March 2013
In March, we had a play date with Owen and Ava at the Portland Children's Museum. We are very excited for Ava and Sydney to meet. While Owen and Madelyn are just two-and-a-half months apart in age, Ava and Sydney are only two weeks apart!
Our day at the museum happened to coincide with OHSU’s dental school visit to teach kids about the importance of tooth health. This included a live performance where they asked for volunteers to use a giant toothbrush to brush the giant tooth. Much to our surprise, Madelyn raised her hand and then went up and participated (she NEVER does this).
Later on, Madelyn got a face-painting of a tooth and then her and Owen did some teeth painting of their own.
The next play date of the month was with Ainsley at Super Bounce, which recently opened in Salem. The girls both loved it!
This month we learned why Madelyn repeatedly asks us for a Dutch Brothers apple juice. After months of “not todays,” we went to see what all the fuss was about (apparently it is a treat she gets with Nana). Turns out it wasn’t just apple juice - it was apple juice in a fancy windmill cup and a straw topped with whipped cream. This HAS to be the reason that there are cars lined up at Dutch Brothers every morning, blocking traffic!!
In this month’s visit to Auntie Ning Ning’s classroom, Madelyn learned to use oil pastels with the fourth graders. She was very, very serious about her project and worked on it for almost the entire art class period.
While I was away in Austin, TX for a work trip, Madelyn and Tricia made sure to send me pictures of their culinary treats. These included Madelyn’s self-described “Rainbow Plate” (tomatoes, eggs, oranges, bananas, strawberries, tofu egg, and celery) …
.. as well as her usual bowl of gummies with a side of yogurt.
I sent a picture of my culinary treats too:
Later, Tricia and Madelyn performed a blind taste test on Madelyn’s snacks (Madelyn’s idea). However, according to Tricia, Madelyn totally cheated and peaked out the bottom of the blindfold the entire time (though still feigned innocence on the matter).
Madelyn and Tricia joined Great Grandma Carlisle, Auntie Ning Ning, and cousins Brianna and Giorgi for a My Fair Lady Night, where they watched the movie and ate dinner. My Fair Lady Nights were a regular childhood tradition for Tricia and Auntie Ning Ning with Grandpa and Grandma Carlisle. Madelyn obviously enjoyed the tradition as well - she re-enacted scenes and song snippets from the movie for several days after.
We found a new favorite Chinese restaurant to eat at in Salem this month! China Gourmet (on Broadway, in the same building Willamette Burger Company once occupied). We’ve been back several times since (Madelyn requests it every time we offer her the choice to choose where we eat), with Madelyn choosing to eat the dumplings each time.
We closed out the month with Easter. There was egg painting,
an Easter egg hunt at our house, complete with some modeling in the grass,
and then our traditional Easter dinner and egg hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Carlisle’s house.
(Coolest bubble machine in the world courtesy of Auntie Ning Ning and Uncle Dew.)
- Troy Olson, 2013
