Nudist!

Hi Sidra,

It’s been way too long since the last post. My excuse three weeks ago was that I was really busy with the end of the school year and graduation. Now I can’t use that excuse. I will say that part of the delay is the difficulty I’ve had with my video editing equipment. I got some new software which I believed would result in better quality in the videos, but I haven’t got it to work yet, and now can’t even get the old method to work. So, no videos at the moment.

Enough about my problems. As you can see from the pictures on this post it is summer now. You’ve been having some fun in your wading pool and going to swimming lessons. The lessons are at the sports club where your mom works. You really like the water. You get excited as soon as you see your swimsuit and are always excited to go in the pool. The water is sort of cool though, and you always end up shivering after about 20 minutes. You like to jump in from a sitting position on the side of the pool. Sometimes you will jump in from standing on the side, but if we put you up on the pool deck on your feet, you’re just as likely to run over to the stairs as jump back in. Last night you allowed me to use the paddle board and ‘noodle’ to float you for the first time. When floating on your back, I asked you to do ‘snow angels’ with your legs and you did well with that.

You are pretty good with the signs (language) that you’ve been taught but we need to get you a new video so you can learn some new stuff. You are getting pretty good at talking now, too. When I ask you to tell me what some signs mean, you will say the word instead. You can say, mama, daddy, go, ball, bubble, yeah, no, yellow, orange, hi, hot dog, kitty, keys, cheese, all done, and pooh (as in Winnie the). There may be others that slip my mind at the moment. Some are not recognizable to others but we get it because we hear them a lot. You also say “E,” “I,” “O” and “A” pretty well, getting all the vowels except U. In fact, you like to yell these letters, and we encourage it. One day riding home in the bike trailer from swimming lessons you started yelling the letters and we had a little shouting match going.

Anyway, the speech is really changing fast. You pick up new words pretty well. So, the list might be different by tomorrow.

Some other stuff you’ve been making progress on are the stairs. We’ve sort of relaxed about having the barrier at the top of the stairs, because you’re pretty good at going up and down on them. Now, we’re more likely to put up the barrier just to keep you from going downstairs. Also you have a couple of scooters or trikes that you are figuring out how to ride. I have put on you on the trike, and stood behind you and held your feet on the pedals, pushing them around. You seem to get the idea of pushing the pedals to make it go, but your legs just aren’t long enough to do it yet. The other one is what used to be called a hobby horse before pedal bikes were invented. You sit on it and propel yourself with your feet in a walking motion. You’re pretty good with that one but you don’t stay on it too long. Another thing you do is a bit of a gallop or dance. You hold your hands up and sort of skip along. It’s a happy signal.

Well, I wanted to have some video of you talking and dancing and doing signs by now, but it will have to wait until I get those problems solved. For now we will have to be satisfied with your nudist pictures. I figure this is your summer to be naked. In another year you might be embarrassed to be outside without clothes but now you don’t care and may even relish it.

Love, Aba