beach. finally.

this weekend was the first successful trip for nissa and i to the beach and we had a great time. daddy helped out with the arrangements, and we enjoyed a couple of hours on the sand (with a few brief trips into the water to cool off). nissa was so excited to go to the beach (beak, as she said it) she was having a fit that we needed to back into the car after visiting daddy before we could go to the beach. she said "beach" every few seconds as we walked from the car to the gate and when i asked if i could go to the potty first, i got a very decisive "no." um, ok then. it was a nearly perfect beach day: warm sun (but not too beastly hot or humid), cool water (refreshing, easy to walk into), a soft breeze and a not-too-crowded beach. nissa enjoyed the "sandy" the most- putting it into buckets, using her shovel and rake, squishing any sand shapes i made with the fish or tower forms we had. i think the water was a bit too cool for her, as she really wasn't interested in splashing, kicking or swimming as she usually is with water. she did enjoy me getting her water in the watering can and then sprinkling the sand with it. i think the only reason we made a successful exit from the beach was because she was hungry. after about 2 hours, i asked her if she wanted some food and i got a very big yes. i rinsed off the toys, packed up our blanket and then we rinsed ourselves off in the water. i got a lot of "food?" from nissa, so she was very excited when we finally got our hot dogs in hand, followed by some blueberries in the car.

it's funny to write about stuff now, because i can hear her little voice in my head rattling off the words as i write them. "blueberry" and "sandy" and "rake" and all the others. i used to be able to list out the words she new and i don't think i could even attempt it now. she understands so much and learns new things so quickly, it is truly amazing to witness. i think she may even be "counting" now, because if we see 2 things in a row, she'll say 2 _____, like 2 window as we were walking down the gangway. she'll say something that sounds like "one, two three" before "go!" as she gets ready to push her cars or take off speed walking (also, "1, 2, 3, jump!" is a popular one: 'gump' is more like it, though). she knows the names of 2 numbers (5 and 8) and knows "O" and "P" too. we sing the alphabet song frequently and sometimes she'll sing it to herself "a, a, a, c, p", which is cute. (she'll start the happy birthday song too "happy, happy" and i'll sing it with her.) the playground we enjoy has a bard with the alphabet carved into the plastic, with the braille version below, and we sang the song there a bunch of times. after we finish each time, nissa will usually point to a few letters, then ask "again?" or should i say demand? whatever.

saturday we had a fun time in the morning at the playground (with the alphabet) and nissa really ran around a lot, climbing, sliding, swinging, the works. she's getting really good at climbing the ladder by the monkey bars, and likes it when i left her up so she can swing and kick her legs. she's such a strong little thing. i should probably follow her lead and work on my own strength too! after that, she took a good nap (all according to plan, ha ha!) and we were off to alexa's birthday party. we arrived as food was served, so while we ate, all nissa wanted to do was go "outside!" to play with the other kids. when we finally made it out, nissa occupied herself with the bags toss (as did another smaller boy) but seemed to enjoy watching some older boys toss the football around. a couple of times nissa got to the ball (either by it not getting caught, or being handed the ball), so i told her to take it to the boy on the opposite side (i suggested throwing it, but she seemed wiser than that). the boys were very kind about it, showing much more compassion than i would have expected. soon she found an older girl (one of the nieces) and she took her by the hand (she'll say "hand" and hold out hers) and took her to the door, asking to inside. i took her in, where we enjoyed alexa's playroom full of goodies. nissa especially enjoyed the eyore rocker and a rolling horse. we even got to spend some time with the birthday girl herself. oh, and you know how most kids, after spending an afternoon playing at a party, will knock out for the car ride home? oh no, not nissa. she yelled and squealed the entire 45 minute car ride home. i think most of it was to compete with the din of driving in the van, but she showed NO signs of being quiet, much less sleep.

on a side note, nissa is going through an interesting affectionate stage that i'm kinda digging. with me, at least. occasionally out of nowhere, she'll ask for a kiss or a hug (usually a hug), sometimes followed by a high five. her kisses are on the lips and with exaggerated sound effects (mmmmmmuah!). love it.

we've been working on thumbs up for a while and we are getting closer. before, she'd hold up her index finger. . . now she'll make an L with her thumb and index. we're so close!