Katharine Lange: Leia Week 87: Pool Party!

Another big week of adventures this week. We started off with a Northstar Ski Team Party at The Treehouse, which is a very fancy clubhouse for a new development up there. They had a pool, hot tub, game room, bar, living room, great views, and sushi! Leia got up a little late from her nap, and I was worried we'd be late if she acted difficult, but I told her that we were going to go meet Daddy and go to a Party, and man was she excited. "Daddy!" "Party!" I'm not actually sure why she was exciting about a party because most parties are not actually that fun for her, but she was, and when we arrived she was rewarded. First thing she saw was this big beautiful pool full of kids, and she couldn't stop staring at it through the balcony rail...there was definitely no denying her that pleasure (luckily I was prepared with bathing suits)! We decided we better get eating out of the way first, and then it was game on. She was in Seventh Heaven. She loved jumping in from the side of the pool (just like all the big kids were doing), and it was nice to have a little more space than our normal hot tub dips to have her float around and try to kick. We got cold (no sun), but despite her shivering she wouldn't admit to it and didn't want to get out. Finally I just grabbed her and headed for the hot tub against her will, but that turned out to be just as exciting because it was packed with kids too. She couldn't take her eyes off all the people and the grin on her face couldn't have gotten any bigger.

Leia and I also headed up to Alpine Meadows to watch Uncle John compete in the Banzai. I told her we were going to watch John race, and he goes really fast, and after that she was really excited and kept announcing that "John Race Fast". It was a tough hike up the hill to the finish line, with a baby on my back and another in my belly, and to make matters worse I left the water in the car. Right when I really started feeling dehydrated and exhausted, my little Hawk Eye Leia spotted a water bottle in the snow right next to where we were hiking. "Water!" I congratulated her on her good find, but informed her that we couldn't pick up someone else's used water bottle. But upon further investigation, it turned out that the water bottle was unopened and untouched! Leia saved the day! I had to keep begging her to share it with me, but luckily after a little convincing she was very cooperative.

Long written post this week I guess, but I still have more news... As I mentioned before, Leia loves to be my little cleaning helper. This week I asked her if she would help me vacuum the all the ants that have invaded my bedroom, and she was happy to comply. But it was the cutest thing because I went to pick her up to take her upstairs, and instead she ran off to grab her toy vacuum to bring up with us so that she could actually help. And one night, she made my day by specially requesting that Daddy be the one to change her diaper...we had a good laugh about that, and Josh is praying that it's not a pattern! Finally, Leia had her first nightmare this week. Woke up at 4:30 am totally balling and calling for Mommy. Of course neither of us really wanted to get up, and we didn't want to run to her at the first cry if she could learn to comfort herself, so we waited about 5 minutes, and she did calm down and fall back asleep on her own.