Lake Johnson Pool w/Friends

Now that this is our second time at Lake Johnson Pool Grace is feeling pretty confident! Here she is on the opposite side of the splash pad. It is so nice to have the area all fenced in so my little independent lady can roam around without being concerned about her getting into too much trouble.

 Life guard on duty!

 Grace and Aleks playing in the water.

 The island of dryness surrounded by water.

 She has discovered this great ability to use her feet and cover up the water sprayers, she absolutely loves it.

 Jumping in the water. There is about 2-3 inches in this area and it was a big hit just to jump and splash.

 More splashing and stomping.

 Action shot! Look at Millie get that water up in the air. I think G is impressed, I know I am. :)

 Millie, Grace and Aleks. Millie and Aleks are siblings.

 Taking a break to sit in the little chairs. Grace noticed that on her way over there, her very wet feet picked up lots of freshly cut grass. YUCK!

 Just relaxing. Summer at its finest.

 And back again to the splash pad.

 Not only can she cover up the jets with her foot, but also with a boat! She is learning amazing things today. :)

 She practiced putting the boat over the water and taking it off for 5-10 minutes. She loved how the water would spray up when she would remove the boat.

 She also discovered she could turn the sprayers and the water would change direction. She is pretty strong for a 20 month old!

 ahhh water!

 Swimming with all the kiddos.

 Snack break with Millie.

 My friend Miss. Ashley and her children Millie and Aleks.

 Yum!

It was a great day at the pool. :)

Long Summer Walks

Love going on summer walks with my girl. The only thing that makes walking even better is going with a friend! Here is Grace's friend Nola. Apparently Nola wanted a ride and Grace wanted to pull!

Waiting on the bridge. The best part of toddler walks, is going at their speed. Sometimes we stand in one place for a really long time, but they notice things we don't normally see.

They hear sounds we have forgotten about, like water trickling in a creek or mowers cutting the lawn. They see small bugs, birds, nails coming out of the bridge.

 

Toddlers experience the world in such wonder. It's nice to take time and do that with them.

Jazzy Beasts - Week 1

This summer Grace is taking a ballet, tap, gymnastics class all rolled up in one at the little gym. This was our first week, and BOY! This class worked a lot of skills and expected a lot from these little dancers. Grace loved the new challenges. First they were told to find a dot and sit on it - way to go G!

 Next skill, put your hands up and twirl (we call this spinning so there was a bit of confusion at first, apparently we need to start using the word twirl!)

 Hard to tell what she is doing in this picture, but she is attempting a plie. She understood that you squat down and get back up, and she was very, very proud of her new skill.

During the free dance section they each got a hoop with ribbons ties on it. G loves spinning it around - literally in every picture it is blurry!

 Dancing around the room with Miss. Genevieve.

 Still dancing and moving. This girl is a ball of energy. :)

 Oh and how fun is this! The hoop can also be a hat!

 Starting to slow down a bit. :)

 During the gymnastics part we sat in a circle and used drum sticks to practice rhythm.

 Instagram Pictures from class.

Ridge Road Pool - Raleigh, NC

I am obsessed with these Raleigh Community Pools I have recently discovered! This time we headed to Ridge Road Pool. It actually has a splash pad and toddler pool in the same area, still fenced in.

I loved that Grace could easily go from the pool to the splash pad, however I was not able to as completely relax as at Lake Johnson Pool, on account of if she got in the toddler pool I needed to be there. If she falls in the 18 inch pool she still struggles getting up without help.... so my Mama watching was on full alert the whole time.

 When did my baby get so big?

Playing with a boat.

 I also love that these pools have life guards on duty all the time! Here Grace is smiling for the life guard. I am pretty sure she thinks they are just friends hanging out and watching her. lol

 This pool also has a bin of toys for the kids to use, which was cool if you forgot to bring your own.

Grace's favorite part was the walkway between the pool and the splash pad. It dipped down into the water so she was walking through about 3 inches. She loved it. She walked back and forth many many many times! hehe

 Eating snacks and waiting for Mama and Mimi to get changed and ready for lunch. :)

 We went to a delicious sushi restaurant called Sushi Nine.

 Grace loved the edamame and tried sushi for the first time.

 It was a hit! Especially dipped in soy sauce. This child loves her dips!

Dolls and Stamps

Couldn't resist sharing this picture of Grace becoming a little mama. She is starting to fall in love with the "doll" process. She carries around her babies, puts them in the swing, rocks them, burps them, even sets them at the table to say "amen" before pretend eating. It has been such a joy watching her transition to true toddlerhood and headed toward preschooler. I am so in love with this little lady.

 Here we are doing a little tot school. We are still working on colors and numbers, so we combined them today! Each colored stamp had a different number on it.

 Of course we were obsessed with the yellow one, still our absolute favorite. :)

 Stamping lots of 1's and 2's. Grace can now comfortable count to 3 without prompting, so we are adding in 4's and 5's whenever we can. One step at a time. At this age it's so important to allow them to WANT to learn the number. We got Grace to want to know 1-2-3 because we would push her on the count of 3. Nothing like incentives of the swing!

 Great job sweet girl!