Tickle Tickle

Matilda is a big tickler.  It might be because we tickle her all the time, but now she loves to tickle back.  She  will tickle all her stuffed friends and will grab you and say "tickle tickle tickle!"  Check out the quick video of her tickling everybody.

Climber

Matilda has been climbing onto the couch for awhile now, but now that she mastered getting up and down on the couch, she want's to climb everything.  She's now started climbing on the step-stool.  The first time she made it up and down with no problems.  Only later did she sometimes get a little scared and ask for "help" coming down.  But now she's definitely got the climbing thing figured out.

Rare Stinky Flower

Today Matilda got to see an extremely rare event.  We went to the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory to see a rare flower (titan arum - aka corpse flower) bloom for it's first time after over a decade of growing.  These flowers have only been observed blooming in captivity about 100 times in history, and the bloom only lasts about 36 hours.  So we were excited to get to see (and smell) the giant flower bloom.

And wouldn't you know it, Matilda made it into the newspaper again. Well sort of. I kinda got in the way and stole her thunder. It's a bummer too, because this photo was one of the top news photos around the world for June 18th!  There we were smelling a stinky flower in the news photo slide shows with president Obama, floods in Asia, and riots in South America. We heard that it was run in newspapers all across the country! And, I stole Tilly's chance at world wide fame.  I blame the photographer for not using one of the other photos. Well, you can at least "Read more" for some of our own pictures of Tilly at the the flowering event.

Pool Time

Matilda got her very own little kiddy pool.  It took her a little bit to warm up to it, and now her favorite thing to do is climb in and out constantly.  She also enjoys playing with her whistling dolphins and tries to get them to whistle by blowing through them. She loves her pool time and even shared with Olivia, but Tilly may have regretted it as she spent the whole time trying to avoid being splashed by Olivia.  Read on for more pictures of pool time!

Sorting Coins

We thought it was funny that at a recent doctor visit, they told us to be sure not to leave small things like coins lying around because babies will eat them.  This was funny, because Matilda's loves to sort coins into her little banks.  We just leave her with a pile of coins and she keeps herself entertained.  She'll even pop open the bank and dump them out so she can start over.  We lucked out, because she hardly ever puts anything in her mouth that isn't meant to be eaten.  Good job baby.

Tilly Picks Fruit

During a visit from Grandma, Matilda got to go pick fresh fruit at the local you-pick farm.  She had a great time eating all the fruit faster than we could pick it.  She ate a ton of cherries and pretty much all the raspberries we could pick.  Read on for a video and pictures of Tilly picking fruit!

Museum Newsletter

Matilda made her second appearance in the Bohart Museum's monthly newsletters today. This time she was advertising the new "Know your sticks" shirt (she's also on the Museum's online shop). She loves real sticks, so this worked out perfectly. She picks up sticks almost everywhere we go.  You may remember seeing her carrying them around on our Mother's day hike.  What's really exciting is that this picture also wound up in the local newspaper. This is Tilly's second time making the paper.  Read on for some more of the photos of Tilly loving sticks.

Couch Dismount

One of the first things we tried to teach Matilda, was how to turnaround and slide off the couch and beds. She picked it up quickly, and it's been really nice not having to worry too much about her as she begins to climb up onto things. We finally got a video of her demonstrating a smooth dismount from the couch. Enjoy!

Wagon!

Today Matilda got to test out her brand new wagon.  We've been wanting to get one for awhile, and this was just too good of a deal to pass up.  It's a pretty sweet ride with six cupholders, large trunk space, and two bucket seats.  Tilly had no problems climbing in and out, and although she didn't need it, she initially wanted help climbing out.  On walks now, she loves to sit down in the middle where it's deep.  Read more for a video and pictures of her checking out her wagon for the first time.