G’n'R Out West

Adelle and I just got back from a wonderful trip to visit my sister, her family and my dad.  It is so nice when the cousins get to be together.  Adelle had a hilarious time with her cousins, she followed their every move and it seems like she grew up 10x faster in their presence.

She learned lots of new tricks….Lily proclaimed to me at one meal ‘look Auntie Rachelle, I taught Adelle how to make a moustache out of yogurt’.  Sigh….  Has their been a prouder moment in my life?  I do wish I had gotten a picture of the two girls sitting their with their faces full of yogurt.

Adelle also learned my name…well, my name according to her cousins.  She proudly pointed to me one afternoon and said ‘Autie Chelle’, she was very impressed with her discovery.  She has known Greg’s name for quite some time, but she never figured mine out until this weekend. 

Last time we were with her cousins, she drove Noam insane, always up in his business at a time he wanted space.  This time it was reversed.  He was always coming over to give her a kiss, and she was constantly pushing him away.  Unless he left the room, in which case she was devastated and wanted nothing more than to be in his presence.  Isn’t that always the case?  Everything he had she wanted, and watching him do things, made her brave, because certainly she wasn’t going to allow him to be able to do anything she couldn’t.  It was pretty funny.

She also had some great bonding time with my dad.  She can still be very shy around him, but she did come out of her shell and got caught off guard a number of times having a great time with him.  Of course, no matter how shy she was in his presence she was always very upset when he left the room without her.  The nerve of some people!

Adelle had juice for the first time in front of me this weekend.  I know she gets it at daycare, but we’ve never given it to her at home, and she’s never asked.  She was given one in a loot bag from a birthday party we attended this weekend.  She promptly pointed out to me what it was, and then proceeded to ask me for it for the rest of the weekend.  Figuring now that she had taught me about juice she could get it as often as she wanted.  She hasn’t asked about it since we got home…but maybe she doesn’t realize we have it here yet.  I’m not in a hurry to tell her.  I am so evil.

We tagged along with my sister and her family to this totally cool birthday party at a farm.  They had a pony for the kids to ride, a lesson on maple syrop, tons of animals to pet and touch, and the kids even got the chance to sit on this huge work horse.  It was pretty neat.  Of course all that cool stuff paled in comparison to the fact that there was a dog on the farm…and not just any dog, a dog that LOVED to play catch.  Adelle would have played catch with that dog all day (and I think the dog would have obliged her that request).  She laughed non stop this ridiculously infectious laugh the entire time they played.  It was totally awesome.  Second only to the dog were the puddles on the farm.  We don’t get good puddles out here like they get in Ontario and Adelle took full advantage of that.  It was great to see her out exploring and having so much fun. 

Adelle didn’t sleep all that much in Ontario, she was in bed by 11 or so each night and up just before 7 am in the mornings.  She did have a few snoozes in the car, but didn’t really have any decent naps to compensate for the lack of sleep at night.  She was in a remarkably good mood despite the lack of sleep.  I got a bit tired of her antics…and could have done with her having an earlier bedtime, but I was impressed by her non the less. 

The plane ride to my sister’s was great.  Adelle was actually quite scared during take off but had a great time once we were up in the air.  Since we live pretty close to the aiport we get to see lots of planes, Adelle LOVES airplanes.  She totally got that she was on a plane and was very impressed.  When the plane landed I said to her ‘you did it!’.  As soon as we deplaned she announced to everybody in earshot ‘I DID IT!!!’.  It was hilarious.  The plane ride home was less fun, but I think it was mostly becuase we were both overtired.  All in all I really can’t complain.

When we got home she had a great reunion with her dad.  I was a bit worried she’d be mad at him becuase she’d missed him when we were gone.  But she just ran right over to him and loved him to bits, it was great. 

Adelle had one little mishap on our trip, on the second day we were there she woke up with her eye swollen shut.  It was so cute and sad.  She didn’t appear fazed by the situation, although initially she was little confused.  Once she spotted her cousins, she was too busy to worry about being down an eye.  We took her to a doctor I didn’t really like and he gave her lots of anitbiotics.  I am still not convinced she needed them all, or that he did a thourough exam…but since we were going on a plane the next day, I felt like I had no choice but to give them to her.  The good news is that the problem cleared up very quickly, which was just great. 

In one last little peice of Adelle growing up news she figured out how to say ‘water’.  Since she started saying it she has always said ‘wawa’.  This weekend she figured it out, she now very carefully announciates the ’t’ in water.  I am so proud of her.