Day 225 - August 13

Sometimes this girl just makes me shake my head in confusion.

For the last two weeks, Jason has been out of town for work. Every other day for those two weeks, I have had a shrieking child on my hands when it comes time for a bath. Even my mother was treated to this display of displeasure at being cleaned, and all her Grandma charms did little to stop the crying completely.

And, yet, in the pool today, Michaela was more than happy to pick up the hose (I needed to do a little refilling thanks to an apparent lack of rain while I was gone) and douse herself (not to mention the part where she was actually submerged in water in the first place). She seriously played with the house for the full half hour I had it on.

I used this to my advantage, though... when we were done swimming, I brought the shampoo outside and washed her hair in the yard. With the hose. We had laughing instead of crying. Maybe now that Jason's back, she'll go back to normal in the tub, but, meanwhile, I have a secret weapon (and I'll be getting some kind of hose/sprayer attachment for the tub for his next trip).

Day 224 - August 12

Unlike my friend, Melissa, who managed to have her Project 365 picture up before 8am this morning, I almost forgot mine today!

The funny thing is that I purposefully took this picture today, just for this and then almost forgot to post it. Go figure.

Anyway, I tried to get this same picture yesterday, but was too lazy to pull out the real camera. So I tried to get it with a cell phone, but every time I asked her to smile, she started jumping up and down, too. Taking a picture of a moving child with a cell phone and expecting to have anything other than the background in focus is pretty silly. So armed with a camera that I can control the shutter-speed on, I got what I wanted today.

Michaela has two uncles, my brother and Jason's brother. Both of them (and their families) gave her birthday presents a little late this year, with my brother getting her gift to her while we were visiting, and the one from Jason's brother's family arriving while we were gone. The similarities don't end there, though.....

Check out what Michaela's holding....

Day 223 - August 11

It can be unsafe to leave a toddler unattended to take a shower. Or it can be funny.

I had to leave her alone this morning because I made the silly assumption that a lack of a nap yesterday and a super late bedtime last night would've resulted in a toddler tired enough to sleep in this morning. What does one thing have to do with the other? Well, I chose not to set an alarm since I thought she'd sleep in, so I didn't get my shower done before she got up. That's not usually a good thing.

Thankfully, Michaela was on her best behavior this morning. Other than visiting me a couple of times, and stepping on the scale at least once, she kept herself occupied in the living room.

Of course, I wonder what exactly she's doing to stay occupied when she's not right near me, but as long as I don't come out to anything broken, I'm usually too busy catching back up with her to give it much thought.

She left me a hint this morning, though. This is what I almost stepped on as I walked through the living room. Does anyone know if an obsession with diaper changes translates to readiness for potty-training??

Day 222 - August 10

I have now deemed traveling alone with a toddler (ie, without another parent) my own personal version of hell.

It's not that it's REALLY bad, but it's not fun and I don't think I'll be voluntarily doing it again anytime soon. (Or ever. Grandparents, take note.)

And I really think that the TSA should have some kind of special set up for a lone parent traveling with a small child (or children) to make things just a little easier. Having to handle a carseat, multiple carry-ons, removal of shoes, taking out of liquids and a computer, while also wrangling a toddler who doesn't want to stay in line is just ridiculous. And it was definitely the hardest part of the day. Oh, and thanks so much to the people who used the "family and medical liquids line" even though they obviously had neither of those things.... glad you held us all up so you could have the "shorter" line.

Beyond that, the suckiness that is traveling with the kid - in general, not just by myself - is that she doesn't really like to sleep on planes, so she gets cranky and out of sorts, which just isn't cool in large, crowded spaces like, say, the Atlanta airport.

What's even better is when you get to Chili's, thinking you'll grab a quick bite to eat on your forever-long layover, and you realize that the toddler who wouldn't sleep on the plane will sleep in her carseat while you're wheeling her through the airport.

Although the impromptu nap messed with my dinner plans, I have to say that finding the gate that had just been vacated and propping her seat up on her backpack so she was leaning back a bit and could sleep comfortably gave me a nice little 45 minute break, which was just what I needed.

And thank goodness for Go Go Babyz wheels which allowed for the wheeling and sleeping in the first place.

Day 221 - August 9

I'm caught up!!

This morning, my mother-in-law and I took Michaela to the Adirondack Animal Land to keep her occupied and see some animals. She had an absolute blast, and Mimi and I enjoyed ourselves as well!

Other than me being attacked by a bunch of camels (I'm not kidding), the highlight of the trip was when Michaela got to feed a giraffe! I was shocked that she wasn't scared at all and asked to feed him again later!

Day 220 - August 8

In an effort to tire out the kid for a 2+ hour drive to her other grandparents' house, my mom and I found a playground yesterday morning so she could run around.

As per usual, she saw a swing and that was the end of running around. (Which also resulted in hardly any sleep during the ride, in case you wondered.)

Meanwhile, she looked pretty tiny in this giant swing!!

Day 219 - August 7

I'm finally getting caught up! This picture is from Sunday. I was lucky enough to get a third day in a row to cuddle my new niece, Gabriella (Gabby)!

In between the cuddling, though, I had to take a few pictures.

*sigh* Other people's babies are so sweet!