Meet Mary’s Friend Minnie in All About the Kids

All About Doodle Bug

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Doodle Bug’s First Big Boy Walk

Doodle Bug took his first “real walk” this week. He went all the way down the street on his own two feet, hand held, no stroller required. He’s growing so fast. I really need to stop blinking or he’ll be all grown and moving out before I manage to catch my breath!

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The Giraffe Motorcycle

Doodles has coveted Ladybug’s scuttlebug for quite some time, but it’s still a little too big for him. This super cute giraffe motorcycle, a gift from one of my Mom’s dear friends, is a new favorite! We are also super excited he decided to wave for this picture. Ladybug really enjoys Highlights Magazines “Hello” and they feature babies waving goodbye on the back cover. She asks for her baby to be pictured there. So, here’s hoping I can managed to get it sent in and they accept the picture. It would totally make her day 🙂

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Where There’s a Kid, There’s a Cat

We have cats. Lot of cats. They are everywhere. Seriously – four cats, down from five earlier this year. Pop Man went over the rainbow bridge in February. Those of you who knew Pop, knew how fabulous he was, but that’s for another post. Pictured here is Frankie – officially Frank Llyod Wright – our Maine Coon. Everything is big about this cat except his voice. His voice sounds like a squeak toy, high-pitched and frankly, a little annoying. Poor guy. Anyway, all my cats are fans of the kids, particularly the Doodle Bug.

All About Ladybug

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Not Just a Laundry Basket

Ladybug is seriously into pretend play this week. Her use of laundry baskets has hit an all time high. She does actually help me with the laundry and is fabulous at gathering the dirty clothes and putting them in the washer. Her folding skills need a little work, but matching of socks is starting to go well. Now, if I can just keep her from taking off with the laundry baskets, because she is need of a sail boat or a bath tub. This girl cracks me up!

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Reading to the Penguins about Penguins

Speaking of pretend play. She also gathered up all her stuffed penguins for a reading of “If You Were a Penguin.” Fitting, no? Her penguins are named Mo, Baby Mo, and Daddy Mo. When I was lucky enough to spend some time at the aquarium working with penguins one of my favorite penguins was named Maureen, Mo for short. When we got her first stuffed penguin from that aquarium we named him Mo, pictured on the left side of the picture. Baby Mo is of course the tiny one. The one to the right of the picture is Daddy Mo, so named, because when she first saw him he was wearing a hat, as her Daddy often does. She read them the whole book in her own words, which admittedly, were a little different than the ones written on the page, but still very penguin appropriate for the most part. If you were a penguin, you could swim, eat, walk, sing, eat cookies (wait, what?!?) LOL

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Meet Mary’s Ski Buddy – Saint Minnie

This cracked me up! Ladybug got a Minnie Mouse play set for Christmas from her Aunt to be and loves it! Apparently, she decided that Minnie and her statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus should be friends. Minnie invited Mary skiing and shared her “super cute” ski outfit. (Her words, not mine.) Minni even shared her hot chocolate! This is seriously, almost as awesome as her rendition of “Old McDonald Had a Farm” featuring our nativity set. Love this creative kid!!! I love Doodle’s face in the picture below. You can almost hear the questions floating in his little brain. What are you doing!?!

All About the Kids

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~~A Day~~ An Hour at the Zoo

We headed off to the zoo to visit some of our favorite animals. You may remember that Ladybug was ready to go visit Curious George at his house last week. Most of the exhibits were closed, but she still found some animals to keep her entertained. She loved the otter (seen above), who was in desperate need of a water change and of course, her friend the tortoise that she insists we go and hug every visit. The animal she really wanted to see this time around was the rhinoceros and for the first time in all the time I worked there and visited there, none of the rhinoceros were visible. One of the keepers came through as we were getting ready to head out and let us know that she would be letting “Mundo,” their resident male out for a while. Mundo is old, think forties, and when I worked there he was losing teeth and weight and worrying his keepers, so I was pretty excited to see that sweet boy still around and doing well. Ladybug waited – 20 minutes – an eternity in toddler time to see “Mundo.” I asked her twice if she wanted to leave, but no she wanted to stay and stay she did. She was fascinated to see the keeper able to move Mundo and touch him through the bars. Please Lord help me if she decides she wants to be a white rhino keeper. The work is hard and poorly paid, but even I have to agree it’s hard to beat the perk of “petting” such a magnificent animal.