Spy Games
We have some walkie talkies down here. I bought them to use while snowboarding and never used them, so bringing them down here seemed like a good idea. Avery asked to play spy with them, so I obliged. We spent 30 minutes or so running around the neighborhood playing spy. Avery's code name was Pinkalicious and I was Mickey Mouse (because I had MM on my hat). We'd take turns reporting things to each with urgency in spy/military terminology, like, "fall back! fall back!" and "Pinkalicious on point. Mickey Mouse stand down." Fast forward a bit to a trip to eat a meal at the pool bar. Avery gets the walkie talkies out and decides she's going to go walking about for a bit. She takes the walkie talkie with her and ventures off. When she reaches the part of the cement not covered in shade, she steps out carefully and then immediately talks into her walkie talkie to report, "TOO HOT! TOOOOO HOT!!!!" It was hilarious. Trust me.It was during this game that Avery discovered the most fun person to have on the other end of the walkie talkie was Uncle Mike. That'll teach him to be funny.
Avery
As we were walking about from dinner the other night, Avery wanted us and the U's to have a race. She said, "Smiths go this way! Vics go that way!" As Vic said, she clearly knows who wears the pants in the U family.
Overall, Avery has done stellar down here. I can see how it's a bit rough for her when D and I get together with Vic and Mike. More so than with any other group of people, we're nearly constantly engaged in banter and catching up and just general talking. Avery gets left out of that much of the time. On top of that dynamic, we're down here with an 8mo whose naps are precious. Every time Bear goes down, we remind Avery to be quiet and not play in the courtyard, etc. There've been a couple of attitudes about being left out or about having to be quiet, but overall, I've got to say I'm absolutely proud of and thrilled with her behavior.
Along those behavior lines, she's also seemingly maturing quite a bit with the tantrums. The epic tantrums have been at bay for a few months now. The mini I-didn't-get-my-way tantrums are short lived and well within what I consider to be normal 4yo behavior. She's starting to respond better to logic and reason when we explain why she can't do something or why she can't eat something. She's also starting to negotiate better when she disagrees with our answers. While I never reverse a No when she's throwing a fit or when she just continues to whine about it, I will compromise when she presents a logical and calm argument. It feels like she's made a leap (that I'm sure will backslide at times) to understanding a No can be changed with calmness and logic, but it can never be changed with a fit or whining.
Avery can swim! It's not pretty, but it's fun to watch. It's mostly a doggie paddle, but sometimes she throws her arms in there and gets some good strokes in. She has close to no fear in the pool, which is a bit disconcerting. She will reverse course and head for shallower parts when she starts to feel out of her depth, so that makes me feel better. Her confidence and ability in the pool made it much easier for us to sit on the side while she happily played in the pool. She wanted us to join her, of course. And we both joined her for extended periods of time (versus a quick dip) to play, but she also had to come up with games to play on her own. Some days were better than others. I must say watching her play fetch with a plastic cup all by herself was odd. She'd toss someone's old cup then swim to it. She could do this for a solid 20 minutes.
The last few days there have been more kids around the pool. Most of them have been Mexican, so they don't speak English. Avery clearly wanted to play with these kids, but just couldn't summon up the courage to say, "Hola!" So what she'd do is follow them around the pool like a dolphin following a boat. She'd then stick her head in the water and make really loud bubble blowing noises to get their attention. It was awkward to watch.
Me
I was sick all day today. Not with food problems - which both Mike and D suffered the day before - but with flu-like stuff. It hurts to swallow and my whole body aches. I spent from noon to 6 pm in bed, got up to drink a protein drink, then went back to bed until hunger finally woke me up at midnight. It's 1 AM now.
I utterly failed on my goal to walk everyday. The reasons for failure are numerous: laziness, hotness, boredom. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back on things when we get back to Portland.
My good(ish) eating habits also slowly disintegrated as we've been down here longer. Who knew how good tortilla chips dipped in condensed milk and washed down by grape Fanta could be?
Good Friends & Good Life
The 24-hour technical blackout last 24-hours, but no more. We all did discover that when we're together in a group, it's better to just put the damn iPhone/iPad/Kindle down. Victoria has coined a phrase which I think should catch fire soon: iJacked. When you're having a lovely meal and then suddenly everyone is checking their devices, your meal has been iJacked. Same goes for a vacation.
Despite sitting here not feeling great, it's been a fabulous trip. I'm so grateful we have Vic and Mike to join us on some vacations. It's hard to find a couple friend where all parties have fun and click with each other. We also have the same general attitude about relaxing. Dinner plans are made a few hours beforehand and eating out is the preference. There's little scheduling or pre-planned structure. Everyone just wears whatever to dinner. There's no application of make-up or doing of hair. There's no wondering if this excessively casual approach is OK. It is.
Finally, I am ready to be home. I love it down here. I'm grateful we get to come as often as we do. I'm grateful Avery loves it so much. I'm grateful for the slow pace of life when we're down here. And I'm grateful that I look forward to returning to our daily routine in Portland. Life is good.
