Toads-in-the-Hole

This was one of those "they grow up so fast" moments for me. For months Adelaide had been content to simply remove all the colored rings from her posts and scatter them about. Jill Tyler made a joke of holding a post out to her and saying very carefully, "Adelaide, remove only the purple ring," or whatever ring was at the top, and then exclaiming, "genius!" when Adelaide complied.

So, two weeks ago, I reminded her again that the rings can also go back on the posts, and that it was very fun and exciting when they do (I indicated this by clapping like a maniac for myself when I put the rings back on. Adelaide knows all about clapping. She has, at various times, applauded a winning goal for Arsenal, the ridiculously celebratory opening segment of The Daily Show, and Russel Crowe's character Maximus in Gladiator [a fairly bloodless TV version, rest assured].). She made a few attempts at threading the rings on the posts, but she didn't really come close to getting one on. "Ah, well," I smiled to myself, "She's just a little girl. Plenty of time to put rings on things later."

Then, a few days later, I saw her working at it, and she quite casually put one of the bigger rings on the post. I applauded and cheered as though she was the host of The Daily Show, and that she'd just scored a goal to beat Arsenal while encumbered in gladiatorial armor. Now she does it all the time, with all the rings of all sizes, and she seems to have a basic understanding that the big rings go on the bottom.

And now, the more difficult skinny-wooden post with fiendishly small holes! While standing!

Man, she's growing up so fast.