Baby things, pancakes, zoo & dream

Yesterday, Summer took care of Oliver at home while I was at work and Madeline at school -- she officially moved from the toddler room to her daycare's preschool last week.

Oliver did baby things.

Today was weekend!  Madeline helped me make pancakes.

She really did help, too -- poured yogurt from a measuring cup to a bowl, stirred in eggs, stirred together flour and baking soda, and stirred the final batter too.  Then she watched for bubbles so I'd know when to flip the pancakes.

Later this morning, we decided to go to the zoo!  Madeline was excited.

She most wanted to see the elephants ...

... so we found them (Madeline's watching another one of them in this photo).

Oliver mostly slept in his wrap, but he woke up for lunch.

Madeline saw lots of swimming animals today -- seals, this moon bear, and later a river otter and some snapping turtles.

She had a great time.

Later, while I made dinner, Madeline made a toad out of Play-Doh.

And that's our weekend so far.

One other note: Madeline has been telling us about an elaborate dream that woke her up the other night.  In it, she's in a bathroom full of tigers and ice cream.  She's eating ice cream, and the tigers are eating ice cream, but the tigers also roar at her and scare her.  That seems to be the gist of it.  As unfamiliar things enter her life, she assimilates them into this dream post hoc.  For example, Summer made sloppy joes for dinner last night.  Before we ate, I asked Madeline if she knew what sloppy joes were.  Her response was along the lines of: "Yeah.  I like them, I think.  I had them last night.  In the bathroom, with the tigers.  I was eating them and they were good.  Then a tiger roared at me and scared me."  Fascinating.