MISS MAYHEM IS TWO YEARS OLD!!!!

Once again, who let another one of my children age another year? It just does not seem possible that Miss Mayhem should already be TWO YEARS OLD. Sigh. Miss Mayhem has definitely been living up to her name the last few months with her constant toddler antics. She seems to be taking a page out of Danger Boy's playbook with her constant urge to run into the street. Tired Mom is often very tired indeed at the end of a long day chasing after her active little toddler. Miss Mayhem has also taken to crying not just when hurt, but also when she's mad. She gets mad at least once a day. Toddler moods are often mercurial though, and she usually snaps out of it pretty quickly. This is a picture montage of Miss Mayhem's second year of life:

 

Random thoughts by Paranoid Dad (or the wife made threats about my lack of posts)

My kids are great...

The Easter Bunny ;) brought them candy. I got, w/o solicitation, 3 Kit Kat bunny ears, lots of Mr. Goodbar minis and a Krackel mini. (KC had- again- w/o solicitation actually already advised me days before that I would be getting some of her candy when the Great Spring Fertility Beast thumped by.)

I started an Escrima class at the YMCA. In order to facilitate Tired Mom's Saturday AM recuperation sleep, all three kids had to come with daddy and go to the Y childcare. No complaints, no crying. In fact, one of the ladies advised that Danger Boy was helpful and courteous. W00t. (Right, Miss Mayhem did not have a lot of choice or chance to balk as she was woken up right before we left so she may have been dazed.)

Danger Boy can tell you what individual martial arts go into making Kajukenbo. (He even did it for my instructor at my last promotion.)

Kid Catastrophe can- w/some help- tell you where Kaju and TKD are from geographically. (One requires Paranoid Dad to do a bit of hula and mention Lilo and Stitch. The other requires reference to a sister from church from the Republic of Korea.)

Miss Mayhem toddles up and bangs against/hugs me when I come home. Usually has her thumb in her mouth.

When the DB and KC are on vacation and staying up in their room a bit more in the AM, they will wave at me and blow kisses from the window when I go to work. (Oddly, Stoic was at least at the window in a similar manner the other day, but w/o the wave. It still seemed like "Bye, Dad" to me though.)

MM charms people where ever she goes and people are especially impressed with her fearless jump in the pool skills.

MM also appreciates a soft furry animal. She will gratefully rub her head against said cat or dog and love it.

Yup, they are great.

Dangerous Rivers, Crazy Wind, and Other Adventures in a Nearby State Park

Danger Boy, Kid Catastrophe, Miss Mayhem, and Tired Mom crossed the mighty Mississippi River in search of adventures! And, a State Park that Tired Mom had a hankering to explore since she had just learned of its existence a few hours before. So, the super family crossed this bridge.
In search of this trail in particular (but we made several other stops along the way, and afterwards). This State Park was only about 15 minutes from our house (still amazed I had never heard of it). It seems that the trail I was in search of was only made 8-9 years ago, so that might account for that.
We saw fields and fields of this particular kind of yellow flower all over the park. I think it might be native to the Missouri area, or a particular kind of goldenrod I read about once (called Ohio goldenrod).
Confluence Trail leads to Confluence Point, which is a really beautiful place where the Missouri and Mississippi River meet up. It's kind of a scary place too though with two raging rivers meeting at the same point, and in general looking like the kind of place a toddler could drown very easily. So, Miss Mayhem got to stay in the jogging stroller in order to preserve Tired Mom's nerves.
Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe had a great time throwing rocks and sticks in the water, and looking at the tumultuous waters, which were made even choppier by it being a very windy day. The picture below was taken right at the exact moment when Kid Catastrophe's hat almost flew into the water, and Tired Mom had one of those "heart attack" moments where I knew Kid Catastrophe was going to trip over her own feet and into the water trying to get after it. Because, you know, Danger Boy is the one getting as close to the edge as possible, but Kid Catastrophe is going to be the one to fall in! I managed to scream something "mommish" at the top of my lungs (which I can't remember, I probably blocked it out) and Kid Catastrophe did not fall in. We left shortly after that, I can't imagine why.
In the below picture, you can see where both rivers meet (Mississippi on the left, Missouri on the right) and the little island ahead of the confluence.
After driving back the 4.3 miles of gravel crap road we had to drive to get to Confluence Trail, we visited the bird sanctuary area. We mostly saw geese, which Danger Boy was told he would not be able to pet and that geese could be mean if you got to close to them. He still spent a good 10 minutes trying to sneak up on some geese so he could pet them. He finally came back to me and said dejectedly, "Mom, you just can't pet geese." You think?

Kid Catastrophe and Miss Mayhem did not seem as interested in the geese. Miss Mayhem was pretty obsessed with the gravel on this part of the bird sanctuary area. This might have been because I had not let her out of the stroller before then. She was mad with freedom!
They had these lookout binoculars near a trail called Two Pecan Trail. Too bad we did not see any birds in this area to look at through them!

There were several areas/trails that went right by the river (which was another reason Miss Mayhem stayed in her stroller while we walked trails).
My favorite trail was the one that started here at the marker for Ellis Island (peninsula) that juts out into the Mississippi River. It started out as gravel, and then turned into a lovely wide mulch path. I think I will go back soon and go trail running on it. It was gorgeous!
Here's a great picture I took of the mulched part of the Ellis Island Trail.
After 3 hours of exploring the State Park, Miss Mayhem took a nap in the stroller (on the Ellis Island Trail, our last stop before going back home). It was funny that one of the reasons Tired Mom got a wild hair to get out of the house and explore was because Miss Mayhem had refused to take a nap, and would have been a real bear the rest of the day if we had not gotten out and done something!

Upside Down & Scribbles

Miss Mayhem loves to lay on her belly and "scribble". It's funny how on her belly is her "go to" position for anything that involves making marks. She also has better hand control than I have ever seen on one of my kids. It's amazing to me to watch her use a pen on such small pieces of paper. I keep a pen and paper pad in my purse for older kids, and now I let her play with it too.

Miss Mayhem also likes to be upside down more than any baby/toddler I have ever seen! Several times a day she comes up to me asking to be picked (while I'm sitting) and then throws herself backward so we can play the Upside Down Game. She does this anywhere, and anytime, and never seems to get tired of it! (Danger Boy took this pic so I could finally get a pic of her doing the Upside Down Game!)
Miss Mayhem was walking around with my soda cup (empty) and Kid Catastrophe's purse, and saying "bye! bye! bye!" over and over again. I guess she knows what Tired Mom takes with her before we leave the house ;)
All the Super Kids have been good in the stroller, but Miss Mayhem takes the cake! She does great in the double stroller, and the jogging stroller. She probably spends more time in a stroller than the other kids have (due to the addition last year of a jogging stroller to our arsenal of baby gear). She just needs some snacks and some toys and she is usually good to go!