Summer 2011

I get the award for laziest blogger on earth. Every day I think about a great blog post, but I just never find the time to get online. I have been *trying* to get on our elliptical twice a week and its nice to connect with the husband once in a while, as he has been working hard this summer. Lacey has been on a 5:15am awake for the day streak, which is not so fun and also it makes me so sleepy in the evenings, so again, no blogging. But whatever, here I am!!

This summer has been pretty fun so far, despite the horrendous weather we have been having. While the rest of the country bakes in a heat wave, we are freezing our arses off. Our weather has been downright fall-like. The mornings are gray, rainy and 55 ish and if we are lucky, the afternoons are gray, rainy and 65 ish. We get a tease of sunshine--one or two days, followed by another stretch of rain and chilly temps. The heat kicks on overnight, I use my seat heaters in the car and I have worn fleece. ITS JULY PEOPLES!!! This is just not right. Aside from this being really annoying and moderately depressing, it is so hard to keep the kids entertained--I mean, we have done all the indoor activities all damn winter--we want to get outside already! Starting tomorrow the weather peeps say sunshine--bring it on.

For some reason Lana did not want to do summer camps this year, so I didn't sign her up for any. She did a one week art class (one hour per day) last week and we will be doing her very first swim class starting next week, but that has left a lot of idle time, just hanging around the house. The first week at home was ugly. There was whining, misbehavior, boredom, even a tantrum of epic proportions that involved hyperventilating, breathing into a paper bag and tingly hands. Good grief! I thought, oh crapitty crap, its going to be a looonng summer. But shortly thereafter we got into a really good rhythm of playdates, playgrounds, the Children's Museum, the mall play area, special days (I get Tuesdays with Lacey only and Thursdays with Lana only), cooking together and family time on weekends. Its been good and busy and a lot of fun. I feel like a lot of really great things are happening: Lana is learning how to deal with free time, she is becoming more able to self-entertain. We have a lot of work to do in this arena, but she is getting better at it. Also, Lana and Lacey are bonding in real and meaningful ways. When Lana was in school, they didn't have much contact, but now Lana and Lacey spend huge chunks of time together, totally unstructured--but not unsupervised of course. Prior to summer vacation, Lana was kind of ambivalent toward Lacey. She was never aggressive or mean, but she never seemed to really care one way or another about having a sister. I can say my favorite part of summer vacation so far has been watching Lana and Lacey bond--they interact, laugh together and hug. Lacey is still a little young to take direction from Lana in terms of play, but once she hits that milestone, I anticipate things getting even better. Lana claps for Lacey when Lacey pees in the potty. Lana gets her the treat (and one for herself). They play peek-a-boo together. They jump on the bed together. They play 3 way catch (with me) with a foam football. They play in the wooden dollhouse and pretend to cook food, side-by-side. All of this is HUGE. And it absolutely warms my heart. Oh there are issues too. Lacey is obsessed with Little Einsteins and wants to watch it constantly, which annoys Lana (and me too) and Lana is always trying to get my attention if she perceives I am spending too much time with Lacey. I will say that I am really proud of the big sister Lana has become. She has really grown into the role.

We have done lots of fun stuff on our summer to do list, despite our crapola weather. We have hit all of our favorite parks, splash parks, the Animal Farm, Jetty Island (super awesome local beach you get to by ferry), Seattle Art Museum, the Aquarium, visiting grandma at work, painting pottery, indoor pools, picnics in the living room, popsicles, ice cream, gelato. Good stuff. Compared to last summer when Lacey still needed 2 naps, this summer we are free to have some fun outings without being too tethered to the house.

Lana has been so fun and funny. I love this age. LOVE IT! She asks me the most interesting and hard-to-answer questions. I have a running list, we call "Lana's Quagmires". Maybe I will post them someday. She is creative and innocent. She smiles and laughs more than ever. She is loyal and affectionate, promising that she will always live with us and always love us. Sometimes I just look at her, take in the moment and try to remember the feeling. How is it possible that there was a time when I thought I didn't want kids? I would have missed all of this great stuff.

Lacey is talking a ton. And dancing. She has started singing, which is so cute I might cry. She loves to pretend to drive, she hugs every stuffed animal, but especially Curious George and she shrieks and laughs at her big sister. She is very coordinated and loves to climb on things and she is working on learning to jump. I love that she loves books and water and running. She is a happy toddler, but she is showing signs that she is almost 2. Hopefully we will be spared from the worst of the terrible twos this time around. Here's hoping!

So that's what we have been up to. Hopefully I will get in a few more posts this summer. I have so much swirling around in my head. Until then, we will be trying to get outside to enjoy the rest of summertime!