18 Months and Counting...

So we went back to Picturesque for our 18-month photos. The pictures ranged from serious to seriously funny, from pretty to pretty silly. Here are just a few...

As in any event involving a "stranger", Mattaya started out very sober. We began by contemplating which shoes to wear...

She very much enjoyed the flowers Miss Aletta had on hand.

Ahhh, those blue eyes!

She pretty much wouldn't stay in any pose Miss Aletta put her in, but Miss Aletta still managed to get some very nice pics.

Oops!

One of Mommy's favorites.

The grizzly pose.

(Actually, she was singing Twinkle, Twinkle.)

The walrus pose...a product of teething.

Laughter

This is her "I'm about to test the waters" face.

Bouncing flowers is such fun!

She just looks WAY too grown up here!

And there's that mischievous "I'm scooting off the chair before your very eyes" look.

She didn't even give Aletta a chance on this one. By the time Aletta got turned around, Mattaya was halfway off the ottoman EVERY TIME.

Oh well...there are other things you can do with a wicker ottoman...

The girl loves shoes in every shape and size...these happen to be a size 6.

Adoring Daddy.

Moment of cooperation.

March Madness

We kicked March off with a move to a newer, bigger, better Base house. :)

Auntie Becca graciously painted Mattaya's room in lovely hues of cotton-candy and butter (and then also helped us move and unpack our kitchen).

And Grampa Dave graciously added some shelves to our pantry (AND helped us move AND helped clean our old house).

In the month of March, God gave us some less frigid weather, so Mattaya was allowed to "wok-oat" (translation: walk outside).

It's amazing what a little Baby Einstein will allow us to accomplish! ;) These 2 piggies were an experimentation for the anticipated 18-month pictures.

And oh how she loved to pet those piggies! There was a lot of fingering of the novel appendages.

"Mommy, what's this thing you put on my head?"

And her first juice box just made her look even more grown up than the piggies! (sniff, sniff)

We also had to give the outfit a trial run, starting with the shoes (one at a time, of course).

And the dress fit, too! I think the mature look went to her head...she's got the keys and is heading for the door.

One day, we didn't have much time to "wok-oat", but Mattaya DESPERATELY wanted to "coat-go-hat-on". So I took her in the backyard (which consisted at the time of just a few feet of cleared patio) for a few minutes. First, she made some tracks...

And there was some puddle-stomping.

And some general pacing about.

Followed by [attempted] "mountain" climbing.

This is the day of pictures. Ready to go out the door in piggies and pajamas.

On the way home, we stopped at Gramma Julie's. Mattaya can now get on and off the rocking horse all by herself.

You may remember that for her birthday, Mattaya revealed a hatred for frosting. Well, I made some sugar cookies and thought maybe we should try frosting again. THIS time, we had very different results--she LOVED IT. This time around, she ate the frosting and ditched the cookie.

"Mmmm--this white stuff is YUMMY!"

March also brought us some days that WEREN'T nice enough to go outside. On one of Daddy's days at home, we got brave and tried some water play. The idea was to put a couple inches of water in this tub and let her play with some measuring cups and spoons and a few tub toys.

It all started well enough. A little tasting...

A little pouring...

Some more tasting...

A little muscle-man posing...

(I'm actually not really sure what the sucked-in tummy is all about. Even if she got splashed by the water, it was WARM.)

Water is just so mm-mm good!

Mattaya soon decided to start THROWING toys into the water, and when she saw the SPLASH...

...she quickly started searching for MORE toys to throw in the water.

And this was no simple dropping of the toys into the water. No, ma'am. This was assuming the position, raising the toys above our head, bracing for the splash, slamming the toys into the water, then laughing and rejoicing in the splash.

More toys, more toys, more toys!

Nothing was sacred. She would have "baptized" EVERYTHING (Mommy and Daddy were intercepting books and stuffed animals left and right).

(Crocs shoes are water-proof...they were allowed to be "washed".)

The tub filled quickly to the point that there was no longer a splash because the toys were deeper than the water.

This silicone oven mitt brings her such joy. We're not sure if it feels that awesome or if it's the independent feeling of putting it on all by herself...strange kiddo.

Comin' in for a close-up.

Daddy borrowed Mr. Vince's djembe to practice at home a bit. Mattaya REALLY got into it!

What's this smile about? What else, besides ELMO?! We sometimes hit a rough patch right before dinner, and we're not above using a few minutes of Elmo to reset the attitude.

Too cute.

She is a percussion kind of girl. These are the instruments Grampa Gary and Gramma Pam sent at Christmas time.

Mattaya is currently learning the fine art of cooking. When I'm making dinner, she'll usually get out all the pots I'm not using and set up her own "stove" on the floor. She takes the lids off, gives a little stir, and tells us that the contents are "hot".

Two great loves: too-big shoes, and nudity.

She went through a sunglasses phase (shortened by her dismantling of them).

The lenses were typically so smudgy that she had to look above or below the glasses to see where she was going.