We've been back in Texas for about 3 weeks now which feels completely surreal. Nicole still references our time in Wisconsin on a daily basis, and for any number of reasons. If I ask her if she wants to help me check my email, she will reminisce about how she used to "help Nama email" in the morning before Nama had to go to work. When we talk about Daddy being at work she promptly informs me that "Bop-pa and Nama go work too". In addition to regular chatter about Bop-pa's fishing boat, the waves and her lifejacket, she also longly reflects on the "nema-nems" (M&Ms) that Nama gave her because she would really like some more. She chats away about reading books snuggled up in Nama's bed and any time she sees a lake here in town she announces that it's, "Lake Wausau!" We prayed specifically that our time together as an extended family would be rich, meaningful and memorable, especially for Nicole. We believe that God has answered our prayers and Nicole certainly has a deeper relationship with her Bop-pa and Nama as a result. We are thankful!
We have navigated requests to "go Bop-pa Nama's house?" by assuring Nicole that we will go back to Bop-pa and Nama's house, but not until it's cold outside like in one of Nicole's favorite books, Biscuits Snowy Day. In anticipation of our trip back to Wisconsin, Nicole regularly tries on her winter gear and excitedly talks about being back with two of the people she loves the most.
When we started talking about coming back to Texas, Nicole enthusiastically asked about seeing the Garbage trucks and our neighbor's dog, Maggie. Since we arrived in Texas on a Tuesday afternoon, we were able to reunite with the garbage trucks the very next day, since we faithfully watch (and greet) the garbage trucks together every Wednesday morning from our driveway. Only a few days after that we were able to go to the park with Maggie and Nicole had a blast watching her dig holes in the wood chips and run around. Because I've been experiencing some (normal) pregnancy-related sickness, we've settled into life in the slow lane. I'm not completely up to jumping into all of our old routines so Nicole and I have slowed things down, thinned out our commitments and enjoyed some extra down time at home together.
I snapped a couple of pictures of Nicole's favorite activities to do at home as of late to share with you today:
1. Cooking! I have always wanted to cook with my children but I admittedly have had to be a little more creative than I once imagined to involve Nicole in our meal prep. I think of it more as an activity for us to do together, and less of a task to complete since it is always messy, slow and full of accidents :).
2. Playing outside! Nicole loves to be outside and would truly spend all of her time there if we allowed it. Because's she so social, her favorite place to play is in our driveway where she can see the neighbors come and go and wave at all of the dogs being walked.
3. Reading! Books continue to be one of Nicole's all-time favorite past-times. She is starting to call her favorite books by their titles and can re-tell most of them by heart. Lately, she's been especially interested in song books like Down By the Bay and Skidamarink as well as any book about trucks or construction equipment.
I'm not sure how much longer we'll be hunkered down, taking things slower than usual but we are all thankful that our newest member of the family is healthy and growing safely in "mommy's tummy" thus far. I hope you are having a wonderful week!
Love,
Erica
No comments:
Post a Comment