19 mos and Froggy, III

After two emergency surgeries following brutal dog attacks, Froggy, II was unable to be saved a third time last night. That brutal dog did him in (and then spent an hour outside by herself thinking about what she had done).

One might think "oh, well. Maren will find something else to snuggle." But those of you thinking that did NOT hear her desparate cries for "bwoggie" when I told her he was napping and couldn't come back. So I got Froggy, II out and explained that Izzy bit him a lot and that she couldn't play with him anymore. She seemed to understand and told me "Izzy, bite." So I redirected her to find baby, George, or puppy. It seemed to work and after dinner we made a family trip to the mall because this 19-mo-old's feet keep growing and she needed new shoes. And, wow, who would have thought a mall would be SO worthless in housing size 5 shoe options. After looking and looking we finally scored an "ok" pair of shoes from Sears, but were losing hope on finding a new Froggy. Then we spotted a gaggle of stuffed animals (ok, they were "webkins" and supposed to be played with by doing something online.) in a little girls store. We found 2 frogs and got both, hiding one for now. Enter.....Froggy, III.

Maren seems to have grieved and moved on quickly and adores Froggy, III. There seems to be no lasting scars from the brutal dog attack on Froggy, II.

In other news, Maren is 19 mos old today! She has surpassed the first part of her second year with speed, curiosity, and of course cuteness. Her hair keeps getting longer (and is still blond!). She tackles many more large motor skills like carrying large items around, dancing, running, and balancing. She seems to have a word for everything now and continues to learn more. She puts 2 and three words together often and even talks about people that aren't around - like Papa and Grandma and all the kids at daycare. The poor thing is still teething- now working on her "canines." If I could sum her up in one word, I would choose - busy.