Toys

Some of Miss C's favorite toys right now are ones that her mommy has made for her.  She concentrates to get the egg carton open.

I wonder what's inside?

Look, there's a hole that I can put my finger through!  Holes are very interesting to an eleven month old!

Mommy filled Miss C's too small socks with interesting textures of things: rocks, crinkly paper, cotton, lentils.  The little socks fit perfectly in the spots of this versatile egg carton.

A basket of lids delights Miss C: metal ones and plastic.  All those new teeth need something to bite, so lids fit the bill.  One of the metal lids reflected the sun light from the window yesterday, and Miss C noticed the pattern on the wall and ceiling.  We played with the different lids to see the patterns, and then found a mirror from a favorite book to watch.  Miss C notices everything!

Paint, paint, paint

The painting in my sitting room is finished!  Floors, walls, woodwork all look fresh.  I'm letting the floor cure for a few days before I move anything in.  HOORAY!

The Philadelphia Orchestra at City Hall Plaza

Mommy and Miss C at the concert

City Hall with the Moon

City Hall

Miss C and I have been exploring a little more: more parks, more places to shop.  And tonight we took the train to Center City to listen to the Philadelphia Orchestra play at the plaza at City Hall.  We met Mommy, had a bite to eat, then listened to music for a little while.  The evening was lovely, and the city looks beautiful at night.  It was shirt-sleeve weather.  

Zounds, Sounds

Concentration

Miss C had been experimenting with new sounds: just now it's "whua, whua!"  Lots of w, w, w today.  She rides in her car seat, chatting all the while.  When she gets fussy, I say more words, and she's off again.  This girl has so much to say.  

We shopped at Trader Joe's which reminds me of the left hand coast, and Miss C is entertaining the other shoppers with her sweetness.  I am such a lucky grandmother to be able to be with this delightful baby.  

Power

There's never a dull moment in G Town.  First, it's 93 degrees today with humidity to match.  I put together a storage item for my new room with water dripping from my face.  Then, as I was setting up my new shelf, the power went out.  The neighbors were coming out of their houses, everyone thinking that it was only them who lost power.  Mr T took a walk around the neighborhood to find that it was fairly widespread.  We are back up and running now, keeping cool in Miss C's room with the air conditioning.

Another adventure!  My previous power outages have been in the rain and cold of an upper left hand coast winter.  Which is worse?

Of course this is all relative.  Those in Texas right now are really suffering from the hurricane -- flooding, damage, evacuations.  I remember the cyclone in Mexico in 1984: flooding, horizontal palm trees, pool furniture being tossed into the pools, washed out roads, wondering if we would be able to get home.

Swings

Miss C loves the swings!  We found a playground in the big park here. just for children age 10 or less.  The swings were the favorite.  We are trying to do a little adventure every day . . . . and two days this week, the adventures were to find swings. 
The playground at the big park also has a play-house for the under 5 set.  The Play House was built in 1895 just for the children of the city to play.  What a concept!  Play for children: something I totally believe in.  Here's Miss C in the basement where the riding toys are located.  She's not quite ready for this kind of activity, but Gma La La had to push things a bit -- just to get the photo.

It's part of the adventure to find the activities for children in a new place.  Now I need to find a couple activities for a Gma.

Here we are the next day at another playground.  This one is near the Target where we shop.  Miss C found a shirt at Target that she carried around while she was entertaining the other shoppers with her charm.  She was very surprised when a power outage occurred!  Gma La La got out her trusty flashlight in a hurry.  Target gets very dark when the lights go out.  When the emergency lighting came on, Miss C's eyes were very wide.  "What's going on?"  

ZOO!

Miss C and Gma La La at the Zoo

The zoo is near, and with my wonderful gift membership, we had our first visit on Sunday.  Miss C enjoyed watching the animals, especially the spider monkeys.  She did her usual "whoops" of delight, and waved her two armed wave at the monkeys and the gorillas.

The tiger in the water delighted our little one.  I'm not sure if it was the tiger or the water.  (See the post about the beach and pool.)  We brought home a stuffed tiger in honor of her delight.
America's First Zoo has a balloon to ride when the weather permits.  Not permitting on Sunday.  Daddy wants to go up, so it was great that the balloon was not flying this trip.

My Margaret Mead personae continues: watching a baby learn to go from all fours to sitting; watching the pointer finger begin its work; noting a little baby sign language develop -- "more."

Today we had an outing to the grocery store, and when Miss C saw the mylar balloons at the check stand, she wanted "more," "more!"  My accomplishment is to go to the store and find my way home without getting lost!  I feel a great deal of responsibility having Miss C in the car.

Decorating: BEFORE

Gma La La's Sitting Room -- Before

View looking out the windows -- notice the area for a window seat

Part of the adventure in G Town is to create a little living space for myself.  These are the "before" photos.  I am hoping that the "after" photos will be along soon.  T and I (and Miss C) have made several excursions to buy things for the sitting room for my third floor suite.  The bedroom is fine with everything I need, but this sitting room is empty.  Trips to IKEA, the hardware store, fabric store and ordering a sewing machine have gotten the ball rolling.  Now to paint the walls and floor.  

Today I put together 2 chairs from IKEA, but it's raining and about 90 degrees -- too hot for painting.  The storms you have been reading about have affected wide areas; just rain and wind here, but this heat and 100% humidity is curling my hair and making the least effort quite taxing.  Oh for cool.  Just remind me when winter comes. . . .

A Little More Beach

Lots of clapping for the beautiful water

Water Baby in the pool

On the Ferry

Atlantic Ocean

Waiting for the Ferry

Miss C and Mommy talking about the big waves

Sand feels good, unless you eat it . . .

WAVES

Three ladies ventured to the Delaware beach to enjoy the sunshine, explore new territory, and relax.  Miss C loved everything about the beach, and the pool at the hotel.  Water baby, indeed.  

She charmed her adoring public from restaurants to the ferry to Cape May, NJ.  

Arriving back home to G Town, there are new windows, beautiful new windows.  Now if we just had some cooler weather to close the windows and enjoy the quiet.  Gma La La is melting in the 90 degree heat.    

Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead studied Samoan young women, I'm studying one particular sweet baby.  She may have been much more objective in her observations (or not), but I'm feeling a kinship with her.  One learns so much by observation!  And Miss C is a delight to observe.  Today she moved from the sitting position -- to the tummy down position which allows her to get to where she wants to go!  TROUBLE ahead for one Gma La La. . . . And putting food into her mouth herself is a new skill.  Of course only about 10% actually makes it into the mouth and stays, the rest covers the floor, high chair, and clothing.

Our outing today included the purchase of a car seat for Gma LaLa's car, so now the wider world is available to us.