Here's my new favorite picture of Maelin! She's sitting on our front porch in her new favorite shirt, which was a gift from Aunt Maureenie :) And when i say it's her favorite shirt, i mean she wants to wear it every day...and if it's in the dirty laundry, she whines for a few minutes until she's sure that i won't just dig it out and let her wear it anyway!
A few weeks ago, we took Maelin on her first rides at a little carnival in Davison (again, the favorite shirt!). She loved the cars, merry-go-round, and slide-ala-burlap-bag, and then went on the big ferris wheel with Mama! I put my arm around her for the first few rotations, and then she moved it away -- no fear at all in this girl! She wanted to ride the bigger rides, but neither Baba nor i would ride them with her!
It's been great to have Leslie with us for a few weeks this summer! We went swimming at the beach, played at the park, and (pictured here with the shirt...did i mention it's her favorite?) rode the Huckleberry Railroad at Crossroads Village. Maelin really enjoyed the train ride :)
We've been doing a few home-improvement projects over the last several weeks -- ripping off wallpaper and painting the bathroom, finishing the upstairs closets, bleaching the gunk off the shingles, experimenting with sandblasting and staining the outside of our house -- and Maelin loves to be in the thick of things! She looooves helping Baba fix things...he says she's going to be an engineer when she grows up :)I can't believe that the summer is coming to a close! Ten weeks sounds like such a long time, but it really flew for Maelin and i. We've really and truly had a wonderful time together, and althought i'm looking forward to the start of a new school year, i will miss the days at home with Maelin! And just for those keeping track (me!), Maelin's expressive sign vocabulary is at 233 words!! What an amazing little girl...we love her soooooo much :)
xoxo,
Shonda
