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.
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...
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.
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.
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