Bye bye, Grandma Mandy

This morning, Grandma Mandy had to head back to Oregon.  We attempted some posed shots, but Madeline was not entirely cooperative.

Then this afternoon, Summer cuddled up with both kids as Madeline stared transfixed at Sesame Street.

Later came a bath, with Oliver providing an accompaniment of newborn snores and grunts.

After which came a brief moment of revelry before bed (while Oliver still slept):

Pictures and CAKE!

Here are a some pictures from this morning:

And here are some from this afternoon:

After dinner, we went to Gregg's for takeout cake!

The cake provoked both a chocolate dance and a high five ...

... and a very special CHOCOLATE CAKE smile!

Pawtuxet Village, balloon Elmo & Duplo zoo!

Yesterday, we went to Pawtuxet Village.  We had lunch at O'Rourke's ...

... and then got some Del's frozen lemonade at Dear Hearts.  A nice man outside the ice cream parlor was making balloon animals, and he produced a fine Elmo for a very happy Madeline (as Oliver slept next to her on the bench).

At home, Madeline finally opened a gift that came from Uncle Matt some two weeks ago but that we'd been holding onto for a special occasion: a Duplo zoo!

Madeline has been spending most of her time since then playing with the zoo -- as here, this morning, for example.

But she also went to daycare today, leaving the rest of us at home with a happy Oliver.

When she came home, Madeline was happy to see her brother -- and her zoo ...

... and Petey too ...

... as well as her Mommy.

But after more zoo-playing and a little ice cream, it was time for her to go to bed.  Oliver slept too.

Some low-key fun

Yesterday, Madeline was happy on the way to daycare -- after all, Friday is gymnastics day.

Sometime after daycare dropoff, the rest of us got lunch at Characters Cafe (while Oliver slept) ...

... and visited our local Post Office and library (while Oliver slept).

Back at home at the end of the day, Madeline wanted to play with her basketball.

And after she was in bed, Oliver checked out his Triceratops.

He thought it was pretty cool.

This morning, Madeline and Grandma Mandy and I went out to get donuts.

Oliver didn't get any donuts, but he was still pretty happy for some reason.

Later, we played outside ...

... and still later, we went to the playground at Roger Williams Park.  Oliver got to try the Moby wrap for the first time.  He heartily approved by sleeping soundly the whole time he was in there.

Meanwhile, Madeline showed her appreciation of Mr. Potato Head ...

... and she absolutely loved this red swing ...

... while Oliver continued to sleep.

We returned somewhat late, we ate a quick dinner, and finally it was time for bed.

Happy kids

Yesterday the weather was nice.

This made Oliver happy.

Madeline was happy when she came home too.

Madeline's been waking up early.  Yesterday we went for a run (well, she got to ride in a jogging stroller while I ran, anyway).  Today we made a structure out of blocks.  Then once she got dressed, Madeline made a stack up in her room too.

She continues to love holding Oliver.

I rather like it myself.  He's becoming ever more alert -- even inquisitive.

On a completely different note, this afternoon I made chocolate frosting.  After dinner, Madeline got to dip some pretzels in it.  She approved.

And, after getting her pajamas on, Madeline got to open two cards that came for her today ...

... and we passed on her books from Uncle Matt too.  She loved them!

Finally, here are some pictures of Oliver being a character after getting a fresh diaper.

Look -- his cord stump has already fallen off!