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.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Dance

Matilda loves Yo Gabba Gabba.  She's not a big fan of tv in general, but YGG is her favorite show.  She will easily sit through multiple episodes if we would let her.  She loves the nonstop singing and dancing, and we actually enjoy it too (compared to some other awful kid shows out there).  Here's a few videos showing her excitement and dancing skills!

 

Kids Museum

Today we went to check out the Sacramento Children's Museum.  Matilda met up with Vivienne and had a great time playing with all the different activities.  She loved watching the golf balls roll, ping pong balls float, and tissues fly through tubes.  Tilly then showed us how to splash it up in the water area and got soaked despite wearing her splash jacket.  Read on for some videos and pictures of our fun day at the museum!

Annular Eclipse of 2012

Today was a special day because of the solar eclipse.  Unlike the total solar eclipse, this was an annular eclipse, meaning the moon was far enough from earth that it doesn't totally block the light of the sun.  This creates a ring of fire around the shadow of the moon.  Way cool.  The problem is, the moon has to be in just the right spot to be in line with you and the sun in order to see the ring.  You can imagine this window is actually pretty small (about 100 miles wide).  Total and annular eclipses are fairly rare, because of how often everything lines up right and that they pass over such a small portion of the earth.  Obviously, the closer to the midline of the umbral path or path of totality (moons inner shadow), the longer the eclipse lasts.  If you aren't within that path, well you're stuck with the common partial eclipse.  Today was special day because we happened to be just 30 mins from the edge of totality.  So luckily, we got to see this:

I'm really glad we got to go see the eclipse this year, because we may not ever see one like it again.  If my calculations are correct, the next path of totality for an annular eclipse to go over Sacramento won't happen again until Feb. 18, 2110 and the next total eclipse won't happen here until Dec. 31, 2252 (okay, so those are NASA's calculations).  Don't worry, if your calendar doesn't extend out that far, you can always settle for the partial eclipse on Oct. 23, 2014.  Redding, CA will actually have a total eclipse in 2045 with an annular eclipse in 2046.  Who knew Redding was the place to see total eclipses!  For everyone in Portland, OR, get ready for your total eclipse on August 21, 2017! (Tilly will be 6 years old then!)

Since these events are fairly rare, we decided it would be fun to have a picnic and watch it with our special glases.  And, in order to extend the time of the eclipse to 3 min, we drove about an hour and a half to Oroville, CA.  Tilly had her friend Olivia to play with as we convinced our friends Andy and Ashleigh to come along.  And if the picnic and eclipse weren't enough of a treat, we also got to see the oldest orange tree in California and drive across the tallest dam in the U.S.  All in all it was a pretty good day.  Read on to see some pictures of our awesome day in Oroville, CA.  Hi, I'm in Oroville.

Flash Cards

Matilda loves her flash cards.  She knows a bunch of them by name and will find them in the pile if you ask for them.  If you line them up, she will pick out any of the ones you ask for.  Her favorites so far are of course the kitty cards (lion, tiger, and house cats) as well as the penguins, panda, and butterfly.  Read on for more pictures and a video!

Mother's Day Hike

For mother's day, Matilda and I took Leia on a day hike to an old limestone quarry up in Auburn, CA.  It was a really nice day and a fun little Hike.  We packed in a little picnic lunch, found a locked up cave, and hiked around the old quarry.  Plus, Tilly got to try out her awesome backpack.  She seemed to love it and even fell asleep on the hike back out.  "Read more" for a ton of pictures from our awesome mother's day.

Couch Fort

Tilly started playing a game where she wanted to hide under a blanket with me.  She was having a ton of fun going in and out of our mini tent, so I decided she needed to have her first fort.  We started moving cushions and set up our own little castle on the couch.  She absolutely loved it and we played in it all day until mom got home from work.  Click the post title or link below to see all the photos of our adventure!