Elaina’s Two!

Elaina turned two years old today.  I took the day off, and Elaina and Heidi and I spent the day together.

Her party was this past weekend, so today was just a low-key kind of thing.  The plan was to give her her first bike and spend some time playing.

That’s not exactly how the day turned out, but we still had a lot of fun, and Elaina and I both got naps, so who’s complaining?

This is Elaina with her new, very pink tricycle.  She doesn’t yet know what to do with the pedals, but I’m sure that once she realizes how fast she can get around, she’ll make good use of them.

It was really nice here today—in the 50s, I think—and Elaina was very keen on going outside.  I sort of expected that she’d want to ride her new bike. 

One again, I’d miscalculated where my little girl’s interest lies. 

See, it’s been raining here for days, and that’s created a lot more interest than a bike. 

First, the sump pump kicked in while we were outside, so we had water gushing from a pipe and creating a small swamp near where we were playing.  This was very much more interesting than a bike. 

Second, the whole neighborhood has become host to a series of impromptu pools and tiny streams, as the water slowly makes its way downhill. 

One such pool is in the woods just off our driveway, and its stream comes out of the woods, down the driveway, and then down the street.  This too, was really interesting to Elaina, and I was with her on this one—because the “stream” was an inch or so of water running across stones and channeled through cracks in the asphalt, it really was pretty cool, and it was clean as far as that kind of thing goes.

Of course, there’s interest and there’s interest, and Elaina required a spotter at times to make sure her interest didn’t get her into too much trouble.

When Elaina wasn’t in the water, chances are she was on her way there.  The bulk of my time was spent being a sheep dog, keeping my exuberant little lamb mostly dry and mostly clean, while letting her have fun and explore. 

 

Biker Chick - at least someone got some use out of the bike!