Our Tuesday

Grace completed an eight week session of swimming this morning. Grace has been taking swimming lessons for almost one year now! I remember her very first swimming lesson like it was yesterday. We can't wait for her lessons to start back up again in two weeks. Every Tuesday after swim class we meet Daddy for lunch and then Grace and I spend the afternoon at the Children's Museum. Grace enjoyed a new bug display at the museum today. The museum is borrowing the exhibit from the ECHO museum in Burlington, Vermont!

Sink & Float

I filled up a large tupperware bin with water on our porch this morning and let Grace experiment with a variety of objects that sink and float. I thought this would be a fun way for Grace to learn more about these concepts as well as a great way to beat the heat!

Our Day At The Beach

Breakfast With The Legers!

Grace did a fantastic job this morning helping Mama & Dada make pancakes. Grace helped pour the pancake mix, crack the eggs, mix the batter, and flip the pancakes on the stove using a spatula. We all enjoyed Grace's delicious pancakes out on our screen porch. We are now off to the beach to try to stay cool.

Grace Does LL Bean Like A Pro!

We went to LL Bean today. Grace LOVES it there. The store is full of some of her favorite things like sunglasses... shoes & boots and...
hats! Even camouflaged ones!

Grace enjoyed the wonderful selection of books that LL Bean has to offer.

LL Bean is full of fish and animal displays. Grace wanted to climb into the fish tank to swim with the fish!

Grace was excited to see the deer display. Uncle Adam had given Grace a beautiful stuffed deer puppet for Christmas and since then Grace has expressed a great love of deer.

Oh my, an elk too!!!

Cooling Off At The End Of A Hot Day

Today was the first day that we had temperatures in the 80's along with high humidity. After we arrived home from LL Bean we all went to our local clubhouse pool to cool off before Grace's dinner and bedtime.

Oh, The Fun You Can Have With Dried Peas!

It has been raining for the past three days so after several days of being inside Grace and I got a little creative today. Once of Grace's favorite things to do is to pour. She is frequently on her Learning Tower at our sink pouring water. I thought it would be fun for Grace to pour something other than water so we raided our pantry and found some dried peas. It's amazing what joy a few peas, cups, bowls, and a small pitcher brought to Grace. She spent over an hour on our kitchen floor playing with them. It was a fun way for us to spend a rainy Friday morning inside.

Grace was just as excited about cleaning up the dried peas from the floor when she was finished as she was playing with them. Grace loved the little broom and dust pan. She kept saying, "sweep, sweep" even long after the peas were cleaned up!

Matching & Sorting

Grace does a great job sorting and matching and these are two activities that she loves to do. Grace practiced sorting different shaped blocks by color today. Once Grace sorted the blocks into their corresponding color bowls she really enjoyed emptying them and saying, "Oh no!" and "clean up!" Grace then began sorting the blocks over again all by herself. I am so glad that Grace loves to clean up because it provides so many learning opportunities. Grace also enjoys matching. She matches colors, shapes, pictures, and objects according to size.

18 Months Old!

Grace turned 18 months old today. Grace spent some of the morning at her pediatrician's office for her 18 month old wellness visit. Grace now weighs 24.5 pounds (55th percentile) and is 32.25 inches long (75th percentile). The biggest change that we have seen with Grace over the past month has been an explosion of her speech and language skills. Grace is pronouncing words much clearer and most of her utterances are now 2 words in length! We have even heard several 3 word phrases (e.g., "big black dog," "big blue ball," "my turn please") and for the first time today Grace combined four words together ("very, very itchy nose"). As always, we are so proud of all of Grace's accomplishments and so grateful for her kind & gentle spirit. After Grace's appointment we celebrated her big day at one of her favorite places - The Maine Wildlife Park. Grace is such a sweet, caring, and kind little girl. She was willing to give up her her favorite possession in the entire world (Ella) to the ducks so they could enjoy the pleasure of her pink elephant too. When the ducks would not take Ella, Grace proceeded to follow them to their pond while calling out "quack, quack" and "Ella" to the ducks.

Grace Enjoys The Old Port Festival!

Each year the downtown section of Portland named the Old Port closes its streets for the Old Port Festival. The Festival includes over 30 musical acts on 6 stages, entertainment and activities for children, food from a variety of local restaurants (and fair food), and vendors selling goods from paintings by Maine artists to stuff that we're still not sure what it is. Grace enjoyed every second of the Festival - she was ecstatic and had an ear to ear smile from the first yellow balloon that she saw to the last big brown dog that we waved bye-bye to.

Fun At The Lake

Gracie girl and I spent most of the morning at the lake across from our house. There is a cute little beach area where Grace enjoyed watching fish swim in the water, throwing rocks & sticks in the water, and watching the fishing boats go by.

Gracie ventured into the water and loved it!

Grace spotted a beautiful yellow butterfly at the beach and she had the best time trying to catch it. Grace talked about the yellow butterfly all during lunch today. It was an exciting morning for us. I can't wait to bring Grace back to the lake after she wakes up from her nap!

Such A Beautiful Day...

The Very First Picture of Our Second Baby!!

I had my first ultrasound today and here is the first picture of our baby! We were all very excited to see the baby rolling, turning, and moving his/her hands and feet. A very special moment happened when Grace was looking at the ultrasound screen. Grace waved and said "hi" to her brother/sister and seconds later our baby started waving their hand. We will be finding out in late July whether this little cutie is a boy or a girl. We can't wait to let everyone know!

Memorial Day

Let us not forget those men and women who have served our great nation during times peace and conflict. Because they gave their "last full measure of devotion," we are forever in their debt. ~Laura Slaton Phillips~

We attended our local Memorial Day parade in town. Grace looked on with amazement as the parade began!

Grace loved being on Daddy's shoulders after the parade ended. She proudly waved her American flag to all of the parade onlookers.
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. ~Joseph Campbell~

A Visit To Beautiful Pineland Farm

We spent such a wonderful day together at Pineland Farm today. We went there many times last summer with Grace and we couldn't wait to go back with her again this year. Grace loved absolutely everything about the farm. She saw cows, chickens, piglets, chickens, roosters, sheep, and tractors. Grace happily greeted each farm animal with a boisterous "hi" and named the type of animal followed by the sound they make. Grace's favorite part of the day was sitting on the bails of hay. She had seen lots of hay on Thursday at the Morgan Horse Farm and she was actually able to touch, smell, and sit on it today. We are looking forward to many more trips to Pineland this summer.

Daddy Is Home!

Daddy flew in from Florida late last night. Grace was so excited to see Daddy first thing this morning when she woke up. We are both very happy that he is home!

Thank You Maddy & Poppy for the Unforgettable Memories!

Here are a few pictures that were taken last Saturday in Middlebury, Vermont before I left for Florida. Grace and I are safely back in Maine tonight but how we are both missing Vermont!

Mom & Dad, I can't possibly thank you enough for taking the very best care of Grace this past week. I am amazed by all that Grace learned from you. Grace talked about her time in Middlebury the entire ride back to Maine. She is saying so many new words. Some of my favorites are: Middlebury, Burlington, and ooooookay! Thank you for filling each day with so many wonderful learning opportunities for Grace. Her exposure to the arts at Middlebury College, playgroup, Children's Day at the town green, and all of the outside play, art time, and book time has opened Grace's world to all the beautiful things Vermont has to offer. However, the best part about this week is the time Grace got to spend with you. I am deeply touched to see how much Grace loves you both and what a special bond she has with you. We are counting down the days until we will be with you again. Thank you, again for being such incredible parents and the absolute best Maddy & Poppy to Grace. We love you.

"Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow"

Friday evening

Weather: sunny with occasional downpours

Mood: quiet and so missing Rebecca and Our Grace

Poppy: reading the local newspaper

Maddy: quiet, a bit tired, waiting to play, feed, or do another fun thing with Grace!

When we came home from school and work today our home felt very different. It is so quiet and a bit lonely. We are missing the excitement of taking care of Grace. Now it is just the two of us. That of course, is a good thing. But, it is very difficult to have our granddaughter so far away. The very good thing is that the Leger family will be together and happy.....just the way life should be! We cherished our time with Grace. We feel that we really know her so well now. She is an amazing little girl! We are definitely on our next path in life---grandparents. We love it and are still in a magic state of mind that we will have another baby at Christmas time. Thank you for having us take care of Grace, Bob and Rebecca. We had a wonderful time and LOVE Grace to the moon and back!

bottom picture: doing the crossword puzzle-just like Poppy!

middle picture: saying a final good-bye to Maddy as she leaves for school (a bit sad for both of us)

top picture: leaving Maddy & Poppy a very nice and surprising message on our chalkboard wall!

Grace and Her Uncle Adam

Grace loves her Uncle Adam. It was great for us to spend the day with Adam. Adam is very happy that he will become an Uncle again around Christmas. He thinks that Grace is so precious. They are good friends!