All in a days worth of parenting

No wonder the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." exists. It probably has something to do with the fact that it takes multiple adults to match the entertainment needs of a toddler. Or, maybe I should say entertainment 'wants' of a toddler. In any event, we had a 'village' here last week for Grace's entertainment pleasure.

These are a series of snapshots, courtesy of Auntie Marcie, taken in about a 6 hour time frame. This girl was BUSY! Everyone around her was exhausted but Grace just ate up all the attention. Her 'Energizer Bunny' enthusiasm may have partially been powered by her Kool-Ade, or as Grace would say Too-nade, popcicle. She enjoyed sitting with Grandma while eating it.


And what would a sunny day be without a little backyard skinny dipping? Grace couldn't imagine spending the afternoon any other way. I have long given up on having her wear a swim diaper in the backyard and she seems to enjoy a little nudie action.

Lucily for her, her doll Sammy also enjoys a little skinny dipping.

One of the obvious perks of having Aaron as her dad is all the physical things he does with her. He can help her jump higher, fly around the house doing 'jet', hold her on his shoulders while he mows the lawn and speed around the house and patio in her babies stroller. According to Aaron, these are the reasons he works out :-) Grace thinks he is so much fun, but this poor guy is always tired from these activities. He has a great motto though. Even when he's too tired to play, he always does it because he says "I know when I look back on these years I'll be glad I did." So sweet.

Here he is zooming Grace around the patio in her baby stroller. She loves this because he gets her going REALLY fast. I'm always nervous about the possibility of road rash, but neither of them are interested in slowing down.

Low-Rid-er

Aw, come on daddy. One more time. PEASE (as Grace would say)

Aside from totally pushing Aaron to the point of physical exhaustion, her other favorite activity is to 'fing'. She loves to fing at the park and always talks about it when we drive by in the car. Of course, this park is located less than 1/4 mile away and we drive by it daily. When we do she likes to tell me about who pushed her last. She'll say, "Fing mommy! Auntie Push!" So cute. She NEVER forgets to mention it and talks about it CONSTANTLY.

Here she is getting a push in the fing from gama.

Grandma also has developed the 'upside down game' with Grace. She loves when Gama comes to visit because she knows she can go "upsid-oune"

This is immediately followed by "Ta Da" and lots of clapping.

Um, Pop-Pop, I don't think you clapped enough for me.

Fanks Gama. That was fun!

Practicing funny faces with Pop Pop Love you Pop Pop.

Whew....that was a long blog and was literally only a 6 hour period in a day in the life of Grace. All without an afternoon nap! I'm exhausted from just blogging about it. So glad my 'Village' was here to help out for the afternoon!