YOU TALKIN' TO ME??

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Meeting the Sesame Gang

So Taylor got to meet life-size versions of the Sesame Street crew at the Faire on the Square in Baraboo last weekend. She enjoyed the festival itself---she would go to every random person under 3 feet tall and give them a hug and kiss---except for the freakish cold. It was around 38 degrees and super windy, so I was miserable and we didn't stay as long because TG was getting too cold, too. But I digress.....
So last year when Taylor met the Crew, she hugged and kissed all of them, but apparently this year she is older and wiser because she was totally freaked out. On the one hand, she was REALLY wanting to hug them (well, she said she did), but as soon as we got close she would cling to whomever was holding her and say "ALL DONE!!". Then when we started walking away, she would start crying, "HUG ELMO!! PEEZ!". So we did that little dance a couple times until I finally told she had one last chance to hug Elmo, she cried, we left, and she screamed "Elmo!!" for approximately 2 blocks.....which wasn't too bad since the other kids that had just left were doing the exact same thing :-)
Later that night during bedtime story time, she looked at me and said, "Mommy? I scared of Grouch!" So I finally deduced that Oscar the Grouch is who she was afraid of so she never got to hug Elmo, because Grouch was apparently too close for comfort. Josh and I talked about it later and decided that Grouch was kind of scary, due to the fact that it was clearly an annoyed, bored teenage boy in a crappy costume. You couldn't really see the faces of the other...um, things?, so they didn't seem so scary.

Latest Obsession

As you can see by these pictures, Taylor's newest obsession is Band-Aids, or, "dandaids" if you speak Taylorese. She craves the need for one so badly that sometimes she'll come into the room, look to make sure I'm looking, and fake-stub her toe, run over to me, say "I sad! Dandaid?", so I give her one, and she smiles and says, "OH! All betta!" Since I've decided many months ago to carefully choose my battles with my headstrong toddler, this is one of those things I don't mind giving in to. I went to the Dollar Store, stocked up on Band-Aids, and let her have one if she's feeling the need. You can also see that she is also very concerned that Bailey, aka The Worlds Most Patient Cat, may need a Dand-aid for anything that may ail him as well. *No animals were harmed in the taking of this picture; in fact, strangely, he was purring and flexing his paws in ecstasy. *

Park Play and Weekend Away

Here are just a couple of pictures from an afternoon at the park. She likes to roll with her peeps, Tasha and Pablo, everywhere she goes. Everywhere. In fact Mom and Wendy took her Parfey's Glen this weekend and Taylor walked/ran the entire thing herself--all while hugging both Tasha and Pablo :) Which brings me to another amazing development! Josh surprised me with an overnight stay at Sundara Spa in the Dells, and I finally was ready to leave Taylor overnight at Grandma's----and she did great!! I did fine (due to a massage, pedicure, and outdoor jacuzzi), and Taylor had so much fun with Grandma and Aunt Wendy that she slept like a rock for them and never even asked for me all weekend!! I am eternally grateful that they offered their babysitting services, and like one mom I met at the spa says, "OH, once you get past that first night away, it opens a whole new world!!" I would also like to wish Mom and Wendy sweet dreams---chances are you'll both sleep like a rock tonight!!

ROCKING HER NEW TARGET "UGG" BOOTS :)

Riding Bareback!!

There are just so many ways to play on the word "bareback" here that I don't even really know where to start!! Anyway, she gets to run around naked every night before bath time, which always allows for some good photo ops :)