Lydia's Days

Our sweet Lydia came last week for her Days.  I met her and her family at a nearby Sonic and we enjoyed a lunch and the playground.  Then, we loaded Lydia's supplies into my truck and headed off to the grocery store.  I loved that when her mother was buckling her into her car seat that she announced that she was going to "stay for a million days!" 

After we picked up a few needed supplies from the grocery store, we headed north to Mr. Mike and Grand B's house.  The first item on our agenda was to get in out of the heat.  The deck thermometer looked like this when we got home and it was about two o'clock!

Before I began to put the groceries away, Lydia thought we needed to find some Barbies for her to play with in the new dollhouse Pop and Mama O had given us for all the granddaughters to play with.  So, downstairs we trekked to get the old girls.  I have a stash downstairs that were Bridgette's when she was a little girl.  Isn't it amazing that Barbie was introduced when I was born years ago and little girls today still like to play with her?

Getting to know the old girls

The Barbies provided hours of fun and entertainment.  One has a sparkly, fluffy skirt and she became a ballerina who performed several remarkable dance recitals for me. 

Lydia had selected the menu for dinner and we all enjoyed pizza.  She also shared a special treat with Mr. Mike after dinner - Little Debbie Oatmeal Cakes!  These she had picked out special at the grocery store because she knew, "these are Mr. Mike's favorites."  Somehow I think they might be her favorites as well because both of them ate at least two while we watched TV.  Another night she selected "Sbusketty" for our dinner menu.  It was a night when she must have really worked up an appetite with all our activities because she tried to be a little helper and near disaster ensued.  I'll tell more about that in another post.  It must have been really tasty to her, though.  She and I were eating because Mike was later getting home that night.  She informed me, "Mr. Mike better hurry up or he is going to miss out on this good sbusketty!"

She was a wonderful helper.  While I was watering the flowers each day, she would generously spritz spray them with a home-made bug repellent.  It was a hot job, but she was quite adept at it!

spraying bug repellent

a hot job made easier with a sweet smile

This sweet girl is one who can entertain herself for hours.  Her imagination is certainly healthy.  There were no boundaries for discovery for her either.  If something was just out of reach, she could work out a way to get there with ease.

I was making the beds and thought I'd better check on her because she was so quiet and this is what I found.  She had been intrigued by a collection of screws and the end of the towel bar that has pulled out of our bathroom wall.  (This is a project that has caused me quite a lot of frustration, but more about that another time.)  Lydia is a bit like her friend, Ariel from Disney's Little Mermaid.  These discoveries get new names and purposes when in her hands. 

We went to the library on the day that the thermometer looked like this:

I knew that we needed to do something special and playing outside just wasn't an option.  We watered and sprayed the flowers late in the afternoon, just before dark because we knew the plants were thirsty and dependent upon us.  That time also provided Lydia with a little time to ride one of the bicycles we have here for the girls to enjoy.  However, it was just entirely too hot to be outside unless it was really a necessity.  So, the library turned out to be a special treat.  There was a set of chairs and a table that was just her size and there were shelves and shelves of books all waiting for her to read and peruse.  She found books about horses, storms, bugs, puppies, and more.  There were some familiar friends like Llama, Llama Mad at Mama.  We finally settled on bringing home one entitled Purplicious.  It turned out to be delightful because the main character's favorite color is pink just like Lydia's.  So, we had to read it no less than a dozen eighteen twenty times while she was here. 

I think the favorite activity while she was here were the trips over to Nan's (my sister-in-law) to go swimming in her pool. 

This was a wonderful way to spend some time outside and wound up being a cool thing to do as well.  I had to carefully schedule when we went so that we could avoid sunburn.  However, it was so hot that week that it didn't matter what time of day we went, the pool was a welcome respite from the weather.

Smiling, kicking, and giggling was the order of any time spent there at Nan's pool.  It was pure innocent fun and she wanted to go every one of the million days she planned to spend here!  Lydia had packed a pool bag with a swimsuit, a cover-up, a towel, sunscreen, and bug spray.  So, she was well-prepared for this outing.

Every trip to the pool we had to empty out the pool bag before we could dip even a toe into the water.  You can see the hot-pink bag collapsed on the deck in the background of this photo.

We had to have wave-making contests and the shot above shows her getting ready.  She would grab on to the side of the pool and push away with her hands and feet to make waves.  She had noticed that when one of us adults did that the waves would make her floaty rock.  So, she thought that when she pushed away she was making big waves even though they were basically just ripples.  Still, it was great fun.

Another fun part of these outings was fueled by her curiosity as well.  Nan has a big 'treasure box' there on the deck.  It is full of interesting items.  Part of the fun is just the digging and discovering, though.

Lydia learned quickly that she didn't want to forget and leave her floaty on the deck.  She wasn't ready for swimming without it and getting her face underwater.  Even vigorous splashing wasn't really welcome.

Finding treasures in the box entertained her endlessly.  It was fun to figure out what might float.

Armed with several of the treasures, she would float around and create games for long stretches.

Again, like Ariel, the treasures would rarely have the original purpose for Lydia but were still great fun and fit well into the games she thought up.  Probably the favorite treasure for her were the goggles.  Most of the time they rested across the top of her head.  However, there were times when she needed them to protect herself from splashing or to dip down into the water to find something that hadn't passed the float test. 

Favorite Treasure = Goggles!

She was always on the look-out for Nan's dog.  Mitty was a little intimidating for Lydia.  Maybe it is just that she is an animal and Lydia is not really sure about making friends with all animals and hesitates somewhat.  In this photo, Lydia is gazing out over the side of the pool to make sure that Mitty wasn't coming up to the deck to join her.

On the Look-out

Mostly the swimming outings were relaxing but they also tend to make a little girl tired. 

Mike and I had a wonderful visit with Lydia during her Days here and I think she had a big time, too.  It was really quiet around here on Sunday after she had gone.  Grand B was pooped from keeping up with her little helper but the sweet memories still linger.