Samantha: 27 Months, Week 1 {Witty Comments, Weird Week of Potty Accidents, and a Friday Night Baseball Game}

Monday of this week, Samantha and I just played at home, went grocery shopping, and watched Daniel Tiger on TV.  After a weekend away, even extroverts need time to themselves to decompress and re-energize.  It's fun seeing Samantha enjoying her toys and being creative in her play.  For awhile she went through a phase where she was kind of bored of her toys, but now she seems to come up with new ways to play with them.  Samantha was also a big fan of watching Daniel Tiger on TV.  We have the PBS Kids app on our iPad and have watched some shows on there, but never on TV.  I don't think she even realized that show could be on TV.  Out of all the kid shows to like, Daniel Tiger's not half bad.  They have cute little songs that go with each show to teach the lesson of the day.  They seem to actually be teaching them values, and I like how it's a flashback of Mister Roger's Neighborhood which I'm sure I watched a lot as a kid.

I forget exactly when it was this week, but Samantha and I were sitting at the dining room table, and she was looking at my wedding ring.  She said, "What is that?"  I said, "That's my ring.  Daddy gave it to me when he asked me to marry him.  They're diamonds."  After a pause, Samantha replies, "No, they're circles."  I just had to laugh.  Yes, Samantha, thank you for the geometry lesson.  Your math teacher Grandma would be proud.

Then, on Monday while we were eating lunch, Samantha offered some of her food to me, and I said, "No, that's for you.  I have my own."  Then Samantha said, "Daddy?" and looks around to find Daddy.  Since he wasn't there, as he was on campus working, she then looks up at his picture on the wall, holds out her food to him, and said, "You want some Daddy?"  The way her little mind works constantly amazes me.  She connects so many things together that it is unbelievable to me at times.

On Tuesday we had Sadie with us for the day, and I took the girls to the library again for story time.  I packed everything in one diaper bag, grabbing only what I needed from my purse and sticking it in the diaper bag, as well as keeping Sadie in the car seat and pushing her in the stroller.  The library time went well.  Sadie was happy in the stroller for most of story time, giving me a chance to sit on the rug and interact with Samantha more, and we even had a chance to play in the non-walker area of the playroom.  I never let Samantha go in there normally, but since we had Sadie, it was a special occasion.

The only time I find challenging dealing with both girls at the same time is right around lunch time.  Samantha starts to get hungry, tired, and much less cooperative.  I had a hard time getting her out of the library and walking out to the car.  Then, when we got back home she wouldn't try to use the potty even though she hadn't gone all morning.  When I was trying to get her upstairs for nap time, she wouldn't go up the stairs by herself when I was already holding Sadie.  I'm not quite sure what to do to help with these transition times, but I find myself losing my patience with Samantha, wishing that she would cooperate more and be more helpful.  It's funny how when you have kids, parts of your personality come out that you didn't even know existed, some beautiful, some ugly.  This hour or so of my day, I felt ugly.  I don't want to lose my patience with my daughter and react out of anger.  I want to react in a loving, patient way, like God does with us when we refuse to do what He is directing us to do.  I find that I realize my need for God's grace even more as a parent.  I'm glad that His grace abounds.

Hamburgers sounded really good to both Daddy and me on Tuesday night, so we decided to go to Five Guys for dinner on Tuesday night.  We haven't been there in a really long time, and it definitely satisfied our cravings.  Samantha had grilled cheese and shared fries with us.  Well, when she first got a look at her fry, which is made from a real potato and still has the skin on it in certain places, she looked at it strangely and said, "Get the potato off my french fry for me!"  Hilarious!  The things that come out of this girl's mouth just crack us up so much lately.

Weekday mornings are nice around our house because we have been getting up around 6:30 to shower and get ready for the day, giving us enough time to read our Bibles and have some quiet time before Sadie arrives and Samantha wakes up.  It makes our mornings much more peaceful.  When Daddy was ready to leave for the morning, he gave Samantha a hug and a kiss, like normal.  But after he left the house and closed the door, Samantha yelled, "I have one more hug for you!"  She then ran to the door, and I opened it for her.  She yelled to Daddy, "I have one more hug for you!"  Daddy then dropped his stuff in the car and came back to get another hug and kiss from his little girl.  I'm pretty sure this made his day.  He will always come back for another hug and kiss.

On Wednesday we spent the morning at the Banneker Center.  It worked out really well because I fed Sadie a bottle before we left and she fell asleep in the car, staying asleep in her car seat attached to the stroller for the first hour and half we were there.  When we first got there, we were the only ones there so Samantha had the run of the place.  She played with her favorite thing: the cars.  But also played with dress up clothes, dollies, books, and ponies.  You can see in the picture and video below that Samantha is driving around Curious George in her little pink car.  They are a good pair.  :)

  

After playing for awhile, Samantha wanted a snack at the tables like the other kids there.  At that same time, Sadie woke up too, so I went to get her out of the car seat.  Just as I was walking back to Samantha, I saw her wetting her pants.  There was nothing I could do because I was holding Sadie and the bathroom was way down on the first floor.  I tried to keep my cool, but I apparently looked flustered because another mom asked if there was anything she could do to help me.  I appreciated that.  I placed Sadie back in the car seat and walked with Samantha to the slowest elevator in the world, to ride down to the bottom floor, to go to the bathroom.  Samantha had gotten pretty wet, refused to sit on the potty, Sadie was starting to cry, and I was getting more and more overwhelmed and frustrated.  Just like I mentioned earlier in this blog, this was another of my not so pretty moments as a mother.  Accidents happen, and Samantha has only been potty trained for two months, but sometimes I forget that and expect her to be perfect at letting us know when she has to go potty.  This is something I have always struggled with as a woman, as a wife, and now as a mom.  I expect perfection from myself and sometimes others.  I have way too high of expectations, so much so that they are pretty much impossible to meet.  I don't want to put unrealistic expectations on Samantha.  I don't want her to feel like she is disappointing me.  I have been praying lately that God would help me with these expectations, that I would see how He created me just the way I am, and that I would be happy with the way things are instead of always wishing or wondering if I could have done things differently.

Thursday morning we had french toast because I didn't have Sadie that day.  We had never made french toast for Samantha before, and she was a pretty big fan.  We cut it up into pieces for her and as she was eating she found one, lifted it up and said, "This looks like a seahorse."  She was just playing with it, making it look like it was swimming, so I said, "Can you eat it now?"  Then, Samantha replied, "We should go on a date first."  Hahaha!  Where does this girl come up with these witty responses.  I think she got that part of her personality from her Daddy. :)

We had a fun evening planned on Friday night.  Samantha has been asking to go back to another Indianapolis Indians game and see fireworks, so we had plans to go, and Ben's parents were going to meet us there.  Now, Samantha didn't watch too much of the game because she was too busy going on walks with Mommy, then Grandma, then Grandpa, and then Daddy.  We had a good time except for the fact that early on, when I was taking Samantha for a walk, she had another accident.  I of course didn't have anything with me since we were just taking a walk.  I tried to get her to sit on the potty, but we didn't have her potty seat and she doesn't like to sit on toilets without her potty seat.  So, we walked back to our spot and got her bag and then back to bathroom we went to change her clothes.  Again, I was very frustrated because we had just taken her to the potty five minutes before she had her accident, but she refused to go, saying that she didn't have to.  This was so odd to me because she really has been doing so well with potty training.  Then, more feelings of doubt began creeping in, like why does she tell Daddy she has to go potty but not me (which isn't even true) or maybe I am not approaching her in the right way or maybe we potty trained her too early before she was ready.  All these doubts because I don't trust the gifts and abilities God has given me as a mother.  

Anyways, here is a picture from the baseball game.  We all had a really good time.  Samantha enjoyed hiding under the blanket with Grandma, cuddling under my jacket for part of the game, and running around in the grass when it was getting close to the end of the game.  Daddy took her to get "Flynn Rowdie's" signature on a ticket, and everyone enjoyed watching the fireworks display.  The game ran a little longer and later than usual, but luckily, Samantha fell asleep in the car before we even got out of the parking garage.

Saturday morning we were all pretty tired from staying out so late at the baseball game.  We had a late pancake breakfast and then went to our favorite Bloomington place: the farmer's market.  We had a great time walking around, picking out fresh fruit and vegetables to take home with us.  We even bought an orange watermelon which we had never heard of before.  Samantha was pretty tired and look a nice three hour nap for us that afternoon, making up for the lack of sleep on Friday night.

Later that evening, I just had to take a picture of Samantha's toy area.  We hadn't cleaned it up since probably Thursday night, and now we know what would happen if we didn't make a concerted effort to clean up her toys every day.  Samantha seemed perfectly content sitting and playing in her sea of toys.

And to round out our strange week of accidents, Samantha again had a hard time on Sunday.  Ben and I stayed for both services so we could go to an Adult Community Group and then service, so Samantha wasn't used to staying there that long, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.  However, about ten minutes before we went to go pick her up, she apparently stood up and had an accident.  Her teachers had to change her dress, underwear, and shoes.  Then, when we were sitting down eating lunch, Samantha looked down in her lap and said, "I'm peeing."  We sat her on the potty and had to change her clothes again!  Then later in the day, before bedtime, she started peeing a little bit when she was sitting on the floor of her bedroom playing, but was able to stop herself and finish in the potty.  Samantha was in a weird mood today.  Besides just her potty accidents, she was not her normal self.  This doesn't happen too often with Samantha, but we were glad to get her in bed for the night.  We were just hoping that it was a weird day with her mood and her accidents, and that hopefully Monday she would be back to normal.  It's always hard when there is a change in behavior and you don't really know what is causing it.  Ahh, adventures with a preschooler.  You never know what may happen.

Samantha: 26 Months, Week 4 {Watching Sadie and Another Trip to the Zoo with Alaina}

Well, this past week was the first full week of August and marked our first week taking care of Sadie. Since Monday was our first full day together, we just stayed home to learn her schedule, her temperament, and what it was like taking care of both girls.  Samantha was SO excited about her coming to our house.  When she woke up and found out Sadie was there, she had to go see her right away.  She didn't care that she was only in her underwear.

We had a good day together.  Samantha did great with having a little baby around the house, and Sadie was an easy baby to take care of.  I think we will enjoy our few days a week together.  It's good practice for Samantha on how to share, be patient, and become more independent.  It's good practice for me, too, in seeing what it will be like when I have two children to take care of some day.

Sadie also came to our house on Tuesday, and I decided to be a bit more adventurous and try going on our first outing.  We played for a little while in the morning, got all of our things ready, and headed out to the library for story time.  I brought the Ergo baby carrier for Sadie, along with both girls' diaper bags, and my purse.  Needless to say, that was way too much stuff to lug around.  Next time, I will have to consolidate.

Sadie needed a bottle right when we got to the library, so I fed her while Samantha sat on the rug to listen to stories.  However, Samantha had a hard time staying there by herself, she kept coming back by me or trying to walk around the room, which I couldn't do too much about while feeding Sadie.  Eventually, I was able to sit down on the rug by her with Sadie on my lap, and that seemed to calm Samantha down some.  After story time was over, we went back to the play room for a little while before the craft started.  I put Sadie back in the Ergo right before craft time, and she ended up falling asleep in that while I helped Samantha with the craft.  The morning went pretty well, I was able to manage both girls okay, and I was glad to get Samantha out of the house for awhile today.

Sadie's Mommy came at lunch time to pick her up, so I had the afternoon with just Samantha.  It was kind of nice easing into watching Sadie by only having her a day and a half this week.

We have pretty funny mealtimes around our house some days, and Tuesday was no different.  Lately, even though Samantha is only two, she has been asking why questions a lot.  Except she'll say it like, "Why are you holding my hand, why?"  "Why are you taking my plate, why?"  She has to start and finish the question with the word why.  Well, I started picking on Samantha a bit a lunch by asking her questions in the same way, and she thought it was hilarious.  We laughed so hard that day.

I thought and thought all Tuesday night about something special Samantha and I could do on Wednesday since we didn't have Sadie with us on that day.  It was going to be a warm, humid, and rainy day, so we couldn't really do anything outside.  So, I finally came up with the idea to take her to the WonderLab, which is a hands-on science museum right here in Bloomington.  I have been there before with my classes at school, but have never taken Samantha.  It was a pretty neat place, and Samantha really enjoyed herself.

One of the first things she went to there was the water area.  She liked the part where you could drop the balls into the water container and watch them twirl around through the tornado water before they pop back out the bottom.  I had her put on the water smock so her shirt wouldn't get all wet, but she wasn't a big fan of that and wanted me to take it off right away.

The WonderLab had a construction theme, so there were lots of different objects and materials to use to build various structures, but most of them were a little beyond Samantha's ability.

They had a special preschool time that we also attended there, and the topic was on the zoo.  They read a book about the zoo, did a little activity where they took turns sorting pictures of animals into the environments in which they live, and then looking at little animal figures to determine whether they moved on land, water, or air.  Samantha did a pretty good job listening to and following directions even though most of the activities were a little beyond her age.  There was even one time when the kids were standing in line, waiting their turn, and another little girl tried to go ahead of Samantha.  So Samantha turned to the little girl and said, "Waiting in lion."  (Yes, that's how she says line, like li-on.)

Samantha then played with many other thing at museum like a bubble room and a special area for kids under six that had  tree house to climb and a machine where you could stick a squishy ball or scarf into a hole and the air would suck the ball or scarf through a little maze, spitting it out at the top.  Samantha loved this and squealed every time the ball or scarf would pop out of the top.


We had a really good time at the WonderLab, and it will be fun to come back another time, maybe next year, when Samantha is a little older and will enjoy some of the hands-on activities a little more.

Ben's parents had been watching Alaina for a few days this past week while her daycare was closed, so we made plans to meet at the zoo on Thursday.  Samantha LOVES the zoo and was even more excited about meeting Grandpa, Grandma, and Alaina there.  We did all the typical zoo things, made our way around the whole place, saw the dolphin show,  and ate pizza for lunch.

But the best part was that Grandpa and Grandma spoiled the girls, getting them enough tickets to ride the train and the carousel twice.  Samantha was in seventh heaven, hopefully she doesn't expect this every time now, because Mommy and Daddy can't afford that every time we go to the zoo.

 Samantha picked to ride in the back of the train.  Since we went on a Thursday and most schools already started in our area, the zoo was not very crowded which made it very nice for us.

 Samantha's first ride on the carousel, she chose to ride a horse on the inside.  The second time on the carousel, she chose to ride a tiger on the outside.  Alaina took turns riding with Grandma and then Grandpa, sitting on the bench together with them.

It was a pretty hot day at the zoo, so we gave the girls time to play at the splash park.  At first, Alaina wasn't quite sure what she thought and had to observe everyone for awhile.

But then later, after she got comfortable, she really enjoyed playing in the red sprinkler.  Samantha joined her for a little bit and then walked off to do her own thing.  You can't keep Samantha in one place for too long.  She just has a mind of her own.

After the girls were sufficiently wet and tired from playing at the splash park, as it was way past their nap time at this point of the day, we decided to make one last stop at the White River Gardens that is a part of the admission to the zoo.  We had never been there before and were excited to see what it looked like.  They had a beautiful greenhouse full of flowers and plants with hundreds and hundreds of butterflies flying around right out in the open air.  Samantha loved the butterflies flying right in front of her face and enjoyed exploring the little paths around the greenhouse, spotting butterflies on leaves and eating fruit placed out for them.

They had an outside garden area as well with many plants, flowers, shrubbery, and statues of animals like geese, frogs, and bunnies, which Samantha particularly enjoyed.  By this time, the girls were extremely tired and were starting to lose their patience, so we decided to head out.  We spent a good, long day at the zoo.  The girls loved seeing each other, and Samantha loved seeing Grandpa and Grandma, too.

When we got in the car, I read a couple books to Samantha to calm her down, we sang her songs and prayed with her so that she would take a nap on our way back home.  It was no time before she conked out in the back seat.  Spending a day outside in the sun will tire out a little two year old.  We love our sweet Samantha so much.

Well, that evening when we got back home, we made kind of a spur of the moment decision to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend since Alaina and Aunt Jeni would be there until Saturday afternoon.  We couldn't pass up another opportunity for the girls to see each other because once summer ends and everyone gets busy with school starting, we won't have as many chances to see one another.

When we are at Grandpa and Grandma's house with the girls, it seems like we spend most of our time playing outside, riding on the swing, looking at the garden, wandering around their yard, and going on walks over to Taylor.  They both love visiting there.

Friday night at dinner, after Aunt Jeni arrived, we captured a really silly video of Aunt Jeni making the girls laugh hysterically.  It's wonderful to have great, happy times with family, and we are so thankful that Samantha and Alaina are so close in age and can grow up together.

Samantha loves to sing sings and tell stories.  I think she knows that certain things will make us laugh, and she loves to make people laugh.  For example, on the way back from Ben's parents' church on Sunday, Samantha starting singing "The Farmer in the Dell."  However, instead of singing "the farmer takes the wife" or something like that, she said, "The farmer takes the pacifier."  After she said that, we all laughed really hard, so she kept singing it again and again, wanting to make us laugh.  She has a great sense of humor, and we love that about her.

Samantha: 26 Months, Week 3 {Fun in Bloomington, Watching Sadie, and the County Fair}

First, I want to tell a funny story related to last week's blog where I wrote about going to the Children's Museum on our anniversary.  Well, Samantha talked about it many days afterwards and would call it the "music-iseum" like the words music and museum mushed together.  She comes up with the funniest way of saying things when she doesn't know how to pronounce the words.

This week, we tried to get in more of a routine with Daddy going to work on campus, and Mommy staying home with Samantha.  Most days I try to get out somewhere with her in the mornings, just to get her out, let her experience things, and enrich her mind with learning.

Last week, Samantha and I went to a local state park, McCormick's Creek to have a nice morning outside.  We got ourselves a state park pass so that we can enjoy coming back many other times this year.  We walked on a trail together and played at a park amidst the trees.  It was a beautiful morning to play outside.  We also walked around the campground a little bit, giving me the idea to get one more camping trip in for the year, to counteract our bad experience with the torrential rain when we went camping in Wisconsin in June.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Christy are going to come down to visit us and go camping together with us.  It should be a lot of fun.  The campground at McCormick's Creek is beautiful, with plenty of space for the campsites and lots of trees giving you privacy from the people around you.  Hopefully we will be blessed with good weather next time.

Our Tuesday tradition is going to story time at the library.  They always do a wonderful job telling stories, reading books, reciting rhymes, and singing songs.  It was interesting today because when it was nearing the end of story time, some of the kids were getting fussy, losing interest, and making noise.  Samantha was doing a pretty good job listening, but was standing next to me on the reading rug.  The lady reading the story stopped in the middle of the book, closed it, and looked out to the children and parents saying, "Now, if it's getting hard for you to sit and listen quietly, it's okay to get up and leave so the rest of the children can enjoy the rest of the story.  We sit and listen quietly here at story time."  Immediately after the lady said that, Samantha sat down obediently on the floor.  I was amazed that Samantha was listening so attentively to what the lady was saying and could analyze her behavior well enough that she knew she, too, should sit down on the floor and listen.  Samantha and I always enjoy going to story time.  Plus, they always set out books on tables around the room that pertain to the topic of the day, so Samantha always chooses a few books to bring home with us.  Our little girl LOVES to read, so the library is a good place for her.  I think we have some 53 books checked out to us now.

The last Wednesday of every month the library has something called Storyhour Extravaganza.  This week's theme was going on a picnic, so we sung songs like the "Ants Go Marching," watched a video about worms, and had a book called "We're Going on a Picnic!" told to us by memory with stuffed animals as props.  Samantha loved the telling of that story, loved that the lady used the stuffed animals to tell the story, and couldn't wait to grab that book off the table to check out.  It quickly became one of her favorite books to read.  However, again just like last month, Samantha much preferred to watch the people tell the story with props or puppets than to watch the videos on the big screen.  It also worked a little better this time because I sat in the middle of a row instead of on the end, so there was no way Samantha was able to get out and try to sit/play on the stairs.  I love our library.  There are so many fun, educational activities to participate in, and best of all, they are free!

Ever since our trip to the beach in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I have been wanting to take Samantha to a beach on Lake Monroe.  We have a state park pass, so can get in without paying the fee.  August 1st seemed to be a good day to go to the beach, and I decided to go to the Fairfax State Recreation Area because it is closer to our house. The whole time we were there, I just kept thinking, if I were going back to teach this year, this would be my first day back for teacher in-service.  Instead, I played at the beach with my little girl.  I think I'm okay with that trade.  We packed up our beach gear and hit the road.  When we were about halfway there, I realized I forgot her shovel and pail to use in the sand, so we turned around and went back home to grab that really quick.  It was a beautiful day on the beach.  The weather was warm and sunny, and the beach was not very crowded at all.  However, I don't know if Samantha was tired or what, but she didn't act too excited about playing in the water.  She wandered down the shore for a little while, ate a little snack, and then was eyeing up other kid's toys.  (Other kids' toys are always better than the ones that you brought for your child, right?)  I tried to entice her out into the water with me, but she acted a little afraid of the lake and the seaweed that kept getting wrapped around her ankles.  We played at the beach for a little more than an hour before we got back in the car and drove home for some lunch.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Samantha on the beach, but here is a picture of the view on the beach from the DNR website (http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/images/sp-monroe_banner.jpg).

I'm not quite sure why Samantha has been acting kind of sleepy lately.  While we were on vacation, her bottom second year molars poked through her gums which caused some sleepiness and grumpiness.  Ben and I were thinking that maybe she was teething again and that her top second year molars may be trying to come through as well.  I guess we'll find out if that's the case in the next few days as we keep our eyes on how she's feeling and what her gums look like.

Back when I was teaching this past year, Ben had Fridays with Samantha and always called them Daddy-Daughter days.  He has been wanting to start up that tradition again, and possibly continue it every other week or so even during the semester.  Daddy decided to have a Daddy-Daughter day this week because he felt like his wrist was up to it enough.  I got some much needed time to myself, and Daddy took Samantha to the Banneker Center and the park to play that morning.  The Banneker Center was empty that day so Samantha had the run of the place and was really enjoying it.

After a fun time at the Banneker Center, Daddy took Samantha to a local park for some more play time.  She noticed some boys running around in the field and wanted to join in with them.  The day with Daddy was doubly good because she told him she needed to go potty at both the Banneker Center and the park.  We are always excited when Samantha tells us she has to go, that is something we are working on with our potty trained girl.

Saturday, we had a special day planned.  In the morning, Jacob, Michelle, and Sadie were coming over for a visit so we could talk about the details of watching Sadie in our home.  Then, Jacob and Michelle went out for lunch together to give us a chance to be with Sadie, to see how she did, and to get to know her a little before she starts coming on Monday morning.  Saying Samantha was excited to see Sadie would be an understatement.  Samantha just sat there looking at her and smiling, wondering what she was doing and interacting with her by showing her toys and jingling them above her head for her to see.  Sadie did fantastic with us as well.  She is a really easygoing baby.  I think Samantha will be a big fan of having a little baby in the house three days a week.

Then, after Samantha's nap that afternoon, we decided to take a family trip to the county fair.  It was the last day of the fair, so every ride was only one ticket.  We bought a bunch of tickets and hit the rides.  Samantha could go on a majority of the rides, as long as either Daddy or I went with her, so we took turns riding with her.  I can't even remember all the rides we went on, but here is a sampling of videos and pictures from that evening.  Samantha had a wonderful time on the rides.  When she was on one ride, she was already planning which ride she was going to go on next.

In the middle of riding fair rides, we stopped for some dinner.  Daddy got a gigantic pork tenderloin sandwich, we got chicken fingers for Samantha (thinking that I would eat whatever is left), and I got a root bear float.  Well, apparently Samantha was really hungry and really enjoyed these chicken fingers.  I think there were seven or eight of them, and I only got one because I snatched it from her.  This girl will eat anything dipped in ranch dressing.

We had thought about also going to the demolition derby, but it was $20 for each adult ticket, plus an extra $10 for Samantha, so we decided to skip it.  Samantha would have just as much, if not more fun riding on rides and then going home for a decent bedtime.  We enjoyed it, too.  Watching her face light up when she's having fun is priceless.

Ben sometimes picks on me for being our family's social planner, and that I always find so many things to go and do; but, I just love doing things as a family and building new experiences for Samantha.  It's fun to relive experiences through the eyes of your child.  Like Ben and I joke about quite often, I think we are more exciting now that we have Samantha than before when it was just the two of us.  Summer is almost over, Ben will be going back to teaching his class on Congress, grading, and working harder on his dissertation, so I'm going to milk the last days of summer for all it's worth.

Samantha: 26 Months, Week 2 {7 Year Anniversary and a Trip to the Zoo}

The Sunday after we got back from our vacation was nice.  It's fun to be away, but it's also good to get back into your normal routine, in your own environment.  We got to go to church, have a nice lunch and nap at home, and then went back to church for a church picnic that evening.  We sat at a table with some friends, giving the adults a chance to have a conversation, and Samantha and Ainsley had a chance to play together again.  Apparently Samantha created a new song called, "Do De" that her and Ainsley were singing together as they were running around after dinner.  The song includes a loud scream at the end though, so we couldn't sing it as often as Samantha would have liked.

The church had rented out the local pool for the evening, so after playing in the rocks in the courtyard of our church for awhile, we got Samantha in her bathing suit and headed off to the pool.  There was a pretty decent sized crowd there from our church, and it was nice having the pool all to ourselves.  However, the best part of the whole evening was that we didn't have to pay to get in, so Mommy and Samantha were able to go on a slide together.  We have never taken her on the water slides before, so she was pretty excited to ride down the slide with me.  I sat her in front of me in the water and held on to her waist and we slid down the curving slide to the bottom.  Samantha had a blast on the slide and wanted to ride on it again right away, which we did.  After our time at the pool, Samantha kept talking about going down the water slide and this is how she described it, "We go around and around (and she points her finger around in a circle when she says this), and then a BIG splash at the end!"  She had a wonderful time playing and was definitely ready for bed when we got home, as it was already past her bedtime.  Here is our little swimmer in the middle of getting ready for bed for the night.

Monday, July 22nd was Ben and I's seven year anniversary.  (Wow!  I can't believe it's already been seven years, but then at the same time it seems like such a long time since we were getting married the summer right after we graduated college.)  Since we have a two year old and no extravagant plans, what better way to spend the day but at the children's museum as a family!  (Ben's mom gave me money towards getting a family pass for my birthday present.  What a great idea!)  Samantha loves going to the children's museum.  We spent a little bit of time in a new Avatar section that they had, but there wasn't too much there that interested Samantha.

We then headed off to an area called Mr. Bear's Playhouse, which is by far Samantha's favorite place to visit.  Everything in this area is geared for young, pre-school age children.  Samantha had a great time playing in the sand table and pretending to serve food in the play house.  She probably could have stayed here the whole time, if we let her.  However, there are so many other interesting places in the museum that we knew she'd enjoy.

The only way to tempt her out of that area was asking her if she wanted to ride on the carousel, another one of her favorite things at the museum.  And being a member, we get to ride on it for free!

Here are some other pictures of our play time at the children's museum.

We had a great time at the Children's Museum that day, came back for nap time, and then went out to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  Samantha did a really good job waiting patiently for her food, and Ben and I had a good time reminiscing a bit, noticing that we have progressively gotten stronger in our relationship as time has moved on, and how we can't wait to see what is ahead of us.  It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary, being with my husband and daughter, doing things together as a family.

I feel like Samantha had turned a corner in regards to being comfortable playing by herself.  In the past she has always wanted one of us to sit down and play with her, but now she enjoys playing by herself periodically throughout the day.  Particularly in the morning, she likes to have a little quiet time to herself, to use her imagination and participate in some creative, pretend play with her toys.

On Wednesday this week, Ben had his appointment with Dr. Hansen to get his bandage off and stitches removed from his wrist.  Before they took the stitches out, he snapped this picture for memories' sake.  If you don't like pictures of injuries, just skip down to the next paragraph.

And here is an after shot of the new splint that he will wear for the next few weeks.  It is removable, and he is encouraged to take it off once he feels more comfortable and the pain decreases some from having the stitches out and his arm messed with.  It's less supportive than the wrap around bandage and gives his fingers more freedom of movement.  Ben was in quite a bit of pain after the appointment and has to get used to different feelings now.  It's just kind of discouraging because it seemed like it was feeling so much better before the appointment.  It didn't drain him as much any more, and he felt a little more comfortable attempting normal activities.  Now, it's kind of like starting over again, having more pain and discomfort.  We know he's on the mend, but sometimes you wish you could speed along processes like this.

On Thursday this week, we had another park play date with other moms from church.  We went to a new park on the east side of town, and Samantha had a really good time playing with her friends Ainsley and Millie.  Ainsley and Samantha rode on the swings for quite some time, exclaiming back and forth, "High in the sky!"  Another little girl brought her American Girl doll to the park, and Samantha asked if she could play with it.  Samantha put the doll in the swing and pushed her back and forth for quite awhile.  She even took the doll down the slide with her!  Samantha has definitely been in a doll phase lately.  Dolls are some of her favorite toys at home, and I think she likes American Girl dolls because they are bigger and more movable with their stiff arms and legs.  If they weren't so expensive, we might think of getting one for her sometime, but I don't think that's in a graduate student budget.

Friday was Grandpa Toll's birthday, so after breakfast, we had Samantha record a little video wishing him a happy birthday.

During Samantha's nap on Friday, my parents arrived in Bloomington for their weekend visit.  Ben and I had plans to go on a date night together, leaving Samantha at home with Grandpa and Grandma for the evening.  Ben and I went to Sweet Grass (the restaurant that is better to go to when it is just the two of us) because we had a gift card to finish up.  We had a lovely dinner together, talking and enjoying each other's company.  We had plans to see the movie "The Way, Way Back" (again to use up a gift card that we had), but that didn't start until eight o-clock, so we decided to go to the mall to look for some things that we needed.  It's hard to go clothes shopping with a two year old in tow.  The movie was funny and enjoyable, the coffee and dessert after the movie was yummy, but best of all, I had great company and a great evening out with my husband.  We'll take these chances for date nights with free babysitting whenever we can get them.

And of course, Samantha has a great time without us.  In fact, when we were getting ready to leave, we were saying good bye and she said, "Go, go!"  Okay, okay, we get the hint!  Samantha had fun at home with Grandma and Grandpa, eating spaghetti for dinner, showing them all her favorite toys, and of course, having them read lots of books to her.

On Saturday, after a relaxed morning of eating pancakes and playing, we headed out to the Indianapolis Zoo for a day of exploring.  We packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches and crackers, which we ate outside the zoo before entering.  Since we left so late in the morning, we knew Samantha was going to be without a nap, but that was okay, she would be fine.  As long as she is surrounded by people and fun things to do and see, she doesn't mind skipping her nap one little bit.

We started our trip to the zoo in the Oceans area, Samantha's favorite.  However, by now she kind of knows where things are at this zoo, so she wanted to go straight back to see the penguins, skipping every other animal in between.  We did get a cute picture of her sitting in this bubble that expanded into the fish tank, and Samantha did make a brief stop to see the dog sharks.

After the Oceans building, we went to the dog show and then gave Samantha time to play on the playground.  On our way back to the Plains animals, we got side tracked by the carousel, and Grandpa was nice enough to pay for a ticket for Samantha to ride it.  She chose the elephant.  This little girl LOVES carousels.

When we were in the Forests section, we even got to see the brown bear playing with a ball toy in the water.  That was really exciting!  Normally, the bears are just sleeping when we see them at the zoo.  This was a real treat for Samantha, who loves bears right now.

After seeing the Plains animals and getting a popsicle to eat, I changed Samantha into her bathing suit to give her a chance to play in the splash pad area.  She wasn't as interested in it on this day as she usually is because it was fairly cool outside, probably right around seventy degrees.  The water was pretty cold, and Samantha got chilly pretty quickly.

She still enjoyed herself in the sprinklers...

 Running around in the water...

 Watching the water pour down into the drain...

Until she got too cold and stood there shivering, then I knew it was time to get her into some dry clothes.

Close to the end of our time at the splash pad, I took a little video of Samantha running around and playing, but then had to put the camera away quickly when she collided with another little boy.  I went over to see if she was okay and noticed the little boy that knocked her down was bent over her, asking her if she was okay and reaching his hand out to help her up off the ground.  It was really sweet of him to be that concerned about a little girl he didn't even know.  Compassion from little kids is great to see nowadays.

Our last event of the day was going to see a dolphin show.  The zoo was pretty crowded since it was a Saturday and really nice weather.  Because of that, the line for the dolphin show started really early.  We got into the dolphin pavilion about twenty minutes ahead of time, and Samantha had a hard time sitting still and waiting patiently, especially since she missed her nap that day and was getting pretty sleepy by this time.  She kept swinging her legs back and forth, accidentally kicking the little girl sitting in front of us.  After telling Samantha to stop, and her not really listening to that, I just brought her up on my lap and sat her sideways so that her legs could kick out without kicking anyone.  That seemed to work pretty well for the remainder of the dolphin show.

We left the zoo after the dolphin show was over and went back home.  Samantha did pretty well in the backseat with Grandma, but was definitely acting tired.  Daddy had stayed home for the day to rest his hand and get work done.  We had dinner in the crock pot, and Daddy was nice enough to finish it up for us and have it ready when we all got back home.

On Sunday, we all went to church, but Grandma and Grandpa had to sit in the service by themselves because we had nursery duty in the three year old classroom.  We have been in that room this summer, and it is always amazing to us to compare Samantha to some of the kids in that room.  Samantha is very verbal, you can understand almost everything she says, even people that don't know her can understand her.  She is pretty reasonable about following directions and sharing, at least for a 26 month old.  And, except for when she's sleeping, she is potty trained.  Some of the three year old children couldn't do all of those things very well.  We are pretty proud of how our little girl is developing.

Grandma and Grandpa took us out for pizza for lunch after church, and then it was time for Samantha to go down for a nap.  She never quite naps long enough when we have visitors, so the nap wasn't as long as we would have hoped for, but still good enough.  Samantha got another hour or so to play with 'Cago Ema and Papa before they had to leave to drive back home.  My parents always love visiting us and spending time with Samantha.  I know they also love to watch her for us so that Ben and I can go out on dates together.  I like it when they come visit us, because it is so much easier than us dragging all of our stuff, along with a two year old, to Chicago in the car for four hours.  Plus, it's nice to be able to show them around Bloomington and give them a taste of what our life is like at home.  We like to show hospitality and make new and different recipes for people when they come over.  Family and friends are welcome at our house anytime.

Later that day, we went over to campus for Ben to grab some things from his office, stopping by the fountain by the auditorium for Samantha to have some play time walking around the outside of the fountain and dunking her feet in the water.

And to end, just a few funny quotes that I forgot to add at the end of last week's blog.  When we were almost home from our Smoky Mountain vacation, Samantha wanted me to read her a book.  However, I was in the front seat since previously Samantha was napping.  I told her, "I can't read it to you from the front seat."  To which she replied, "Well, neither can I."  Ben and I both laughed so hard.  Good one, Samantha.  Then, after we got home and were eating dinner, Samantha looked at her cup, which apparently had leftover doughnut crumbs from breakfast stuck on it.  Once she noticed this, she exclaimed, "It's a doughnut!  I'm gonna' lick it!" and then licked it right off her cup.  Our little girl is so stinking cute.  She says so many funny things every day.