mini me

Today we went for a run to the park. It's about 1 1/2 mile to the park and then while she plays, I try to do some stationary exercises. Well, today I was doing crunches. I was almost done when I felt little a presence- I looked over to see Makaela on the ground with her arms behind her head copying me. Then I pulled my ear phones out and I heard her going "uh, uh, uh"- she was mimicking me...wow, didn't realize I made such terrible noises when I worked out. Leave it to my daughter to remind me.

beach diva in training

We all went to the Haleiwa today and had a fun family lunch. Then we headed to the beach. Once again Makaela was throwing herself in water. Today, she decided that she loved sunblock. Little by little, she edged me out of my beach chair and sat there reapplying lotion and soaking up the sun.

Spring Fling Fair

Matt was working tonight so Makaela and I decided to head to a local school fair with Jaimi and her kids, Kaila and Brody. I thought it was going to be fun, but it was actually more of a conditioning experiment. Makaela was extremely overstimulated. She loved the bouncy house so much, that it was a chore to get her out. Once she was out, she had a meltdown. She couldn't understand why she couldn't stay in. It was an exercise in teaching Makaela patience. Trying to teach a 1 1/2 year old to wait 5 minutes for her next turn is definitely trying, but we kept doing it and waiting on the line for our next turn. By the end of the night though, her meltdowns got shorter and shorter. The teenager collecting the tickets actually stopped collecting tickets from us because she felt so bad for Makaela. Everyone loved watching her squeal and bounce around, but no one liked seeing her cry.

love watching her learn

As I was laying Makaela down tonight, I was struck by exactly how much she is learning. Today, she packed her lunch in her Dora lunchbox and carried her own bag off to daycare. Before she got to the car, she stopped picked up a flyer from our driveway and then threw it in our garbage can- talk about a "green" girl, putting garbage in it's place. Then when we were preparing dinner, as I was cutting up a red pepper, she called it an apple- she is overgeneralizing, but still. When we were reading her animal book at bedtime, she was able to name a few animals and even make their sounds. I am trying to figure out why she thinks a chicken is a "ninganing" though:-) I am just amazed at how quickly babies grow and how much they absorb.

My little beach bum

Today Makaela and I decided to go to the beach and ran into Lisa, Steph and Gavin- we had an impromptu beach gathering. Once Makaela got in, I couldn't keep her out. She kept running into the surf and throwing herself face first into the water. Luckily swim classes taught her to roll over and keep her face up and out. Her and Gavin were having so much fun. By the end of the day, the girl was so tan, I was jealous.

new sunsets

Today, we headed to Costco, grabbed a greek salad and headed to the beach for a sunset picnic. The sunset was probably the most amazing purple shades I have ever seen. I wish I had my camera with me. Makaela was all hyper, so we got to amuse her with bubbles. It amazes me how inquisitive she is. I love watching her inspect things and figure things out. She know bubbles quite well, but when she chased a bubble into the sand she stopped and looked at us as if there were something we weren't telling her. It was so interesting to watch her learn the difference between grass and sand. It wasn't so much fun cleaning up after all the learning though :-)

Happy Easter

Wow, we had quite a busy Easter. It started with looking for Easter baskets (which the Easter bunny left convienently in the center of our livingroom). Then we headed to church, but had to stand outside because it was so crowded- this made Makaela's attempts at being a quiet little church goer a bit more difficult. Then we packed up and headed for a picnic on the Windward side in the botanical gardens. Unfortunately, as we were trying to off road and hide our cars (not something we were supposed to do anyway), we ended up getting the Martin's Explorer stuck in the mud...really stuck. The guys were trying so hard to push the truck out and eventually with a little gravel they dug out and Steph and I pushing, Katie was able to drive it out and pack to the parking lot. Luckily the picnic was saved and we really enjoyed our time. The weather was overcast, but it created a great mist in the mountains for an awesome backdrop.

news on the next transfer

So matt heard back from the navy detailer and he was not picked up for Iraq. There are three options open right now for 9 air traffic controllers, however, only two are open to us: Bremerton WA and San Diego. WA would be better for Matt's career because it is a carrier (easier to get promotions), however it would not bode well for the family situation. By the time I can leave UH and meet up with him, the carrier would probably be deploying, so basically, Makaela and I would continue to stay in HI, keeping the family apart for a year and a half or longer. San Diego would be better for the family because we could buy a place and then just stay there until retirement, but again, not such a hot career move for either one of us right now. Regardless Matt said he is going to put in for both of them because if his choices and the navy's choices don't match up by June, they will put us anywhere they want. Frankly, I'm entirely too stubborn to have someone else tell me where I'm going and when, so even if I just have two options, I'd rather that.

this girl knows how to sound out words

Makaela has become very chatty lately, but not a whole lot makes sense. Her baby sign language has helped us communicate, but now we need to take it to the next level. Since I've been sick, I've noticed her mimicking me more and more. When I sneeze, she makes a sneezing sound. When I sniffle, she sniffles and snorts (didn't know I sounded that bad!) We have also been doing this with our speaking. She tries to mimic me when I tell her a word. Sometimes the word sound close, other times not at all. Today, when I was getting her dressed, I was trying to get her to say the word "feet". So, I said the word and she said something totally inaudible. Then, like a good English teacher, I sound it out phonetically and very slowly, "FFFF eet". So what does my genius of a daughter do? She goes, "FFFF" and signs the word "eat".

uhh, duh...now why didn't I think of that.

beach and luau day

Today Makaela got to practice her swim lesson skills with her poppy at the Ko'olina lagoon pool. At first, she was a little reluctant to get in, but once she realized the pool was only so deep, she was running around, throwing herself in, and trying to swim. She was a kicking up a storm! After the pool fun and a nice nap, we headed to a luau. Matt and my dad got on stage to do the hula and then my dad got taken up a second time to get a one on one instructional dance from a very pretty hula dancer. Makaela was enthralled and couldn't take her eyes off the dancers. She was either clapping, yelling or leaning over the railing trying to get a closer look. We definitely have a dancer in the family.

sick in Haleiwa

Today Makaela had to stay home from daycare because she had a runny nose and some coughing, but we get kinda stir crazy in the house, so we headed to Denny's for some breakfast with my dad and then drove up to Haleiwa to play on the playground...she wanted the playground, we wanted the scenery. She perked right up when she saw the playground though!

righty or lefty?

So Matt and I have been trying to figure out if Makaela is a righty or lefty. As soon as I think I've figured it out, she messes us up by doing something like this...she does love to eat!