Playing Outside

This week was heavenly. It makes super hot summers and other undesirable things about living in Mississippi seem not that big of a deal. The temperatures crept up into the 60s more than one day and "the sun is shining, the tank is clean! *gasp*..."

Alyssa loves to play outside (and admittedly I do too), so play outside we did. We ran around in circles, drew with chalk, set up the tent, played with New Baby, painted the house (with water), endured a couple of rounds of nativity and basked in the warm sun!

I also chased Alyssa around with the camera, until in my minds eye I saw me tripping and smashing it to sad pieces. So then I stopped. But before I stopped I snapped some pictures. 

Do you like the belt, mom?

I have a confession. I have been a little involved in my own projects, comparisons, and freakish things (not too freakish, just, ya know, those things like a clean house that can CONSUME you?) Looking at these pictures reminds me that the days playing outside and running and the games played are really quite awesome. When I felt frustrated a couple of times this week I reminded myself that I chose to be a mother. No one forced me or is forcing me. I wanted to be home with my wee child. I want to see her grow and learn. Sometimes it seems thankless and it is often immeasurable.  If my focus shifts from her to the measurable progress of a tidy house, blogs updated, beds made, laundry done, curtains sewn, house bought, truck selected, then I have missed what truly being a mother is about. 

In summary (Lloyd analysis - may he rest in peace) even though I can't measure my success with my child, being with her and even being a little bit childlike will make me infinitely more happy than all that other stuff.

So now I think I will go play outside. 

Slow mornings and hair.

Alyssa slept in until 9 this morning. We ate breakfast together, slowly, and talked and laughed. We had no place to go, no chores to do. She ate her mini wheats and toast. I had peanut butter banana and honey toast. We pull her hair up like this sometimes when she eats. I love her hair when it is piled on top of her head. It is so full of color and body and life. Just like Alyssa.

the imagination game

I feel like I've never had a super stellar imagination. I remember myself being mostly a factual, braniac kind of kid that liked to organize and dictate things but not always pretend. I mean, I guess I did like to pretend. I know I played dolls and dress ups and school and stuff. But, I don't know, it didn't feel like imagination - it just felt real.

So now that I have aged just a few years, I feel that I am even less apt to imagine and thus can feel a little crazy sometimes when Alyssa is playing her imagination games (probably because I want to imagine it my way...hehe). Yet as a parent, watching my child, I am happy to see her imagine. It is something I value highly for her. I hope she will imagine for a very long time. Maybe I just need to let go of my own cut and dry ways and imagine along with her a little more willingly.

Anyway, Christmas time, as I have mentioned previously, was fraught with reenactments of the nativity. Since then we have moved on. This week it is talking on the cell phone, looking at pictures on the cell phone, and being Jon and Amelia and Baby Claire - which is a family in our ward in Vicksburg. 

First, pictures on the cell phone. Alyssa has a little ol' cell phone. She talks on it like she's talking to a real person - even more convincingly than me when I am pretending to talk on a phone. And she takes pictures with it. And then she will ask if you if you want to see the pictures. It's pretty fun. She and Erik took some pictures on Sunday.

Taking the picture:

Looking at the picture:

Erik has offered to let her use his phone to take pictures, but she prefers her imaginary pictures.

Second, playing Jon, Amelia, and Baby Claire. This just started last night but pretty much I laugh to myself when I think through all of these details. She sets up a tv.

Exhibit A: TV

We watch BYU football games all day. We yell and cheer and say, "GO BYU!" And then as far as who is who - Alyssa is Amelia, Erik is Jon, New Baby is Claire and I am Claire's sister. 

Exhibit B: Alyssa and "the mote"

Exhibit C: "Go BYU!"

I told Erik I wasn't sure if I could watch another imaginary football game. He told me its either that or a shepherd - take your pick!

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!

We have dreams over here in our house. One of our biggest, most anticipated dreams was fulfilled last weekend.

We bought 32 square feet of whiteboard for only $13!

It's been long in coming. What a blessing! I finally felt brave enough during the torrential downpour on Saturday to strap the 4' X 8' piece of shower board turned whiteboard to the top of our cute little Pri Pri and drive it the 1.5 miles home. It was a big day.

This has really nothing to do with the bubbles, except that we bought the white board so we could project our overhead projector (another big dream fulfilled) onto a pristine white surface. Erik then put water and food coloring and soap into a pan on top of the overhead projector and attempted to make bubble mosaics projected onto the white board.

So Erik and Alyssa spent Friday night blowing bubbles while I improved my photography skills. And thus pictures, mostly of people, not bubbles, is the ending line of this post.

 I think Alyssa had just sucked in some bubble juice!

That time we sang "Happy Birthday" for Family Home Evening

The day was October 20th. I made muffins for a play group. It eventually evolved into playing birthday party. By the end of the day Alyssa was pretty convinced we needed to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. It fit in nicely with family home evening treat and it even happened to be Alyssa's half birthday!

Temple day

This weekend we had temple day on Saturday. Alyssa drives to Baton Rouge with us and then she and one parent gets to do fun things in the area while the other parent is in the temple. This time I got to go to the swamp with her. We saw turtles and some snakes, which gives me the willies. We also went for a hike. The weather was perfectly lovely! It was such a fun day!

Looking up...

at the trees!

Some people sport pens in the pocket, Alyssa prefers carrots!

It is not always easy taking Alyssa to the temple with us. It makes the day really long. But her testimony of the importance of the temple is growing each day and she is always excited to go!

He's a jalous guy!

Alyssa: "He's very jalous with his mustache on."

Emily: "Oh, you mean jealous?"

 Alyssa: "No, Jalous. Jalous means cute. He's a jalous guy!"

These are direct quotes for Alyssa as she colored Elmo! Alyssa is starting to make up words when she doesn't know what else to say, and it is the makings for very entertaining conversations.

We spend 95 % of our free time coloring these days.

Words that bring us together

Our Read Aloud Book Project is continuing. Reading with Alyssa is one of my favorite times each day. We get to relax and read and have new adventures with our bookie friends. It is wonderful! If you ever think you are too busy to read, think again. Put away whatever doesn't matter and spend some time with a little uplifting, fun literature. It is totally worth it!

We didn't get far into The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The "Woods Book" was just too compelling so we had to turn to Little House on the Prairie and Farmer Boy. We are about halfway through Farmer Boy and although Alyssa can't quite figure out what happened to Mary and Laura (they are not in Farmer Boy), she is still enjoying the books.

She has taken a special interest in wolves. There is a story about wolves surrounding Laura's house in Little House on the Prairie. The story in conjunction with an experience I had while running one day has her asking about wolves almost on a daily basis. I was in the military park and saw a dog-like, but kind of scarier looking, thing. I told Erik about it and little ears were listening. This interest has been peaked by a story in the August Friend about Lambert the Sheepish Lion, which also features a wolf. Alyssa hasn't really had any fears - like nightmarish type experiences - up to this point, but I can tell she is nervous about wolves.

We also read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It was a most excellent read. It has many pictures in it, which is what keeps Alyssa interested. I am not sure the story line was as simple to follow as the Little House books, but it was still interesting. And really enjoyable. And suspenseful, but not scary or creepy. I'm very bad at summarizations, so look it up. I will just tell you that I enjoyed it and so did Erik!

Words truly do bring people together. Words allow us to communicate. They form sentences that tell stories about what is real and what is in our dreams. I have always loved reading and thus I particularly enjoy sharing this love with Alyssa. We come together and read and talk and learn. I consider it a blessing to read with Alyssa. It is enjoyable and educational. I even feel like it is a second chance to learn and be creative and nerdy, just like I want to be. And the greatest part is my small fry "peer" is Alyssa. What more could I ask for?

Primary Songs and Rain

I like listening to rain fall on the roof. Living in an apartment the closest I get to this experience is in the car. Couple this with a sweet three year old singing "I Am a Child of God" and my day is made.