More Mayhew Motion Mayhem!

I figure that one of my jobs as May's father is to ensure that she has the skills necessary to rule the world with an iron fist if the opportunity presents itself. The first of these skills is the Evil Laugh.



Of course, any potential dictator needs to know how to use objects around them to help protect themselves.

Leaves and laughter

Fall has finally arrived here in Boston and May is loving every minute of it: from the maple leaves spiraling down to the bike path to cozy sweatshirts ("wet irts" she calls them) to splashing in puddles to eating apples by the peck.

Her vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds and I never know what she's going to come out with next. Took me a while to figure out what "elly oct" meant, but finally it dawned on me that she was pointing at the sky when she said it... oh, a helicopter. She likes swings a lot, still, and has just been introduced to the concept of an underdog.



She's added "excuse me" to the list of manners she's aware of and says it after anyone burps, not just her. (She also thinks burping and farting are both riotous.)

Her favorite book right now is one the Uncle Seth brought back from Paris. It's in French, so Christopher and I have no clue what it says. We make stuff up. She's become very attached to her dolls and carries them around in a sling that we made for her using a receiving blanket. Her favorite food (right now) is "hummy", her word for hummus, which she likes with carrots grated into it. She also like warm milk from Starbucks, just like Mommy. (We get her organic milk heated to 105 degrees in her stainless steel cup -- helps keeps her warm when she's running around outside without her hat or gloves.)

Her favorite song is "Wheels on the Bus." She sings it every time she sees a bus. We live next to a bus stop. If I never hear "Wheels on the Bus" again, it will be too soon.



Thanks to the plethora of construction around Davis, she's fond of construction vehicles and other large machines. We think she would really enjoy owning a large (wooden, not plastic) backhoe or tractor or bulldozer. Hint, hint, in case anyone is doing early Christmas shopping.

She continues her obsession with all things fabric -- blankets, cloth diapers, receiving blankets, towels, etc. She enjoys tying them around herself and draping them over and around her dolls. (Hint.)



Big Papi is her favorite Red Sox player and she will tell this to anyone wearing a Red Sox hat. Since the Sox are doing so well, you can imagine this is a fairly frequent occurrence. She knows many of the dogs on the bike path by name -- Kaiser, Hanna, Dixie, Jake, Gingersnap, Ella, Katie, Libby, and three different Rosies.

We're not sure what she will be for Halloween yet -- no, we're probably not taking her out trick or treating. It doesn't seem fair, since we don't let her have candy (she's too young for chocolate or nuts and many other candies remain choking hazards at this age.) We will post photos, I promise.

That's all for now. Thanks to Jen, as always, for the photos. If you haven't had enough photos of May, check her out here in a longish slide show that features Jen H.'s birthday party, a pot roast Sunday supper last week, and apple picking before that.

Little Miss Can't be Wrong

Proof, if proof was ever needed, that May takes after her daddy sometimes.

She has become a neat-nik.

At the playground yesterday, she wouldn't get into the toy car until I'd wiped off the seat for her. "Clean, please," she said, pointing. Though, demanding she has a clean car may be more Skip's influence than Christopher's.

She needs her own napkin ("nay-kin!") at meals and wipes her hands often. If I don't give her her own napkin -- for instance, if she's dirtied every clean napkin in the house -- she demands that I wipe her hands with my napkin. Often I substitute a dish towel and she likes that, too. "May-may's towel!"

Let's see... what else? She's sleeping much better and her nap has moved to much earlier in the day. We've had to stop going to the usual 11 a.m. play groups because she needs to have eaten lunch and be ready to nap at noon.

Some of her favorite things include: owls, tigers, tractors, firetrucks, any construction equipment, motorcycles, bikes, shoes, and bumblebees. She gets very adamant and upset if she sees someone on a bike or a motorcycle (I can't begin to reproduce the way she says that word, but it's cute) who isn't wearing a helmet. She will pat her head, quite hard, and say "Hat! Hat! Hat!"

Her uncle Seth brought home a child's book in French from Paris and she's very fond of that. I can get about one word in seven, and whole swathes of it make no sense to me. But she still demands to have us "read" it to her.

Not much else new.

You can dance if you want to

Sad news

Grace and JAck's dog, Beau, died yesterday. He was 12 years old, something of a Methusela among Newfs, who normally live about 8 years. He was a kind and sweet dog, and he will be much missed.

As small pick-me-up after that sad news, I will include a clip of May saying "HI!" to the camera.

September Sunday

Yesterday was Sunday and we had a fairly typical Sunday for us.

It started with breakfast at Supreme Kitchen. (The Broken Yolk is too far to walk. And it's not as good since they sold it.) David and Jen joined us, so you get lots of spiffy pictures. We all had the apple pancakes or French toast, except May who eats breakfast at home and then snacks on whole wheat toast.

When I say "snacks on", I mean "licks the melted butter off of."

Then we all took a leisurely stroll down the bike path and had a drink at Starbucks where we bumped into Julia. There we said good bye to David and Jen and headed up to Tufts for the community day fair there. We walked home, May napped, we did laundry, made dinner, watched a little TV, and that was it.

Anyway, here are the photos. Click to see more. As ever, you don't need to register. Just click the button that says "View Slideshow."