Beating the Heat

Hi Sidra,

We've had some really hot weather lately. You've been spending a lot of time in the water. You have been going to swimming lessons in the mornings, and hanging out in our backyard pool a lot of the remainder of the day. One evening, we were even out in the pool until about 11 pm. I think that was the night that I had to umpire some softball games. You have learned to greet me when I am returning from such a job in a way that every umpire would love to be greeted. You say, 'Hi dad, did you do some good umping?' I always respond in the affirmative, regardless of what I heard during the games.

As has been the pattern for most of the last year, it is hard to write about your accomplishments because you invariably top them soon after they are documented. But a couple of days ago I suggested that while in the pool you jump over me without your 'noodle' for floatation. Once you tried you then kept doing it repeatedly. In the video, we are trying to embellish that skill by asking you to kick and extend your arms. You are doing very well with it.

The singing part was your own idea. Once your mom got out the camera to get some swimming footage, you broke out in your favorite song. In fact, it wasn't easy to convince you to sing something else. I don't know how A, B, C became your favorite, but you sing it a lot. We did manage to get Bingo in there, too.

Your progress in the potty department has been a little more frustrating. It seems to me that you have the skills necessary for it, but we haven't given you the right incentive. But the trying has given you the circumstance to say one of the cute things that you say. When you need to put your underwear on I put them on the floor in front of you while you are sitting. You say, 'can you say the words?' Which means you want me to say, 'this foot goes in this hole and this foot goes in this hole and the tag goes in back.'

There are also pictures here from a recent trip we took to Bonneville Dam. One shows you watching a wild steelhead passing the viewing window in the fish ladder. In the other one you are tossing fish food to the trout in the trout pond.




Love,
aba

A night on the town

Hi Sidra,
I just wanted to write you thanks for our night out on the town tonight. It wasn't really formal but you were a pretty good date. We helped your mom set up for an event in the park, and then walked over to get a couple of slices of pizza a few blocks away.

Before we left your mom you began the evening by being the first performer in your mom's event, an open mike night. You sang the a, b, c song and 'twinkle, twinkle, little star.' You also told the small audience your name and age when prompted. This didn't surprise me until I heard the 4 year old and 6 year old that followed you. Neither of them could finish the a, b, c song accurately. Anyway, you wowed the crowd with your presence, enhanced by the killer red dress. It should be noted that you didn't wear the shoes in the picture out. They are 'dress up' shoes that are still a few sizes too big.

You were really good at the pizza stand, too. You were happy with cheese pizza, didn't complain about my clothes, climbed into the high chair on your own and were convinced that water in a paper cup was better than the water we brought in your water bottle. You did lose a couple of points though, by asking me to stop singing along to the classic rock songs they had playing on the radio.

When we got home you topped it off by inviting me to go on a bike ride with you. You know that's always a hit with me. You impressed some of the neighbors as you tooled along in your red dress.

It was a really nice evening. It almost made me forget about this morning's manipulations. You and your mom were in a power struggle about eating enough breakfast before you both went off to music class. After two trips to time out and being told you'd be left behind you finally polished off the meager morsels you'd been asked to eat. THEN, you wanted to finish with 'yay, Sidra.' Nothing doing. I'm still not convinced we won that episode.

I forgot to include some statistics in an earlier post. At age 2½, you were 35 3/4 inches tall, weighed 30 pounds, and had head circumference of 50.5cm. The height and weight were a little under the median for your age but you seem to have a big head. For now we are chalking that up to a larger than normal brain.

I'm loving being able to spend a lot of time with you this summer.

Love, aba

Competition

hi Sidra,

Two days ago you entered your first competition and everyone learned a little something about how things may go for you in future competitions. We learned some things about you and about ourselves.
The event was the 'bike derby' for kids that is part of the local Mountain Festival. Your mom was once the director of this event and was assisting the current director. You competed in the 3 and under age group and you raced about 30 meters. You may have had the best coaching available, since your mom and I know a little bit about the event and began telling you about it 2-3 days ahead of time. You were also the only one in your heat on a 'runner' bike. The others were all on three wheelers. Anyway, you won the event and had a big smile afterward. I had a really strong reaction to seeing you win, I guess pride is the best description of what I was feeling.

Your mom and I were laughing at each other afterward at our competitiveness and how we reacted to what happened. As I said before, you won your heat and we had discussed wondering how you would have done against the winner of the other heat. I didn't see that heat because I was chasing you down since you continued around the track after your race. We had noticed in the 'warm ups' that there was another kid with a runner bike that looked pretty capable on it. Your mom and I joked with each other that you're only 2½ and we're thinking like 'on to the regionals!'

At that point I thought that your mom and I pretty close in our level of 'little league parent' syndrome. That was before I saw and heard the video she took of the race. I will let the readers and viewers decide who is the greater fanatic. The video is presented twice, once with a music soundtrack and once with naked audio.

I have to say that my thoughts as a watched you get ready for the race with the other kids I was reminded of a passage in Bill Strickland's book 'Ten Points.' He describes a situation that you and I may be destined to recreate in a few years. He and his daughter were at the start of a charity bike ride. They were going to ride with him on a regular bike and his daughter on a 'trail a bike' behind him. His daughter had looked over the other participants and said 'Dad, we can beat these guys.' He cringed, of course, knowing that confidence in competition is both good and best kept to oneself. I can see that same scene playing out in our future.

Another thought that struck me in the aftermath is that I know we will continue to give you chances to compete and I hope that you enjoy that. I hope that whatever stress you feel to succeed comes from within and not from pressure exerted by others. Just know that we will do whatever we can to help you reach your goals and will be your biggest cheerleaders.

The captions to the pictures: 1) Lounging with uncle Ben, 2) Ribbons from the bike derby, 3) a little mini train ride we went on right here in Sandy with cousin Rachel.

Enjoy the video,
love, Aba