general store with play food the kids can shop for and weigh on a scale. It was also a fun project in sorting when we had to put things back.
After the store there is a little play farm house with chicken coops the kids can find eggs in, a dog house, a wash bucket and clothesline, as well as a house with a porch and kitchen. I told Ethan to go sit by the chicken for a picture, and I guess he took me a little too literally.
They also had this little bridge with fish in the stream kids can fish for with a magnet fishing pole. The museum is free and we stayed for a couple hours at least. We didn't even make it to the school house with the chalk board or the mine where there were trucks and rocks to drive around. We will have to visit this place again!
Ethan and Jason spent the day last Saturday riding the bus and train. Ethan always talks about wanting to ride the train, so they did.
Ethan also got to take some pictures of his own--something he has wanted to do constantly since.
Our ward had a fun adult dinner last weekend. People could sign up to host a table or be a guest. We were assigned to the table of a lady in our ward from Russia. She made authentic Russian cuisine and even brought some awesome hats for us to wear. It was a great way to get to know people in the ward better.
One of our favorite activities lately is playing with Moon Sand. It can mold kind of like brown sugar, then crumble back to sand, but it isn't sticky. Auntie Tina introduced us to it last May and it was so fun we had to get some of our own.
Finally, here are a couple recent pictures of Madeline. I really need to figure out what to do with that hair!
