Fun in the Sun

We had a fun July. The weather has been nice and we have been taking advantage of it. We have a lot of good parks around us and Matthew's Beach is especially nice because it has a sandy beach and a playground. Claudia is slowly increasing her comfort level and will now play in the sand with a bucket and shovel and walk around barefoot. She went through an "icky dirt" phase, but she is tolerating it more now. She loves washing her hands, role playing washing herself, and washing her bath baby (a doll that goes in the bathtub).

Whining has been an issue lately, but we made a breakthrough in that she now understands what whining is, so I can ask her to talk in her normal voice instead of whining. I would say she is now officially potty trained for #1 and #2. We haven't had an accident at home in about a month and amazingly, I don't even have to ask her if she needs to go, she just tells me. How great is she? I'm so proud of her. We still do Pull-Ups for naps, long car rides, and of course at nighttime. She knows the difference and if we don't pull the diaper off after naptime, she will say with a smirk on her face "pee-pee pants?" and go right there in the diaper. Just in the last few weeks as well, she has make another turn in her independence. She can now play by herself for a few minutes or be entertained by a DVD for maybe 15 minutes. I know some toddlers are always able to do this, but up until now, she has demanded 100% of my focus during the "grumpy hour" of 5-6pm, which makes it nearly impossible to start dinner, do a simple chore, or even go to the bathroom. So I'm jumping on this new independence and I have convinced her that she is "too heavy" and that I can no longer carry her from the car to the house nor can I stand up and hold her every night while we sing songs. While I miss this snuggle time, my hips have been causing me a lot of pain lately because I just can't support her weight anymore.

We made the trek out for "Alta Lake Week" this year, although we had to cut it short by two days because we needed to get back to work. We still had loads of fun. We got to see the jet ski races in Pateros as part of the Apple Pie Jamboree, play at the lake, play on the deck, and of course do lots of golfing. Claudia even got in some time on the putting green. My parents hosted us wonderfully like always and we got to visit with some of our family friends. Claudia definitely loves "Papa & Grandma's Big House."