Fun Fun for Everyone!

Last week was a busy week at the Bair household! Grandmother Bair and Patrick came for a visit and Liza's library certainly got a big boost - thanks "Granma." We're not completely sure but we think that's the current term of endearment Liza is using for her Grandmother Bair. We didn't have much luck getting her to say Patrick but we're still working on it. Somehow during our week of activities together our family shutterbug couldn't find time to snap any photographs so we don't have any pictorial documentation for you. Since I know some of you have been counting the days (12) since our last post I'm posting a few pictures from my camera phone. Not the best quality but you can still see the cutest girl in the world enjoying everything she does.

We took Liza to Music in the Park a couple of weeks ago and she had a good time. We weren't planning to stay but she was enjoying herself so much we hung out with friends on the grass while the children were playing. Since it was an impromptu stop for us we did not have Liza "supplies." In this picture I gave her a sip of my lukewarm water and she gave me the yuck face back. The best part of it is the yuck face is just so cute!

On Father's Day we loaded up the van and headed for the Science Center of Iowa. There were a lot of neat exhibits, for all ages, and I think the adults had as much fun as Liza. In one exhibit there was a farm stand with vegetables and a conveyor system. In this picture Liza is trying to help Daddy get the veggies on the conveyor belt. Liza had been playing with a little boy and in this picture you can see him leaning over towards the floor. I hope she didn't accidentally knock him over with those wide swinging arms!
There is no denying it, Liza loves bubbles. At home we'll go out in the backyard and she'll ask for bubbles and watch them float all around her. At the museum there were 3 huge containers of bubbles with different color wands. We had no idea how slippery the floor would be near the bubble containers and unfortunately Liza found out. She was so excited to see the bubbles she couldn't contain her excitement and her feet slipped out from under her. It hardly phased her (and the floor is padded so that helps), she was dirty from head to toe but she jumped up and kept right on going.

When I took this picture I thought I was capturing Liza trying to catch a big bubble. Now that I look at it more closely it looks like she is having fun playing with the bubble wand and the big bubble in the air likely came from the bubbles her Daddy was making.
Liza woke up earlier than usual on Monday so I called Rita in the late morning to check on her. Rita said Liza was doing great and had learned a new trick. Liza loves the swings and wants to be able to swing like the big kids do. So she apparently spent the morning learning how to swing on the big swings laying on her tummy rather than sitting on her tush. Rita told me Liza was so proud of herself but unfortunately she was covered in mud...wouldn't you know it the week I didn't pack a change of clothes. Rita said if I got there before 11 am I could see Liza's new trick! I rushed to grab new clothes and headed over there. I missed the trick but I got an up close look at the mud. It's times like these I'm not sure she's my child because being muddy didn't bother her at all. Maybe there is hope for her on Montreat camp-outs!

Ball and Bike Helmet

This morning Liza didn't know how she'd accomplish all she hoped to do. She couldn't figure out how to drink her milk and play with the ball at the same time.

We play bounce the ball and she loves watching it go up and down (she moves her head up and down as it's bouncing up and down). When it comes to rest she points at it and runs over to get it. Sometimes she hopes you'll bring it to her.

Because as you can see she has a hard time seeing where she is going while carrying the ball.

The inaugural Bair family bike ride, with Liza's new bike trailer, was *supposed* to take place last night. Thursday nights in Grinnell are big time with the farmers market and music in the park so Bair planned for us to ride down to the event. He got everything ready (my bike had cobwebs on it), we put Liza in the trailer and Bair rode on the sidewalk 2 houses down to make sure she liked it. She loved it! That is until her bike helmet had to be put on. She wasn't having any of it. It's just so big on her little head and makes her head pitch forward which can't be comfortable. No matter how many times we tried to adjust it she wasn't happy. We've had this helmet for several weeks and she's been wearing it around inside the house to get used to it and she calls it her big hat so we were so surprised by her reaction. After 6 failed attempts we gave up. She was so glad to get out of the bike trailer. Liza pointed at the car and said Go. So off we went to the festivities in the car and left the bikes parked in the yard! Oh my oh my - let's hope for better luck next time.

When I showed her the helmet this morning you can see where she put it - on the ground next to her. The upside of this photo is that she walked up to the photograph on the left and correctly identified it as her Poppa without any prompting!

This morning Liza woke up early and she was ready to play. She played so hard before leaving for Rita's that she was hungry. She asked for a cracker but when I suggested banana she got really excited. Usually Liza and her Daddy share a banana and alternate taking bites. For a fleeting moment I wondered how she'd react to a banana cut up on her plate - fortunately for all - she was just as happy with it on a plate as she is when sharing with Daddy! Kuma is very disappointed there are no left-overs for him but he's always right by her side just in case; he's the eternal optimist.

Since we had extra time this morning we played out in the front yard. Liza was fascinated with the birds, primarily the ones walking in the street. In this picture she could see one in the neighbor's driveway so she was running to keep up with it.

In this picture she is pointing to the bird and telling me that she sees a bird and she keeps giving me the eyes that ask if she can go further. She's getting really good at knowing the sidewalk as her boundary so you can see she's got her feet just as close to the edge of the sidewalk as she can possibly get them.

Since going to Rita's is a great treat for Liza she is more than happy to get into her car seat and head across town. This morning, however, she could hear the birds when she was in her seat but not see them so she just kept pointing hoping the birds would come into her line of sight. They didn't and she was easily distracted when she saw that her favorite ball was in the car.

She's got personality...

Sunday Chris decided it would be a great day to blow up Liza's pool. He huffed and puffed and filled it up only to discover Liza wasn't very interested in getting in. She was much more content to splash in it from the outside. I stepped in it to encourage her to get in and it was so cold no wonder she stayed on the outer edge. Chris asked me to sit down in the water to see if she'd come in to me and I told him no way it was way too cold! After trying every trick we knew Chris decided to drain the pool because Liza wasn't the least bit interested. No sooner had he started draining than she wandered over to it and looked like she might like to get in. This time Chris stood in the water and was about to go all in because he didn't want his huffing and puffing to be for naught, unfortunately, Liza lost interest again so he stayed dry.

Here she is modeling her One Step Ahead swimsuit and hat that are theoretically made from SPF 50 material. Liza had a big head but I think I might have ordered a size too big.

After the failed pool attempt and playing in the yard in her swimsuit we came inside. Liza has a couple of small ride on toys in the house. Below is one she got for Christmas that for a while she only went backwards on. Now...she's all into going forward but she doesn't sit on the seat. She stands between the seat and the handle bars and just walks along. It's very funny to watch!

Each morning I pull out two outfits for Liza and let her "pick" which one she wants to wear. We all know she's not really picking but it's fun to see what she does. So this morning I gave her this dress and a 2 piece bloomers type outfit. She is fascinated with the lady bugs on her dress so much so that she pulls it up a lot to study them. After she was dressed she was playing in her room and I went into our room for something. We met in the hallway and she was carrying the other outfit. I asked her what she wanted to do with it and she turned to her room, walked right up to her closet and tried to hang the outfit she didn't pick back in the closet. Please, oh please, tell me she's going to want to keep her room clean!

Before we could leave this morning Liza had a few things she needed to tell me. I think it amounted to when are we going to go to Rita's, I want to tell Pat-Pat (Kuma) good-bye and I think Daddy is here even though you keep telling me he's gone to work. She's a funny girl our little Liza.