Recently, Madelyn and I have been raspberry picking, playing in the turtle fountain on base, going to the Fairborn Sweet Corn Festival, and best of all reading. I took faulty pictures of the first two activities. I got gun shy and used my camera phone to take pictures of Madelyn in the raspberries and at the fountain. I just don’t think the rest of the world thinks that Madelyn is as cute as I do. I sometimes wonder if other people are thinking in their heads, “Really, this lady is taking a picture of her daughter picking raspberries.” So, I backed out, and it is really too bad because she was adorable in the raspberry field. I didn’t know how long she would last, but in the end I couldn’t pull her away from the raspberry bushes. The bushes we picked from were only two years old, so they were exactly Madelyn’s height. Once she got the hang of what we were doing she was in heaven. She loved pulling the raspberries off the bush and placing them gently into the bin. The bin was just her size. She carried it around patting down the raspberries while looking for a new bush to sit and pick at. She was a pro!! The only problem came when her gross motor skills didn’t keep up and she tripped, sending raspberries down to the ground. We tried to salvage what we could, but we left a lot behind. In the long run we picked for an hour and a half, and got enough raspberries for jam and for eating. I would say if anyone is looking for a raspberry picker to help them sell raspberries at the Idaho Falls Farmers Market, I have one ready and waiting.
The Corn Festival
A few weeks ago Dan and I decided to hit up our local corn festival. Pretty much I love festival food, so I thought it would be a fun idea for dinner. (I was wrong) When we arrived we walked around trying to find a yummy place to get dinner with a side of corn. Turns out festival food in Ohio is just not what I remember the Blackfoot Fair serving or anything close to what the Oak Harbor Market had to offer. Over the years I have been spoiled with funnel cakes, caramel apples, fresh clams, and clay oven pizzas. Dan and I concluded that next time we will just eat and home and hope for dessert. However, we did get to see a group of dancers, an old steam engine blow its whistle, pretty fabrics blowing in the wind (this was Madelyn’s favorite part) and some ponies.
Sitting Around
One of Madelyn’s favorite activities is reading books. She will sit and read just about anything, and just about anywhere. One of her favorite books is Dan’s math equation reference book. I don’t know if it is because she sees Dan use it, or if it just happens to be the perfect size but she will walk around pointing equations out to me and I will try to explain anything about it that I might recognize.
Because of her laid back nature I have been trying to encourage gross motor skills to help her keep up the rest of the baby world. We have been working on climbing up into chairs. I know one day I will regret this, but I feel like she is missing out on a part of life when I watch her sit and read all day. All of the other one year olds I know are wiggling all over the place, and Madelyn just sits. Anyway, yesterday she mastered it! She climbed up onto the table chair, and sat down to read Mouse Cookie. I am so proud of her. Now she can read at the table instead of the floor, and I must say she really enjoys being at the table!
