Monday, September 26, 2011

The Orange County Great Park

Saturday had the potential to be a crazy busy day. Then the calandar cleared and we ended up tagging along with Dave to Irvine.  He had to do a light study very early in the morning down in Laguna Beach. So we stayed over Friday night in Irvine.  

Dave always seems to surprise us with either simple random knowledge or with random knowledge of amazing places.  And Saturday he didn't disappoint.  After he finished work he took us to a park he had been talking about. 

Now, when Dave "talks" about something it's not like he talks about it frequently or even in a solid sentence or paragraph.  He drops phrases here and there at random moments or at moments when I'm in the middle of something so it doesn't quite make it to the forefront of my mind.

Well, I'm certainly glad I just went along for the ride and didn't investigate, question or complain about where Dave was taking us. I just went. And let me just say that The Orange County Great Park is AMAZING!!!! We just got to see a tiny portion of the park but I'd love to go back and see the farming and garden and racetrack.  

We did get to see the best part!  The balloon ride!  P loved the whole place. The playground, the carousel and the balloon ride. It was an amazing day!!!








Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday

Today was one of those rare days when it's just P and me and we have no plans. The day evolved but we had a couple of breakthroughs.  First, P is the one who directed what we did and second, we actually cleaned up as we went along!  It usually takes a lot for her to clean up but today she went along with it without a fight or delay.

P pulled out the games and puzzles out of her game drawer after breakfast. First time she's shown an interest. First we played the fishing game. 

You have to collect either the same color or number on the fish until you fill your boat up with 4.  You fish and if you catch the wrong fish you put it back.  It never mattered where I put my bad fish back, or if P saw it. This time she saw I picked up one of her orange fish and saw where I put it back. When it was her turn she went and grabbed it! Too smart!

Next we put a puzzle together. Amazed she seems to figure out the harder pieces first.  I need to stop telling her how I would go about putting it together and let her do her thing. 

Then, we played with her stacking alphabet boxes.  It's been at least a year since she pulled that out! After stacking it I asked her to find certain letters.  She got some but didn't get others. Then, it surprised me to see her looking at the letters on the boxes and drawing them on paper!  Woohoo! She's getting it and she's showing an interest. 

We finally started cleaning up.  She wanted to paint or stamp as I had first suggested. I asked her if we could clean up some mess before starting an art project. We cleaned, she sort of played and cleaned. I did some stuff on the computer.  We cleaned, we played, on got on the computer again. Finally outside. She played, while I cleaned the back yard a bit. Finally we painted. 

I had some lanterns left over from her last birthday.  We decided we could paint them orange and turn them into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.  

When we finished painting we cleaned it all up! Again, a first! Then we made lunch, salad and quesadilla for me. For her it was salad, quesadilla, apple sauce, probiotic drink and turkey and cheese!  Growth spur? Then she took a nap after lunch.

It's almost 5pm. She's still napping. Neither one of us has gotten out of our pjs. it's been a remarkable day.  I pray we will have days like this till the day she leaves for college.  I really really love my time with P!  I remember it being so hard when she was a baby and then a walking, curious toddler.  The dynamic of being around her has changed. I have a buddy.