Odds and ends

This morning, Dad tried to bring me to bed with him and Mom when I woke up. Of course, I was up again in a couple of minutes. Then the house got very quiet for about 20 minutes -- so quiet that Dad got worried. This is what he found when he got to the back room:


Cousin Cathy brought the whole family to visit: husband Fonda, and daughters Irene and (another!) Yvonne.


They brought me pie and new friends. Enough said.

--Maddie

Mali(fa)bu: My shameless attempt to lure Gram back to the U.S.

Dear Gram,

Much to our surprise, we discovered this weekend that Malibu is little more than half an hour from where we live!

It took us barely a week to go from EST to PST, but six weeks more to actually lay eyes on the mighty Pacific.

I found my calling in life: Professional surfing.


One of the surfers offered to let me stand on her board, but I decided I would perfect my technique before I do that.


Also: Where does the water go when you pour it into a hole in the sand? Is there some elaborately engineered drainage system under the beach, or what?


It was hard to go home. Mom and Dad said we'd be back soon.

--Maddie

The scoop from SoCal

Well, it's been another very full week around here. Dad is all geeked out about some piece of paper he got in the mail, and it's not even his new CA driver's license:


If his head looks a little larger than normal in that photo, it's not a trick of the lens...

...so I am doing what I can to keep him in his place:


We don't spend all our time lounging around in the sun, though. Why, just yesterday we woke up to 60-degree temperatures and a strange gray substance blocking the sun. I had to consult a reference book to remind myself that they were called "clouds." It was awful -- they didn't burn off until almost noon!

We've been spending a lot of time trying to get our bearings in this brave new world, so I've been reading up on the area, perusing the L.A. Times over breakfast...


...and Los Angeles Magazine's listing of the top high schools in the region:

I figure I might as well make some use of my time on the potty, since I don't know what else to do with it yet. (Is that TMI? Sorry.) Anyhow, two of the top 12 public high schools are walkable from our house. So if I can make it to high school, I should be all set. But I like painting so much that I could end up at a conservatory or something:




Normally I talk a lot more than this -- and without any prompting -- but Dad was interrupting a contemplative moment as I was trying to figure out how to get as much paint on the furniture as possible.

I hope you had a fun week, too, dear reader. Remember -- for better or worse, the Madster is watching you:


--Maddie

Learning to be Chinese

Dear Friends,

I have not been ignoring you! You've been in my thoughts, but I've been trying to relax in my new fabulous home and recover from the exhaustion of moving -- taking in the mountain air and views in the lounge chair.

However, Grandma and my great aunt Helen would have none of it:

They taught me what Chinese discipline and hard work are all about:

When I was not sweeping the patio, I was training to be the next Michael Phelps. I understand the Chinese treat their victorious Olympians very well. (Maybe they're even allowed to have a second child?) Although I may not have Chinese citizenship, I feel sure China will grant it so they can dream of medaling in swimming in 2012. I look fabulous in red.



Yes, if you do the math, I won't be old enough to compete -- but as you know, that doesn't stop the Chinese.

--Maddie

July and August at a Glance

What can I possibly do to catch up after so long away from the keyboard, and so many miles and so much water under the bridge?

I am overwhelmed.

I remain full of surprises:

(Farewell, 1162 Russell! Farewell, Georgia!)

And the world, blessedly, continues to surprise me:

(Hello, Descanso Gardens! Hello, California!)

I remain cool:

(I have no idea what this picture is. In fact, I assert that it was Photoshopped.)

I am still a party animal, as I demonstrated again at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Olivia's wedding:


Perhaps most importantly, I am still fabulous... and California has only augmented my fabulosity:

(Thanks for my Paris Hilton shades, Abbey! The future is so bright that I will need them.)

--Maddie

I am still alive

I got this message today from Gandalf:

Dear Maddie,

It has been a month since you last posted anything on your blog. Were you so swept away by your first kiss that you have lost interest in communicating with the grown-up world? I would have expected that in 10 or 12 years time, but are you extraordinarily precocious in this respect, too?

I know that you have made a big move to a new home. Those of us who are far away would love to have some photos and hear your perspective on your new digs.

Eagerly awaiting some further postings.

Love,

Gandalf

Therefore I will soon tear myself away from the Summer Olympics (and from performing balance-beam routines on our rolled-up carpet) and return to blogging.

--Maddie

My first kiss

Today, when Mama and I were saying goodbye to my friend Charlie at Chick-fil-A, he kissed me!

This came as a shock to Daddy, who thought he had about ten more years before he had to worry about this sort of thing... and who was dead sure that I was at least going to be toilet trained.

After giving it some thought, Daddy had a conversation with me at the dinner table:

Daddy: Maddie, if a boy ever tries to kiss you again, you bop him in the nose, OK?

(Pause.)

Me: (Smiling impishly) Is that funny?

Well, Mommy and Daddy thought it was pretty funny that I knew it was funny.

One last photo

I realized that we had not yet had a photo of the beautiful bride...

Sarah's wedding, Take 3

Sarah's wedding photog has now posted some photos from the wedding. Here are ones that are relevant to Maddie enthusiasts:




I also want to officially welcome Uncle Ken to the family:

Caption contest!

Boy, it's been a long time since we've had a caption contest here -- possibly because the first few were unmitigated flops. But we are not so easily deterred. Therefore, I present to you another photo from Sarah and Ken's reception, courtesy of Uncle Tim:



And finally, uncle Jerry sent in this photo, which portrays me at about 10:30 p.m. central time, i.e. approximately three hours past my bedtime:


After this picture was taken, however, I rallied, of course!

--Maddie

My Wedding, During Which Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ken Got Married

Congratulations to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ken! I understand that sometime after I walked down the aisle tossing flower petals, made too much noise, and was escorted out by mom, you two tied the knot! Good on you! Two fine people in love -- what could be better?

There's so much to report. First, for my faithful fans, a reprise of one of last year's greatest hits, the getting-pretty-for-the-wedding photo:

I've come a long way, baby.

I practiced really hard to be a flower girl, along with Annalise and the other Madeleine who was also born on March 7, 2006 (spooky). This entailed a lot of physical conditioning:

We also played a rousing round of "London Bridge is falling down" with Mama:

It was an awesome reception with a great band. Daddy and I danced the night away:

So much fun! I wanted to be sure that Aunt Kate really savored the whole experience:

In sum, I hope to have many more weddings before I get married.

--Maddie

Summertime, summertime, sum sum summertime

Good times at the Decatur Beach Party...

Into Every Life, a Big Limb Must Fall

This happened on Sunday afternoon:


(This may be one where you need to click on the photo to see the large version.)

Could have been worse... ten minutes before that 40-foot secondary trunk from our neighbor's rotten old cherry tree crushed our fence and swing, Mom and I were sitting in the swing...

Snippet of conversation from the drive to school

Maddie [in carseat:] Whine!

Daddy: Maddie, what happened? Did you bite your tongue?

M: Yeah. I bite my tongue.

D: You bit your tongue. "Bit" is the past tense of "bite." [Pause] The past tense is for things that happened earlier ... before now.

[Pause]

M: I bit my tongue in past tense!

(Dad is taking over the blog today...)

This week at the park, Maddie found a lens that had broken off a rear bicycle light. It was orange and faceted, and sparkly.

"Maddie!" I said, "How pretty -- you found a gem! It's like a diamond or a ruby!"

There was a brief pause. She replied: "It's like an octagon!"

You might think I was impressed by this early display of vocabulary, but instead I was disappointed. You see, it was actually a hexagon.

Then I thought about it some more, and decided that actually she was technically correct -- a hexagon is like an octagon, relatively speaking.

Anyway, for those of you who just read this blog for the pictures, here are a couple from the grandparents' visit last weekend while we tried to find a house in California...

The horror! The horror!

A picture is worth a thousand terrifying words:

Cute James' First Birthday

Today I got all pretty...


...and went to my friend James' birthday party:


You can see that I was so beautiful that he couldn't even focus on his candles and cupcake.

Well, OK, for a brief while, anyway... then the familiar carnage ensued.


Happy first birthday, James!

--Maddie

Springtime!

In springtime, a young family's thoughts turn to thoughts of real estate. We're pimping the house to sell, so naturally mom and dad have put me to work landscaping...


Inside, I'm also doing my best to help, including unleashing a baby-powder cloud that I thought would give the nursery the perfect smell that would make buyers swoon.


No, that's not smudges on the lens. That's the flash reflecting off the powder in the air.

Meanwhile, dad got a new outfit. Mom says it makes him look like big, blue marshmallow:

Bucking the trend

I exist. Take that, statistics.

Seriously, though, this might explain why Barritt's dad left grad school for law school.

A force of nature

Apparently, word is out that I'm moving to California.