The Unofficial End of Summer

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and it really does feel like fall now, even though summer technically lasts until September 20th or something. (I always feel that those solstice and equinox days are off somehow. Especially the winter one. When December 21 rolls around and it has been snowing for 2 months and I wake up in the morning and the news anchors cheerfully tell me it is the "First Day of Winter!" it always makes me feel like throwing something at the TV. Anyway....)

It seemed like this year Labor Day weekend came in like summer and went out like fall. On Saturday night we were swimming in our friends' pool and BBQing on their patio (thanks, Nicole and Nate!!) and by Monday morning it was in the 40's and raining so hard we had to cancel our planned trip to the zoo (Sorry, Tiffany and other Nate!). Instead of going to the real zoo, we ended up at the Kangaroo Zoo, which is pretty much a warehouse full of those big, inflatable slides and bouncy toys. Not as educational as the real zoo, but Arden LOVES it and at least we were warm and dry. Here is a picture of Arden riding a dinosaur (hey, you can't ride a dinosaur at the real zoo, right?) I know it is blurry, but nearly every picture of Arden is blurry because she is bouncing up and down non-stop.

Arden had a great time following her cousins around, especially Grace, who is almost 3. Arden would follow her up slides and then slide down the same way Grace did. Apparently, Grace lost her balance at one point and kind of trampled another little girl while trying to get back up. Arden carefully watched it all happen and then went over and stepped on the little girl too. Tiffany, Grace's mom, was watching and said that neither of them stepped on the other girl very hard, and everyone was fine. That's my girl. She is so funny, and makes me laugh with the funny things she says and does. Arden has got the potty-trained thing down pretty good during the day, but I still put her to bed wearing pull-ups because she doesn't always make it through the night dry. One evening I told her to go and put on her pull-ups, and this is what she did:

She ran down the hall to show me screeching "I PUTTEM ON MY HEAD! I FUNNY!" I guess next time I will have to be more specific about where on her body to put them.

We were at the store today trying to find her a couple of long sleeve shirts (I realized on Monday that she has very few left that fit her). She is quite the little shopper. She would look through the racks slowly and pull something out (it really didn't matter what) and say "This a cuuuute shirt!" or "I no wike this one." She was so serious about it, I couldn't help but laugh. She even was trying to pick things out for Daxton, she loves to try to help him. She has an opinion on everything, and it is subject to change at a moment's notice. One day she will eat 3 muffins for breakfast, and the next day she will take one bite and say, "I can't wike it" and refuse to eat it. I guess that is just part of being 2.

Daxton is growing up too fast. We all survived the big move into his own crib. He sailed through it no problem, and slept just as well in his own room as he did in ours. I had a little bit of a harder time, and ran down the hall to his room a few times that first night to check on him for no reason. He is getting sooo big. I weighed him a few days ago on my bathroom scale and he is over 16 pounds now. He is such a happy little guy, and he is still sleeping great, which makes me happy too! I wish that I could just keep him at this age for a few months. He is just so dang cute and so happy (and so immobile)! He can already nearly roll over so I am sure it won't be very much longer and he will be wreaking havoc all over the house.

Dax is becoming quite a talker, like his big sister. His favorite thing is just to sit and have a conversation with anyone who is in the mood to talk. He will listen intently to what you say, and then smile and babble back to you "Mmmmmaaaahhhhgooooo! Oooh!" as if he is really trying to answer your question, which I guess he probably is. I am trying my hardest to say "mama" to him about 1,000 times a day so that he will hopefully say "mama" before "dada." Arden said "dada" waaay before she said "mama," so I am determined to win this time :). I will let you know how it turns out.

Well, I am going to try and enjoy the last few weeks of official summerdom as best I can! I love to be able to sleep with the windows wide open and listen to the crickets all night. I love to come out of a store or a restaurant and have it be warmer outside than it was inside. I love to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner outside on our deck. I love to be able to go and get the mail barefoot (ok, I do that in the winter too, but it is much less pleasant). I think Arden is looking forward to winter though. Whenever I ask her in the morning if she had any dreams the night before, she always tells me "I dream a Santa Claus! Em-eee-ems! (M&Ms)" Last year Preston's dad dressed up like Santa and gave all the grandkids M&Ms...it must have made quite an impression on her.

Also, congrats to my little sister Val, who ran her first half-marathon last weekend (of course, it was the Disneyland half-marathon)!