Nana's Visit and Saguaro National Park

It's hard to believe that Nancy has already been here for a week! The time has just flown by and now that we are going to leave for Utah tomorrow, it seems there is so much to do. We found out yesterday that we can get our kitchen redone while we are gone, but we have to empty out all our cupboards! Luckily, we don't have that many cupboards to empty out. We will be scrambling to get packed and empty our kitchen out today so we can leave tomorrow.


As usual, Nancy's visit has been great. It is nice to have an extra set of hands and extra company during the day when Eric is gone. On Tuesday, we went to Tucson to see Saguaro National Park. I have wanted to get there before we leave Arizona and with Eric's crazy school schedule, I'm not sure if I'll have any other chances. By the end of the 2 hour and 15 minute drive (we got stuck in very slow moving traffic for about 45 minutes of it) Ethan had about had it with the car seat, and there was still a lot of driving between the east and west park. He did quite a bit of crying. We once talked to someone who was convinced that their children were good singers because they had cried very loud and developed their lungs well. I guess we're making a singer!


We went to the east park first because I wanted to hit sunset at the west park. The east park seemed nice until we went to the west park. That was really impressive. I was worried because the rain started to pour right as we hit the east park, but it didn't last long. Here is one of the pictures I took at the east park. I really liked these plants because they were just so unusual. You can see how big it is if you look for Elia in the bottom right corner!
The west park was much more impressive. There were huge cacti all over and we stayed until the sun had set completely. Elia did great throughout the long drive and the views were great especially in the setting sun. I will definitely go back if I have the chance.


In Ethan's corner, he is now rolling over from his back to his stomach. He started doing this yesterday. In two days he will be four months old. He is just getting big fast, but is cute as ever. He is doing pretty good at night. He wakes up once, but after we rewrap him he settles back down. He gets out of his swaddle almost as soon as we wrap him up, but he still seems to like starting out that way. We'll see what happens.

Elia still thinks she needs to get up once a night. Nancy has been intercepting her (which has been so nice!!!) but we still are not sure what to do. Hopefully it will pass soon. When we put her to bed and get our hugs from her she often holds us tight and says, "Just rest a little". She has also decided that her parents should sit in time out once in a while. It started when we were role-playing with her about the appropriate way to go to and sit in time out (vs. throwing a fit about sitting in the chair). Now she thinks she can put us there. I was cleaning up and threw away a key that no longer goes to anything. She found it in the trash can as she was throwing something else away, came and got me, and told me I had to sit in time out! Just to play with her, I did, but would get up and shout a little that I didn't want to go to time out. She would "shhhsh" me and lead me back to "my chair". Her time-outs are going much better. We put her chair in the corner and put her in one of our big table chairs. It is less easily moved by kicking and pushing little feet.

We've talked about funny things she says, when she talks on her play phone she says, "Hello?" and "I'll call you right back" then hangs up the phone. I know I do this to Eric quite frequently. It is very difficult to talk when changing dirty diapers or handling a distraught child so often I say I'll call him back. I know she got that one from me!

I feel I often talk about the distressing times, but Elia really is getting to be so pleasant. She has to be reminded sometimes, but often she'll say please and thank you without being prompted and is usually willing to help me pick up her toys and the house a little before we go places. She loves dancing to music and has really gotten into "wrestling" with Papa. She is still fairly fanatical about matching and must wear pink with pink. She picks out my least favorite shirts to wear (so I've learned to hide those, though I'm not sure why I keep them) and her favorite color is purple. She also can recognize the letters E and I and sometimes O. I'm thinking about focusing on a letter a day after she turns three. That will give us something new to do.