Li, a big box of new soccer balls, and an active imagination (04/2009)
I just never know what I might find when I walk into our living room. Leave a two year old little girl with a developing love of “the beautiful game” — although I think at this point, her love of the game is based on the fact that her adored big brother Ian plays and every match is an opportunity for her to get to spend a couple of hours outside — alone in a room with a box full of new balls and look what happens…
Soccer is in full swing at this point, occupying a big chunk of our lives, and has been accompanied by the usual early Spring soccer weather: snow, wind, rain, wind, sleet, wind, rain, snow, hail, clouds, wind, and the occasional explosion of a ray of sunshine poking through the clouds. Despite the lousy weather so far this season, Li hasn’t missed any of Ian’s matches. She must dream about it, as well; one morning last week when we brought her in to snuggle up in her little bed in our room at about 2:00 AM, she mumbled “Watch soccer?” in her sleep.
The weather has finally begun to turn to something resembling spring, noticeable particularly just these past couple days. I’m guessing we’ve yet a few snow flurries to suffer through before we can really say, “It’s over!” but it is nice to see the occasional crocus without snow, the lawn greening up (slowly), and the first early signs of leaves beginning to bud on one of our trees. With highs in the upper 50′s, we’ve been able to open windows and let some of that wonderful fresh air in, as well. Deb’s outside right now, doing some early season work in the beds and I know the lengthening and warming days are good for both her and Li.
Li has been sleeping significantly better over the past month or so, with only two or three nights that I would call poor. She’s to the point where she usually wakes up around 2:00 AM and we bring her in to sleep in a small bed in our room for the rest of the night. That change alone has made a big difference for all of us, as we don’t feel nearly as sleep deprived as we have until recently. She’s counting to 10, enjoys showers (in addition to her more-normal bathtime), is stringing more and more words together, has finally learned the word “No” (we knew, unfortunately, that would come eventually), and is showing a more varied palette when it comes to mealtime (although, I think she’d live on homemade apple cider and homemade apple sauce if we let her).
