Brave Little Girl

We went to Mingus Park today to feed the ducks with the bread that was left over from the scout dinner last Friday. It turned out there were a ton of seagulls, and they were pretty aggressive, so the ducks didn't really get any bread. Then we went over to play on the slides and swings. There are two sections of the park, one for bigger kids and one for littler kids. Elise has never been on a real slide before, just the little one in the front room at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I thought she might be a little nervous about how big the slides were. She wasn't. She climbed right up and slid down. The slides were in the shade, and were still damp from the dew. The first slide was a pretty shallow angle, and she came down slowly, although the stairs were too big for her to climb on her own.

The second slide was bigger, with a steeper angle, although she still came down pretty slowly. She did great, and wanted to do the slide again and again, with a small swing break, and back to the slide.

Then we walked over to say hi to the geese. She saw the big kid slides and swings. While I vetoed the big kid swings, she was very intrigued by the big kid slides. She climbed up the tallest, the twirly slide, and I went behind her just to make sure she was safe. Then she sat down and I went down to help with the sliding part. She had no fear. She went right down, and wanted to do it again and again. I did my best to be supportive, and not seem freaked out by how big the slide is and how little she is, or to mind the dirt and moisture collecting all over her backside. This picture tells it all....you have a hard time seeing the little two year old on the first step to this huge slide:

She had a blast!!! We ran out of film, but really enjoyed spending time at the park today! What a brave little girl I've got on my hands! I think that's why there are mommies and daddies....so this mommy can do the indoor adventures, and Daddy can help with the outdoor, because he doesn't mind so much when she gets dirty...but that may be because I wash the clothes...

Anyways, sliding is fun, and Elise is adventurous!

Dates to Remember

It is fun to look back at things that happened the same day years before, and see how things have changed, or where the road has taken us. Four years ago today Logan proposed to me. When I brought it up this morning, he asked me why I remembered that. I replied by describing the week preceeding the big question. That Monday was February 14, Valentine's Day. I was housesitting for our branch president from the singles ward in Juneau. Logan got balloons for my roommates, and I drove over and delivered them while they were at school. (He has always impressed me with how mindful he is of others). I decorated branch president's house with hearts I'd made, and got things ready for a nice dinner before I went to classes for the day. Then, Logan borrowed a spare house key from the family, and decorated the house while I was in class. When I came home I thought someone had broken in and torn up the place ... (my old roommates will laugh at this, and know first hand how I react to situations like that!!!) Turns out it was streamers all over the living room! There were balloons, flowers, and even some fun treats.

Logan had asked what my favorite flavors of jelly beans were. I told him I liked green apple, watermelon, and peach. He got a vase and put green apple and orange jelly bellies in it. I had forgotten that I'd told him my favorite flavors, and thought his flavor choices were interesting. So I asked him about it, and he said, "They are your favorite flavors". I laughed, cause he remembered the right colors, and it was very sweet!

We had a nice dinner, and then later that week, we had a date set for Friday, February 18th. I was scheduled to leave for a conference in Salt Lake City, Utah that Saturday morning. I was busy that Friday preparing my poster for the conference, packing, and getting everything ready for the trip. Little did I know that Logan was secretly making preparations of his own. We went out to Auke Rec (Auke Bay Recreation Area) for a tin foil dinner picnic and some roasted marshmallows. I was getting a cold, and remember having lots of cough drops, and dressing warmly, because a clear evening in February can be cold in Alaska.

Logan seemed a bit nervous, but I thought it was just that he was going to be a bit lonely while I was gone for the week. He told me he'd gotten something for me, and pulled out some Benders (magnetic, bendable, posable people). He'd gotten the camping set. He pulled out the girl and the boy, and their accessories. He told me he'd set up the boy, and I could pose the girl. Well I had the girl all set up, and turned to watch what he was doing. He seemed to be taking lots of time, and wasn't really talking. I noticed the fishing pole was missing from the set, but didn't say anything, cause I thought it wasn't a big deal. Well, he finished getting them all set up, and then started talking about how the week was going to be long and lonely. I thought, Oh no! he's gonna be lonely. I gotta cheer him up. I was talking about how it was only a week, and it would be ok. He came around the table to sit by me and said something like he could handle a week, but he wanted to make sure we were together for eternity. It was very sweet and cute. Then he pulled out the fishing rod and on the end was a beautiful ring.

Its kinda funny, because he told me later that he was really nervous, and that it felt like forever before I said yes. I remember it a bit differently. I realized when I saw the ring that all the odd behavior meant he was nervous. He asked me to marry him, and (though he thinks he paused) he kept talking without giving me a chance to respond. He finally did pause, and I, obviously, said "YES"!.

The next morning I left for Utah, and was able to find my dress, shoes, and veil.

We were married that next May (I'll do a post in May about all the crazy stories from that week!), and have been living our happily ever after ever since. It is fun to look back around Valentine's Day and the 18th of February and remember the fun time of dating, getting engaged, and the good memories we have together. Especially this year where our time together is limited, I find myself remembering some of our best times together, and wanting to preserve them and add to them as well. Well, I love you Logan!!! Thanks for a fabulous four years!!!

Regression

Did you ever notice that kids grow in spurts and then regress a bit, then grow some more? While Elise has been sick, we've done some extra things for comfort sake, that wouldn't have been part of our normal routine or activities. She has discovered Barney on television (the alternative to Sesame Street re-runs), and she has had her pacifier more often, since it has helped her breathe through her nose. She has also wanted, and received more help during the night, as I've been concerned about her nose being stuffed up, and not being able to give her any medications for it. Now that she is feeling a bit better, we're struggling to put a stop to those behaviors again. We're trying to leave the pacifier for nap/night time. We're trying to not watch TV, and not have so much of mommy carrying her around. And we're trying to get back to a more normal bed time routine. This is more on my part than on hers. She's finding it difficult to go back to the normal routine, and wants to stay the little baby in some ways. This has just helped me see how grown up she really is. She is capable of so many things, and is very independent. However, this last week, with all the regression to former behavior that sickness brings on, she's been way more clingy and snuggly. While that is a treat in some ways, it is tough to get back to the normal 2 year old routine. Hopefully we'll get back on track soon, and get to make it for some new outings like going to the library for story time. Hooray!!

"Bally"

This afternoon Elise and I were playing with many different toys. I find that as her vocabulary grows, it is sometimes hard to figure out what she means by the different sounds/words she's saying. This afternoon she started moving around slowly and saying what sounded like a cross between belly and bally, more like "bally". She kept saying it, and doing slow moves and spins. Then I figured it out. "Ballet?" I asked. "Ballet," she replied with a big smile. She was doing ballet. She has been doing ballet for the rest of the day. I have no idea where she saw this, but I suspect it was another Sesame Street. We are still stuck on the word 'sigh' since it was the "Word on the Street" a few weeks ago. She started saying it and sighing really loudly after naptime one day. She is still doing it at odd times. It usually makes me laugh, along with the ballet routine, unless of course it is bedtime and she is doing "bally" all over my pillow, like she is right now!!! What a girl!

Sick Kiddo Again

It seems like this has happened a lot lately, but my girl is sick AGAIN!!! I've gotten the reputation with my in-laws for being a slight, or even a medium germ-a-phobe. This is the thing, its not that I'm scared of germs or getting sick myself. The problem comes when my little girl, who is still under the age where you can give medications that treat the symptoms, gets sick. While we are in the current situation, that leaves me as the sole care giver for our wonderful bundle of joy, times of illness are especially hard. She doesn't want to go to Grandma and Grandpa, she just wants to snuggle with mom, which is tricky when she has a bit of a high temperature. That means all day and all night I'm doing my best to remain calm and meet her needs. I love my girl. She is a really neat kiddo, and we have great times together. It is just more difficult when she's sick, to be in a 'single parenting' situation. We are doing our best and are going to continue to keep trucking along, and we're gonna keep trying to avoid sickness in all its forms! One of the funny parts is that Elise has learned to say sorry. She says it when she means 'excuse me'. When she is trying to get past someone, she says, "sorry" repeatedly until she is past them. Since she has been sick, I've had to wipe her runny nose MANY times. It is getting raw and sore, so now as I wipe it, she says, "owie", then she says, "sorry". She knows we say sorry if we give owies. So, she is great at reminding me to say sorry when she gets owies from runny nose wiping. It makes me smile every time.

Well, in the midst of being sick, we took some pictures of our girl looking very grown up in some new outfits.

The blue dress is one my sister made for Elise to match the ones the other girl cousins wore for our other sister's wedding in May 2007. She looks so grown up it in!!!

This cute shirt was a gift from Grandma Parker, and it makes Elise look very "I'm a big girl now", so we had to share this cute picture:

We are finding it ironic that our 'hump day' (the middle day, in this case, the day that is five weeks in either direction. Five weeks from tomorrow Logan went back to Alaska, and five weeks from yesterday he'll be flying back to Oregon to visit again) falls on Valentine's day! I guess that's a good thing, as we can now look forward to being on the downward slope of the countdown, although we're really missing having him here in person to celebrate. We hope to be having some healthy adventures to post about again soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We love to celebrate our family and loved ones, and the wonderful people they are. We are blessed this year to be with some family, although we are missing some key members of our family to celebrate with. We sent a recordable card to Daddy with Elise saying, "Love Daddy" (we practiced a long time for that!), but thought pictures might be needed as well....

SO we took some pictures to share with you our Valentine's celebrations. My mom made this way cute dress for Elise for Valentine's day. She has a pretty intense cold this week, so she wasn't as excited for pictures, but we got a good one.

We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day. We are so thankful for all the love and support our family has felt through the difficult situations of the last several months, and hope that next Valentine's day our family picture will include ALL of us at the same time! We love you, and we especially "LOVE DADDY!!"

Outdoors

My two year old is learning lots about her world, and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She is learning labels for everything, and for those things she doesn't know yet, she tries to classify them using words she already knows. When she sees a group of animals, the bigger ones are the mommy and daddy, and the little ones are the babies. This counts for pictures of bees, or bears in stories. This works well for these situations, where it can often be the case. She is also learning letters and numbers, although the ones she knows each day changes. She definitely knows the letter O. The other day she was coloring in a book, and turned to the title page. The first word in the title was "Outdoors". She pointed to the first 'O' and said, "Momma O", then she pointed to the next couple 'o's and said, "Baby Os". It was incredibly cute! What a great detective she is. She can spot an O a mile away! This makes the post office a great place to visit. They have lots of signs with lots of letters. She is always on the lookout for the couple she knows, and then looks for ones that are the same, then she says, "SAME! MATCH!!" She also likes the many stop signs on that street, and seeing the fire trucks across the street too. We're learning about people in our neighborhood who help. She has started pretending that her toys need help, and she then helps them. She is also pretending lots of cooking and cleaning, as well as anything else she has done that day. She talks about things that happened in the last week, repeatedly, and sometimes acts them out. All in all, she's very active, learning quickly, and growing up super fast....but that's what video cameras are for. I'm hoping to upload some video soon, but for now, just imagine hearing her saying, "bye bye" to everything as we leave a store or the house! "Bye fish", "bye toys", "bye door", "bye cars", "bye bye!"