Oops! I just realized that I never posted pictures of our (short-lived) Halloween! Marianne was a little pig and Whoopsie was all set to play the part of the Big Bad Wolf until Marianne started wheezing and we headed to Sandhills Pediatrics!
She was a cutie, though.
It pleases me to no end that Marianne enjoys Mommy's shoes. Ballet flats, clogs, boots, heels, she loves them all. She ventures into my closet, carefully puts her feet into both shoes, and then tromps around the house showing off. Her absolute favorite pair are my red and white polka-dot ballet flats. Nothing says you're ready to have some fun like shoes with polka-dots! 
Here are some more pictures from our week at the beach...
Marianne was lucky enough to get THREE beach trips in this year! We spent five days in Avon, North Carolina in the Outer Banks the last week in September. Not only did we have beautiful warm weather, but there were absolutely no crowds. We rented a house with Bill and Katie Van O'Linda, and they did an awesome job picking out the house...it was oceanfront, so we had great views, an easy walk over the dunes to the beach several times each day, a (heated!) pool, and the sound of the ocean waves to fall asleep to at night.
As you can see, we had the beach to ourselves!
GLASSES!
We've been busy the last few weeks. Most of our time was spent trying to get Marianne to wear her glasses!
At the beginning of September, Marianne started crossing her eye inwards. It started to occur more frequently, so we quickly made an appointment with an eye doctor who specializes in children. Marianne was diagnosed with strabismus, in the form of accomodative esotropia...basically, she is farsighted and began to "cross" her eyes in order to focus and see clearly. Left untreated, strabismus can cause loss of vision in the affected eye! Luckily, if you catch it and treat it, there's a good chance Marianne will grow out of her glass and no longer need them when she's about ten years old. Isn't that amazing??
Scenario: Mommy puts glasses on Marianne, she throws them off. Mommy cleans off the now smudgy glasses, and tries again, but Marianne throws them off. Etc.
In the meantime I was desperately scouring the Internet for tips, books, and information to help Marianne learn to love her glasses (unfortunately, there's not much out there). Time stood still for those 10 days as we sturggled with the glasses...I thought we'd never be able to get her to wear them! But with some help from Aunt Kerry, Smarties candies, Mickey Mouse, and finally having Daddy hug Marianne tightly, preventing Marianne from chucking her glasses, we had some success. After that, things started improving everyday, and now she is wearing her glasses all the time. Whew!
Finally, a word to all mothers out there (and dads too): Marianne was most likely farsighted from birth, but we never knew it -- even with all the visits to the pediatrician for wellness check-ups -- until she started crossing her eyes. There's a program called Infantsee, which allows you to take your child to an optometrist for a FREE comprehensive eye exam during his/her first year of life. Go to www.infantsee.org for more information -- I wish I had taken advantage of this, and we would have caught Marianne's farsightedness much sooner.
One of our favorite things to do at Disney World is to hit the water parks, and Marianne took her first trip to Blizzard Beach! She absolutely adores the beach, so it was no surprise that she loved Blizzard Beach. Blizzard Beach is one of Disney's two water parks, and has a ski-resort motif -- lots of "ice" and snow everywhere. We spent most of our time at Tike's Peak, an area just for little kids. She loved the fountains, sprinklers, and kid-sized water slides. She even got her firs reprimand from a lifeguard for trying to run down the water slide!
We spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom on this Disney Trip, especially Fantasyland and Toontown. Marianne loved visiting Mickey and Minnie's houses (they live next door to each other). Minnie's kitchen is really cute -- you can watch a birthday cake baking in the oven, pop some popcorn in the microwave, make the tea kettle whistle, and when you open Minnie's fridge you get a nice blast of cold air! One of Marianne's current favorites is cake, so she was especially interested in the oven!
Check out all the cheese in Minnie's fridge! Are you surprised?
Cinderella's Castle...
Marianne loves to get mail, so she noticed Minnie's mailbox right away.
We left a day early for our Disney trip to beat Hurricane Hanna. This also meant we got to spend another day at the parks! The weather was beautiful, and the crowds were non-existent...definitely the best time to visit Mickey. This was Marianne's first trip to Disney World as a walker, and she loved it! We spent most of our time doing things that Marianne would enjoy. Here are some pictures....
"High School Musical" has a block party several times a day at Hollywood Studios. We caught a show on our first day at the parks, and Marianne loved the music and the dancing. As the show was leaving, she chased it down, not wanting it to end....."STOP! I want to DANCE!"
Each park has a great playground area for kids, and Hollywood Studios has perhaps the best playgound of all: it's the "movie set" of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" so the kids are surrounded the ginormous blades of grass, leaves, spiders, mushrooms, and even a can of Play-Doh! Marianne discovered the sprinklers and decided to play in the water for most of her time at the playground. She cries when I rinse her hair in the bathtub, but doesn't mind water spraying directly into her eyes at Disney World...
Here's Marianne playing at the "Laughing Place", a small playground near Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. We played here while Daddy, GaGa, and PaPa rode one of the best rides at Disney World.
We took several trips on the Walt Disney Railroad throughout the week!
We visited Mickey's house in Toontown, and Marianne was interested in the pumpkins in Mickey's garden.
OK folks, sorry for the lack of postings in the month of September. We spent the second week in September at Disney World, the third and fourth weeks in varying degrees of sickness, and now we are headed to the Outer Banks for a family fall vacation. Get ready for some pictures!
Marianne started "school" on Monday, August 25! The Village Chapel has a Mother's Morning Out program on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and David and I thought this would be a good opportunity for Marianne to spend time with other kids her age, as well as work on our current separation anxiety issues. There are about five other kids in her class, as well as one teacher and two helpers. It's a darling classroom, and after she quit crying she ended up having a good time! On Monday, she cried for 20 minutes (and I was outside listening to it all!), and on Wednesday she cried for 30 seconds! She also cries when I come to pick her up...because she doesn't want to leave!
In the car ready to go to "school"...
Marianne with her "big girl" backpack...
See you later, Mama!
Marianne's art project on Monday...
Uncle Nate was in the States for a couple weeks, and we got to see him a couple times. Marianne often points to a picture of Nathan and Josh in her photo album and says, "Uncle" quite clearly. She hadn't seen Nate since April and enjoyed playing with him when he came to Pinehurst for a couple days. Right before he headed back to Germany, we met the family at Cracker Barrel in Greensboro. Marianne liked the rocking chairs outside, although her Dada wouldn't let her sit the Carolina-blue one!
Marianne and Uncle Nate...
Jean Marie and Kathryn came for a visit last week -- Jean Marie is far braver than I, traveling all the way from Idaho with a toddler! The girls (and moms) had a great time at the park and swimming pool. Kathryn impressed us with her ability to climb into the crib, her "please" and "thank you's", while Marianne took the gold medal in the eating competition. Here are some pics:
Kat and Marianne hanging out on the tire swing.
Playing with the chimes...
Riding on the bouncy firetruck...
Jamal and Krissy...
Marianne's current preferred method of sliding:
One of our new favorite places in town is "Imagination Station". It's a great place for kids to explore, learn, and play pretend. With a veterinarian's office, fire station, grocery store, kitchen, train, boat, hospital, teepee, costume and puppet area, and exercise room to play in, the time always goes by quickly. We've been visiting Imagination Station with our church play group this summer, and we've been a few other times as well.
Marianne's current favorite activity is the exercise room, because that's where the music is! She loves to dance and shake maracas, and she's started testing out the trampoline as well. She also loves to play in the hospital area because (surprise!) there are baby dolls to hold and feed. Marianne usually finds a little time to climb aboard the boat for a quick ride. The raft sits on a water bed, so I can bounce it and make "waves" for her. She's also become interested in the golf cart, and sits on it and honks the horn saying, "Beep! Toot!". Hmmm, a sign perhaps? :)
One of Marianne's very favorite toys is her baby doll, a birthday gift from her Grandpa Jake and Grandma Anna. She loves to put the baby in her high chair, cover the baby up with a blanket, and of course give the baby stroller rides. We picked up another baby (a much smaller baby doll) at the store one day, but as soon as we brought it home Minnie claimed it as her own! Marianne has gotten a big kick out of Minnie "playing" with her baby doll!
Here are some pictures of M and M "playing" with their baby dolls.... :)
Minnie's favorite position:
