Lake Fun!

Summertime officially starts for our family once we start going to the lake! We have been several times already and Laura is much happier this year compared to last year. She tolerated lake life last year -- this year she is reveling it in! She loves the boat, the little beach, and swimming. I'll give you more details in the picture captions.

Laura and Nana walking down to the beach area. Laura loves playing here and says to us "Wawa doe schwimming in da pool?" (Laura go swimming in the pool --she means lake!) She is pretty much fearless and even walked in over her head this weekend and used her floaties to try and swim. We were all very proud of her.

Laura playing at the 'beach'. She loves collecting shells and rocks and moving them from one bucket to another. She also loves to sit right at the water's edge and play in the sand. Usually with Nana, Mommy, Granddad, or Daddy sitting next to her having an endless conversation with the word "whyyyy?"Learning to ride her new tricycle -- a birthday present from Nana and Granddad. She still can't really ride it, but she loves sitting on it and pushing her babies around on it!

Laura loves to stand at the front of the boat, look out at the water and houses and feel the air blowing her hair. It is always more fun when Nana joins her!

Laura, Mommy, and Granddad waiting for the restaurant to open. We took the boat here for lunch one day and Laura fell asleep on the way. I was trying to wake her up when we arrived and told her we were at the place for lunch. I asked her if she wanted chicken and french fries for lunch and she said, "No, I want tup (ketchup)!!" Fortunately, she decided to eat more than tup and even had her first shrimp and really liked it!When we need to spend some time in the shade, Laura really likes to play in her baby pool and the sprinkler in the shade of the deck. We just have so much fun with her -- she is such a joy!

P.S. I'm not sure how we don't have a single picture of Laura and Daddy at the lake (maybe it is because Daddy took all the pictures!), but there will be new pics of the two of them in the next post from the Children's Museum.

Laura's Big Girl Bed!

I realize that I am almost a month behind in blogging, but I decided to start with the most recent news first since it is such big news -- Laura has graduated to a toddler bed!!

We decided kind of spur of the moment to take the front of her convertible crib off on Saturday and see how she did during her nap. Much to our surprise, she stayed in bed, went right to sleep, and slept almost 3 hours (an unheard of amount of time for her naps lately!). She did roll out of bed right when she woke up, but since she is so close to the ground, it didn't seem to bother her:)

Once we saw this was going to work, we went to Target and got new toddler bedding so she has a sheet, pillow, and blanket...just like a big girl:) She is pleased as punch with her new room decor and her new bed. She puts her babies to bed regularly and she is sleeping so much better than she has a in a really long time. No longer is needless energy being expended by flipping back and forth in the crib -- she puts her head on the pillow and falls asleep. And we are still amazed that she never gets out of bed before she goes to sleep or when she wakes up. I hope it stays like this for a really long time:)

It is my goal to catch up on our all blogging over the next few weeks, so check back often for updates.

Fatherly thoughts on Father's Day

Some say Father's Day is just another shameless attempt by greeting card companies to cash in on another holiday. One of my friends described Father's Day as the "get-no-respect little brother" of Mother's Day.

Whether this is true or not, I love Father's Day. Bring on the ties and bad cologne, I say. Laura presented me with a cut-out paper tie. I loved it.

It's hard to believe Laura is already 2-years-old. This past week I was out of town, but made it back for the big weekend -- which also included celebrating Stephanie's 30th birthday. When I got back and saw Laura, she came running over to me. I couldn't help but notice that she looked a little different from the last time I saw her. She changes so much, so fast. It's hard to keep up.

This weekend, Stephanie put her in pigtails for the first time. She looked so much older. She's no longer this little baby that we used to feed a bottle. On Saturday we took the front of her crib off and transformed it into a "big girl" bed. I have to admit that these transitions can be a little sad. Once the old way of doing something is gone, it's gone.

The cool thing is that with every stage that passes, a new one enters the picture. Laura's personality and ability to talk keeps developing. Her favorite word these days is "Why?" My favorite responses are quickly becoming "secret," "just because" or "That's the way God made it." Since her vocabulary is limited, my responses seem to work for now.

It sure is great being a dad ... definitely just because.

Fatherly thoughts: And the Oscar goes to ... Laura?

Having a 2-year-old definitely involves a little drama from time to time. As Laura gets older, she's becoming more aware that if she wants a little attention, crying, throwing a fit or having a "boo boo" definitely does the trick -- at least at first.

The other day, she had a little bump on the bottom of her foot. She fussed a little and curled her toes up on the sore foot. We still have no idea what she did to her foot, but she definitely had a tiny little something there. When she saw it, she immediately stopped walking on it, and decided the only thing that would help her feel better was if she parked herself on the couch and watched "T" (translation: cartoons).

Funny how TV makes a great pain reliever.

We put some medicine on her boo boo and covered it with a Band-Aid. The next day, her Nana came over to watch her for the day. When I got home from work and asked about Laura's foot, Nana said Laura did great -- she played outside and ran around with no problems. Laura heard me asking about her foot ... and I soon was reminded that her vocabulary is growing more and more as each day passes.

As soon as Nana left, Laura sat on the couch and refused to move from that spot. I put her on the floor to play, and she began to cry and gimp around on her foot again. I checked her foot and it looked fine. I went ahead and put a fresh Band-Aid on it, but she still hobbled around until bedtime.

The next day Stephanie said her foot seemed fine ... with an occasional turned up toe every time she saw her bandage. That night we tossed the Band-Aid in the trash, and Laura was a little troubled at first, but she got over it. The next morning she was "healed" and hasn't had any trouble since. Her boo boo went bye bye ... and the curtain fell on a great performance.