Rocky Point

Yesterday, it was such a beautiful day that I walked Amanda home by the river and we stopped at the local playground to play for awhile. This was all lovely...except that when Jeff picked her up today, she was insistent that she wanted to walk "under the trees" (like the river path) and go to the same park.

When I got home we decided to take her to the park, but since I had to go to the library to pick up a book, we figured we'd go to Rocky Point instead. There's a great kids play area there - last time we spent any time there, she wasn't really big enough to play there on her own but we figured this time would be better. It took awhile to convince her to try this new park (she kept insisting she wanted to go to the little local one), but once we got there she had a blast! It was a beautiful evening and it was the perfect time to go as it was still warm but not too busy.

It's amazing to see the difference in how she is at a playground in just a few short months. She ran around like crazy, climbing up everything and following the bigger kids around. The only thing she didn't do was slide down the firepole (probably mostly because it's a distance out from the structure itself - smart thinking, so only the bigger kids can reach it!). She's pretty good with the other kids, saying "excuse me" if someone is in her way. She really wanted someone to sit on the teeter totter with her and kept going up to other kids saying "do you want to be my partner?"...of course, they didn't understand what she meant and mostly ignored her. But the great thing about this age is that it didn't put her off at all - she didn't seem the least bit bothered and just continued along her merry way.

A few photos (click on any one to see more)...

Bad Bloggers

Once again, here we are woefully behind in posting. Such bad bloggers we are! (Why did I just get a mental "Yoda" image?!?). Will try to keep up better, really, we will!

Amanda has been quite the little monkey lately. She's going through a definite phase that I've been reading and hearing a lot about. Apparently lots of kids, like her, competely skip over the "terrible 2s", deluding their parents into believing they are perfect angels who are far better behaved than all those awful tantruming toddlers out there. And then, WHAM!!...they hit 3 and all hell breaks loose. That's pretty much where we're at these days. I exaggerate a bit, but it's true that Amanda is exerting her independence far more frequently and making things difficult for us in the process. She seems to constantly be putting us in our place - whether it's correcting our use of a word, or telling us off for remotely implying that she's "not big" or some such thing. A common phrase heard around here these days goes something like this: "Don't tell me I'm not big! I am big and you can't say I'm not! Don't tell me that!". Picture the sternly puckered brow and the wagging finger and...yep, you've got it.

Also making a frequent appearance at our house is super-clinginess and crying at the drop of a hat. Since it's a bit early for PMS, we're thinking she's just going through a very emotional phase. The flip side of this is that she's very affectionate as well, and wants lots of hugs and cuddles, and frequently tells me I'm her "best friend". No better feeling, I tell ya.

A story to illustrate recent happenings: this weekend she and I were out driving quite a bit in the car. As I've mentioned here before, I do tend to "talk" to other drivers quite frequently, but I am always very careful about what I say when she's in the car with me. Fast forward to evening, when she wants to play pretend. I get to be the kid (at least I've graduated from being a tid), so I sit in my seat (aka her Dora foam chair) and she carefully buckles me in for our trip. Then she gets in the front seat, buckles her own seatbelt (we're nothing if not safety-conscious in our make-believing), and drives us to our destination (picture a lot of hand waving in vague circles as she "drives"). "We're in the parking lot," she says, "but I can't find a parking spot." More circular hand waving as she searches for a spot. Then, "You must be kidding me!". Wracking my brain as I giggle from the "backseat", I realize that has become a favourite phrase of mine when exasperated by another driver and wanting to avoid saying something more rude, such as "Get the $&*% out of my way!". You hear it over and over again, but it's true - they are amazing little sponges, these preschoolers.

A few photos...we've been busy lately and taking fewer pictures, but these were from last weekend when we had a few brief minutes of sunshine and she was looking particularly springy in her cute yellow dress. (More on Flickr, as always.)