I know this is not your typical photo from a day at a water park, but it is the only photo I have. We spent most of a day last week at the local waterpark called Splash Country. We went last year and this year we got season tickets again. The day we went it was over 90 degrees and sunny. It was the perfect way to enjoy the hot day. We went with our friends Elena and Maeve.

It was fun to see the difference in the girls between the two years. Both are much more confident in themselves. Last year Julia wouldn’t go off by herself much at all and had to be held a lot of the time. This year she wore her lifevest without a complaint and didn’t need to be held unless she was tired or walked slower than Mama wanted. She still needs to work on the idea of standing in line for a slide. Emily loved being there with her friends. She loved sliding by herself and I found that I had to watch her more closely because she would just take off to go and slide. She didn’t have any trouble with standing in line and taking her turn at the slides. That was quite a relief for the Mama. Emily’s favorite play area is the same as it was last year, but she played a lot more at the firetower area than last year. Having water splash her in the face wasn’t her favorite thing, but the slides were enticing enough to get her up in it. They enjoyed the lazy river more this year. We are all looking forward to our next trip. We found that there are several rides the big girls can ride with an adult. It will be fun to explore these rides with them.

We stayed at the park until Julia had absolutely given out. Emily never slowed down with her playing and did very well playing by herself (with supervision, of course) while Julia rested in a chair. Julia fell asleep in Mama’s arms as we walked out of the park. Emily took a while to fall asleep in the car, but when she went out she was gone. After getting home Mama put them on the couch so they would be easier to wake up. They didn’t wake up until forced and when Emily did get up she wasn’t much fun. Maybe next time, I will put her in bed for the night when we get home.

We got some new chairs for our big girls. The are designed to look like dinning room chairs, but have the seat heights adjusted so that a child can sit at the table like the adults. Emily is so fidgety in her chair at the table. Some of that stems from sitting on a chair that is bigger than she is. Emily has loved her new chair. She gets to sit up high at the table without having to sit in a booster seat. Julia was very pleased with her new chair, but she struggled with getting in and out of it. Even with the stepstool she didn’t want to get down safely. After she slid off it it twice trying to get off, we let her choose if she wanted to keep practicing with it or if she wanted to go back to the booster seat. She chose the booster seat. We will try it again later. 

Some things just seem so ordinary in life, but too quickly the ordinary changes to something different and what is ordinary is forgotten. These are just a few things and thoughts about our current age of 4 years and 5 months.

Emily is my social kid. She is shy in new situations, but also very likely to pick up a new friend and talk his or her ear off. She learned introductions a while ago and most of the time she introduces herself as “my name is Emily and I am four years old”. She gets a variety of responses from people. Most of the time it breaks the ice and the kids play with her or the adult talks to her.

Emily likes to hear stories. She will ask us to tell her about when she was born, about when we were married, when we lost our power, or when Mommy lost her keys down a storm drain. Remembering events through story telling is fun, at least the first few times we tell the story. She is more reluctant to tell us stories in return, but with coaxing she will sometimes tell us about Cinderella.

The funniest thing she has said lately was at a baseball game we attended with her grandparents. Grammy told Emily that the Tennessee Smokeys were playing the Mississippi Braves. She replied with “why is Miss Sippy playing with the boys”. It took a few seconds for us to figure that one out and then we had a good chuckle as we explained about the state of Mississippi.

Emily is planning her next birthday party. Mama’s favorite part of the party so far is that she wants it to be a surprise party at the bounce house with her friends. I guess she doesn’t grasp the concept of a “surprise party” yet. If you talk with her for a while and she relates her age, she will then tell you of her party, and most likely invite you to it. If she does this, please don’t be offended when you don’t actually get an invitation. She is not keeping a good record of the people she invites to her party.

Emily is learning to plan things out. She informed me this week that she wants Julia to have surgery again. When I asked her why, she informed me of her plan. She wants to go to Elena’s house by herself and play with Ashley, Chris, Elena, and Maeve. I told Emily that if she wants to play with her friends, I would prefer working it out without her sister needing surgery.

Emily’s artistry is improving a lot these days. Whether she turns into an artist or not isn’t important to me. I just love being able to look at the picture and know what it is that she has drawn. She is intentional with the colors she chooses when drawing or coloring. Her favorite canvases right now are greeting cards. Maybe you will get an original piece of art in the mail one day.

Most important to her father and I is the person she is becoming. Lately, she has been talking about Jesus and his life. Yesterday, she told me she wanted her “heart to be good”. While our conversation was brief concerning this topic, what a joy it was to share with her that her heart could be good with Jesus’s help.