posted by Kristin on Aug 27, 2010 |
On the way back from Conference, we spent 4 nights and 3 days in a cottage at a KOA in northern Ohio. This meant that we had a long trip of 11 hours or so to get there, as well as losing an hour with the time change. But it was worth being able to spend the full three days there!
Very quickly, Elisa learned the joy of the bunk bed in her room. She wanted to climb up the ladder a couple times a day to be on the top bunk and wanted Mommy and Daddy up there with her. She also figured out how to use the bottom bunk to crawl in and out of her Pack’n'Play which was right next to it. This was the first time she had climbed in and out. (On getting home she tried climbing out of her crib once while Mommy was watching and made no progress whatsoever.
Elisa’s favorite part was probably the pool. We went swimming 4 times over 3 days. There was a baby pool that was about 16 feet in diameter and a foot deep as well as the standard larger pool. We ended up with no pictures of the swimming since Elisa required full participation of the family – mommy and daddy must be in the pool, too! Elisa had fun practicing her swimming skills, blowing bubbles, kicking, and “floating,” but mostly just had fun in the water! We chased the swimming penguin toy, splashed, and played with the ball, even playing catch with another 2 year old once. In the big pool she wanted to go down and touch the bottom and whenever she would close her mouth, she had fun going up and down.
We took advantage of all the activities the KOA offered. We rode on the pedal car (which turned out to be a LOT of work!) and went out on the pond in the paddle boat.
Daddy had carefully explained how the paddle boat worked before we rode on it and Elisa at least seemed to be attentive!
Elisa made crafts: a bead bracelet and a craft foam and pipe cleaner insect.
We used the playgrounds regularly, which included a number of unique aspects like a long slide from the top of a log “fort.” The slides were slow enough that we encouraged Elisa to lift her hands…while she was cooperative, she didn’t quite get the look of excitement expected at amusement parks.
We had fun with making meals in the little kitchen. Elisa got to help make chili and also helped rinse the dishes and put them in the drainer (although right after this picture, she dropped the bowl and it broke the glass in the sink…) We also baked over a charcoal fire and popped Jiffy Pop popcorn – Elisa really likes popcorn and ate her fair share!
One morning it was rainy so we got away from the KOA to nearby Mansfield where they had a beautiful carousel. Since Elisa was still officially under two years of age, she got to ride free as long as an adult paid. So we got as many tickets as we had originally planned and Elisa got to ride 6 times in a row! Every time she got to ride a different animal or chariot and Mommy and Daddy each got to ride once while the other stood by Elisa, though we don’t have to hold her at all. If you can’t tell from the picture, Elisa loves her carousels!!
The last morning we went to the sandy beach and played in the sand. Elisa helped fill the pail and pack it down, but mostly she was interested in demolishing the sand castles we made. We were blessed by this slower pace for a few days, even if we didn’t get that much more sleep since we had a living 6 a.m. alarm clock in the next room!
posted by Kristin on Aug 27, 2010 |
It is an amazing thing to have 7-10 two and three year olds hanging on your every word and action, waiting for you to make their morning fun. You’d think such an experience might drive either Andrew or me (Kristin) crazy – but we both put in our time and largely enjoyed it, thanks to some other wonderful friends and parents who were helping out! You can learn a lot by watching a group of similar age – and some things are easier to do in a group! So we got to do things with Elisa we can’t normally do on our own. It was particularly fun as our triplet nieces and nephew were also in the nursery as well as kids of a number of friends – almost all pastor’s kids!
Andrew started the fun by building a doorway of big cardboard blocks (a little bit of the Physics background coming through!). Every child insisted on crawling through that doorway, even as the blocks were falling down on them.
Time in the nursery always included a snack and thankfully the group was small enough that we could contain them in one place. So there was a nice line up of kids.
Elisa got to make a penguin finger puppet. We still have the puppet at home, even though an eye and the belly have been glued back on and the nose needs to be glued on…Elisa will request Mommy to make it sing. Elisa also liked to hide in the toy bin once all the toys were out. Her cousin Jonah joined her at least once!
Kristin came into the act with songs. Who knew all those VBS and camp songs would come in so handy as a parent? They particularly loved Deep and Wide and Only a Boy Named 
David…especially the part where the giant falls down. One enthusiastic 3-year old liked jumping on Kristin after she fell down! She also led a follow the leader episode that was much more blob-like than linear – who wants to be behind someone else?
Kristin also discovered the group mentality of reading to this age group. She started reading a book and suddenly had 3 kids on her lap (Elisa was having jealousy issues) and 4 or 5 standing around her!
Perhaps most interesting is how 2 and 3 year olds play hide and seek! This was Sabbath morning, so Grandma and Kristin were in the nursery and they took turns counting. The other person helped the kids hide (especially the 2 year olds). Their hiding spots were often in a corner or under chairs – they wanted to see the action while hiding. When we called “Ready or not, here I come!” a few of the kids came running at us yelling – there was no seeking involved! Overal, the nursery was a joyful part of the Conference experience.
posted by Kristin on Aug 20, 2010 |
We took another cross-country trip to Springfield, Missouri for the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference. It was a two day trip and Elisa really enjoyed the hotel in Terre Haute, Indiana on the way, playing hide and seek in the pillows. She is certainly becoming much more flexible in traveling! Of course, she took a long time to get to sleep!
The second day of the trip, we stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It made a great mid-morning stop on a gorgeous day!
Upon getting to Springfield and Evangel University, we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Rood again since Grandma had the same meetings as Daddy. Elisa settled in right away, climbing up over the end of the dorm beds, opening drawers and finding her Pack’n'Play in the closet space.
The next day, Elisa took Grandpa and Mommy to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield. We were greeted by a peacock parading in the first few feet of the main path. Elisa got to touch a snake – she was surprisingly reticent given earlier events – and see an albino hedgehog. She got to feed a giraffe and wanted more crackers to give him!
She and Grandpa posed as various animals- and Elisa had fun roaring!
Elisa also really enjoyed riding the train with Grandpa, even if she didn’t hang around with Grandpa to talk to the engineers afterward!
Thankfully, Mommy found a park nearby that we went to frequently the first week. We went early in the morning or in the evening since temperatures were in the mid-90s with 90% humidity. We found other places to visit that were air-conditioned – shopping, visiting the animals at the Pro-Bass shop, etc. Throughout, Elisa was charming to everyone and was the darling of the cafeteria staff.
The second week many more people arrived, including a lot of family! With all the family, we celebrated the birthdays of Elisa and her triplet cousins with ice cream cake. We also made opportunities to spend time with Grandma Lin and other cousins at meals.
It was a busy couple of weeks, but filled with family and new friends!
posted by Kristin on Aug 14, 2010 |
After coming back to New York with Grandma, we had three days in Belmont before heading on to Berlin to see Great-Mama and Great-Papa on the family farm. At Great-Mama and Great-Papa’s, Elisa settled in pretty quickly, finding the toys around the house. She quickly started to call for ‘Papa’ and ‘Mama,’ and liked laughing at Great-Papa.
We found one of Grandma’s favorite puzzles which had to do with numbers and Elisa enjoyed doing that puzzle – or having other people do much of it for her. We found out that she does know many of her numbers – counting up to 10 a couple times correctly. Of course, she is counting up to 10 while trying to count smaller numbers of things; one-to-one correspondence is still missing. (At home, she was counting our three church plates and made it to seven.) In the process of playing with the puzzles, Elisa climbed on Grandma’s back. She also pulled on Grandma’s hair – she has a trick of twirling her fingers in someone’s hair and pulling. 
She even does this to herself and repeats it, even though she says “Ow.”
We also got to see second-cousin Ellie (Elizabeth Joy) who is about two months younger than Elisa (Elisa Hope). While two almost-2-year-olds are not necessarily the best companions, they got on reasonably: Ellie would occasionally scream when Elisa got in her space and Elisa was entirely unaware that she was in Ellie’s space even after the scream and so things stayed calm. Still, they got to watch the 4th of July parade together, side-by-side and each enjoying lollipops. 
Then at the family 4th of July picnic, cousin Seth pulled them in a wagon and they played with cups and saucers. They also got to play in the water with all Ellie’s older brothers a couple days later. Elisa got to borrow one of Ellie’s swim suits and they played with toys out of buckets of water. She tried drinking from the hose and then Ellie and Elisa got to share a small pool, which Elisa kept getting in and out of and Ellie just stayed in.
We headed back home after 4 days, having really enjoyed seeing so many members of the family.
posted by Kristin on Aug 14, 2010 |
After Mommy got back from her trip, it was time to celebrate Grandpa’s retirement with a part. (Elisa thought Mommy was on a plane the whole time she was gone because they had dropped Mommy off so she could get on a ‘plane’!) Before Mommy had made it in, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Heather had arrived from Colorado to surprise Grandpa and Uncle Phil (Grandpa’s brother) and Aunt Sheri had come in as well. It was a full house and Jenni was very tolerant surrounded by these crazy Roods – even having Elisa and Mommy invade her room!
Elisa enjoyed everyone! She enjoyed going to the park with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Heather a couple different times. Uncle Jeff even talked her into going down the tunnel slide, although she chickened out enough that Uncle Jeff went down after her and got slide burn. Elisa still enjoyed it, though! Elisa also agreed with most of the rest of the world that Uncle Jeff is really funny! She walked along the balance beam holding Uncle Jeff and Aunt Heather’s hands and went down the dual slide in a race with Aunt Heather. Back at Grandma and Grandpa’s, Aunt Heather was also willing to ‘bump’ down the stairs with her – Elisa 
has preferred going down the stairs forward and saying ‘bump’ with each step. In her regular way of sharing, she will very graciously insist that someone bump with her: ‘Grandma bump!’
Elisa got Aunt Sheri to chase her around the downstairs circle and very happily scream every time she was caught – she even invented a “free” space chair where she was safe. 
She got Uncle Phil to give her a horsey ride. And I think everyone actually enjoyed it!
We had a great celebration for Grandpa, with many people from the church and community. Elisa spent much of the time with the other kids on the playground. The only major event was that she walked in front of a swing without looking and was promptly knocked down by someone on a swing – she just isn’t used to being at a playground with others around yet! After a little bit of crying, everything was back to normal.
Uncle Phil and Aunt Sheri left Sunday and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Heather left Monday afternoon and the house was much emptier. Elisa still got to go to yet another playground in Dodge Center with Mommy, Jenni and Steph and enjoyed running across the swinging bridge, playing in the “cement truck” (Dodge Center is the cement truck capital of the world!), and swinging on the tire swing. Then on Tuesday, we left with Grandma for the two day trip back to New York.
posted by Kristin on Aug 13, 2010 |
The second week in Minnesota, Mommy went away to a workshop in Washington State and Elisa got to stay with Grandpa, Grandma and Jenni for five days. Grandma and Elisa dropped Mommy off at the airport first thing Monday morning and got a parfait at McDonald’s on the way home.
Later that day, Grandma took Elisa to her first swimming lesson. They got to go to a swimming lesson every day of the week. They got to blow “bubbles to Motorboat, motorboat goes so slow…” and Elisa practiced floating and kicking. Elisa also got to jump into the pool into Grandma’s arms. Even though Elisa seemed to want to get out every time she got in, they seemed to enjoy it.
On Tuesday, Elisa and Grandma went to the library for story hour and Elisa discovered that she loved glue sticks. She colored sea animals and then glued them onto the main page.
Jenni came through again with her special playdough and Elisa went right to it, using cookie cutters to cut out different playdough shapes.
One day at lunch Elisa caught everyone’s attention when she quite plainly said “booger” and followed it up with corresponding action. Since Mommy and Daddy don’t use that word and we had never heard it before, we have no idea how long she was storing up that word!
Elisa continued to help Grandpa with his trains. Sometimes she acts like she knows more about what is going on than the adults!
Mommy and Elisa talked every day on the phone – usually only “Hi” and “bye” and occasionally another word or two. Overall, Elisa seemed very happy and stable even though Mommy and Daddy weren’t there. Mommy got back Friday night after Elisa was in bed…so it was a very happy Sabbath morning to find Mommy again!
posted by Kristin on Aug 13, 2010 |
Monday, June 14th
Today I got to be at Grandma and Grandpa’s house the whole day!! Mommy got me up in the morning and we had eggs with Grandma and Grandpa showed me the train again. It is so cool! Unfortunately, it was raining all day and so I had to stay inside. But Grandpa and Grandma have lots of cool stuff! I got to ride the truck Grandpa put together for me and put the animals through the holes on it.
Early on I went upstairs and looked for ‘Jen-ni.’ She is lots of fun!! She knows just what I like. Grandma also brought me a book that has my own music player and I listened to a lot of music and danced. Mommy and I went downstairs and upstairs and upstairs and downstairs looking around for ‘people’ as everyone was getting ready for the day. Grandma went away for a little while, then Grandpa and Jenni left and I missed everyone. Thankfully Grandma came back quickly. Grandpa showed me the train again, too!
The best part of the day was that I got corn on the cob for supper! Mommy didn’t think I could eat it, but then she said I did almost as well at eating it as she did. I ate the ends off two ears, even though the corn cob holder kept coming out of the end and I ate a little of the cob before Mommy stopped me.
Tuesday, June 15th
This morning Grandma and Mommy and I went shopping. We got me pajamas and chocolate to eat each afternoon. Mommy got a lot of stuff, too and I got kind of bored. We also got some strawberries and pears to eat – they look yummy! I also got to meet the people Grandma works with at Huntington. We went to Fazoli’s for lunch, but I didn’t want the noodles and breadsticks…I just wasn’t hungry.
After my nap, I went to the playgound at the school with Mommy and Jenni. It is an awesome playground! I got to climb the ladders and go down different slides. 
Jenni went down the curvy slide with me a lot of times. I also went down a slide I don’t want to go down again, since it dropped off so quickly that I bounced on the bump and then hit my head on the way down. Mommy and Jenni are pretty impressed by how well I climb ladders, but I want to get up the slide and I can do it myself!
I played piano with Mommy and Grandma sometimes. I sat on the piano bench and made Mommy sit on one side and Grandma on the other side. I asked Mommy a few times for pears, but she said they weren’t ripe and I have to wait until tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 16th
Today is bright and sunny! For breakfast, Mommy let me have a pear and it was yummy!! I let Mommy have a couple pieces. Then Mommy and Grandma and I went to Grandma’s school. We met lots of people who made me laugh. Karen had a giant ball that she sat on at her desk and she let me roll it back and forth with Mommy, Grandma and Shelley, who is REALLY funny! Then I got to play in Grandma’s room, watching a video and then writing on the SMART Board as Mommy was trying to play with it. I think Mommy got a little frustrated because what she was doing kept getting interrupted. I also got to play with the pieces from all of Grandma’s games.
At lunch, Grandma cut me another pear and I shared a couple pieces with Mommy and Grandma. After lunch, Mommy, Jenni, Grandma and I went to the playground and I got to go down slides with Mommy, Jenni and Grandma!! I even went down the curvy slide by myself and the tunnel slide with Mommy and Jenni.
For supper, we had a whole bunch of kids come over. I guess their dad is one of Mommy’s friends from college – Jim. 
We got to have CORN ON THE COB!! I had a full ear and wanted more. Then I ate my baked beans with my spoon and a little hot dog. And lots of ice cream. Yum. I’d started asking for ice cream hours before supper. After I’d gotten everything with a spoon I decided to lick the bowl. Then I showed everyone Grandpa’s train – they all liked it as much as I do. Then I showed them how the train choo-choos and they got into it, too. Then we went to the playground and I got to stay up an extra half hour – even though I was a little tired trying to climb the ladders.
Thursday, June 17th
After breakfast Mommy and I went to the other park nearby, which has really nice swings. Mommy and I went swinging and I also got to drive the firetruck with Mommy. I went down the big slide and Grandma even visited us at the park. Then I walked up the little slide – Mommy said it was because I was wearing better shoes. After the park I ate 45 blueberries and Mommy said I couldn’t have any more so I had some banana.
Mommy went to work for a while and I got to hang out with Jenni and Grandma for a while. We watched a video and I found out I really like chex mix pretzels. The rest of it I don’t like, so Grandma and I share since she likes everything but the pretzels. I especially like the ‘circles’ and ask for them a lot. For lunch, Brenda came, so there are more people staying in the house!! And I got leftover corn on the cob from last night!
In the afternoon, I watched ABCs [Here Come the ABC's - They Might be Giants] while Jenni put ‘pink’ on my toenails. Mommy wouldn’t get her toenails painted and that made me a little upset. We also got to go to the playground at the school again after supper!
Just as I was about to go to bed at 7:30, a really ‘loud’ siren went off. Grandma said it was a tornado siren, so I didn’t get to go to bed and had to go in the basement with everyone! We watched lots of pretty colors – lots of red and yellow – on the TV screen with people talking about wind. I got to go up and watch it ‘raining’ and ‘lightning’ with Grandpa and Mommy a couple times and then about 8:30 I got to go to bed. But Mommy got me up again 15 minutes later and we got to crawl under the pool table! I really wanted to keep crawling, but Mommy and Grandma made me stay under the table. We sang lots of songs and got to make noises for lots of animals on Old MacDonald’s farm. Finally at 9:15 I got to go to bed because the rain and the wind had slowed down. I guess that there were some people not too far away that had big holes in their houses.
Friday, June 18th
Mommy had to go away [to St. Olaf] this morning, so I got to go shopping with Grandma and Brenda at Sam’s. I had fun saying hi to people and listening to Veggietales in the car and got to play with Brenda’s beanie-baby frog in the car. I also got a cool book where the animals giggle when I tickle them. The only bad part was that Brenda’s car doesn’t have ‘windows’ that roll down in back and I really wanted them to!
I took a short nap, even after my missed sleep the night before. I got to come down and watch videos while Jenni and Grandma and Mommy held me. Eventually we went and played with some cool bubble stuff that Grandma had gotten for me and made giant bubbles. After supper we went to the playground with Mommy and I went down the tunnel slide with her again, except I got slide-burn on my knee and that really hurt. Then I got a bath and went to sleep.
Sabbath, June 19th
Before church, I got to watch ABC’s again! Mommy wanted me to watch something else, but it is the best. We went to church and Sabbath School and I got to meet lots of people, even though I was kind of tired and just happy to have Mommy hold me sometimes. For Sabbath School, I got to play with Alyssa (Robinson) and Micaiah (Bond) and we played house and set up all the babies in chairs.
After we got home, I ate some lunch and Mommy put me down for a nap – before all the people arrived for the grown-up lunch! But afterward, I got to go to the playground with Steph and Jenni and Mommy and went down the curvy slide a lot. I also climbed almost every ladder – I think I’ve mastered the rainbow one!
Jenni made me really good bubble solution after supper and we blew lots of bubbles. When Jenni blew the first bubbles, I backed up out of excitement and sat down in the bubble solution…that made my skort, diaper and legs all bubbly and that didn’t feel very good at first. But we blew lots of bubbles. Then Mommy tried to rinse off the bubble solution in the bathtub and I got to draw with chalk on the sidewalk in my pajamas with Jenni.
Just before bedtime, Mommy found out that there was a parade starting in minutes and we rushed off with Grandma to the other park in my pajamas and no shoes. Then nobody came for a long time, so I got to play on the swings and slide with Grandpa carrying me over the mulch. 
I liked it when Grandpa pushed me on the swings and laughed a lot. Other kids also were there waiting to march in the parade, so I had to wait sometimes. Just as we were about to give up and leave, the parade came! I guess a parade is a bunch of cars and trucks and firetrucks and people walking and handing out candy. Mommy says I can’t have the candy until tomorrow. Sigh. I waved at the people on the floats in pretty dresses and the fire trucks. I even got to shake the hand of someone running for Congress. Then I had to go home and go to bed.
Sunday, June 20th
It started out rainy this morning, so I couldn’t go to the playground. So I took Mommy downstairs and we watched ABCs. We also got to give Grandpa his Father’s day cards, including one just from me that I got to color! Then Mommy took me to church again with Grandma - I was very excited to be back in car where the windows went down! 
There were different people this time and we went so that Mommy and Grandma could sing pretty music. I like dancing to the song they sing together. I said AMEN loudly to all of the prayers and even said AMEN early sometimes when the prayers were long. I had yummy blueberries for lunch and I got to have a lollipop from my candy at the parade. I still wanted chocolate, though!
After my nap, we went to St. Paul to see another of Mommy’s college friends, Becky and her husband Andy. Mommy taught me how to say both of their names before I got there, though I liked saying Becky’s name better. We went out and had noodles, which were yummy. Then we came back and I got to watch the kitties eat. They didn’t really like me watching them, but Othello eventually came up to me and Mommy and let me pet him. Then we drove home and listened to more ABCs until Mommy changed the music and told me I could go to sleep. But I’m not ti.r..e…d….
posted by Kristin on Jul 09, 2010 |
(As interpreted by Mommy from the quotes by Elisa, who is saying more and more…)
Thursday, June 10th:
Today we packed everything in the car and left home for a long time. Mommy and Daddy tell me we are going to see Grandma: “Gam-a!” I’m so excited I keep shouting out her name in the car. It got boring fast, though, so I took a nap. Then I couldn’t sleep all afternoon I was so excited! And none of my toys are interesting compared to seeing Grandma and Grandpa…oh, except it is fun to play with the Fridge Farm set for a while. Mommy taught me the word ‘tail’ today and now it is much easier to get the pieces in correctly – at least Mommy can tell me when I’m wrong.
Just after supper Mommy and Daddy got a new atlas and I found some great pink sunglasses at floor level. I got one piece of them off the rack before Mommy and Daddy saw me and then they were kind of upset. So we brought the sunglasses up to the register in two pieces and bought them, but Mommy and Daddy haven’t let me have them yet.
We got to the motel in Elkhart, IN at night and Mommy and Daddy let me stay up late since I had a nap right before supper. There is a neat little fridge that they put my cheese and milk into…and my chocolate. Mommy lets me have one piece of chocolate most afternoons and it is VERY yummy. I frequently ask for chocolate first thing in the morning and I have to WAIT! Anyway, Mommy and Daddy went into the bathroom with their computers and left me to sleep, but I needed another diaper change so I stayed up until they came out and told me to go to sleep.
Friday, June 11th
Today we kept driving. They tell I get to see Grandma tomorrow…but that is a long time. It was so boring I took another morning nap. Then we went to Chicago!! We went downtown and walked to see the fountain, but I couldn’t get in to touch it and I was hot! We also looked at the lake. Then we went up an elevator in a big building to find one of Mommy’s friends. Eventually they took me to lunch and I got to eat strawberries from Daddy’s salad and some yummy bread.
Then we had to get back in the car and I took another nap. Sometimes Mommy and Daddy would sing with me. I really like Ho-Ho-Ho-Hosanna and sing a lot of the words. It wasn’t too long until we got to Janesville, WI and I could meet new people at the SDB Center. “People!” I guess I met some of these people last August, but I don’t remember. The best part is that Jan has LOTS of stuffed animals! I got to play with a frog and a monkey and a lot of bears…
We went to dinner with lots of Camenga’s. I got to play with blocks and knock them over. Then we went to Rob and Cheri’s house to stay. I like their kitties – Langston came and met us at the door and let me pet him. Then Mommy and Daddy put up my bed and read to me and I got to go to sleep. That was good!
Sabbath, June 12th
Today I got to see GRANDMA! I got up late at 6:40 and we tried to let Daddy sleep in. Then I got yummy cereal. Grandma is here for the same meetings as Daddy, so she was at church when we got there. It took me a minute to remember her, but then I gave her a big hug! Just a few minutes later, Mommy took me up for the children’s message, but I could still see Grandma. I turned around and said “Hi Gam-a” a couple times. I got to read some books and showed Grandma the train and the sheep and a few other things and then I got to color. I also said “A-men” loudly every time we finished praying.
I got to eat lunch at the Lawton’s and met lots of other people that came there for lunch. Then I got a really nice nap. Mommy and Daddy took naps, too! Then we went to my cousin Elizabeth’s graduation party and saw more people! Grandma came and played with me on the swingset and there were nice people there, too. Then Daddy and Grandma had to go to their meetings. Sigh. Mommy and I played in the basement and played with the kitty and then I got to read some books and go to bed.
Sunday, June 13th
Today we got to Grandma’s house!!
When I got up we went upstairs and I saw the KITTY! I chased him down the hallway at 6:30 this morning and called after him, but Mommy called me back before I could follow him into Rob and Cheri’s bedroom! Then I had a bowl of cereal, went outside, had another bowl of cereal, and said goodbye to Daddy as he went to meetings.
Mommy and I went “shop-ping!” and dropped off Daddy’s stuff at camp. Then we watched a video and I had more cereal. FINALLY Daddy and Grandma got done with their meetings and we picked them up and went to Olive Garden and had yummy breadsticks and more yummy breadsticks. I also got to color with crayons and I got to put my crayons away in the front pocket of my bib overalls. Then we left Daddy at camp and we won’t get to see him for two weeks.
Mommy and Grandma and I went to Minnesota. We had fun singing and Mommy’s hand kept catching my snake over the back of the driver’s seat. Along the way, we stopped to see Mommy and Grandma’s friend, Helen. First we went to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and Grandma bought me a ball. Then we walked along the red line all around the store! Finally, we went for ICE CREAM! at Culver’s. When they wouldn’t let me have more ice cream, I pulled out my crayons from my overalls and Helen thought that was really funny.
Finally we got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and I got to stay up late to see Grandpa’s train! It goes all around the outside of the basement – in a “tun-nel” and then the headlight shines in the dark in the furnace room and then it comes back out! I had fun running from place to place to watch the train. I also got to meet Jenni, who is staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and seems REALLY COOL! I like Grandma and Grandpa’s house!
posted by Kristin on Jun 04, 2010 |
Children clearly do not have the same values for toys that we do. They make toys out of the strangest things and play with them in ways that, well, grown-ups wouldn’t. As with all children, Elisa enjoys her cardboard tubes and pieces of string and other random objects. She has two birthday cards from her first birthday that never got put away that she has regularly picked up and read for most of a year now. She likes making her stuffed animals naked (and even gets very angsty when trying to get their clothes off) and then will be done with the toy almost immediately. The ones that are naked she wants to diaper and use wipes on – with repeated “eew” sound effects. Perhaps the most surprising was that she fell in love with a plastic lawn ornament in the shape of a dog, just small enough for her to tote around.
We inherited the dog from the previous owners of the house. It was in a corner of the basement and we aren’t very good at getting rid of things. Of course, that is the half of the basement that still hasn’t gotten organized in the 4 years we’ve been here (though it is close now!) So one day 6-8 months ago, we were in the basement and she took to the dog. Since ‘dog’ was one of her first words, we heard about the dog frequently. She would make a beeline for him anytime we went into the basement. Since we had seedlings for the garden growing in the basement for a month that we wanted to see her
grow, this was reasonably frequent. Once she managed to trip over something walking around the plants while holding the dog and his ears got chipped and he got a hole in his rear. However, all the damage was cosmetic and she seemed more upset about her minor scratches – he was not tarnished in her eyes.
Ink appreciates things like the dog that take some of the focus off him. While Elisa is amazingly good with Ink, she has not learned how to be really gentle, and therefore Ink is even more amazing with her! Ink has been petted, screamed over, and decorated with various clothing or beads. The dog could never replace Ink since it didn’t move, but it was her dog.
As the weather got nicer and we went in the basement through the outside door, the dog was carried outside. We made the rule that he was either outside or in the basement, but not in the main house. So she would carry him around the deck and try to feed him, sometimes make believe food and sometimes her snacks. 
As it has gotten warmer, one day she got a dropper so Mommy got her water to play with using the dropper (mostly Mommy used the dropper, but she tried.) Soon she decided to play with the dog and water. We pretended the dog was having a bath.
Of course, as something that is important to her, Elisa is very good at keeping track of where the dog is. The other afternoon she wanted in the basement. We thought she wanted a trowel (it is adorable to hear a 22 month old say ‘trowel’!), but she was very insistent that wasn’t it and was getting worked up. On pressing farther into the basement, we found the dog at the foot of the stairs – in pieces. Quickly earlier events of the day came back to memory and explained the problem.
Ink has a cat door to the basement, where he stays at nights, and Elisa has long been fond of putting small objects through the cat door. Earlier that afternoon she made a beeline through the door from the deck and shoved something through the cat door while
Mommy and Daddy weren’t looking and it made a big thump as it went down the stairs. Since this was in the midst of dinner preparations, we got distracted and never investigated.
Now we could see it had been the dog. The dog was supposed to be outside or in the basement, so she had gone through the house quickly to get the dog to the basement. And since Ink went through the cat door all the time unscathed, of course her doggie would be just fine. Unfortunately the doggie was not just fine, with his whole derriere missing and a few sharp edges. Whisking Elisa away from the pieces, Daddy retired the beloved plastic dog to the trash.
Thankfully, Elisa has not asked for the dog. Perhaps she knew something was wrong which was why she wanted to get him in the basement so badly. But I’m sure she will find some other interesting toy to take its place!
posted by Kristin on Jun 03, 2010 |
We celebrated Memorial Day by going to the Buffalo zoo. The night before we told Elisa that we were going to the zoo to see animals and started listing animals and her eyes got bigger and bigger. Since we reiterated the plans for the day the next morning, we heard the refrain of “Animals” in our ears multiple times on the 1.5 hour trip to the zoo. This was her way of saying “Are we there yet?”
Elisa had fun looking at the different animals, although I think she was mostly taking in the whole experience rather than picking favorite animals. She would sit and watch as long as mommy and 
daddy would let her. Perhaps she was just in awe. She got to pet the mule and calf and had a hyena come right up to the glass she was standing at. She got to “muck out” a stall and pick up eggs. She made sure Mommy and Daddy each had an egg before she got two for herself, having at least a tinge of sharing mixed with toddler self-centeredness. This goes right along with her current favorite phrase: “my turn”!
Elisa’s favorite parts may have had nothing to do with the animals. In the tropical rainforest area, she enjoyed walking across the hanging bridge and standing behind the waterfall to get wet. She kept going back and forth across the bridge and around to the back of the waterfall. She loved riding the carousel and really didn’t want to get off.
We decided to give a stuffed snake (unfortunately, we couldn’t find the real one in the cage…) a home since Elisa went right to them in the gift shop. She has a little tuneless song/chant that she sang for the snake on the way home: 
“My nake, You are my nake…” (Normally it is ‘baby’ or ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’ instead of ’snake’ – and ‘daddy’ did sneak in after snake a couple times.) She slept most of the way home and held the snake all the way, even waking up once when it slipped out of her hands and desperate to get her ‘nake’ back.
On the way back from Conference, we spent 4 nights and 3 days in a cottage at a KOA in northern Ohio. This meant that we had a long trip of 11 hours or so to get there, as well as losing an hour with the time change. But it was worth being able to spend the full three days there!
Elisa’s favorite part was probably the pool. We went swimming 4 times over 3 days. There was a baby pool that was about 16 feet in diameter and a foot deep as well as the standard larger pool. We ended up with no pictures of the swimming since Elisa required full participation of the family – mommy and daddy must be in the pool, too! Elisa had fun practicing her swimming skills, blowing bubbles, kicking, and “floating,” but mostly just had fun in the water! We chased the swimming penguin toy, splashed, and played with the ball, even playing catch with another 2 year old once. In the big pool she wanted to go down and touch the bottom and whenever she would close her mouth, she had fun going up and down.
We had fun with making meals in the little kitchen. Elisa got to help make chili and also helped rinse the dishes and put them in the drainer (although right after this picture, she dropped the bowl and it broke the glass in the sink…) We also baked over a charcoal fire and popped Jiffy Pop popcorn – Elisa really likes popcorn and ate her fair share!
One morning it was rainy so we got away from the KOA to nearby Mansfield where they had a beautiful carousel. Since Elisa was still officially under two years of age, she got to ride free as long as an adult paid. So we got as many tickets as we had originally planned and Elisa got to ride 6 times in a row! Every time she got to ride a different animal or chariot and Mommy and Daddy each got to ride once while the other stood by Elisa, though we don’t have to hold her at all. If you can’t tell from the picture, Elisa loves her carousels!!
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