October 2- This was our second day in Minnesota, we were lucky to see Titi Willy and her daughter A this morning. The girls went swimming, they took turns playing with E’s Christmas present, a swimming Elmo, and they both enjoyed pouring water from plastic cups. E is convinced that little A’s name is titi. All the playing wore E out so much that she slept for three hours on the way home. We stopped in the Wisconsin Dells outlet mall, where E and Ada played on some toys while Ama and I shopped. She was so happy to get home and see Dada, they immediately went to play on the swings, and take a little walk. 

October 1- We drove to Minnesota today with Ama and Ada. We left a little early, and E was awake for the first hour of the drive. She was a trooper, and ready lots of books. After an hour nap, she was awake for the rest of trip. She did pretty well on the trip, only a few sobbing bouts. We got to Nate and Annie’s house and she met Coco the dog. She wasn’t even scared (as the day went on she did get scared though). We saw Becca and took a nice walk. We celebrated Nate's birthday, and E helped presents. Later,  at the hotel, she got to go swimming with Nate and Annie, eat pizza (or pitze as she calls it) and to stay up way past her bed time. Even though we stayed in a hotel, she slept pretty well, only getting up twice and going back to bed pretty quickly.

 September 30- We decided to make it a family night tonight since E and I were going out of town the next day. We picked E up from daycare together, and played in E's tunnels a little bit. Then we went for a long walk with A and R. The girls made it all the way to the tennis courts where they looked for forgotten tennis balls and ran around the courts. Our evening walks were a tradition all summer, but its getting colder and darker earlier, so we are probably nearing the last few weeks. 

 

September 29- E spent the day with Ama today and Ada was home in the morning. They went for breakfast at one of E's favorite places ZuZu Cafe. When its warm, she loves the sandbox, and in the colder weather, there are lots of indoor toys. ZuZu is also the first outing that Ama and I took E, we went when she was only 10 days old, it was my first time out after having her.

September 28- We had a playdate with A today. They still engage in parallel play, and its funny to watch, the second one shows an interest in a toy, the other one wants it. They shared pretty well, but they had their moments. Both of their favorite activity was eating snacks, and they polished off Os and cheese crackers. We had another successful bed time, hopefully we are working on a trend.

September 27- Tonight we had Grandpa over for dinner, which E loved. She had a good time talking with him,  and clowning around. She ran laps around our house, giggling and saying “run” the whole time. We had a first, at 6:45 she asked to take a bath, so we let her, when she was done, she asked for milk, and then we read several stories. Her current favorites are Ten Little Dinosaurs, The Moon Shines Down, The Nose Book, Hug, and Tall. We put her down, and she fell asleep without a peep. She stayed asleep until 5:30 in the morning.

 

September 26- E has reached an age where she wants to help with everything we do. This is  particularly interesting when we are making dinner. When I’m cooking dinner, she pulls an apron for me out of the drawer, and then one for herself. She holds hers and asks for help until it gets tied on. Its difficult to find age appropriate tasks for her, but she has helped stir, poured noodles into  a pot, and poured water in a pot. She is best at setting the table, she carries over each plate one at a time, and then the silverware.