Mud Pies, Ducks, and Other Froggy Tales . . .

fun, Fun, FUn, FUN!!

Stella is big enough and strong enough to sit on the edge of the lake and splash the water with her hands and wiggle and dig in the silty dirt with her toes until the water becomes thick with mud. She uses her toes to experience the feel of things like she does with her hands. Wiggle, dig, dig, smile, splash, slap slap. Her hands slap the water and her feet paddle. She slowly scoots forward or back (depending on the terrain: forward in sand and on the lake side, backwards on the cork wood floor). She moves her legs like a frog that has been set up on its bottom. She sees me pointing the camera at her and she smiles and the smile travels all the way down her body extending her arms out in an open embrace and back to hugging herself and then moves into her legs in a outward frog paddle and then back in. It is all one continuous movement and she does it again and again, anticipating me making a silly face or a squeaky fish kiss at her.

PICTURED ABOVE:
On the left: Froggy, and on the right: Mud-Pie Chef, Marina aka Mermaid

BELOW:
Mermaid with her finished Mud Pie

Yep, here's the mud pie Marina made. She meticulously took handfuls of wet dirt/mud from the lake side and transported them up to her mud-pie site. I had to decline the taste-testing, maybe next time. . . : P

Quack, Quack!

Wait, who's wearing the floatie? It's Grandma Vicky! I hope she didn't take it from some poor kid :D