But anyways, Raging Waters! I am a fan of their facebook page and they were posting contests all summer. I entered a few times but didn't win. Then they posted the final contest of the season and I knew for certain that I won. I was the first person to post the photo they asked for and name the ride. And then they said congrats to someone else, and I looked at the time stamps and my entry was in a good 7 minutes before the other guy. So I emailed them and mentioned that, and he said I was right, I should've won, and he gave me 2 free tickets! YAY! I was so excited. Makena gets in free so it was awesome to have a free day out! Well except for parking and food. The website said you can't bring food in, but we saw SO many people eating full picnics so next time we'll do that for sure. Besides, their pizza and garlic fries were not delicious.
We had a blast, Makena was having so much fun. She loved it, she loved the wave pool and the tubes on the lazy river and splashing in the water playgrounds. She was braver than I expected, she went down a slide that I thought she wouldn't! Then I wanted to go on the big wide slide with a tube, and I swear we saw other kids on laps, but we got to the top and they said she had to ride alone. She didn't want to, and we didn't want her to anyways, so we walked down again. She was super disappointed, especially because the tubes for that ride were painted like pink doughnuts with sprinkles, which she thought was way too cool.
Lately we've been getting used to our new schedules since Pam's started her preschool job again. She's also going to start working her Saturday soccer again soon and that's going to be a pain. It was so nice to have her home for the full weekend during the summer. We really had a great summer and as we move into the fall it's a tough transition. I've said it a million times, but sharing one car is really very difficult. I think we do exceptionally well, but it's hard on all of us. There are early morning wake ups to drive Pam to work so we can use the car to go to work later, and there's a lot of waiting around or making Pam wait after work. And a lot of driving, which is still difficult sometimes. Thankfully Makena is MUCH better in the car now but sometimes we lose our sanity a little. We do have the DVD player back there for her and sometimes we really rely on that to get us through a day with a lot of car rides. I'm looking forward to having our routine in place, I feel like I've been so busy recently! I miss the days of just sitting around at home with Makena and walking to the library/park. And with the new work schedules comes a smaller paycheck, and that's been an adjustment. Plus, now Pam is going to be attending a night class once a week. Lots of changes coming up!
At home we've been gearing up for a garage sale, so we've been going through boxes and the house is a mess. That always makes me feel anxious and disorganized. We have two boxes of papers and files that came from the filing cabinets when we moved, and instead of putting the files back into the cabinets we've been meaning to go through the papers to be sure we're only keeping things we need to. So we've been here for 4 months now, and the boxes haven't been touched yet. I'm determined to get this done by the end of the month!! The other day I couldn't find some medical paperwork I needed and I would love to have that squared away.
Speaking of that, we had Makena's speech evaluated today. I'd been slightly concerned about her speech for a while, I brought it up to her pediatrician a few times but he said she was fine, too young to worry about it. Our county offers a free assessment and services for children under 3, and I finally made the appointment. First I had to fill out an insane questionnaire that asked me to list every single work she says, and asked all sorts of strange things. I was getting annoyed because the questions seemed to beyond ridiculous, and it made me feel like we'd be wasting their time. "Can your child put two words together? Can they follow a one step direction?" But I sent the paperwork in and they called us to schedule an evaluation. We went in and signed stuff and answered questions with one lady while another lady played with Makena and took notes of what she was doing. She built a tower with blocks, matched shapes, identified everything in a book of pictures, blew bubbles, threw a ball, etc. Super simple stuff. They told us it would take 1-1.5 hours but we were done within 45 minutes. They said she wasn't eligible because her scores were off the charts, and she was the most advanced kid they've ever screened. So that was awesome! Makena does have articulation issues, she usually only says the first sound of a word, but they understood her and said articulation wasn't something to be concerned about until after age 5. We left feeling a little sheepish, but mostly proud. ;)
Last weekend we went to the Art & Wine Festival, and it was great to be able to walk over and not deal with parking! We were meeting my mom at the kids area, and as we waited Makena was fascinated by the bungee trampoline, so we spent the time watching people on it. Then she said she wanted to jump, and I thought she was way too young but we saw a few little kids jumping. I asked if there was an age or weight limit and the operator said nope, that yesterday they had a 15 month old do it. That seems crazy to me, but they adjust the harness and tension by weight. So when my mom arrived (didn't want her to miss it!) we shelled out $10 for a 3 minute session.
I wasn't sure Makena would actually go through with it. She can be timid around new people but she went up on the trampoline and let the guy strap her in and listened to his instructions. And she slowly started to bounce, then jump a little higher. We were laughing because she had zero expression on her face, she does that a lot on rides, and it's hilarious. It almost looks like she's bored and then at the end she talks happily about how fun it was. Then she started going higher and higher. I couldn't believe she was fine with going so high!
Her time went on for a few extra minutes, she had gathered quite a crowd of onlookers, and as we left the line had grown much longer! We joked with the guy that she was good for business and he said that's why she got extra time. Afterwards she kept talking about her "big big BIG" jumps and how brave she was. :) We bought some tickets and rode a few of the little carnival rides, then we got some garlic fries and frozen fruit dipped in chocolate. And we oohed and ahhed over the beautiful overpriced crafts for sale.
It was also grandparents day and we gave my mom a picture frame that we covered with puzzle pieces that Makena and I painted. Then we took a photo of Makena holding a sign that said, "Grandmo, I love you to pieces!" My mom loves puzzles so it was an extra cute idea.
The other day at work I was rocking C to sleep and Makena was sitting next to us in the chair. I was singing Baby Beluga and she started to sing along, then she asked for milk. I saw her reach over and hold his hand, and she was rubbing her thumb across it slowly in such a sweet little gesture. He fell asleep and for a moment she fell asleep too, but then she woke and I put him in the crib. Makena rarely naps these days. The great part is that she is ready for bed at 7pm on the dot and falls asleep super easily. A couple weeks ago she was tired and napped at 10am, for only 40 minutes... and she was up until 10:30 pm that night!! She's been showing some real kindness lately towards others. I think she definitely has a great dose of empathy. She will give hugs when a friend is crying or bring a toy over to cheer them up. I just really love her so much! She's getting older and less babyish and she's turning into this darling little girl who I always dreamed of. I'm so incredibly lucky!
Makena crane. ;) Haha.
She's thrilled that the sunflowers she and Pam planted have finally bloomed. That one broke, but the stem healed itself and it grew at an angle. Nature is pretty darn awesome!
This was a birthday cake that she built. (I helped a little.)
And this is her right at this minute. She asked to sleep on her crib tonight. Every once in a while she says that. Of course she ends up snuggled next to me during the night!
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