Birthday party, ducks, tricycle, Lea's house

February 20: Madeline likes to help with the dishes now!

February 21: And she continues to seem more and more like a big kid now that she's 3.

February 22: On Saturday, Madeline had a birthday party with friends from school.  She had fancy balloons ...

... and party hats ...

... and she was very happy!

(Thanks to Imri for that last picture.)

She and her friends had lots of fun playing.

And they all enjoyed decorating their cupcakes!

(Credit to Imri again for the picture.)

And after the party, the afternoon was beautiful and sunny and warm-ish.  So we went to Meshanticut Lake ...

... to visit the ducks!

In those pictures, Madeline is wearing Sadie, a much-beloved gift from friend Hannah.  Aww.

All in all, it was quite a day.

February 23: On Sunday, Oliver munched on some leftover food from the party.

And after lunch, we went and picked out a tricycle for Madeline -- her birthday gift from Nanny and Pop Pop!  Madeline helped to assemble it.

(Oliver helped too, in his own way.)

Still inside, Madeline was quite excited to ride it ...

... so naturally we took it outside, to a lot at the nearby school, where Madeline staunchly refused to give it a try (despite the additions of bell and streamers).

While Madeline contemplated the tricycle, Oliver enjoyed the sun.

And then we went home.

We cleared off part of the back patio for Madeline to try the tricycle in more comfortable surroundings (Madeline helped) ...

... but she just wanted to play with the dinosaurs, newly freed from a weeks-old snowpile.  Here they're having an "herbivore party" where they only eat vegetables -- with no prompting from mom or dad.

Oliver continued to enjoy the sunlight and fresh air.

After leaving her dinosaurs, Madeline discovered that the bulkhead was an excellent spot for basking.

Then we went inside to decorate more cupcakes, which we brought over to Lea's house for an after-dinner treat.  Madeline and Lea played together very nicely, and Lea was kind enough to share her dollhouse and duplos without the slightest complaint.  After a delicious dinner and lots of playing, the two of them enjoyed the cupcakes together -- yum!

February 24: Oliver continues to be quite the raucous bouncer.  He's blurry here because he's surging up an down like a grinning piston.

February 25: Oliver very much enjoyed his toast this morning.

And that's all for now.  If I can manage it, I'll add a video of Oliver's army crawl soon.

Three years old, six months old!

Sometimes Madeline looks like she's already sixteen.

Perhaps this is because she's now THREE!

... and full of personality.

(She asked for her brother to join her in the photo chair.)

For her birthday dinner, Madeline asked for Chinese food -- specifically, chicken, rice, and noodles.  We obliged.  Then came presents...

... (including maracas!) ...

... and cupcakes!

On Saturday, we finally visited Rhode Island Audubon's Environmental Education Center in Bristol, making a necessary excursion before the snow hit.

(Of course there was still snow on the ground from previous dumpings.)

Back inside, a kind volunteer helped Madeline hold a sea star and this hermit crab.

She loved it!

All this snow has kept us home more than we might like.  Madeline has resorted to sticking stickers to her brother.

Speaking of Oliver, he got his first tastes of solid food yesterday.  In the morning were pancakes.

Yum!

For Madeline, indoor play now means playing with birthday presents -- following along in the "spooky book" while playing the accompanying cd in her new cd player, assembling then disassembling then reassembling her giant dinosaur puzzle, shaking her maracas -- and, of course, playing with Duplos.

Oliver enjoys watching her -- and trying to steal her toys too.

Then the kiddos play together.

Yesterday afternoon, Oliver tried banana and found that both tasty and squishy.

Also yesterday I reassembled Madeline's old crib for Oliver and rearranged the kiddos' bedroom.  Coming up to check it out, Oliver noticed the ceiling fan for the first time.  He was truly captivated.

And today, he turned six months old!

He tried an inaugural nap in the newly prepared crib.

And, home from school for the holiday, the kiddos played some more.