I am delicious

It came to my attention this morning when Dad returned from Starbucks (no, it's not every morning he does that; we're not that fabulous; we were just out of coffee grounds) that I have not only shoes named after me (see below), but also cookies.

Well -- "petite French cakes," if you prefer Starbucks' marketing pablum:


I find the thought inescapable that all of you were out there, waiting, just wondering when I was going to find this out... these little cookies are delightful, after all. (Unlike my namesake shoes, I have firsthand experience with these.) Cat's out of the bag now, but you could have said something, you know! What will I find out next?

Au revoir,

Maddie

No pressure, but I'm dying here

I don't want either of my grandmothers to feel that they aren't working hard enough for me, but .... a fabulous life doesn't just happen, you know. Like a Hollywood movie, it requires a cast of "little people" to make the magic work*... it requires, in my humble opinion, a flying granny nanny or two.

In other news, I am sick. (If you work for Georgia DFCS, please stop reading. Now. Thank you.) I had a 102 degree temperature last night, but Mom thought she had just cranked up the heater too high, so she tried blowing on my back to cool me down. Best idea she's had since she put Vaseline and cornstarch in my hair. Good times, good times!

I am going to pull through thanks to a miracle drug called Tylenol, but I may need a granny nanny to save me from my parents...

--Maddie

* -- No, not little like me. I am large in spirit.

Maddie-ness in the world of fashion

Michael Jordan and I have shoes named after us... do you?

The J. Crew Maddie espadrille:


I can't pronounce "espadrille" yet, but I'm sure they're fabulous.

--Maddie

The ants go marching three by three...

I went on my first hike today, and I walked the whole way:


...thanks to emergency raisin rations, I had plenty of energy.


Well, maybe I didn't quite walk the whole way...


...but I did make myself useful by carrying the water bottle:


--Maddie

Caption contest #2

Enter your caption in the comments field!

Flowers, fountains and frogs

This weekend I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, where I saw many fabulous and amazing things.


I am very fearless:


Mostly I tried to go everywhere as fast as possible. Why are you grownups so slow all the time?


I am only a thistle now, but I am going to be a sunflower...


Still, the highlight of the day was taming the fountain. You can see from this video that I had to not only deal with the fountain, but also with certain interlopers...



Hope your spring is going fabulously, too!

--Maddie

The latest research

Dear Reader,

I suspect that you have come to rely on this blog for breaking news and research on the world of babies and children. We continue that tradition today by referring you to the latest data on child abuse.

I am limited in what I can say publicly, but let me just say that I am familiar with some of the conditions reported in the article.

Maddie

A time to gather eggs together

On Easter, after I slept through church, we went to fabulous Alpharetta to hang out with the Amazing Andersons, who were able to lead a worship service and host us on the same day -- yes, the Andersons have mighty powers, no doubt developed in their epic adventures with their own children.

They even set up an Easter egg hunt for us kids. Let me tell you my Easter egg hunting philosophy: More than one egg per hand is wasted. Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil. I have seen the children piling up many eggs, but this too is vanity, and a chasing after chocolate.*


This also I saw: Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.


Anyway, I thought all was vanity... until I found the biggest egg of all:


--Maddie

* -- Mom says I can't have chocolate. Then tonight she bought me my own ice cream cone at Jake's, so I'm not sure I can discern the underlying principle at work here.

A whirlwind Holy week

You may recall there was some debate a while back over whom I resembled, Dad or Mom. Dad is now posting these photos of me to settle that matter once and for all...


Dad says anyone this beautiful has to resemble Mom much more than him.

I am trying not to take sides, because I want certain things from both of them...

--Maddie

My other birthday party

My my, I take a week off and the news and photos just pile up. There's so much to catch up on!

So, I had a second birthday party in less than a week. I think that means I'm two now, but I have to check that. Like any fabulous personality, the party seems to follow me wherever I go. And what are the signs of a fabulous party if not maracas and a cake shaped like a ladybug?


And of course there was the fabulous pink hat trimmed with faux fur (no pink minks were harmed in the production of this birthday)...

The cake was good...


...and then we took another trip to the zoo, where my parents say I belong. As a member. At least, I think that's what they mean.


Here's a shout out to all of you from me and mom:

--Maddie

My Honkological Findings

Now that I am one, I have decided that it is time to grow up and make a contribution to this great conflagration that we call human society. Therefore I have embarked on scientific research at the playground of one of our downtown Decatur churches.

At this playground there is an assortment of plastic vehicles. For our purposes, their specific nature (viz., "fire trucks," "convertibles," and so on) is immaterial. What is of interest for the present research is that among the nine vehicles on the playground on a recent Thursday afternoon (a count which excludes pushing toys such as "lawnmowers" and "ball poppers"), five had discernible bumps in the center of their steering wheels. Discovering that one of the bumps gave forth a "honking" sound when I pressed, I promptly endeavored to press all similar steering-wheel bumps on the assumption that this delightful characteristic was a universal feature. At one point I walked back and forth between two vehicles repeatedly, only to find that not all steering-wheel bumps give when pressed, nor do they all "honk." This finding did not appear to be affected by repetition, the amount of force applied, nor by my own disappointed squawking.

All this is merely prolegomena. Our conclusion was that sixty (60) percent of steering-wheel bumps honk when you press them. The raw data will be published in chart form in the forthcoming issue of ZTW (Zeitschrift fur die Toddlerliche Wissenschaft, for those of you who are not conversant with the field).

--Maddie

Hot parents have girls first

I don't make the news, I just report it.

--Maddie

I made it to one

Dear readers,

Thank you for following me through my fabulous first year (or should I say, "my first fabulous year"?). Yesterday I officially made it to "the Big Zero-One" -- cause for celebration!

For the occasion, I got my first real haircut:


I guess that trip to see Frederic Fekkai in LA will have to wait until next year.

Other birthday news... I like cake. A lot.


The only thing I don't like about cake is waiting for it...


After all the cake we took an evening constitutional around the 'nabe,' to keep our girlish figures...


Dad says that even though I am so big now, I am still only a tiny part of God's creation...


...to which I say, WhatEVER! I am Madster, hear me roar! Look out, Year Two... here I come.

--Maddie

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo...

Dear Readers,

I went to the zoo again yesterday. You really notice something new every time you go. For example, this time I noticed that that place is full of animals! No, not just the little kids that I spent my last couple visits looking at; if you look out past the fences there are all kinds of other interesting things, too.

Here are some of the animals I was able to identify from my picture books and DVDs:

"Bird"



"Cat"



"Dog"



"Moooooooo"

Then at the end of our tour I petted a goat. Sort of. Well, I thought about petting a goat. But he was sort of big and hairy and stinky and not at all fabulous (much like Dad, now that I think about it), so I barely touched him. But Mom made me wash my hands anyway.

--Maddie

Happy Springtime from Maddie

A Week in the Life

What have I been doing this week? Not much...

...just exploring my cushion castle...


...learning to brush my hair (all by myself!)...


...trying to see the world from someone else's perspective...


...but it was all very exhausting.


--Maddie

Life is good

Upon further review the call has been overturned...

Dear Reader,

You may recall that in the past I have been less than enthusiastic about my quality of life since darling Madeleine arrived.

I must ask, dear reader, have you never spoken in haste and later, upon deeper reflection, decided that you had been mistaken? I fear I must today admit such a hotheaded error.

It is true, at times the little dear can be "a pill":


...but who among us has not, during our delightful puppy years, ruffled a few feathers?

Much more importantly, I feel that Madeleine and I have reached a certain... mutual understanding:


I've never felt so pampered. It's like she can actually read my thoughts, which go something like this: That looks good! Can I have some?! Huh?! Huh?! Ooo, that too! How about a bite of that?! All these years of getting a scrap here and a scrap there, and wondering if all my mental energy was in vain. And now I'm surprised by joy!

As one reaches midlife, one can begin to give up on finding a soul mate. If that's you, I just want to say, keep dreaming the dream. It's happened for me, and it can happen for you, too.

Sincerely,

Paloma

A Day in the Life

It has been hard work establishing rulership over my domain; it's taken a lot of yelling and whatnot. The parents were pretty quick to fall in line. But finally I am also getting a handle on the household's more refractory member, who has bowed before my Elmo throne:


In other news, I'm moving around so much lately that Dad is exploring new ways to contain me. This one lasted almost 5 minutes:


Maybe you should be careful next time you buy a box of Pampers at the store. If the box seems a little heavy, you never know what might pop out!

--Maddie