Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?

A Beautiful Day

We spent today day at Pineland Farms Perennial Garden. Grace enjoyed looking at, touching, and smelling all the colorful and beautiful flowers. After our breathtaking tour of the gardens we ate lunch under a shady tree where Grace continued to amaze us with her standing and attempts at walking!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

"YEAH! We are going to spend the day at the Children's Museum in Portland. I have been waiting to go there forever!!"

Fun at the Children's Museum

Grace experienced her first tree house with Daddy! Grace "jammed out" with a drum stick along with a guitar player (out of picture). Grace was asked to join a band but she politely declined.

"Wow Mommy, I've never seen a stuffed cow before! This is awkward!"

Things That Go at the Children's Museum!

Grace and Daddy drove a big red firetruck. Grace turned on the lights and blew the horns. Daddy promised to teach Grace all of the fine driving skills he learned in Massachusetts. Can you race firetrucks in the Daytona 500?Mommy taught Grace to drive at the Children's Museum. God help us all.
Everyone who lives in Maine needs to experience being on a lobster boat. Grace now requires us to call her Captain Grace.

Goodness Grace.....A Ladybug!

There was only ONE ladybug in the entire Children's Museum and guess who managed to find it?!?

;)

Go Grace Go!

Gracie Girl had the best time at the Children's Museum in the gym area designed especially for toddlers. Grace met a delightful new girlfriend named Anne, climbed up stairs for the very first time (Mommy & Daddy don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one!!!), crawled through a tunnel, and tried to walk all by herself many, many times. Grace explored every single inch of the play area. We can't wait to go back.

Kickin' Back & Enjoying Summer!

Eight Months Old!

Here are a few amazing things that our Amazing Grace has done and loved this past month:

• Standing! Grace was standing for ~10 seconds at the beginning of the month and now is able to stand well over a minute. Grace also stands and reaches down to pick up dropped objects.
• Cruising along the furniture
• Crawling from room to room to explore, play, and chase our cats
• Kneeling
• Grace has recently been trying to take steps to walk....look out Mommy & Daddy!
• Grace loves finger foods. Her favorites are cereal, tofu, and soft fruits & vegetables
• Grace now uses her fingers (pincer grasp) to pick up very, very tiny objects
  
• Lots of babbling and imitation of some sounds and facial expressions
  
• Squealing loudly to express happiness and excitement
  
• The most exciting development for us this past month is that Grace has started to produce word approximations including: "Eh-buh" for her beloved Ella the Elephant, "buh" for bug, "bah" for ball, "ah-puh" for apple, "puh" for pop (during bubble play), "em" for Emma
  
• Waving hello and bye-bye!
  
• Grace now has a total of six teeth (four on top, two on the bottom)
  
• Swimming lessons all month at the Y with Mommy - we both love it!
  
• Grace continues to recognize more & more words, objects, and pictures every day
  
• Grace is responding to simple directions such as "look," "come," "come up," & "listen" (Grace stops moving and turns her head slightly when she hears "listen")
  
• Grace now understands what a buckle does. It keeps her in her feeding seat and car seat but it can also let her out! Grace frequently touches the buckles when she wants to get out!
  
• Grace's hair has started to curl in the back! :)
  
• Favorite things: ladybugs, balls, blocks, swimming, music/dancing, the IKEA step stool, farm animals, and most of all books! Grace and I read books for an hour (or more) every day - she can't get enough of them. We include books in all of Grace's everyday activities.
  

Water Fun

Gracie Girl cooled off and relaxed in her "pool" this afternoon where she enjoyed splashing with her favorite turtle, reading books, and looking at alphabet letters. Grace even ventured into the "deep end" which was 1.5 inches deep!

Ladybugs, Ladybugs!

Grace adores ladybugs! She is able to find the tiniest ladybug in any book if I ask, "Grace, where's the ladybug?" Her big blue eyes will scan the page until she locks eyes on the red and black spotted beetle and then breaks out into a huge smile! Grace can even find ladybugs that are smaller than the size of a pea in books and pictures! Grace and I have been talking about ladybugs all month long so Grace's art project this month consisted of making fingerprint ladybugs. I love hearing Grace's squeal each and every time she sees a ladybug. It's precious!

The Cat's Meow

Grace continues to be fascinated by all three of our cats ~ Emma, Lil' Bit & Good P. Grace even loves their toys, especially this over-the-door squeaky mouse toy!!!Grace had fun this morning dressing Emma up in this bright yellow rain hat. Emma and Grace are the best of friends!

Swinging!

On Saturday we walked over to Mary Hogan School to enjoy the playground. We spread a blanket in the cool shade right outside of the classroom where Maddy works. Then we went to Kidspace and had fun on some of the swings. They even had a "baby" play area where Grace had the best time swinging with Maddy & Poppy.

Beauties in Bloom

Mommy, Daddy, Maddy, & Poppy couldn't believe how much we all love this picture that Mommy took of Grace with Maddy's hydrangea. The hydrangea was in full bloom today and Grace was in full smile.

Supporting a Good Cause In Vermont

Grace & I came back to Middlebury, Vermont with Maddy & Poppy to support the annual Cystic Fibrosis Three Day Stampede. My brother Adam & I knew a woman at our elementary school who has twin granddaughters and at birth one of the girls was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Her two sets of grandparents have sponsored this annual three day event to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The event is a combination of a lawn sale, silent auction, raffle, dance, walk-a-thon, bake sale, and a craft and flea market. There are over fifteen tents of everything you can imagine from furniture to clothes and toys. It is an incredibly coordinated sale with every item sorted by size, color, and category. The volunteers put in an incredible amount of time throughout the year getting ready for this inspiring event. Last year they raised 92,000 dollars! Maddy & Poppy found lots of fun and new things for Grace all while supporting this wonderful cause.

Grace is waving "hi" to Daddy and telling him to get here quickly after work tonight so we can go again tomorrow.

"Who's Calling Me Now?"

The Blues

Poppy & I don't have the blues but we really enjoyed listening to the Blues today at the Portland Public Market in downtown Portland.

Swimming & Discovering

I had a great day today. First, Poppy went in the pool with me at my swimming lesson at the YMCA where I showed him a few of my best moves! Then Maddy, Poppy, Mommy & I went to the Portland Public Library where we spent some time looking at books by one of my favorite authors, Denise Fleming. We discovered her book -"The Everything Book" which has hidden ladybugs on every page! I LOVE ladybugs...Mommy & I are making our July art project on ladybugs. I'll show you soon.

Maine Blueberries

We ended our day picking blueberries in Limerick. Grace enjoyed the lucious fields of green and looking at the pretty berries. She was a big helper, grabbing at the bushes as Daddy picked the blueberries. Grace tended to take the branches with the berry and crush them all with her strong wee hands but it was the thought that counted!

Yarmouth Clam Festival

Memere & Pepere drove up to Maine from Massachusetts today. We all enjoyed a wonderful day together at the Yarmouth Clam Festival.

"A very big thank you to Memere & Pepere. I love the beautiful new backpack that you bought for me! I especially enjoy being able to sit up high in comfort and closely watch everything that goes on around me. I have a whole new view on the world now!" Love, Grace
Here Daddy is thinking, "That's close enough Mr. Steamer!" Hmmmm....he is already being very protective of his Gracie Girl!!As usual, Grace intently watched and took in all the sights and sounds today. She enjoyed people, dog, and bus watching at the Clam Festival. You can see by the look on her face that she certainly doesn't miss a thing!

Rainy Day

Grace sneaks a peek out of the door on our screened-in porch as the rain gently falls outside.

















http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTLJMSbEnn0
Uncle Adam ~ Thank you so much for sharing the Beatles "Rain" song with Grace. We'll be sure to listen to it on all of our rainy days and think of you.......Rain, rain, I don't mind!

"Standing" Stool

Grace's most prized possession in the entire world right now is this step stool that Maddy purchased for Grace on our IKEA shopping trip a few weeks ago. I was planning on putting it away until Grace was much older, however, Grace is using it now as her beloved "standing stool." Grace loves her stool so much that we have to take it everywhere we go so she can practice her standing!

Fun at the Fair

We went to the Ossipee Valley Fair today. As you can see Grace had a great time!Two first place beauties meet ~ this four month old calf had just won first place in a cow showing competition and of course Grace is always #1 in our book!
Here Grace & Daddy intently watch a horse pulling competition. Grace couldn't take her eyes off of all of the animals that she saw at the fair today.

Fair Food

OK....so we are not too proud to admit that one of our absolute favorite reasons to go to a fair is for the fried, greasy food. It is the one time that Bob & I go all out and splurge a little. While at the fair today, Grace happily dined on her all organic whole wheat O cereal and organic whole grain rice puffs. Meanwhile, Mommy & Daddy dined on non organic onion rings and fried dough that in all likelihood was probably not made from whole wheat flour (just a guess)!I think it's a little early for Grace to know that she should not be down-wind when Mommy and Daddy are eating a piece of fried dough covered in confectioner's sugar! Not a proud moment for Bob & I but from the looks of it Grace certainly didn't mind being delicately sprinkled with the sugar!
P.S. To make up for all of the very, very bad for you fair food that we ate today, Bob & I had grilled chicken and steamed asparagus for dinner. We can only hope that our healthy dinner will somehow magically make up for our earlier transgressions.

Standing

Gracie Girl has been standing with her hands free all afternoon today for 10-15 seconds at a time!!

Special Moments Last a Lifetime

The way a book is read~which is to say, the qualities a reader brings to the book - can have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts into it. ~Norman Cousins~

07-07-07....Lucky Number Seven

Of course every day with Grace is special but we thought today was unique because of the same triple digit date.