my little "big girl"

so tonight i had one of many "like my mom" moments and i'm really ok with it. for dinner, i didn't have a cup clean, so i grabbed the bottom of her frog straw cup and filled it with milk, leaving it open. after some preliminary spillage due to over tipping, nissa enjoyed the milk relatively spill-free. then, because dinner was tuna casserole over rice, nissa was easily able to eat almost all of her meal using a spoon (instead of her hands). out of the blue, she looked at me, pointed to her chest and said, "nissa." it was too precious. i said "yes, you are nissa and you are a big girl." and then she repeated that. i complemented her on her drinking and eating skills and called her a big girl again and she really seemed to like it. but then, having that "like my mom" moment- i said she'd always be my baby girl and gave her a kiss.

aw man

being the parent of a toddler who is expanding her vocabulary hourly (probably faster than that!) always proves to be interesting, as she is the mirror of all of your vocal patterns, good and bad. nissa is my little parrot, but better than a parrot because she is understanding most of what leaves her lips, including when it's the appropriate context to repeat something at a later time.

"shoot" was my first obvious experience with nissa's new habit. now, she's starting to say "um" at random times, just like adam and i do. what's kind of good is that we use it as a word, not a long, drawn out vocalization as some do, and it tends to be limited in our conversation. nissa uses it when she seems to be assessing her next move, and it's cute. i just hope it doesn't become too much of a habit for her. i remember quite distinctly trying to remove the practically-subconscious "um" from my speech during speech class and it was a challenge. speaking around nissa has brought me back to that awareness of speech mode of thinking/speaking, since i want to lead by the best example that i can. i do try to encourage adam to do the same, with a minimum of correction (in front of nissa, at least). is nissa or gibson in the way? "move, please" or "excuse me". does nissa have something i need? "may i have that please?" or "give that to me, please" (really trying to avoid gimme, which is so tempting to say).

another phrase cropping up is "aw, man!" and it's funny because she inflects almost exactly the same way i do. i really hope to get that recorded at some point, but it's probably easier said than done. it's hard to plan her disappointment, after all.

last night nissa did something i would qualify as momentous, but maybe it's not. during dinner, she pointed to herself and said "nissa" clear as a bell. then she pointed to me "mommy" and where daddy sat "daddy" and to gibson "puppy." she's named the rest of us several times over by this time, but the "nissa" part was very new and very exciting.

more and more

nissa does more and more each day and it is amazing. i try to keep up with things on the blog, but time passes and next thing i know it's been weeks since i've written anything and the list is soooo long of things i want to talk about!

without fail, yesterday brought some wacky insights into all the new things nissa is learning. when she came home with grandma, they walked up to the front door and apparently she said "ding dong" either before or immediately after grandma suggested they ring the bell. she said it again when i came to the door, pointing at the doorbell. since when does she know that? (sadly, i find myself saying that very often lately, i guess the feeling never gets old.)

i procured a nissa-sized cutting board and crinkle cutter online recently and wanted to give it a try last night. we made some pretty tasty vegetable stew that required lots of veggies to be diced up. i helped nissa work on some zuccini (after slicing a side flat) and with a few joint slices, she was ready to try on her own. it didn't go well at first, so we went back to mushrooms for a while, but she eventually got the hang of it. i was relieved when she had the best luck using two hands (one on the handle, one pushing on the "blade") to keep her using that safer technique. the tricky thing about having nissa "help" with dinner is that she's constantly sampling the food! i'm pretty sure she ate at least half of the mushrooms i washed off (at least she sliced them first?) and sampled the zuccini pretty regularly. it really does make me happy that she enjoys vegetables (raw even) and not just the sweet ones either (like carrots) she tries just about anything.


while dinner cooked, we ended up spending some time in the work out room. nissa discovered the weight lifting bar over the bench and after i leveled the bench, she climbed up and swung on it. she did it so many times, it was great. she'd get up to standing then lift her feet and swing through. i guess the gymnastics classes are making an impression with her :D. we also had a rousing game of hide and seek with her hiding behind the sheers. i think she finds it funnier because she knows i can see her but i'm pretending not to.


during dinner, we enjoyed our vegetable stew and some grilled cheese and leafed through a catalog, looking at the pictures. nissa found something she liked (ooh!) or knew the name of on each page. she points things out and can name things i point to and point to things i name, so we're doing really well in that vein. a woman at work tried to convince me that i should by the "your kid can read" videos, but i'm not falling for it. from what i understand, the "reading" kids don't end up ahead in the long run, so why bother? so you can impress your friends with a parlor trick that takes advantage of a toddler's ability to mimick a skill? no thanks. we're doing just fine the old fashioned way. even now she can pull out one of her little board books and find her favorite page/picture- like the apple. or the picture of tigger stuck in the tree, where she knows tree and stuck. or the cookies at the end of the puppy book or the mandatory finger wave in moo baa lalala. she knows what she's doing and loves her books, end of story. anyways, at some point i said something that had a familiar ring to it and nissa busts out with "fossils!" we laugh about it for a while and she says "funny" and i agree. she got it from phinneas and ferb and knows to say it for a laugh. here's the clip:


then later, while we were brushing teeth before bed, nissa asked about the potty. i asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes (rare!) so i put the seat on and moved the stool. she got up there and sat down and stayed there a few seconds. in the recent past, she'd try to sit the way she sits on chairs by facing it, getting a leg up then spinning around- a method that doesn't work well on the toilet. nissa was not a big fan of backing up and squatting, but last night she did! and then stayed! not too shabby.

now i'm going to try to go backwards and remember the highlights of the last few weeks. . . . hmmmm.

i went to physical therapy yesterday in the middle of the day for my back/foot injury from 2 months ago. i figured it was high time to start feeling normal again, so i'm glad i have the option to go to pt. having a bad back is no fun with a 20 month old and i couldn't take it any more. i'm too young to complain of a bad back. so hopefully after 5 weeks my back will be in better shape and i can ride my bike again. i need all the exercise i can get and this back pain business is really cramping my style. there is hope, and i am relieved.

sunday nissa got to use the new small rake i procured for her. i mowed the lawn and she helped rake afterward, kind of. she's always reaching for the rake while i'm using it, so if nothing else this kept her focused on something else. she still helped by carrying clippings to other locations (preferably the garden, but i'll take whatever she does, as long as she's involved). i definitely thing it's something she can grow into and work with as time goes on.

saturday we had a baby shower for our friends. i was supposed to help plan it, but got sidelined by a take-charge relative, so i embraced the sidelines and made the best of it. i do have a kid, after all, with limited free time. with help from mom, we made some awesome gender-neutral, occasion-specific favors for the guests that i'm so proud of! they were crocheted baby booties to look like little converse all-stars, with a tulle bag of personalized mms. [funny side story re: tulle. i was in joann's recently and heard a girl on the phone talking about using tulle for something, and she says "tulle, tulle, "t-o-o-l" tulle". i could tell from other context and her location in the store that she was totally talking about tulle. is it ever appropriate to correct someone in that situation? i doubt it.] they were all different color combinations and in my humble opinion, looked absolutely adorable all lined up.

nissa was a little hard to corral at the party, but she had a good time and i think she amused the other guests too. she loved helping herself to the bowls of snacks (baked doritos especially, which made her and my white shirt very orange). she really loved watching the puppies on the computer- the host's dog was at doggie daycare where they feature a live webcam. who wouldn't love watching the puppy show?

friday after work i got to go out for drinks like a real adult and it was fun! of course, i couldn't stay too long, but it was good none the less. though the reason was not as good, since a good friend at work was leaving (good for her, bad for us). oh the days of drinks after work. . . why was i looking for friends to do that with for so long and find them only when i'm no longer available to do so? i can hardly believe it's been seven years that i've been at the park district. holy cammolies. (wait, what does that even mean?) afterward, grandpa offered me dinner and i couldn't refuse. and neither could nissa. she is always helping daddy with his dinner when he gets home after we eat (and is very demanding about it too).

gymnastics class was fun. they had a new obstacle course for us, followed by some time on the tumbling trampoline. nissa is slowly getting better about watching what the others are doing and following suit, but there's lots of room for improvement. she did an excellent job walking across the single bar (situated between low parallel bars for support) and is taking an interest in somersaults. she was very leery of the trampoline, but is getting the hang of frog jumps (though the jump part is still a way off). she really liked the "pool" by the rings, but i think mostly because it's called a pool. i really hope adam has time to take her again soon to a pool.

wednesday we visited our friends' new baby girl and man am i ready to have another. she was so tiny and adorable and so calm. i have a feeling she's going to be a fun baby just like nissa. nissa took an interest in the baby "baby!" but it was always brief; she often quickly found something else to catch her interest. she impressed everyone by asking for the "light" the laser pointer-usb combo she found and played with last time. man, is she sharp. once, while the baby was being nursed, nissa walked up and pointed to the cover and said "baby?" and i said yes. she then reached around to the corner of the cover and lifted it up, looking for the baby. it was cute, but i had to ask her to leave the baby to finish- she had to focus on the task at hand and we didn't want nissa distracting her. i tried to hold the baby while sitting on the floor, so nissa could have a closer look. this was near the end of our visit, though, and very close to nissa's bed time. nissa insisted on hugs while i held the baby and made to push her out of the way. i kept my attention on the baby and showed nissa how i could both hold the baby and give nissa hugs. it worked well, until one time when the baby caught an arm from nissa, but the baby hardly fussed at all, so it was all good. i hope to spend more time with our friends so nissa gets used to the idea of people smaller than her being around. she'll have company in a little over a year, if everything goes according to plan.

we got to go out to my uncle's last sunday and nissa had a great time. rick and his family came too! nissa spent time in the floatie and out of it just floating around. she's getting really good at bubbles, kicking, floating on her belly to "swim" and allowing herself to go a little further back to float on her back. we even managed to get her water akis on for a little while. i tried to take her under water for a second, which she didn't like, but didn't totally dislike either. i'll take it as a win. nissa enjoyed spending time with meg a lot, sitting next to her on the deck and splashing, then following her around. nissa is so good ad making friends. the cutest part was watching her interact with sarah in the pool. she'd mimic her a lot (sarah's not saying as much, but nissa loves to repeat it all back). while in the floatie, my aunt would say "bye" and spin her around to face away from her. while nissa was out of the of her floating, but sarah was in, she'd say "bye" and try to do the same thing to her. everyone else thought she was suggesting sarah leave the pool, but i knew what was going on! she was just trying to play the same game that was played with her.



the day before was our friends' kids' birthday party at little gym and nissa had an absolute blast. there was lots of gymnastics equipment like at class, so nissa knew just what to do and jumped right in. the lower of the uneven bars was set so nissa could reach on her own, and she held on and swung to her heart's content. she climbed, walked across the beam, the whole 9 yards. when the music came on, she danced. when the balls came out, she threw them around and tried to get them in the basket. when the hula hoops were available, she carried one around diligently, once trying to put a ball through it. then came the bubbles. she loved the bubbles (as did everyone else) and the employee looked like the pied piper with her bubbles and throng of kids following closely behind, trying to pop every last one. after a while nissa was reaching up, but not to pop bubbles, but to have a turn at blowing them. she'd reach up, ask "please?", but she was not allowed a turn. the employee appreciated her asking so nicely, and i did too, but i had to explain that despite that, she would not get a turn. [we've been taking turns with things more and more and i think she's starting to get the hang of it. while i do dishes, she uses a "cup" to fill with water and dump out. we take turns with the running water.] nissa tried the giant roll and liked it. when everyone had to line up to play "push the cheese" (it wasn't push, but something like that, with a wedge mat that they knocked over), she actually walked up to the wall where everyone was sitting and sat right down between 2 kids. i was so astounded i took a picture. of course, she didn't sit for long once she saw what was to be done, but we worked with that. nissa sat nicely and drank her juice box (didn't spill too much) and ate her pizza, even some cake. she sang along with the happy birthday song and clapped at the end. good timing too, because she was just singing the happy birthday song earlier that day. one of her color books has a birthday cake under pink and when she sees it, she points and says "happy." she'll say "happy, happy" in a sing song fashion and i'll take her cue to sing it with her.



by the way, much to my chagrin, nissa is taking a significant interest in the color pink. she points it out pretty regularly and gravitates toward it in her colored pencil selection. why, oh why, does she favor the color i despise? we haven't talked about one color or another nor have i shied away from pink (though she is exposed to a lot of green), she's created this preference all on her own. oh well.

saturday night we had the honor of attending a good friend's wedding, well the reception at least. it was on the formal side and featured a live band and ethnic dancers doing a couple of numbers during dinner. it was quite the show. we were seated with a really cool group of people, with which we had a lot in common. we may even work on some future play dates!

friday after work i met adam at the beach to join in on a kayak fishing trip. it was cool in concept, but ended up involving more kayaking than fishing, and i wasn't really in the mood for that. the novelty of the kayaking (though very soothing) wore off too quickly, so i headed back early, but ended up arriving at the same time as the others with my slow pace. maybe another time. it was cool to have a bird visit us while fishing by the morley. here's a shot of it hanging out with sarah:


wednesday after work we went swimming as a family at a nearby park's indoor pool. we got there late, thanks to so much traffic on irving. during the walk to the building, i tripped and fell on some uneven pavement while carrying nissa and it sucked. though i tried to keep her up, her momentum caused her to bump her head on the cement and it completely tore up both my knees. ugh. nissa seemed to be ok and recovered quite quickly. we were hesitant to swim (because of nissa's head injury and my open wound) but we did anyways and it was a good time. the pool was tiny, but serviceable for our purposes. it took a while for nissa to warm up to the idea of the pool (and warm up to the less than warm water), but got there eventually so daddy could see her in action. we tried to get her to wear goggles (or water akis, as we're calling them) but didn't have much luck. she enjoyed holding onto them though!

well, i think that covers most of it. :D

dinner!

how many kids do you know cheer for dinner? mine does. not all the time, but often. i ask, will you help me make dinner? "dinner!" with arms raised, is the response from nissa. sure, it's just another example of potentially misplaced emphasis, but it's still a lot of fun. i get the same reaction for ride (car or stroller),walk (sometimes), pool, bath, park, maybe more. that's all i can think of right now.

we made chicken cacciatore last night and nissa helped! the last time i made something with mushrooms, i showed nissa how to slice them with the egg slicer (thanks, alton!). she took to it right away, and this time around knew exactly what to do. i'll help pull the mushrooms off after they're sliced, but otherwise she can do it all by herself. too bad the mushrooms were a bit aged yesterday; they were harder to slice. too bad nissa was hungry- cuz she kept eating them!



that happens often while i'm preparing dinner, though. nissa is always reaching over and helping herself to whatever veggies i'm cutting up. bell peppers and mushrooms are always popular (and get eaten). she'll take carrots and broccoli, but those end up getting spit out after a few minutes. while i was finishing up getting the chicken dish prepared, she was making her pepper bites jump, then was jumping herself. then we both would jump, and she added a "ready?" and she'd squat low, then i added a "1, 2, 3" after the ready, so we could jump at the same time. so fun.



while the chicken simmered and the pasta cooked, we decided to go into nissa's room to read a book to pass the time. we read books that had puppies in them, by request. the one book about animal babies has puppies on the first page, but a bunch of different animals too. the last page has a seal pup and an adult. no sooner did i turn the page, did nissa make a seal sound (aru aru) and clap her hands together. she picked up that little trick from riley doing it a couple of times in the pool saturday. i was impressed that she remembered that the seals on the page were the same that riley were imitating. maybe that's not that impressive? it seems like a lot to put together to me. not to mention, hilarious!

we sat down to dinner and nissa really put it away! i guess it's been a while since i made something she really liked (and she hadn't eaten a full banana right before dinner) so it was nice to see her enjoying dinner at the table. of course it did get old with her exaggerated chomping noise after each bite, but she's eating nicely otherwise, so i let it slide. she also announced most of her bites: noodle, pepper, mushroom, chicken. after cleaning her plate, she still had room for more when daddy came home. daddy does have a hard time eating around nissa- she is insistent for a "bite" at all times.

after dinner we went for a walk and nissa pushed her stroller down richmond and up half a block down belle plaine. that's the farthest she's walked (at a decent clip too) that i can think of. she even walked a bit at the park too. like gibson, nissa has been doing a good job of walking by me, but occasionally she will wander off. not the end of the world, but at the park, where there's joggers, bikers, little league games, i'd prefer her close to me. we're getting there.

just before bed nissa started playing with her blocks box (colored, shaped blocks that go into shaped holes in the box). it seems whenever we mention "time for bed" that's nissa's signal to rock on her horse, slide down the slide, play with any toy she can get her hands on. i was impressed to see her put the oval shape into the oval hole (previous interactions involved me showing her what hole a piece goes into, and nissa attempting to shove it in, usually successfully). she picked up the clover shape next, but that is on the lid (on the floor behind her) so after i put it back on the box, she put that shape through too.

i'm excited to report our friends had their baby! carina grace joined the world earlier today and we can't wait to meet her.

there's a lot going on in there. . .

that little head of my daughter has a lot going on in there and i think we're just starting to see for ourselves. she finds new ways every day to amaze us, if we take the time to notice.

lately nissa has been obsessed with her cousin maggie. she often says "are you?" and is looking for "maki". all the time. seriously. then saturday we went to the gingras' for dan's graduation party and we had some pool time with riley. then she was reall focused on her. wanted to sit by her to eat (but their table was full) and then wanted to get back in the pool because that's where riley was. technically she was usually saying "lila", but for some reason i knew she was talking about riley, but just got the syllables mixed up. she also called uncle rick by his name, asking for him while we were at the party, then on sunday too. so cool. nissa really did enjoy herself in the pool. she'd sit in the baby float, then sit by me, then sit on the lounger raft, then back by me. at first she was attached to my hip, but she gradually branched out a bit, letting me hold her at arms length, often tipping forward to an almost horizontal position. sometimes she'd lay back too, but not very far, she'd get nervous quickly. we blew lots of bubbles though! it's really important to adam and i that she's comfortable in the water and she is definitely on that path.

sunday nissa and i went to meet our friends celeste and kevin for brunch and we had a great time. nissa did an ok job in the restaurant, but eventually poured most of a glass of orange juice down her front and soaked through a diaper. i hate being out and about with cloth and having them not work. i chalked it up to them not being washed right (they were a rush job) but i think nissa was just peeing a whole lot. celeste, bless her heart, is 9 months pregnant and her due date is tuesday. she has gravity-defying, perfectly round, pregnant belly that was experiencing contractions while we visited. those are not something i experienced per se, and i know for certain after watching her experience them. i'm so excited for them and i remember like it was yesterday the anticipation of the child making her arrival. she and i both respect the process and wouldn't want to rush anything, but there's nothing wrong with a nice, long walk, right?

on the way to brunch, nissa put two words together (in a way i could clearly understand and identify) and i was thoroughly impressed. we were in line at the dunkin donuts drive thru (yes, she and i are diligent coffee drinkers on the weekend) and she yelled "car go!" at the car in front of us, in a clear desire to have the care move so we could get our coffee. did i mention she shouted "coffee" as soon as she saw the store sign? kinda sad, i know. but "car go" definitely counts as a preliminary sentence in my book. adam's still trying to remember the sentence she used the other day, by the way.



the really impressive thing happened at the santiago's house while we were visiting. of course nissa was VERY interested in the kitties that were there, too bad they weren't very interested in her. i tried to explain that they were napping, but she often wandered off with an "are you?" in search of them. she investigated their home rather thoroughly, getting celeste and kevin thinking about ways to baby-proof their home. (we did the same thing for rick and lisa- nissa has always been a few steps ahead of sarah, so each visit allowed nissa to show them what needed to be changed for the near future. such service!) at one point nissa found a laser pointer-usb combo and figured out all by herself how to push the button and make the light come on. she did allow kevin to show her how to watch the light on the wall, which she got a good kick out of. she then impressed everyone by wandering off and putting the laser pointer right back where she found it. how cool is that? then, while exploring, she came across the controllers for the ps3. she grabbed one for herself and eventually gave one to me, moving it around almost like a steering wheel. it was cute. then she pointed to the tv and said "ribbit", which took me a minute to figure out. after a while, i realized she was talking about playing frogger - which we did the weekend billy moved in about a month ago. really? she remembers that? amazing.

i almost forgot about the dvd player incident. . . nissa was being her typical, curious self and was investigating the dvd player buttons. eventually she came across the eject button, which slowly ejected the tray. she yelped and seemingly in slow motion, backed up and ran toward me. it was the funniest thing i had ever seen. it looked kinda phoney, but i think her startled-ness was genuine.

on an unrelated note, she'll randomly identify things as "cute." i think she may hear that adjective a bit too much. like when i suggested that she couldn't "ride" gibson, but she could give him hugs, which she promptly did. man oh man. things can also be identified as funny and silly.

when adam and i were talking, just before putting nissa to bed, he commented that nissa knows how to make us laugh (she does!) and that it is a sure sign of intelligence. i don't want to get too excited or over confident about it, but i love having this huge personality in this adorable little package in my life. she has brought adam and i closer than ever and keeps us both happy and content. though she can be exasperating at times, she is so wonderful all the rest of the time that it's easy to forget and just be happy to be with her.

gymnastics class

so we had gymnastics class today and i think it's going to be a lot of fun. we had some free time to start, then stretches, then some "obstacle course" style activities to do as a group, then singing our good byes. it's a cute class and the instructor is very sweet. the other 2 helper instructors were super nice too, encouraging while spotting and giving frequent high 5s.

nissa enjoyed exploring during the free time, but sucked her thumb for most of the stretches, then was mostly a crab the rest of the class. she cried and screamed a lot, which was kind of a bummer because she wasn't enjoying herself. we did get up way too early (she was up at 7:40) but i wasn't sure how things were going to shake out with traffic, stopping for breakfast at DD and checking in early for the first day. next week we'll be able to leave closer to 8:30/8:40 and be fine for time, not like 8am today. i'm hoping with a few more minutes sleep (maybe even going to bed a little early) she'll be in a better mood for class.

when she wasn't crabbing, she enjoyed jumping on the tumbling trampoline, walking across the balance beam (a lot), hanging from the uneven bars and rings. she even made a couple attempts at somersaults. it's all real gymnastics equipment (not just mats, but floor ex flooring, spring boards, beams, parallel bars, uneven bars, the works). for this class, things are smaller and/or closer to the floor for the little ones.

i'm looking forward to next week already because i know that once nissa gets accustomed to being up early, she's really going to enjoy the class. this is a lot more interesting than the class at welles!

p.s. nissa's learned a really amusing word recently: nope! so now, in addition to the barrage of nos we hear, she will now add emphasis with the occasional "nope!" hilarious.

money

nissa understands "money": that coins and bills are money. she knows that money goes in your "pocket", where she tries to stash every bit she comes across. unfortunately, not all of her outfits come with pockets, so that can be frustrating for her. when we go to dunkin donuts, she helps me give the money to the nice ladies behind the counter. when we're in my bedroon, and this is where it gets annoying, she likes to play with the basket o' pennies we have. she'll pull out the pennies by the fist full and put them into my pockets. this has happened while wearing cargo shorts, so i have one lower pocket bulging with pennies that jingle when i walk. cute, but annoying. sometimes the pennies end up in her mouth, and if i don't catch her, can end up being swallowed.

how do i know? a few weeks ago i found 2 pennies in her poop. unlike the time gibson ate upwards of $80 and i diligently fished it out, these pennies were flushed away with the poop. i think we can afford it.

the nissa diet

if only i could spend more time with nissa, i'd loose so much weight! because when you're with her, you're automatically on the "nissa diet." this means that she is infinitely more interested in what YOU are eating than anything she has, so your food becomes her food. so since i want her to eat as much as possible, i let her have whatever she likes. my typical breakfast bagel from DD was whittled down to less than half yesterday. i don't mind. really.

dinner was similar in that i had cut off the kernels of corn off the cob for nissa's ease. instead, she insisted on eating from my ear of corn. i took the cut corn off her plate and let her enjoy the ear. she's eating, and veggies at that, so i can't argue. she ate some steak too, so it was a fairly well-rounded meal.

we pulled out the new pool yesterday and although adam dubbed it "a colossal waste of water" nissa and i still had a good time. she spent most of the time walking in circles along the wall, since the water was too deep to do anything besides standing. she'd blow bubbles, much to adam's delight, and would even float on her back a little if she was laying back on my chest. we're working on kicking from a prone position, but that's a little trickier. she likes to swim "sweem" in the "pool!" but that usually meant leaning forward and waving her arms around. cute, but needs a lot of work. nissa fell "in" a couple of times, but i tried to keep it down to a minimum. fortunately, it didn't scare her that bad, since she insisted on continuing right where she left off each and every time. adam watched us for a little while, but after two busy days at the beach, he was none too fond of spending all that much time in the sun.

camping: success!

nissa and i took a very brief camping trip this weekend to test out the concept of camping in anticipation of the annual trip to owasippe. i'm happy to report it was a success! we didn't do anything all that involving, but we had fun none the less.

we drove out to stonehouse park, a little less than 2 hours away. we were fortunate to not hit any traffic and nissa was pleasant the whole trip but for the last 15 minutes. being the last 15 minutes, i didn't try too hard to console her and as soon as we arrived, she forgot all about being a crabby mess. everyone fawned over her when we arrived and with some help, i had our tent up and nissa having lunch in no time at all. adam and i are so fortunate to have such a supportive group of friends that welcome children with open arms, despite the lack of "official" parents in the group. how many groups of adults really would welcome a toddler to a campsite? not many, i'd think :D

nissa jumped right in to milling around, watching folks play bags, playing with toys, keeping everyone amused with her antics. we tried to take a nap around our usual time, but no napping actually took place. nissa was hesitant to be in the tent, so i couldn't leave her by herself. but i think with me there, she couldn't get her head around napping. we did manage to spend 90 minutes more-or-less relaxing, so i took that as a win. while there, i noticed she refers to sunglasses as "akis (plural)" now. not sure where that came from, but it's interesting. it was a bit warm in the tent too, so i think that helped keep nissa moving slower that usual. the bugs were kinda brutal at the camp site, with gnats everywhere and mosquitoes a plenty. nissa spent a lot of time with her hand clamped over her nose, to keep the buggers away. she even learned to "shoo" the bugs too. poor little thing. thank goodness someone had "natural" bug spray. nissa smelled like citronella all day long, but it kept the bites at bay. we were hesitant to use the DEET product we had on hand, so the natural product was a relief.

thanks to the bugs, or not, there were an abundance of frogs around to point out to nissa. i know she saw the one near our tent for sure, it was sizable, and she may or may not have understood the fleeing frogs as we approached the pond's edge. i like to have her see one of her favorite animals in real life.

nissa enjoyed the company of our friends' dog, minnie. she's a super sweet lab mix that was a wonderful companion to nissa. nissa picked up from someone to say "minnie, where are you?" as minnie would roam around the campsite. this got shortened by nissa to "are you?" and she'd say this often for the rest of the weekend. oddly enough, once we got home, it changed from minnie to maki (maggie) her cousin. nissa's a big fan of maggie.



nissa "helped" play bags and had fun pulling her frolicking frog around. she even helped peter play guitar. peter was impressed that she'd point to the guitar (she knows that word, of course!) and would say "daddy" since she plays with daddy at home. nissa was a huge fan of peter. he'd lift up his sunglasses and scream "bah" and she'd giggle herself silly. it was so much fun to watch. really, everything peter did was hilarious to nissa.



we had dinner made from over the campfire- roasted hot dogs and foil-packet veggies. i didn't plan that well, so the veggies took forever and nissa was pretty dismissive of them when they were ready. of course she loved the hot dog and enjoyed 2 cheese sticks (one of which she may or may not have shared some with minnie). we tried to roast some marshmallows, but they weren't received well by nissa. maybe because it was late, who knows. all i know is i ended up a sticky mess with marshmallow everywhere; something i couldn't have gotten out of easily without some wonderful help. thank goodness again for these wonderful friends.

we went over to the shower house to brush teeth then were off to bed. we followed our night time routine for the most part and when it came for lights out, there was little argument. there were regular firecrackers going off, which nissa identified as "noise" each time. i knew she was out for the night when the "noise" comment stopped coming, which was only after a few minutes at the most. i think the pitch darkness helped nissa get to sleep quickly with out being too distracted with me there. it got tricky when she'd kinda wake up to reposition, but i would just lay her back down next to me and she was fine. she even slept soundly enough to let me slip out to answer nature's call. nissa woke up around 6 am and was ready to go, asking about minnie and everything. so we had some breakfast and walked over for a shower. this was the fist time we showered together and it worked out ok. nissa's not a big fan of the water, but she tolerated it enough to get the job done. we spent the rest of our time in the tent just relaxing until others at camp started waking up.

we enjoyed a wonderful second breakfast and then i started packing up to go home. we left shortly after noon and made incredible time. nissa slept the whole way home (took only 20 minutes to knock out), but was still a bit tired and i was exhausted. around 4 pm i laid her down for a nap. she didn't actually fall asleep until close to 6, but then astonishingly slept straight through 9 am the next day!

doppelganger

i've never experienced witnessing my own doppelganger, but from what i hear from folklore, that could mean my death, so i guess i'd like to keep it that way. but rick saw my double today and was so convinced he gave me a call, to see why i was out and about in his neck of the woods. alas, i am here at my desk at work and not toting a messenger bag in the burbs. crazy. i'd love to see what i look like to others, to see what my double looks like. i often find i have a very different mental image of myself than how i actually appear, especially as it pertains to my weight/appearance, so i'd like to see myself a others see me in another person to give me a better perspective. not sure how that could ever happen, but it's fun to think about.

while i'm here, i'll jot down some random thoughts pertaining to my lovely child.

last night after dinner, i wanted to take nissa to the park to get some exercise. she's behind on her bm's, so i'm trying everything i can. last time she kinda freaked me out by pausing in the middle of everything to poop- she just glazed over and was dead to the world for a few moments. wacky. so as i am about to get us out the door, she sees gibson's leash and starts tugging on it, yelling "puppy", essentially asking to bring him with. now i find we can do either/or: walk with gibson (usually a lap around horner) or walk to the park (usually over to independence). nissa needs too much of my attention at the park to leave gibson tied up, not to mention i'd feel terribly guilty about gibson. so off to horner we went, with nissa holding onto his leash for most of the walk. we walked up and down our street when we returned, but not to the effect i was hoping. oh well. what makes me laugh while we're at the park is nissa's pointing out of everything going on around us: other puppies, people running, bikes, baseball. yes, she knows all those words and spots them all like a hawk.

when we got back, we called up the grandparents g for a web chat. i left nissa on the desk chair by herself and it worked well! usually i keep her on my lap for the call and she's squirming to get away after no time at all. this time she was much more attentive to her grandparents: saying hi, giving high fives, blowing kisses. she grabbed my cell phone at one point so dad called it up and you should have seen the look on her face! so astonished! hilarious.

after the web chat, it was time to go night-night. lately, nissa's been giving me a hard time about brushing her teeth. she used to just let me do it, then would let me if i gave her a turn, now nothing, so i tried something last night just for kicks.

while nissa had "her" toothbrush around her mouth (kinda brushing teeth, kinda not) i took out the back up toothbrush and worked around her to get everything scrubbed. i can't believe it, but it worked. she didn't do her usual pulling away or clamping down, so i chalked it up to a success. now whether or not it will work tonight is a whole different story!

i feel badly, but we've been having gibson sleep downstairs lately because he's become too difficult to share a bed with. you'd think with a king-sized bed there would be plenty of room, but that would mean we'd all have to take a spot. gibson is a pack animal thru and thru, so he has to sleep right next to one of us, which inevitably turns into paws in the back/stomach/face of one or both of us. with the new sleeping arrangements, he's taken opportunities to snuggle more seriously. here he is with adam the other day:



now, it's not all bad. i usually find him sleeping on the couch, which is totally comfy and wonderful.