The End of Summer

Hi Sidra,

Well you and i have had a terrific summer. I want to thank you for that. We will have other summers, of course, but it will be hard to beat the experiences we had this year. It's been a gas showing you new stuff and watching you change by the day. Our nearly nightly bike rides are going to be missed.

You know in the last post I said that you and your mom charmed the ship's captain into letting you take the wheel of the ship. In that case your mom definitely helped you out. However, even that afternoon as we meandered through Saturday Market I watched with interest how people are charmed by you. I've seen it in many different situations. I raise the issue because I hope that it is a quality that you use for good and not selfishly. I can see that you will be able to steer people into doing things that you want them to do. I just hope that you will use that power judiciously and not manipulate others too much. I guess it will be up to us as parents to help you use your influence in the right way.

Another feeling that I have as the summer comes to a close is that it is all passing by so quickly. Right now I feel like I'm at the controls of the Millennium Falcon as it pauses slightly before hitting lightspeed and making everything a blur. When I return to school this week all our time together will be compressed and we won't have much time to savor anything until next summer. I will have some time off when your new sister arrives but then of course it will be different.

I thought I would share with you some of the expressions you are using now as your language skill improves constantly. You used to say 'hold you' all the time and now you are saying 'can you hold me?' instead. You are also saying 'what should we do?' quite frequently now. Another favorite is 'will you play a game with me?' and your favorite game is The Ladybug Game. When you are hungry you say 'I want something' and we're supposed to know that it means you want something to eat. But you have also learned to say nicely 'please may I have __' although you use it sporadically. 'What did you do?' is another frequent question.

The two pictures here are you in the bumper boats at the Enchanted Forest and you being pushed on the swing by Cooper.

I notice that I've been posting like crazy this month compared to any other time. I hope it won't be another month before I make another post. You are starting your pre school in a about a week and I will surely want to report on that.

Love, Aba

Captain Sidra

Hi Sidra,

Summer is winding down but we have saved the best for last. We've had some pretty cool experiences just in the last few days. Two days ago we visited my grown up daughter Becky and her family in Bend. She has a school like the one you are going to attend soon and a HORSE! So, you got to sit on the horse and 'ride' for a few seconds. You also got to jump on a big trampoline and generally hang out with Cooper and Ivan who are actually my grandchildren.

Yesterday we took you and your friend Logan to the Enchanted Forest which is a theme based amusement park. You looked in the rabbit hole, but couldn't go all the way through it(neither could I, but Logan did) , slid down the witches mouth and the old woman who lived in a shoe, rode the train, ferris wheel, bumper boats, and frog hopper.

Today was the fifth anniversary for your mom and me. We went on a lunch cruise on the Willamette river in Portland. It was pretty fun, you had terrific time. You got to steer the boat! A big cruise ship with 250 people on board. We went up to the bridge near the end of the cruise and you and your mom turned on the charm and pretty soon you were in the captain's chair.





Oh, you also became 2 and 2/3 years of age today, so we talked about that. I'll post my thoughts about the ending of summer tomorrow or the next day.

Love,
Aba

OUCH

Hi Sidra,

You had a little tumble yesterday. It had to happen sooner or later but here's how it went down. You and I were on our bikes and your mom was walking with Jesse, our dog. We were going up and down driveways in the cul-de-sac one block down from our house. Your mom actually left the house a little behind us and was looking for us. She wanted to walk further down the street but we wanted to show her what we'd been doing. You were wanting to show off for her, I think. So, you went a little faster than you had been and your front wheel got wobbly and out of control and you went over the top of the handlebars and did a bit of a face plant.

As you can see in the pictures you have a fat lip. You bled a little and were pretty shook up but recovered after eating some pudding and a popsicle. I wasn't too worried about your teeth after seeing you bite on the popsicle.

I guess you're not too scared to get back on your bike because we went for another ride this morning and you seemed fine with it. You did begin by repeating several times your mother's words 'no more hills.' I said you could go back on the hills when you felt ready.

Love,
aba.

On Stage

Hi Sidra,

it's been a month since we did the open mic night with your mom. We had a another one last night and we did the same thing, helping your mom set things up and then you were first to perform, and then you and I went for pizza while the others were performing.

But this time we decided to bring the camera and record your performance. You hogged the mic for about 7 minutes but I trimmed it down to about a minute to post here. You are quite the ham.

Also, this week we took you to Oaks Amusement Park. You enjoyed that quite a bit. You asked immediately to go back. You were clearly exhausted, as your mother and I were too, but as we were leaving you wanted to go back for more. We promised another visit on another day. You liked the slide the most, I suppose, because we went back to repeat that several times. You also rode the Ferris wheel, the kiddie cars and planes, the tugboat, the miniature train, the balloons, and the carousel.

And, we are still in the early stages of the big girl bed, so there's another episode of that to report. We started trying to get you to bed/sleep at about 9:30 last night. Your mom read you some books, then I laid in bed with you and read my book for a while. During that reading, you were supposed to lay still and try to sleep. You were grabbing my pages, poking me in the eye, and generally flopping around. I said you had to stop or I was leaving and closing the door. You persisted so I had to follow through. You were upset, we compromised on a half closed door. Your mom went and laid down with you for a while. She finally came out and we began watching our 'adult' movie, behind our closed door. You soon appeared peeking around the door as you cracked it open. Instead of finding mom there the first thing you see is mean old dad, and I said
'Sidra, you have to go back to your room.' You tried once more a couple minutes later and then apparently gave up and went to bed. We checked on you about 20 minutes later and you were asleep.

Love, Aba

The Big Girl Bed

Hi Sidra,

We have moved you to the big girl bed. We have been thinking about it for a while and thought you were ready but were waiting until after our guests had been here. That was about the fact that we wanted to have two beds in the guest room. Now we've moved the beds around so you have the twin bed in your room and the crib went to the guest room.

Anyway, as I write this you are completing your second night in the big girl bed. It must be working well because you've done two nights in a row spending the whole night in your bed. Well, yesterday you didn't stay in your bed until you got up because your mom needed to go get you and bring you into bed with her about 7 in the morning. See, when you were sleeping in your crib, every night you would wake up and call for us to come get you. We've wondered if in the big girl bed you would just get up and come in to our room. But, so far you haven't.

We've also worried that you won't stay in bed when it's time to go to bed. The first night was a challenge but you did pretty good and last night you were really tired because you didn't nap yesterday.

You have been pretty excited about the whole thing. Yesterday you were actually playing some pretend games with the bed. We are also trying to get you on schedule for getting up in time for pre school soon. So,
because of that, I need to finish this and wake you up.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 4

Hi Sidra,

Well, today was the last full day that the Brookline girls will be here. We took them to some of our favorite spots again. The weather finally got a little better and there would be nice views up on Mt. Hood, so we went to Timberline Lodge to get a close look at that mountain and a long look at some others.

In one picture if you look really carefully over Grace's left shoulder you will see Mt. Jefferson. There was a little haze in the air so you have to work hard to make it out. In the other mountain picture you'll see Mt. Hood, the highest peak in Oregon. Mt. Jefferson is the second highest peak in the state. We were at a vantage point just a shade over 6000 feet above sea level. I told the girls that they were higher than any point in their home state. Nearly 3000 feet higher, it turns out.

Inside the Lodge at Timberline we ran across the mascot of the place, Bruno. He's a big St. Bernard that hangs out there. You all enjoyed showing him some love.

On the way home from the mountain we stopped at a local attraction that we like. It is the miniature train right here in Sandy. You've enjoyed this little activity a couple of times and we thought our visitors would too. They did and for the first time you rode with someone other than me on the train. Your cousin Rachel helped you ride.

When we got home the sun fooled us into thinking that it might be a good time to swim in the backyard pool. It wasn't very warm, though, and the water was really cold. You finally were able to stand in the pool for a whole minute and your cousins did last a little longer, but not much.

It's going to be a sad departure in the morning. We've all had a good time with our visitors here this week and all wish it could last longer. This week will make us want to make the trip east for a visit next summer.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 3

Hi Sidra,

We had a another big day with your eastern cousins. They spent the night in a tent at cousin Rachel's house. That was big for them. It was kids only in the tent, and adults only in the house. It may have been a cool night but everyone survived, even the dog Buddy who kept watch over the girls in the tent.

We then went east over the mountains to find sunnier skies and warmer water. We treated the Thompson girls to a visit to the hot springs swimming pool at Kahneetah. You've been to Kahneetha several times and almost always have had a good time. The water is a balmy 90+ and there is a slide that is the right size for you. Being Saturday it was a little crowded but that didn't dampen the girl power.

You did some good starfish floats, Mia went down the biggest slide, and Grace did some really good floats and strokes. On the trip over you watched Finding Nemo to get in the mood for swimming.

It turned out to be a good day to make that trip because the weather was cool and gray here but sunny and warm over there.




Our visitors are here for one more full day so we are going to do our best to show them more of a good time.

Love, aba

Girl Power Volume 2

Hi Sidra,

We had another great day with the girls from Brookline. First we went to the Japanese Gardens. Your mom had gotten passes for us from our local library. She is pretty good with that sort of thing, seeking out good things for you to do and then finding out the way to make it happen. Actually, your cousin Mia apparently requested the visit to this place and your mom pursued it.

It's not the most kid friendly place and there's really no action stuff there, but you girls still had a good time. We got a little treasure map that showed interesting things to look for and hunting them kept our interest up. It was cool because the map was a little vague and that made it more of an adventure when we solved the mystery. At least it did for me because I had the map but when I found something on it I would show you girls what it was and how it related to the map. We also got a couple of nice photos of you in some scenic spots. In one, the four of you are standing with a downtown Portland vista behind you. In another you are standing in front of the Pagoda Latern, according to the treasure map.

After we'd been at the gardens awhile we were all hungry and we left to find something to eat. That brought us to NW 23rd avenue in Portland and gave your mom a chance to show her cousin Dina some trendy shops. We ate at Noah's Bagels and then went back up the hill to the zoo.

We enjoyed showing the brookline girls around the zoo. We saw the mountain goats, bears, bobcat, eagles, turtles, beaver, lizards, petted some sheep in the petting zoo, polar bears, and then came to the Lorikeet landing. We got three cups of juice for the lorikeets and went in their cage. Grace got a bird to land on her wrist first, but she flinched and it flew right back to the tree. The competition for feeding the birds was tough because there were many others that wanted to do what we were doing and the birds were being fed seeds by the zoo keepers. But, we were patient and you and I got a bird to come to my hand and stay for a couple of minutes. It was long enough for your mom to get the camera out and take several pictures.

You did a great job keeping up and not complaining too much. You were pretty beat by the time we finished at the zoo and conked out probably before we left the parking lot.

Well, the girls are here for a few more days, so there's more to come.

Love, aba

Girl Power

Hi Sidra,

Here I am, outnumbered 5 to 1 by girls, 6 to 1 if you include the new baby to come. But you are enjoying the company of your cousins from Brookline. Mia, Grace and their mother Dina are here for the week. Today we went to a children's museum in Salem. We had planned to take our guests hiking on Mt. Hood but the weather was not good for that.

You had a great time playing at the museum, going down the slide, making bubbles, looking at magnets, playing in the blacklight rooms, dressing up, playing market, and also riding the carousel.

Tonight when we got home you were showing off with your bike, in just your underwear.

Last night you were pretty wired after having the visitors here for the first day and had trouble getting to sleep. You and I were kicked out of mom's bed and had to sleep in the other room. You asked me to sing songs to help you go to sleep and then asked me to stop after singing about 3 songs.

We have more fun stuff planned while your cousins are here, tomorrow we will visit the Japanese gardens and probably the zoo. There is a plan for all you girls to sleep in a tent at Uncle Aaron's house in a couple days, but we'll see how that turns out.

More soon,
Love, aba