Aside from her abiding fascination with everything related to space, Madeline also loved running this month. She would velcro on her running shoes and just take off, running laps through the house or running circles around its perimeter on nice days. Madeline also loves cooking in her little kitchen - a present from Santa a couple years ago - and spends lots of time coming up with exotic concoctions of imaginary spices and fruits, some of which actually sound tasty.
Speaking of her imagination, Madeline has a couple well-developed imaginary companions - Daley (a girl) and Morrow (a boy). They have their own complex families and relationships, and also their own homes, which Madeline assures me are close to ours even though she often points to central Africa when locating them on the globe. While she doesn't talk to them, she often talks about them, using them in her own way to make sense of larger ideas and concepts. Frequently she'll bring them up in conversation with other people, talking about their exploits as easily and confidently as she would mention an actual occurrence she witnessed with her own eyes.
Here are some pictures from the month:
After briefly visiting the playground at the local park, Madeline loves hitting the baseball diamond, where she just runs . . .
and runs . . .
and runs.
Madeline and Granddad engrossed in some playground conversation on a lazy summer morning.
One of our many activities this month was visiting the children's garden at Lewis Ginter. Madeline loved playing in the kid-sized houses.
She also liked tidying the natural accouterments that cluttered the structures and then sweeping the concrete floors.
But the highlight of the visit - even more exciting than climbing a tree or walking through the maze or running to the top of the treehouse - was playing in the sprinklers at the children's garden.
Papa John delivers a rocket to the young slugger, who, with the support of Grandma's steady presence, knocked it out of the park, or at least well into the driveway.
Another of August's adventures was a trip to the Science Museum. They had an expansive space-themed display that kept Madeline rapt, but she got some hands-on experience in the science lab upstairs, where she viewed some pond life under the microscope.
Madeline and Mommy check out the train engine at the science museum. Trains are also high on Madeline's list of excitement-inducing subjects.
Not all of our fun was had away from home - I built Madeline an amazing fort (if I do say so myself) in the living room. She gathered some stuffed friends and read - you guessed it - space books.
Probably the highlight of the month was our trip to Maryland to visit with some relatives - Claudia and Jared - who both happen to study space professionally. Madeline was in heaven discussing facts and ideas about the solar system, reading new books about space, and watching technical videos of the Mars exploration rovers. Oh, and we also spent a morning at Great Falls National Park, checking out the amazing falls of the Potomac. While we were in Maryland, we visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We had a great day and saw tons of sea life - from sharks to seahorses - but I accidentally left behind my camera!
At Great Falls, Madeline built up the nerve to sit atop Molly the Mule.
At Great Falls, Madeline built up the nerve to sit atop Molly the Mule.
The last adventure of the month was Hurricane Irene. The storm left us plenty of debris to clean up, and also took our power for a few days. We made the most of the situation and Madeline was pretty understanding about it, but we were still happy when the lights finally flickered back to life. 