Beginning the End of Summer

Maliana ~

So we began this week with a visit to Daddy’s endocrinologist, our annual hurrah with Dr. Larrimer to make sure everything is ok. Then off to dinner with Memaw and Papaw where you were in a great mood and such a chatty Kathy the whole time, asking us to tell you stories of ourselves as babies, and then about you as a baby. In that spirit, we came home and watched videos together from 2009, when you first came home with us. Oh my! You were such a cute and funny little baby! It was really fun to get those old videos back out again.

We also noticed this week that our garden is still coming up with surprises. The sunflowers are beginning to bloom and when I measured them, they stand at a little over 10 feet! Wow! As strange as having ten foot tall sunflowers right outside our front door is, it definitely makes us smile when we leave the house.

It’s been cooling off (finally!) and so you and I decided to take a bike ride in the evening air. You love checking stuff out from the back of my bike and while we didn’t stumble upon any turtles this time, you did make me stop, turn around, and go back to a little field so you could pick me some flowers. You are too sweet.

you are so thoughtful

Once home, our neighbors were out and Mr. Mark began teasing you (as usual), which ended in a water fight. I love that you enjoy being teased and tricked (in good fun of course). You can dish stuff out with the best of them (a huge ornery streak runs through your veins), but you can also totally take it right back as well. This is a plus living next door to Mr. Mark, the “King of Teasing”.

a stand off ~ hose vs. water gun

So, you and Daddy bonded this week over the Beastie Boys. Coming home from an outing with him, you both were jamming to “So Whatcha Whatcha Whatcha Want”. This love for their music has carried over into your telling me you want a Beastie car for Christmas (not quite sure but I think it has something to do with letting you watch their video “Sabotage”. You are too funny. After repeated questioning, I still can’t quite figure out what a Beastie car is in your mind. I guess we’ll let Santa worry about that.

And a little sidebar, I realized this week that you know how to type in my 7 letter password to the laptop, all. by. yourself. WTH? You’re such a smartie.

So, I went to the library and came across a cool craft book and brought it home. We decided to try out the ice catcher craft one night and so headed into the woods with your wagon for a treasure hunt. You (and Abby) LOVED exploring the trails, and you insisted on me calling you Captain Mali as you led the way. I vow next time we’ll leave the wagon behind since it got pretty tough to lug through the weeds and over tree roots.

not even into the woods yet and we've already
found some good stuff for our project

doing a little off roading

Captain Mali ~ our fearless leader

putting all of our goodies together into a tin with some

water and a piece of twine tied to a rock, then stick it

in the freezer, and wait until morning, then...

(we’ll save this in our freezer and then

pull it out in the middle of winter for

a little reminder of summer!)

Our weekend kickoff included a road trip to Marysville for the All Ohio Hot Air Balloon Festival. We had no idea what to expect but it was so much fun! Perfect weather, great music, yummy food, and gorgeous ginormous balloons. I loved watching you get inspired by the music and let loose, completing weirding off to the 80’s cover band. At the height of your silly dancing (you even pulled out your “crazy legs” move) and completely bizarre behavior, just laughing and loving life, it hit me once again…oh, you are so our kid! You even inspired me and so you and I danced together for quite a while, in the middle of the crowd, not even caring who was watching. You were pretty bummed when it was time to leave, and the next morning on the way to Tang Soo Do, you told me (completely unprompted), “Mom, I loved that festival last night!”

look who Daddy found!

the awesome band! all 80's cover music!

this "train" ride was pretty cool, but you refused to do anything
else after we bought you your wrist band for the kids' area...
alas, this was your $7 ride



mmmm...frozen cheesecake on a stick

dancing and spinning with Mommy

still feeling a little dizzy...ha ha

As for other things talked about on the way to Tang Soo Do, I got a little more insight into why you are so averse to dresses or other “pretty” or “fancy” things. It started with my wanting you to wear your flip flops (with the pretty jewels on top) to TSD (since they’re easier to slip on and off). You agreed to wear them but said you didn’t want to wear them into the do jang. When I asked why you said it was because everyone will say, “Aww, they’re so pretty!” We talked a little more and while you do like to “be pretty”, I realized that you get embarrassed by compliments. I guess I should clarify that a bit though. You seem to love compliments when we talk about something you can do (remarking on your ability to hide while playing hide and seek (with you even exclaiming at times “I’m the best hider in the world!”), playing guitar, break-dancing, or otherwise rocking out, running, riding your bike, kicking or punching in TSD, etc), but you dislike when the focus is solely on your appearance. With all of the gender stereotyped pitfalls that are out there, limiting kids (and adults alike) and putting them in boxes instead of letting them spread their wings and embrace all aspects of themselves, I love that you seem to be building your self-worth from your abilities rather than your appearance. I hope you can continue to do this as you grow older, and particularly maintain this ability in your teen years. It’s a more important skill than you could ever imagine. Once again, you amaze me child. You really do.

After we wrapped up your TSD lesson, we relaxed for a bit before heading off to Innis Woods with Lao Lao. We had such fun there last weekend, we just had to go back on this gloriously mild Saturday afternoon. You discovered the joys of doing tree rubbings as we brought your bug box and plenty of paper and crayons. You had quite the collection of textures captured on the papers by the time we left.

water fight!

bringing me a black-eyed susan

Lao Lao teaching you how to sniff herbs
in the beautiful herb garden

Finally by Sunday, we were pooped. Daddy had worked all day and night on Saturday, so we all stayed in and had a lazy day. Daddy and I did chores around the house while you worked on your art projects and played with your toys. By late afternoon, and after a wonderful family nap (ahh, I love lazy Sundays), Audrey Ayi came over and we all had dinner together. Once our bellies were full, we had a rousing game of hide and seek, complete with “monkey bombs” (which is basically figuring out where someone is hiding, then taking this obnoxious monkey that wiggles and maniacally sings “Jingle Bells” and throwing it into their hiding place and running away) and lots and lots of screaming! It was the perfect end to a super week.  

yeah baby, this is how we roll...
"normal" is definitely over-rated!

Love,
Mama