April

Elizabeth loves to read about lions, tigers, and bears…so it seemed like a perfect outing to go visit the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, CO.  They have a raised boardwalk so you can walk above the animals and look down into the pastures where they roam.  It was different than visiting the zoo because of they way you can see a larger area and watch them play, eat, roam, and sleep.  I’d advise going on a cool day, because there is no break from the sun up there on the boardwalk.

We’ve been taking advantage of the Kids Night Out at the YMCA as often as possible.  We’ve had several times that we’ve had to cancel due to Eliz being sick or one day she went to the YMCA and I was in bed sick.  Uggh.  But when it does work out, we’ve been trying to go for a short hike and then have dinner and drinks out.  In April we just went over to White Ranch (eastern entrance) and hiked for about 2 hours.  I thought time went fast with Elizabeth?  It goes by extra fast when you finally have time to yourselves!

We were so excited to see wildflowers – it’s Spring!  (And a gorgeous spring did we have!)

We love the fact that our church has a Childwatch for Elizabeth to go and play when we attend masses.  They have toys and she can run around or they’ll hold and rock her if she wants to sleep.  Since we were prepared to use the daycare on Easter, weren’t we surprised to find it was closed on the holiday.  The church was full, standing room only.  I had no toys, books, or blankets for Eliz.  Thankfully, she entertained herself most of the mass by walking and checking out all the other people standing in the back of church.  She also loves the music, and kept asking and signing for ‘more’.  She loves the clapping too, but I think she thinks people are clapping for her!  We almost made it all the way through Mass before having to leave.  Note to self:  always have some toys in the car!

Here’s Eliz in her Easter Dress – wrestling with Daddy…

She’s good about defending herself – she gives Daddy a pretty good straight arm!

Eliz is getting bolder and bolder at the gymnasium.  Daddy came to watch us one day and she was brave enough to “jump” into the pit.  Ok, it was more of a step – she stepped off the trampoline and tumbled in – but she did it on purpose!  My brave little girl!  She also started to use the low balance beams.  Yea!

All of this new bravery she is developing has lead to one thing – she is now climbing anything and everything.  Safe or not safe, she is feeling the need to climb to the top of “it”.  She has tried climbing up the back of the sofa, she stands on the arm of the sofa to play with light switches, and so on.  Unfortunately, this has also lead to a scary fall.  She climbed onto a chair, and then hinged herself over the back of it and teetered over the backside.  She landed flat on her head.  Andy witnessed this gruesome tumble and we both pounced on her to make sure she didn’t break her neck before letting her get up.  Scary, scary.  And we’re sure this won’t be the last time our stomachs churn.  Surprisingly, she was back on that chair the very next day.  What to do?

Along with most toddlers, Eliz went through a stage where she sounded like the seagulls from Nemo - “mine, mine, mine”.  Or, “no, no, no” were frequent outbursts from her little mouth (at high volumes, usually).  Then this month that started to change.  She has started to echo everything we are saying.  It is so much better hearing her say “nice” than “no”, but some echos catch me by surprise.  One day we got in our hot car and I said “hotsy totsy”…and so did she.

I miss riding my bike, but finally in late April I got out for a bike ride.  Andy had Eliz in the trailer, and I got to ride.  What a great feeling.  It is so nice to get her and me back out on the bikes.

Eliz has this great new game that she is playing:  1,2,3 JUMP!  She flips over her activity table, stands on it and holds up her little index finger as she says “one” (her “one” sounds like “nye”), “two”, “three”, “jump”…and she steps/jumps off the short platform she is on.  She might also do this while standing on a book or anything, but it is so cute.

More pictures and videos from April are on the Webalbum.