Hello, Spring!

The temperature may still be on average about 50 degrees, but there is no denying the signs of Spring we are finally enjoying. Last weekend Ryan suggested we take a spontaneous fishing trip to Oster Lakes, theoretically about 35 minutes from Twin Falls, unless you take the lengthy scenic route up and down the canyon because you didn't look up driving directions before you left. If you think it's easy getting lost in a busy city, try navigating your way around the backwoods of Idaho, where the most you get is an occasional stop sign and another stinking dairy every few miles. Lucky for us, the girls were very patient and the scenery was nice to look at for the two hours we were in the car. There were quite a few people at the lake when we arrived, but nobody seemed to be catching any fish. We didn't end up having much luck ourselves, but the girls had a splendid time just being outside. It was a lovely Spring day. 

Nest of goose eggs Ryan pointed out

The parents out for a swim 

Ryan bought Lisa her own fishing pole this year, but since it wasn't producing the desired results, she was content using this stick.

Lyra was making me nervous being that close to so much water. She wanted to get right in. 

Before going on our fishing trip, the girls got to take part in an Easter egg hunt our apartment managers put together. It was kind of nice to have that taken care of for us. The girls thought it was great fun, even though Lyra wasn't quite sure what was going on.

What do you want me to do with this?

Ok. I'll put it in the basket if you want me to, Dad.

Mm-mmm...why didn't you tell me there was CANDY in these eggs? NOW I get it. 

But I still think I know a much better use for this basket.

On Friday, we took some time out for Earth Day and made another "Trash Monster" like last year.  We took the monster over to the canyon walking trail near our apartment and fed trash to it. We talked a little about recycling and what we can do to use less. 

Lisa is too busy pretending to talk on her plastic, pink cell phone to pose for my picture. 

Adventures in potty land

Don't wanna get my hopes up too much, but Lyra just walked into the bathroom on her own and used her little potty to go pee. We had just taken off a dirty diaper and she was roaming free at the moment. I noticed she kept walking back to the bathroom so I went and checked on her and saw she had gone pee! Lisa and I clapped for her and she looked real pleased with herself. Often I will ask her to sit on the potty after we take off a dirty diaper and then tell her in a sing-song voice,"Pee in the potty!" Usually she just smiles, gets up and walks away. Could it be she is starting to make the connection? That would be great. Cause, seriously, who wouldn't like to stop changing diapers as soon as possible? Especially cloth diapers.

This picture was taken when Lyra was about 4 months old and I had just started putting her on the potty.  I had read about infant potty training and thought it sounded pretty interesting, so we decided to try it out. At least part-time.  Those smiles during potty time didn't last forever unfortunately. I used to put her on the potty a lot more all day, at least once an hour, and she'd go quite often. But the older she got, the more independent she wanted to be and she did NOT appreciate me interrupting her play-time to go sit on the potty. So we bought a little potty she could sit on by herself and started trying that with limited success. For awhile, strangely enough, she would pee standing up in the bathtub every time without fail, but not on the potty. Hmm. As more time went on, I realized we would just have to settle for encouraging her to sit on the potty right after we change her diaper or if I notice she seems to be working on something, I'll rush her to the potty and see if we can catch it. Sometimes that works. But recently, if she is roaming diaper-less, she has been going on her own and sitting down for a second on the potty.  This morning, her timing was right on! I think taking this approach has actually been really good for me because I've had more patience with a baby learning something new than I did with Lisa, as a toddler, who I felt had the language skills, but was just defiant and stubborn. With Lyra, it's been a long, slow process focusing on communication, whereas with Lisa I was more demanding of her and expected her to just get it right away, which was pretty unrealistic of me. I haven't used any reward system so far with Lyra, other than verbal praise. So anyway, we'll see what happens over the next few months! 

Pink Slime

Cornstarch and water. There is no person ever too old to stop being amused by this mixture. While looking up online about whether or not it would upset Lyra's tummy to be eating so much of it, I learned that this concoction is called a "suspension". The cornstarch doesn't dissolve, but the particles are suspended in the water. You can squeeze it into a ball or let it goop out between your fingers. Ryan has made this before with Lisa, but with green food coloring. This time she wanted pink, just like in her new science book. 

I used about 1 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup water. We added just a little more water when it started to feel like it was drying out. I did read on one website, after I had already washed out the bowl, that it is better to scrape it into the trash when you're finished because too much cornstarch can clog your drain. I found it fascinating how much detail that website also went into about what was going on with the cornstarch and water. Such an easy activity and so much fun.

p.s. You may have noticed that Lyra's bangs recently suffered the wrath of her mother with a pair of scissors...I really never have caught on to the right way to cut bangs. Maybe it's genetic, as my dad used to do the SAME thing to me right as I was walking out the door to elementary school. Oh well, it grows back.

I see you!

It is so fun listening to kids learn new words and phrases. Lyra just recently started copying the phrase, "I see you!" Except in her interpretation it comes out more as "I EE OO!" You can tell from the video how she just loves how we keep asking her to perform for us. :)
 



p.s. You notice how daddy had to pull out Lyra's constant pal, the pacifier. We are on the verge of eliminating any day-time pacifier usage. She is getting more and more attached and wants it even at very inconvenient times, like when she is eating food. yuck! It kinda gets in the way. 

Spring break

Since last week was Ryan's Spring break, we tried to take advantage of our time together and decided to tag along with Lisa's friend, Anna, and her family to the Boise Zoo. It was a somewhat gray day, but we still had fun seeing the animals. 

Lyra does not seem to possess any of the fear Lisa once did with goats at the Zoo.

We were excited to see this zoo had a giraffe

Also during this Spring break we were able to make a trip to Idaho Falls, but I ended up leaving the camera in the trunk of our car, so we didn't take any pictures. We stayed with Tom and Molly Brinkerhoff and had great fun visiting with them. Lisa and Lyra chased their cute, little dogs around and Lisa got to pretend to drive Tom's motorhome. We also got to spend time with Mat and Andrea, Becky and her kids, and even got treated to lunch with Lyn on Sunday. We are so glad for the friends we've been able to keep in touch with in Idaho Falls. On our way out of town, I stopped by to see Cortney and baby Austin. He is only a few days old and we didn't want to expose him to lots of germs, so Ryan waited in the car with the girls for a few minutes while I said hello and dropped off a little quilt I had made. We hope to make another trip to IF some time in the summer or sooner.

Stages of discovery

Dad brought home some supplies from a DNA lab at school and let Lisa make a model. Lisa will never turn down anything involving candy!

Lyra is busy making discoveries of her own. Lately she imitates everything we do, but I'm pretty sure she came up with this one all by herself.

Dancing and singing to Secret Garden music

We all know how much Lisa has always loved singing and dancing. It is no surprise that Lyra is now also discovering this joy of expression and it makes me SO happy to see.