I'm a big girl now!

This week marked a major milestone in Squeaker's young life. Grammy, Grandad & Elena invited her to visit for a long weekend. As we drove to meet them half way on Thursday, we talked and played games.

Then I asked, "Do you have any questions about the weekend since Daddy, Brite & Uncle Mack won't be there. Like what you will do or who will put you to bed."

"Yes, Aunt Brite. Who will put me to bed?" She was quite comforted to hear that both Grammy & Grandad would be able to do that.

Then she asked, "Will I have Hopa and Blankie?"

"Of course. They are in your backpack."

"O.K. Then Grammy and Grandad can put me to bed."

She asked some more detailed questions about what she would do there and then we played another game. When I met up with them, we had lunch together and then moved the luggage over. I wish I had taken my camera! She hugged Hopa while wearing her preschool backpack, a skirt she picked out herself, and two self-beaded necklaces. She looked so grownup and behaved that way as well. She didn't cry at all and seemed excited to go.

The ride back yesterday was quite an experience. Grammy had relayed a few of their activities, but Squeaker was able to describe many of her adventures to me.

"Brite, we got to go pick up Elena at camp. Did you know there is a lake there? We got to throw big rocks in the water. "

"Did you have fun at her camp?" (This was a week long history camp at Stratford Hall.)

"Yes! I got to learn what they did there. Elena got to put the fire out. (No idea what this is about, but it obviously made an impression.) Then we had ice cream and apple pie. It was really yummy."

"Where else did you go?"

"We went to the Berry Farm.(the next day) We saw goats and I ate ice cream, again! Nana and Poppy were there!"

A few minutes later after playing in the backseat, she shared this things.

"Elena and I played together a lot. We had a tea party and we played with ponies. When we went to church, I got to play with Grammy."

As her eyes lit up about her adventures, I couldn't help but marvel at the love she has for them and for ice cream. :) It reminded me of sitting with her Mommy as she shared about a trip to see her family. Her description of them was wrapped in love in this same way. Her joy in playing with little Elena, the laughter and games with her parents, the wonderful visits with Nana and Poppy, and her sweet friendship Kira. Squeaker is learning to love them for all those same reasons. It makes my heart ache missing her for them, for us, but particularly for Squeaker. I want her back, every single day. And yet, I know that her dear Mommy is surrounded by perfect love and peace, free from the worries, insecurities, and pain we all face. She is living a faith realized in Heaven with Christ and is filled with unspeakable joy.

Happy Father's Day!

First of all, I want to wish the Daddy person the happiest of father's days. I am sure her behavior in his previous post was a subtle way of celebrating the day. We love you!

Shhh...don't tell the Daddy person, but we enjoyed quite a bit of girl time this weekend! While Daddy's away...Brite can play! We began by buying some stretchy string and a pack of beads at the craft store. You'd be amazed by her focused attention to make her very first necklace. She loved being able to do it mostly by herself. She just beamed with pride when she was able to make me a bracelet. I found a little ballet dancer charm in the mixed bag and made a bracelet for her. Every time she puts it on, she pretends to perform a ballet for me. She also got interested in this when I showed her a video from a recent ballet I attended.





After watching one of our friends paint her nails, Squeaker was very curious about the process. The next day she commented on my painted toes and asked if she could try sometime. Of course I couldn't resist, so she sat quite still and let me paint them. They dried quickly but several times throughout the day she said things like, "Aunt Brite, my nails dried while I was sleeping" or "My nails dried while I was playing in the pool."


This morning in the nursery she was very focused on Legos and right now she's playing in the sand box with Uncle Mack, so she hasn't become a diva over night.

Thank you for taking an interest in her little life. Grace be with you!

Ok Kid, What Did You Do?

Tuesday night at dinner squeaker was in rare form. The kind of rare form that makes a parent that wasn't born yesterday wonder what their child has done. During dinner, Squeaker had the following things to say:

• Daddy, the veal is very good.
  
• Did you make the whole dinner by yourself?
  
• After sliding off her chair - Daddy, I just wanted to give you a kiss.
  
• Daddy would you help me eat my yogurt.
  
• May I have some more veal, Daddy?
  
• After being asked to clean up her blocks, she did!
  

About halfway through dinner, her Granddaddy wanted do know "Is it allowance day?" By the end of dinner the Daddy Person had asked a number of questions of his own, such as "What did you do to my car?"

We will keep you posted when when the editors find out what she is up to.

Wisdom of Squeaker - Both Stories

The readers have spoken. The Daddy Person recognizes that when Squeaker reads the blog years from now, this post might result in the Daddy Person's eyebrow to eye ratio falling below one. However, the readers have spoken, and we must abide by their decision.

Brite, Squeaker, and one of here friends were eating lunch this week. Brite corrected Squeaker's friend for starting to put her finger in her nose. Squeaker then looked at her friend and said "I dig in my nose when I am in my bed. Nobody sees me do it there and they don't tell me to stop."

Brite and squeaker toured two of the local "pwimming" lakes this week. For the record, the editors of Squeakerpants.com resent the fact that she no longer says "pwimming". While the were at the lake sq excitedly announced that "aunt brite I am kicking. You said I can't kick in the bathtub. I can kick when I am swimming. NOW I CAN KICK!"

Have a good week.

Wisdom of Squeaker

Aunt Brite and the Daddy person are having some artistic differences about a couple stories this week. The stories involve Squeaker giving advice about two different topics, swimming and nasal hygiene. One of us thinks that either story would be perfect for the blog. One of us isn't so sure. So, we have decided to let you, our readers, decide.

Please cast your vote in the poll on left. The poll closes Monday at 11:59 am, so be sure to vote. Check after lunch tomorrow for the results and the "Wisdom of Squeaker".

Bonus Post - Stopping to Play

This week's actual post is below, but I got some fun video and a few nice pictures at a playground on the way home, so I thought I would post them too.









Remember to read the other post too....

“Daddy I want to go inside. Fireworks are Clappy.”

Alternate title, “Yes, Squeaker, I think it is time to go home.”



Squeaker and the Daddy went on a road trip this weekend for another graduation (CATS ON A ROLL!) Last night Squeaker really wanted to put her underpants on Hopa. At some point last night she decided that they would look better back on her. Even if it hadn't been time to go home this morning, it was clear this morning that it was time to go home.




We think some other people were worn our by the trip too.





Squeaker had a blast playing with her cousins.




She spent a lot of this weekend running and has some bruises to show for it. She did a good job of keeping up with the boys running through the blue grass though. Now that I think of it, that reminds me of another filly her age.



Speaking of age, Squeaker enjoyed the Daddy person's ice cream birthday cake. She did not like the fireworks later that evening though. She seemed to like the first couple, but soon was asking the Daddy person to take her inside, “Because the Fireworks were clappy”. We think clappy refers to the way she puts her hands over her ears when confronted with loud noises such fireworks and the W&M pep band.

The Daddy person learned a few things about traveling with Squeaker:

• For trips over two hours an in-car DVD player is worth the money.
  
• Traveling with another child is priceless.
  
• Squeaker cannot take a nap a hotel room if the Daddy person is in the room with her.
  
• Squeaker can function the next day after staying up until 11:00 pm.
  
• Squeaker can function the next day after staying up until midnight.
  
• It stays light much later in the Blue Grass State than the Old Dominion (see above).
  
• Squeaker cannot be allowed to have ice cream after 9 pm (see above).
  
• Squeaker makes questionable wardrobe choices when sleep deprived (see above).
  

Squeaker and the Daddy person are looking forward to seeing her blue grass family again soon. Unless anything interesting happens on the second half of the trip home, that's all the news I have for now.