as a family, we've all been very busy this summer. even marianne's social calendar has been particularly full. a couple of weekends ago she brunched with her friend, felix. they are besties at "school" and felix is the wild man that is part responsible for inspiring marianne's progressions into crawling, walking, running, and—I suspect—her interest in trucks as well. felix was kind enough to host the playdate in his backyard. complete with pool and tonka trucks. they had a lot of fun and both took 3-hour naps that afternoon.
today marianne and i went to the zoo with my friend, nicole, and her two boys—gunnar and micah. somehow i didn't manage to get a photo of all of them which is really too bad because they are the most gorgeous little boys. gunnar's favorite was the giraffes. marianne liked the lions and tigers. and micah (just 11 mos) was ecstatic to share a cheerios snack with marianne. they were grinning at each other from across their strollers. so adorable.
okay, so it looks like marianne is hamming it up for the camera but she was actually demonstrating how the monkey behind her was sleeping. we saw a sleeping bear shortly before and momma tilted her head and snored—marianne thought this was a riot and mimicked. and she did it again, unprompted, when we came upon the sleeping monkey.
social activities aside, marianne is learning that it's practically a full time job just keeping up with the house. she has been a BIG help with the laundry. she helps me load/unload the washer and dryer and she pushes the basket (full or empty) between the hampers in the bedrooms and the utility room. here she is pushing the clean crib sheets into her room so that i can make up her bed.
