End of Summer Happenings

The calendar tells me it's the end of summer.  But as always, summer weather is here for a while longer.  This year, though, will be different because Marea is starting school soon, and the start of school always coincides with the 'end of summer'.  This is weird for me. It feels like just yesterday, I was in school, enjoying summer vacations.  And now, my baby girl will be starting school and the school year calendar will a big part of our life.  I don't want to think about this anymore!

So here's what's going on around here....

Marea is obsessed with Peter Pan.  When I start singing "I can fly", she takes off in flight wherever we are.  She's very interested in getting big, and will often say 'because i'm getting bigger' or 'when i'm big'.  She loves to crack the eggs when we cook together.  And she loves to do projects, meaning, art projects such as painting or glueing.  I've got lots of fun stuff like that and she really digs in, which is super fun for me because I love to do that stuff with her.  Recently we made a book together.  We've also painted paper surfboards.  I've got to work on teaching her to write letters.  She is really interested in that.  I think we'll start a letter a day thing, where i'll try to teach her one letter every day.  

Evie is crazy as ever.  She loves to climb up on chairs now and jump as if to say, 'look at me!! i'm doing something dangerous!'  and she has no fear.  She will often do a downward facing dog position too, looking between her legs.  She thinks this is hilarious, and it looks pretty funny.  She loves eating the tomatoes off our plants, or the ones that have fallen into the dirt, and she often becomes a filthy mess with tomato juice running all over her face and dirt all over.  She's got her two bottom teeth and the top four are right there, just not poking through yet.  She's been sleeping pretty well....she usually gets up once, around 4 a.m., to nurse, then sleeps till 6:30.  Hopefully the all nighters are coming soon!

Caw!

Evie is our tropical bird.  Her favorite expression seems to be CAW!  Which means ball, but also many other things.  She points at things and says caw.  Things in books, or things she sees on the counter.  Caw, Caw, Caw!

Marea is doing great in the pool.  She loves to jump in with only a swim ring on.  If there were several more months of summer left, she would be swimming soon.  But I don't think it will happen this year.  Swimming lessons this spring I guess.  We're going to miss the long days at grandma's house of playtime and pooltime.  I think it's one of Marea's favorite things about summer.  

FLY BY'S!

I can't believe I haven't written about the FLY BY yet.  I've been meaning to get it on video too.  It's Marea's after shower thing.  Daddy wraps her all up in a towel and then zooms her around the house, through the air.  It's a fly by, of course!  She loves it.  It's part of the routine!  I imagine Gary will be doing this for years to come (until he can't lift her anymore) and then Evie will follow.

The other thing I'm loving about Marea right now is her obsession with the dirt pile in the back yard.  Formerly a giant hole, now filled with dirt, in the corner.  We have this big, beautiful yard with a nice lawn and tons of toys.  What does she like to do?  Play in the dirt area.  Her imagination goes nuts over there.  She usually gets really involved in it when i'm inside working in the kitchen, so I get to watch thru the window.  I can't hear what she's saying but she's definitely playing an elaborate game.  Sometimes it involves roly polys, her new fave bug.  It's such messy play, she gets so dirty.  But she loves it.

Evie is a pizza crust maniac.   Give the kid a hunk of pizza crust and she's happy for hours.  Well, it's probably like this with all food I guess but it sure takes her a long time to suck away at a pizza crust.  It eventually ends up a sticky dough ball mess that I have to take away, which of course prompts lots of tears.  She does not want her crust taken away!