Summer Vacation: Week 2

This week was mostly filled with spontaneous play time at home or around the hood. No major field trips to report but lots of good creative play.

This week's highlights include:

: Shaved ice at the beach with friends

: Grab bag behavior: I am very happy to report that every day was an improvement on the previous day. The grab bag was an incentive but really the kids seemed to care about being 'good' and the 'treats' became ancillary. I am encouraged.

: Early morning phone calls followed by crack of dawn playdates. Anna discovered the power of making phone calls. Christopher has been doing this for some time (randomly calling mom and dad when we are out and filling us in on any and everything we may be missing). But Anna found our buddy phone list (with pictures) and proceeded to go down the list -- at 7 am!! I was unaware until the return phone calls came pouring in and the truth came out. Since then we have instituted some call time boundaries.

: Photo nature hunt. These scavenger hunt cards with a camera were great fun and I can see many variations brewing....Please find 10 different things that are blue. Now please capture fifteen smiles. It's endless!

: Swim team. Anna has decided she wants to join a swim team. She tried out for a local team with a multi-page waiting list. There will be a bit of a wait which we will use to hone her stroke a bit and get the breathing down. She has a ways to go with the breathing. We added another layer of lessons for a couple of weeks so she is motivated to try. I'm telling you, when she puts her mind to something....

: Playwrites. We are blessed with a very creative group of friends in our neighborhood. Evidently there is a series of plays being debuted this summer. Anna and her friend worked on writing her play, inspired by The Boxcar Children. (We have been reading the series. I read them and LOVED them as a kid myself and quite enjoy re-reading them now.)

: Deep baseball card analysis. I missed the photo op for this one but trust me, there was a lot of review of player stats.

: Lots of doctor/patient play. Anna has taken her role as caregiver pretty seriously and assembled her own doctor's kit from findings around the house. We visited the dermatologist this week, only to fuel her fire, and were gifted a few more items for her kit. At one point, I, the patient, had brain surgery. Evidently there was some mix up during the procedure and I took a turn as a cowgirl, a little boy, a baby and a pirate. Fortunately my doctor was able to return me to my old self.

: Chemistry 101. My monkey see monkey do little one took the doctor play right into the lab and concocted all sorts of remedies.

: Swimming and more swimming.