shoulda bought a pool...

A couple of weeks ago, Judd decided that Gracelyn's toy situation was suboptimal for her proper intellectual and physical development as a nearly-14-month-old infant. So, we took a trip to Toys-R-Us to see what we could purchase to remedy this. After some debate over whether a toy shopping cart (complete with plastic groceries), a riding toy (convertible between three stages of riding) or a kiddie pool would contribute more to Gracelyn's growth and maturity, we finally decided to scrap those three ideas and go with a sand-n-water play set for her to use outside. One side is filled with sand, the other side is filled with water, and it comes with a few toys (boats, pots, and a shovel) and an umbrella for shade. Pretty cool, right? Here's Gracelyn the first time she played with her new toy:

As you can see, she's not too sure about the whole thing. Well, here's Gracelyn the second time she played with her new toy:

Guess we shoulda bought the kiddie pool after all!! :-)

daddie's day picnic

When it comes to buying gifts for Judd, I never know what to get him. Part of the reason for this gift-giving-difficulty is that he's not really into getting "stuff" (he's a little weird about receiving gifts, and he hates stuff-that-turns-to-clutter), and the other part is that the things he really wants are just slightly out of my price-range (i.e. a BMW, a bigger house, etc.). So, when I realized that Father's Day was coming up, I asked Judd what he wanted. His response: "black socks". So, Daddie got black socks for Daddie's Day. Yay. Actually, Gracelyn thought black socks were a bit boring, so she picked out the Borat DVD for Judd, too.

Yesterday, after giving Judd his black-socks-and-Borat present, we packed up some snacks, a blanket, and some sunscreen and headed up with Billy to the Savannah Chanelle winery for some eating, drinking, and merry-making. My mom and dad met us up there, and a good time was had by all. We ate our lunch up on the grassy knoll above the tasting room, under the shade of a huge apple tree, then went inside for a round of wine tasting. This is our second trip to this winery, and we'd certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a place with delicious wines and great scenery. Happy Daddie's Day!!

"where's your...?"

So, today, Gracelyn showed me a new game to play with her. Here's how it works. I ask her, "Gracelyn, where's your [insert name of body part here]?" and she responds by pointing to the appropriate body part. We're really good at identifying belly button and nose, and we're getting better at mouth and ears. When asked about any other body parts, Gracelyn responds by covering her face with her hands, too embarrassed to admit she doesn't know. She signals the end of the game by giving me a bored Mom-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me-I'm-way-too-big-for-that-silly-game look, then crawling away to something more exciting (her bear, for example).

Other recent milestones some of you may not know about:

• "giving love" (i.e. kisses)
• pushing her stroller all by herself (with Mommie or Daddie close by for guidance)
• throwing balls down the stairs (and then taking Mommie or Daddie down the stairs to get the balls)
• drinking milk from a straw

She's not quite walking all by herself, although she loves to walk holding our hands!! Also, she has demonstrated behavior that suggests a love for shoes; with any luck, she won't have her Daddie's sense of fashion...maybe she'll get Aunt Barrie's instead! We'll keep hoping for the best!! :-)