Soak up the Sun

Today the lawn care people came to tackle the enigma that is our front yard, and some eighty bags of mulch later, there was the beginnings of a decent looking front yard again. Not that we had a bad one. No, it didn't look anything like the house from the Addams Family. But it did need some weeding, and it did need mulch.

Once they were done working out front, we were all invited outside to take a peek. Madison was funny: she just smiled and dropped down on the grass in the front yard. Right there in the sun, she lay down and closed her eyes as if she was sunbathing.

All the while we were talking around her, she lay quietly on the lawn, just soaking up the sun.

Madison's work with her workbooks continues, as does Mommy's patient teaching. Madison is putting words together as of late, connecting those first syllables with the rest of the words. It still can be frustrating to understand - for all of us - but it is getting better than it was. Sign language has been helpful too: Madison understands completely.

One thing she can do now is count to twenty. That's how we keep score when we play "Disney Princess Memory," when we have to keep track of who has more cards. Not that we play competitively - it's just that she wants to keep track of how many cards each of us has. Secretly, I think she just likes counting. No problem there!

As we've been doing our pirate theme this month, we've been watching a lot of pirate movies. We have a boatload of 'em, and this month has felt like Christmas, where you watch only Christmas movies. The difference is, this month is "Arrr!" And we only watch pirate movies! We got a copy of the Backyardigans DVD: "We Arrrr Pirates." Madison really enjoys this one. Later on, we'll watch "Muppet Treasure Island," and earlier, we've already seen "Treasure Planet," "Peter Pan," and "Return to Neverland." After Madison goes to bed, we've been watching the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Bob Hope's "The Princess and the Pirate," "Cutthroat Island," "Treasure Island," "Hook," "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd," "Shipwrecked," "Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island," and of course "The Goonies." Needless to say, it's been a scurvy good month!