Long Road Trip

We took a road trip this weekend, with our final destination of Ashland, WI. The drive is between 5 and 6 hours, but with E, we can’t travel very well. We drive while she naps or goes down for the night, which makes for slow going trips. We were traveling for a wedding, but E’s favorite parts of the weekend were swimming, and her Elmo diapers. She asked for Elmo constantly, and at one point (in the church, just before the wedding) unpacked her diaper bag to show people Elmo. We just considered ourselves lucky she didn’t pull up her dress to show off!

E also mastered a new word this weekend, “down.” She had been using “up” to mean both up and down, and it was pretty funny for her dad and I, but it made her quite frustrated. She usually uses both up and down now when she wants to get down, but she’s figuring it out.

August 1-

We got to go swimming this morning, and there was another baby in the pool, which E loved. She splashed and played for a little while, but the long weekend caught up with her, and she didn’t swim too long. She did however, want to play in the hotel bath tub.  We made it home, and resumed most of our traditional home activities, she went for walks outside, played with her kitchen, and helped unload the dishwasher.

 July 31- Here is E getting her foot dipped in Lake Superior!

We finally got to play in the waterpark at the hotel today, it was great at first, but then the turned on the water features. E was terrified and was all done at that point. We felt really badly for her, she had been asking to go swimming the entire time at the hotel, and to only get to enjoy it for a few minutes was really too bad.  After a little swimming, we made the drive to the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, E loved the displays, but the viewing tower was lost on her. We headed up to Bayfield, where I tried unsuccessfully go get E to play on the beach, after a little shopping, we started the LONG drive home. We made it all the way to Mercer, WI  with E awake, and she got to eat at a small town bar. After lunch, she napped all the way to Wausau.

July 30-

We left Wausau at nap time, after some time in the pool, and drove the rest of the way to Ashland, even the downpour didn’t wake up E. We headed to the wedding, E was a good girl for the whole thing. She and I spent some time walking around, just so she didn’t disrupt others. She enjoyed walking the church grounds, and even watched a little of the ceremony. The reception was outdoors which E loved, there was a rock path, and she probably picked up and threw almost all the rocks. Everyone remarked how cute she was, so I guess they didn’t mind dodging rocks.

July 29-

The first stop of our trip was Steven’s Point, for the children’s museum. E had a great time playing with the exhibits. Above, she is playing in a house her dada built.  The grocery store was a hit, so was the house with a kitchen set up. There was a whole section with things to climb, but she really wasn’t interested. E got to paint, which she really enjoyed, but her favorite part was actually a quiet area where there were smaller toys and soft music. Interestingly she loved the international plastic figures and the big plastic tree for climbing.

We made it to Wausau that night, and E got to go swimming, and ate at Texas Roadhouse, we learned that she doesn’t like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, just the Trader Joe’s variety. E never sleeps in hotels, so she was up until 10:30, and even then, we had to take her on a car ride to go down. Even still, she woke up 4 or 5 times in the night.

July 28-

E had a busy day today, she went to swimming lessons, played with Ama, and with her friend A. This morning E was running a fever, and only wanted to cuddle with her dada. After some snuggles, she was ready for swimming. She and Ama took a nice walk, played at the ba and looked for woo woos. On our nightly walk, E stopped at A’s house and made me knock on the door. We were in luck, A and her parents joined us walking. The girls had a great time chasing each other and exploring, there was only one crash, and no one even cried!

Every day on our walk, E tries to turn on our neighbor’s water spout. Each night, I tell her no, but it doesn’t stop her from trying.

July 27-

E had a great time playing at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, she loved blowing bubbles and playing with her grandparents. They had a new farm toy with lots of animals. E’s fever started today, and she really wanted to be held and carried. We took our evening walk in a stroller, which is unheard of.

July 26- Dada described this today as E having security dress, not a security blanket. She took this extra dress on and off several times. Although she doesn't dress herself quite yet, she is starting to get interested in it, and has very clear opinions about what clothes she should wear. As a result, she spends a lot of time running around the house in a diaper, since we can't seem to find the outfit she wants.

E was just a little under the weather today, she was cuddlier then usual and wanted to be held a lot more. During our evening walk she wanted to be carried and even road in the stroller for a little bit, something totally out of character. E's new word was "Rora" her friend's name.

July 24- Dancing queen! For some reason, E was doing funny little dances all night, she was doing little stomps and arm waves.  Dances are hard to capture with a camera, but the little grin sums it up. She had a wonderful time playing outside, and even got to play ball with her friend A.

July 24- Today E spent some time with Ama and Grandpa while dada and I celebrated our anniversary. We started the day with a walk for breakfast, half way there E announced she was "all done" with the stroller. She pushed the stroller herself for a while, and then we had to carry her the rest of the way. After breakfast, we played outside for a long time. E went to great grandma's house and had a nice visit, then she played with Ama and Grandpa at the Ba and in the pool. She was even brave enough to put her nose in the water.

July 23- The messy dinners have continued, today was pretty exceptional! In addition to a crazy dinner, E had lots to do today. She started off the day feeding mama her breakfast, including huge bites of egg on a fork, and hash browns using her fingers. It was a pretty funny way to eat. In between feeding me, she managed to take a few bits for herself. There was lots of outside play, and E's friend A even came over in the afternoon. E loves giving A hugs, which is adorable. E also helped Ama shop for yarn, E loves pulling the yarn down and putting it into baskets.

June 22- We took E to the County Fair this evening, here is E in a mooing contest. She won a tee shirt, it won't fit until she is 4, but she still said moo over the loud speaker. She was a little scared of the cows and horses, but liked the sheep and chickens. We took her to the children's petting zoo, and she was too scared to touch a chick, but when a volunteer held out a duckling, all of a sudden, E gave it a poke. She scared all the grown ups around her, but the duckling was fine. She also had her first meal of fair food, trying a turkey leg, Vietnamese noodles, and cheese curds. It was all a hit.

E spent the morning with Grandma and Grandpa, while dada and Grandpa did some work, she and Grandma got to play. Grandma even helped E figure out how to work her clacking alligator on a string.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The temperature here has been incredible here this week and staying cool has been top priority. Its been funny to watch E deal with this, I forget that she doesn't understand that hot means slow. She's kept up her frantic pace the entire week, with just a little more swimming and playing with the garden hose then usual. She also gotten some new words, "moon," "Elmo," "up," "down," and "ouchie." She also knows what an elephant says.

  July 21- After dinner tonight, E grabbed a swim diaper and insisted that she go outside. Since she'd already been swimming at the Y and at Ama and Grandpa's backyard, we didn't really to go to the pool, so we got the tub of water and a few toys. It worked just fine. We also went on a walk to look for dogs and played with the swings and bubbles a little.

E had swimming today, and her Grandma and Grandpa came to watch she loved showing off for them. After her lessons, she stayed with Ama for the afternoon.

July 20- A post swimming cheerio. Tonight the whole family got into the pool and took a swim. E and dada loved showing off at the songs and splashes she's learned at her lessons, and we all loved the chance to cool down! E spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa and even got to take a nap on Grandpa's shoulder.

For some reason, during our pre-dinner walk, E wanted to be carried the whole time, which normally I love, since she's so independent. However, tonight, with the heat, I found myself wanting her to walk on her own for one of the first time.

July 19- This was possibly the messiest meal of E's life. She insisted on eating standing up, which was the first problem. The second was that she was most interested in yogurt. She ate a container and a half of yogurt and got it all over everything since she was controlling the spoon herself. On top of that, she also had rice, which always gets everywhere.

E and her dad had to go mall walking to get out of the house and heat today, they ran into one of dada's grad school friends who was delighted to meet E. After work, we of course had to go for our usual circuit outside, which was so much hotter then usual. Fortunately, most of it is in the shade. 

July 18- Clowning around with her sun glasses is one of E's favorite things. So much so that she broke the sun glasses later this week. She loves putting the glasses on herself and her parents, and always giggles when looking at the world through them. We played on the swimming pool steps tonight, which, if she doesn't get to go swimming is the next best thing. The steps are just right for climbing down two of them without getting too wet.

Monkey Girl

Our neighbor describes E as being in the monkey stage, she has lots of words and signs, but instead prefers to point and grunt to get her point across.  There has been lots of pointing and grunting at our house lately. There has also been lots of climbing up onto things lately, which E loves, but worries mom and dad.

July 17- E loves her new kitchen, her favorite part of the kitchen is the series of small blue hooks across the top, she loves to try and hook the utensils and pans on them.  Today was very, very hot, and E basically refused to wear clothes all day. She was dressed when we had lunch with my family, but other then that, no clothes for her! Aside from lunch out, we spent the rest of the day trying to beat the heat.

July 16- We visited Grandpa at the little league field where he was running a tournament. E even got to speak over the sound system, saying hi, and then telling the audience that the cow says moo.  Grandpa even gave E a baseball, which she loved throwing and chasing. In the evening, E and I joined Ama and Grandpa for dinner, and then Ama came over and played for a little bit.

E was all about Ama all day, in the morning, she heard the coffee pot beep that it was done and immediately said "Ama" she spent the rest of the day asking for her.

In the morning, E and I went to the Splash Pad with her friend L and his parents.  Neither kid really liked the splash park, L got splashed in the face right away and was scared the whole time, and E doesn't like to get her face or head wet. She spent the time handing me a cup to fill and then dumping it out.  But it was worth checking out the Splash Pad, and I'm sure we'll go back.

July 15- Only recently has E been allowed to play in the basement.  She really enjoys it down there, and now asks to go down all the time. In the basement she gets away with stuff she doesn't up stairs. She's allowed to take Dada's DVDs off the shelf, play with CDs, and play with the VCR and DVD player. She loves trying out all the stuff she's usually kept away from.  She also likes the giant purple ball, she's not great at throwing it yet, but she's working on it.  Her favorite thing to do is put her belly on it, and have one of her parents roll her on top of it so she's laying on top if it, its sort of like a exercise ball for her.

E also got to play with her friend A today, A's mom had made a super bubble mix, and sidewalk paint.  The girls also had a huge bucket of water and a bunch of cups to play with, between the the two of them, they managed to empty the whole thing.  E also learned to play with mud, and tasted the bubble mixture. She didn't like the taste of dish soap at all.

After that, E got to take part in her second Skype conversation, she talked to her Auntie in England, E loved seeing someone on the computer and loved seeing herself on the screen.