The Fourth

We spent the evening of the fourth swimming!  And getting eaten by bugs.  We sure love this buggy state.  

 

Avery tried several times to jump off the diving board and finally did after she suited up in flotation devices and after a lot of encouragement from her dad, who would be mortified that I posted a picture of his balding head.

 Milo went reluctantly into the pool.

 This is him the next morning.  Covered in bug bites and swollen.  It took a few days for the swelling to come down.

 We took the kids to the Delano fireworks that Saturday evening.  Milo cruised around the place with his pink blanket in tow.  I can't wait to show his future wife these pictures.

The kids anxiously waiting for fireworks to start.  Milo still has his pink blanket.

This little girl was a little bit nervous watching the fireworks and opted to sit in the stroller.  She promptly fell asleep.

Speaking of this little girl, we have entered the terrible three's.  She won't potty train anymore, she throws tantrums at every wrong turn in her life and she has developed a little attitude.  You think you got the parenting thing under control when the first two kind of glide through this stage, but then number three comes and you quickly reexamine and sheepishly admit you have no clue what you are doing.

But she is so sweet at the same time.

I mean, look at that!  How could you not love that face?

I put on my fake wedding ring the other day, the one I have saved for this stage in pregnancy, when my real one gets stuck on.  My fake one has a big, fake diamond and Piper was the first one to notice.

"Can I have it?"  she asked me, staring at it.
"No, it's mine."  I said.  "You can have one when you are big."

She stared at me and frowned.

"But I still little."  she said.

Yes, you are, little Miss Piper.

She eats at a snails pace and is usually the last one left at the table.  I like to sit down with her and chat with her about whatever she is focused on at the moment while she finishes up her meal.  The topic of conversation usually ranges from My Little Pony to Auntie Hannah to naming all the people she doesn't like because they are mean to her.  Then she will tell me she loves me and Daddy and then will announce that she is a potty princess and doesn't need to wear diapers anymore.

I do love this age.  I really do.  And I have to remind myself that the tantrums and the attitude are just her learning how to make her way around in life.  And I have a feeling no one is going to be able to tell her what to do as an adult.