Doggie Princess

After a day up at the cabin last weekend where she got to play with "big girls" (ages 6-8), Annie has become enamored with playing pretend.

"Say I'm a doggie that got very hurt on my leg and needed to go to the hospital and you are my owner and you carried me to the hospital and I was crying and you couldn't get me to stop and I needed a bandage and the doctor wrapped my leg up and it was bleeding very, very bad. Okay mom?"

Or:

"Mom, I'm a princess and you're the queen and Daddy is the king and Riley is the little brother and I was going to dance for my cousins Sierra, Ally and Val-Val and Aunt Serena and Uncle Marc. Oh! Where's my beautiful dancing dress? (She soon emerges in her black and red spider dress that I got at the 25 cent sale a couple weeks ago - apparantly the "beautiful dancing dress" she was referring to. And by the way it's on backwards, and the edge of the skirt is tucked into her undies.) And I was dancing and then I got hurt on my leg and needed to go to the hospital... (same story, see above). Okay mom?"

And the really interesting pretend scenarios are when she starts out as a princess and then decides to turn into a doggie, or other way around. I don't so much mind playing princess with her but I'm not thrilled about pretending to be a dog. Fortunately, that's where Riley comes in. He loves to play doggie. Because doggies bite.

Annie, however, doesn't really like to play pretend with Riley because he won't put on any costumes. And he won't lay in the beds she makes for him and he won't be quiet when her babies are going to sleep (in fact, he likes to squeal and rip blankets off and yell peekaboo!) and he won't just be content with the blue cup and plate that she gives him at her pretend picnic. And he especially won't just be content with the plastic carrot and egg she serves him but insists on grabbing the plastic brownie, cookie, and BOTH doughnuts off of her plate!

It's tough. Sometimes she has to pretend to be a monster and scare him away. Lately, she's resorted to "swipping" - a word she came up with herself which perfectly describes the sweeping push or kick (it can be done with either a hand or a foot) that she uses to protect herself or her things from any perceived attack. Unfortunately, the day is fast approaching when Riley will outweigh her and no amount of swipping will be able to deter him.

Thankfully, summer is finally here and we can do lots of things outside that don't necessarily require pretending. Here are some of her favorites:

Cheese Puff & juice picnic

On her new bike

Playing in the sandbox Benjy built

Learning to ride a scooter!

The beginning of a pretend picnic
(no swipping has occured yet)

New favorite thing to do at the cabin:
motorcycle rides up the hill and back

Silly Smile

This is Riley at 18 months:

Words: Daddy, "Mimi" (mommy), Papa, car, ball, poopoo, stuck, a show (one word to him), "peas" (please), "guck" (truck), "faf" (bath), "fow" (flower, but can mean just about any plant), cacka (cracker or cookie)

Favorite Foods: Applesauce, meat, Little Balls (Kix), brownies, cheese puffs and generally anything he can crush and make a huge mess with

Favorite Things To Do: SLEEP (God bless the child), jump on the bed, play with the toilet plunger, wrestle, climb ladders, go down slides, find sharp sticks and run with them, go on motorcycle rides with Grandpa Cook up at the cabin, watch shows, bug Annie

Favorite Books: "Moo, Baa, La La La", Mary Engelbright's "Silly Mother Goose", and his beginner's Bible

Favorite Songs (Riley LOVES music): "Wheels on the Bus", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "The B-I-B-L-E"

He loves to come tearing around corners and get scared by dad, give big open-mouthed kisses that usually turn into bites, push buttons of any kind and yell "Go, go, go, go!" when it's time to get in the car. He can't stand to have anyone play with his little Cozy Coupe or to see ANYONE else sitting in my lap. But most of all, he loves to make people laugh.

MAY - hem

The month of May was a whirlwind of activities, accompanied by an actual whirlwind and rain almost the entire 31 days. Thankfully we had a few sunny days (or at least dry days) when it really mattered.

Like for weekends at the cabin:

And for the girls' birthday party at the zoo:

And for this:

     It was a crazy month! There were 4 birthdays (Serena's, Val-Val's, Annie's and mom Beck's). There were several trips to the mountains (weekends at the cabin and a church women's retreat for me). There were unexpected changes (I got my old job back and Benjy hurt his knee again). There were mini family reunions on both sides (unfortunately on the same weekend so we had to juggle time with people we wanted to see so much). There were really big moments (Benjy got to preach at church and we both went skydiving for the first time) And then there were all the normal activities (family nights, small group, garden planting, meetings). It has been a really fun month but we are POOPED!!!

At the cabin



Zoo birthday bash

 

Skydiving with Chuck