Austen Famous Rodey

On Saturday, Mama found a nearby carnival in Middlesex where Austen enjoyed going on most of the rides, including some that she was a little reluctant to ride on just a few months ago. Live music helped set the playful mood, fresh made mini pizzas kept energy up, and Austen enjoyed the company of other kids until it was time to leave and go home to bed.

Then, on Sunday, we popped in to the last 30 minutes of a local Metuchen street fair held on Main Street where Austen took full advantage of the remaining time by going on a huge jumpy castle, petting all the animals in a petting zoo and riding a pony!

This is how Austen warms up for her playdates.

Austen entertained her friends at home with the jumpie castle and numerous other toys. Although started in the front yard, the party relocated to the backyard to escape the heat.

Austen rarely gets weighed at the Ped's but while accompanying Mama for her doctor's visit, Austen was more than happy to stand on the scale while Dada adjusted the sliders to confirm her current weight: ~29.5 lbs

Continuing to build on our new found tradition, we went to Metuchen's Memorial Day Parade, held on Main Street. This year, Grandma & Grandpa joined Austen in the activities. Afterwards, to help beat the heat, we stopped at What's The Scoop to get some ice cream.

Austen confirmed the contents of a robin's nest, built on the underside of our deck: 4 little blue eggs. A week later, the eggs were replaced by little baby birds. It's hard to count them but we've made out 3. It takes them about 15 days to leave the nest and then the mama bird lays her second clutch.

Whenever we go to see the nest, even if it's just peering down through the slots from the deck (as the video shows), the mama bird seems to yell at us from a near by fence or tree branch, followed by Austen's explanation: "the mama bird got upset."

Austen may be the first in the family to have a green thumb.

Austen had a frog painted on her cheek during an outdoor concert with Mr. Ray. Even though we didn't know who he was beforehand, everyone enjoyed the concert, food and fun atmosphere.



Austen continued with the jumping even after we got home.

So much for our non-commercial kid. She watches Barney and Toy Story II everyday now. Also Nemo, Curious George and Super Why.

Hillary Clinton did incredibly well despite a flawed campaign and misogynistic critics, but Austen likes being the boss (she's been called the baby dictator) so maybe she'll be the first female president ... with 1/2 European (French, English, Welsh and German) and 1/2 Asian Indian background.

Go Obama! And, commentators, please stop asking him why he doesn't have a strategy for appealing to racist working class whites. It's like asking a robbery victim to stop owning things. It's blaming the victim, racism-style.

-Lucinda Lynnet Famous Rodey

Austen used the big kid swings today ... by herself.

She also learned how to open the child safety lock on Mama's make-up drawer. Uh oh, the lip gloss is toast.

Instead of using her potty, she disassembled it into pieces. But she loves to try on her "big girl panties."

L.L.F.R.

Austen joined her friends in celebrating Drew's 3rd birthday party at MyGym. Austen just finished her weekly Sunday morning class, had some lunch with Mama & Dada and then returned for the party.

With all her friends present, Austen let loose and participated in all the activities and ran around to her favorite areas: trampoline, hanging bars, the ladder, the rope ladder, low balance beam, basketball hoop, slides, etc.

It was an active and fun party for all.

















More pics.

The funniest, cutest thing happened today. It felt like a harbinger of things to come. I walked downstairs (in my PJs) and found Davinder, Austen and (double take) another little kid sitting at the kitchen table eating noodles. Apparently, Austen and our next door neighbor Avvanna were having such a great time outside that they headed inside to eat a little and play with toys. As I stood staring --and saying, “Uh oh, I better go get dressed if Avvanna’s parents are coming soon to pick her up” -- Austen chirped, so cutely, “That’s my mom!”

The girls played so well together. Austen was in a good sharing mood. Hopefully her teeth are feeling better. Austen sure loves hanging out with other kids (from teenagers down to toddlers).






L.L.F.R.

more cat pictures

Austen is starting to watch movies. She watches portions of Cinderella (especially the parts with mice) and talks about princesses. Nemo is her favorite although some parts scare her.

Dada finally assembled one of Austen's Christmas gifts (yes...in May!) -- a huge train table with over 100 parts including a motorized engine.

Austen seems to no longer be as forgiving as she used to be when punished. After a big battle of wills with Mama (like this morning when Austen wanted to wear her new sparkly shoes out into the rain), she's defiant with Mama the rest of the day. Lots of hugs and sympathy ("I hate to see Austen crying") at dinner seemed to help a bit. Recently Mama had lightened up on the empathy and started laying down the law when Austen started acting very spoiled, throwing too many fits about silly little things (e.g., which corn chip Mama handed her) and not sharing well. Everyday adjustments must be made.

Austen cuddled with Mama while eating some corn tortilla chips at Tinga, a favorite place to grab some great Mexican food in Westfield.

Austen is so into her shoes now, she throws a fit when Mommy takes offer her new sparkly shoes. Who got her so interested in shoes, anyway?

Austen went to Isabella's house to celebrate her 3rd birthday.







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What!? Haven't you seen all the modeling shows where they use bananas for inspiration?