I Love You, My Bunnies

For the last two weeks - we've been in Ponyville. For those of you who may not know this, Ponyville is the home to all sorts of ponies that make up what is known as "My Little Pony." This is an equestrian empire mixed with sugar and everything nice, with rainbows and unicorns and lots of sweetness thrown in for good measure. It's not quite at Lisa Frank levels, but it's pretty close. This isn't a show for guys, that's for sure. Still, there's something fun about it, and Mommy and Daddy have enjoyed a few episodes with Madison, who personally wouldn't mind if this show was on 24/7.

Madison has plenty of My Little Pony characters and outfits, thanks to a recent trip to Disney World. A My Little Pony station gave us an opportunity to collect pretty much all we need to keep Madison happy for a while with her pony collection. You could imagine with this theme going on lately, she'll want to pull those out again. Yes, we'll take pictures!

Today was a momentous day in an unusual way: Madison read her first sentence. We're doing sight words again, so one of the books Daddy got from the library was a good opportunity for Madison to read word-by-word it's simple title. Here it is: "I Love You, My Bunnies." It's a Disney book about Thumper and his sisters, who all want to get their mother a special basket. It's a simple book with nice artwork inside, but it is the cover that will forever be significant. Madison reads the title, word by word: "I Love You, My Bunnies."

Daddy even points to the words out of order, and she'll call out each one. Even the word "Bunnies." It's just one of those neat moments as a parent when you see things start to click.

Not so neat have been a few bloody noses. Last night, just past midnight, Madison woke us up, having run into the room with tissues and crying. It's a terrible way to wake up - our daughter crying and bleeding like that. It was easy to calm her down - at least nothing was hurting. It is just an unpleasant sort of thing, and of course messy. The amazing thing is that Madison was able to keep everything pretty much clean. This to me was incredible.

Earlier in the day, she had another bloody nose, this one much more epic. It's been a long time since she's experienced that, and for the time being we're chalking it up to the intense pollen counts in the area, and her allergies she seems to struggle with. The rain, when it comes, has been a blessing. We're waiting for more storms to head this way actually. We hear about them in Texas, and know they'll be here soon. One in Texas recently was pretty amazing - a hail storm that made the landscape look like winter. Cars and people moving about in drifts of hail over a foot deep. Simply incredible imagery!

Nothing like that here, although we've had a few hailstorms in the last few weeks. That's another one of those things that happens this time of year. What usually doesn't happen this time of year is the cold! We're all struggling to get up each morning because it has been so remarkably cold lately. Down to the thirties? Seriously? Yes, and we've been having to pull out our jackets again so we can go out each morning a little warmer. Madison holds close to us when she's outside, and we try to go from car to indoors as quickly as possible.

By the way, just in case you need an update, the gypsy moth caterpillars are doing fine. We have four cocoons right now, and the five remaining ones are doing their best impression of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Daddy has been putting fresh leaves in their habitat, and they've been doing some serious munching. We'll keep you posted on when the cocoons start doing something new!

Finally, tomorrow is the big day! Okay, it isn't a huge day, but the morning could be interesting at least. Our annual neighborhood yard sale begins at 8:00 am, and Mommy has been putting everything in order in the garage, moving things about and pricing things as well. We'll be up early to set it out, despite the cold, because you just never know who'll be attracted to a sizable yard sale like this. It isn't quite the "longest yard sale in the world," but hopefully there'll be enough people in the neighborhood with stuff set out. It just might be fun. We've got three chairs set up, two big ones and a smaller one for Madison.

See you tomorrow!