Water-girl

Alice is totally water obsessed. Much of this surfaced at PEI, where she would not come out of the water. Trips to Post Pond and the water park at Granby Zoo were more of the same. She's in the water every chance she can get, and will stay in until we have to pull her out shivering. fortunately, she has gained some respect for the water. After walking up to her neck, stumbling, dunking her head and taking a few mouthfuls of water at Post Pond, she seems to have got the hang of holding her breath and getting her feet under her before opening her mouth again. She learns! Bathtime and outside playtime are similar. The water table outside has been a favorite toy all summer (unfortunately she is always wet from dumping water down her front). She loves dumping water back and forth from bowl to cup and then drinking it! Eliminating sippee cups was very easy, because she essentially taught herself to drink from a cup during her play and bath sessions.

PEI

Our summer camping trip to Prince Edward Island with the Blanchard clan yielded many memories and few pictures. Credit Mommy and Daddy for failing to use the camera enough. So, I'll try to describe the highlights here. For Alice, this vacation was all about the water, or "wah-ber, ah mo waber." Little Al simply could not get enough of the wonderful warm shallow water on the beach. Each day (except for one rainy day), had a morning and afternoon beach session. We'd take Alice in the stroller, grease her up with sunscreen and put on her bathing suit, "baby-uit." Take her down to the beach and let her loose! She'd spend all her time in the water. This year the underwater beach was particularly shallow and gradual, perfect for an almost 2 year old to run around splashing gleefully. Seriously, she would run around splashing in the water, giggling squealing and laughing with utter delight. If you chased her or ran around with her, it was even more enjoyable for both parties. Insert: mommy and daddy apologize for lack of video... Other activities include crocodile swimming, playing with sandy muck and walking out in the water up to her chin. After the morning play at the beach, Alice would have a snack and fall asleep in the stroller on the way back to the campground. We'd park the stroller in the screen house of the tent and get to work on lunch. After waking, Alice would eat her lunch, and then we'd take her back to the beach for more "waber." For Lizzie, vacation was all about spending time with her cousins. Since none of the older gang, except maybe Olivia, were super excited to go in the water most beach time was spent on the sandbars digging various holes and making various mounds out of sand. Glop or gloop was also produced from sand in vast quantities, as was cake batter. Lizzie and Maddie took the initiative to dig potties in the sand, one for girls and one for boys. You can guess what happened next. Lizzie was also fortunate to go with the her cousins and grandparents on a couple outings. First, a trip to Cows for ice cream and some cows PJs, and second to a scrap metal art place. Liz picked out a small purple (surprise) flower which now resides in out flower garden. The rest of Lizzie's time was spent in "big girl camp," i.e. the small screen house that was so graciously supplied with little projects brought by grandma (we brought some). It was about what you'd expect. Notably Alice was allowed in big girl camp, most of the time. It was a big step for her, since she would cry inconsolably if she was excluded, and for the big girls who seemed to tolerate her almost 2-year old destructiveness. Nighttime in the tent went about as well as could be expected. Lizzie was so exhausted that most nights she collapsed and fell asleep in minutes. Alice on the other hand thought bedtime was rumpus-time. Ot course, she was overtired and exhausted too, but her 20 month old brain told her it was play time not sleep time. After we convinced her not to jump around inside the tent, she'd wiggle and wriggle and squirm around on her sleeping mat. Some nights she'd burrow around in the tent, similar to a mole, basically crawling but with her head down and sometimes not really using her hands. Singing really helped get her to sleep. Did I mention that we didn't bring a pack-n-play, so this was her first time sleeping not in a crib? Campfires, roasting marshmallows, eating mussels, scallops, fish and lobster, and Olivia's budding pyromania. I'm sure some other things happened, but I'm forgetting. Oh, of course I should mention that no parent anywhere should attempt a long car drive with children unless they have a portable DVD player in their car.