What I've been up to this summer

I have had so much fun this summer with my family and friends. It seems like pools, lakes and splash pads have been the theme for time spent outside. I've had a great time even though I'm still afraid of deep water and I don't trust my puddle jumper to keep me from going under. It may seem like I'm not having fun but I'm just as happy holding on to the side of the pool and playing on the steps as long as no one pushes me to do something I'm not ready to do. My favorite thing is playing in a pool where I can touch the bottom. There I feel very confident and will even put my face in the water by myself while holding my breath. I know I will eventually build up the courage to try scarier things but for now I'll stick to what I know I can control.

I have played with my cousin Cora many times this summer and have enjoyed swimming in the pool at Grandma's house and going to splash pads. Cora and I tried to take a nap together for the first time but we were too excited to sleep and our mom's had to separate us. We might not have slept in the same bed but we still had fun sneaking back and forth to each others room and jumping on the beds. We tried to be quiet but we were having too much fun for the silence to last long. We were sent back to our own beds where we finally fell asleep. Hopefully we'll be able to try napping together again when we get a little older. I've tried to play with my new cousin, baby Henry, but he's not quite old enough to play. Once in a while I'll find him and pat or kiss him on the head. Sometimes my Auntie Sarah will let me hold him on my lap and I feel so big when I do it all by myself.

I spent tons of time with my cousin's McKinley and Payson this summer too. Mommy, Daddy and I went on vacation with daddy's side of the family to Gore, Ok. and stayed in a cabin right by a section of the Illinois river. I enjoyed playing in the shallow water, floating in the slow currant down the river to someone waiting there and collecting rocks to throw. I loved watching the rocks hit the water and the big splashes they made. I got to sleep in a loft at night with my Mommy, Aunt Natalie and cousin McKinley. We had fun jumping from one bed to the other even though we got in trouble and it was really hard to not continue doing it. Finally we weren't allowed up there at all unless we were going to sleep. Mimi made us all fizzy drinks and snacks during the day and I started to learn how to ride a big bike with training wheels while we were there. I'm not sure I like the big bike though 'cause it wobbles and I'm afraid I'm gonna fall over. I think I'll just stick to my trike for now and will try riding my big bike when I'm not so afraid.

I fought with my cousin's a bit this summer too but when we get together again it will be as if it never happened. I know they love me as much as I love them.

At the beginning of the summer my Daddy called home to ask if we wanted to take in a stray calico kitty while we searched for a new home. My Mommy said okay but that she didn't want to keep it. For a while we didn't name her because we thought she would go live somewhere else but the longer she stayed the more attached we all got. Finally we decided that she could stay and that we would name her Dinah. Dinah is the name of Alice's kitty from Alice in wonderland and that is one of my favorite stories. My Daddy brought a group of kids from a Tulsa theatre group to Stone bridge last Fall who acted out a scene from the Alice in wonderland play. I have loved the story ever since, especially the part about Tweedledum and Tweedledee fighting over a rattle. I didn't want to name my kitty anything at first. When Mommy would ask what I wanted to call her I would just say "I just want kitty", but Mommy suggested Dinah since I like the Alice story so much and I said yes. We love Dinah except when she occasionally scratches on a chair or jumps up on the dinning table. I am in charge of keeping her in line and when I see that she is misbehaving I say NO NO Dinah and she usually stops what she is doing. I don't like her in my bed though and I'll even let Mommy and Daddy close my bedroom door at night just so she won't come in my room while I'm trying to go to sleep.

Something that I am very excited about is turning 3. I talked about it for weeks before my birthday and am still talking about it now. Everyone that I see just HAS to know that I'm 3 and a big girl now! Most people are very nice and respond enthusiastically to my news but there is an occasional person who just doesn't seem quite as excited about it as I am. Mommy says it's okay and that I should just keep on telling people if I'm excited about it. I had a big party with my family and my friend's Vincent and Dominic who let me borrow their big big water slide for my special day. I think my cousin's liked it too 'cause I heard McKinley say "WOW" when she spotted it in the back yard for the first time. We slide down the slide at least 100 times each and when we were tired Mommy brought out cupcakes. My favorite was a lemon filled cupcake with a little pink butterfly on top.

One of my favorite things to do before bed time is play games on my Daddy's ipad with him. He has lots of fun applications that teach me how to match things and help me to learn my numbers and letters and the sounds that letters make. Daddy tells me I'm really good at the Memory match game and tells me I'm very smart. For some reason my Mom and Dad have been telling me that for a long time. I always smile and shrug my shoulders when they tell me they are proud of me. Mommy says that she loves me and is proud of me just because of who I am. That God made me special and there isn't another Alea Wren like me in the whole world. One of my favorite songs to sing at night in my bed is God is so good. I can sing the whole thing all by myself. I love to sing and so Mommy and I sing and listen to music a lot.

It has been a fun summer with my family and friends. I am looking forward to going back in September to Tiny Tot's at Daddy's school and seeing my friends and telling them all about my fun experiences and hearing all about theirs.