Update

The long summer days are glorious. I enjoy the early sunrise and late sunrise. The weather has been beautiful! Warm enough to start swim lessons with Bailey but not hot enough to blast the air conditioner and dread an afternoon walk. Plus, Bailey is so adorable in her summer clothes.

My friend Haley is giving Bailey and Emily swim lessons. Sadly, Bailey has been having a rough time with the whole"dunking" part of swimming. She loves to play in the water but she has become a bit distrustful of the whole experience because she does not like going under. However, I have play days and other days when we revisit dunking and that seems to help; she is getting better. Emily however, is champ! She is the model swim student and Bailey enjoys watching Emily and I think it gives her courage. 

Brandon's work schedule changed and he now works four, ten hour days and gets Fridays off! We love it because every weekend feels long and we have time to relax together. This past weekend felt like a vacation with 4 days together. We enjoyed two graduation parties, time at the park, and a nice Memorial Day BBQ.

Bailey is daily impressing me with her attentiveness and ability to learn practically everything I teacher her. She imitates most things I do and copies Brandon's funny noises. Some of our favorites lately include her playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with her baby doll and even tries to sing the song, she does many animal noises and our favorite is her Elephant and Leopard. She loves the book "Say Hello in the Jungle" and we read it at least twice a day and she does all the animal sounds. Bailey is great at sign language and communicates when she wants food, milk, help, water, more, and uses her manners and signs 'please'. Bailey might also think she is a dog. We take walks every morning with Frani (our dog) and we often see other dogs in backyards or out walking. Well, Frani enjoys barking at almost every dog we see and they naturally bark back, so fun, and well Bailey now too barks back at the dogs we pass. She sometimes gets really into it too; pointing her fingers, puffing up her little cheeks and lips and barking like Frani at the passing dogs. I don't think this will ever get old for me; I laugh every time. 

The other day Bailey and I had Silas over for the afternoon so his parent's (Rob and Holly) could get organized in their new home! They played so well together and it actually felt easier for me! Silas is nearly two and is very well behaved and able to do most things on his own. Bailey loved watching him and following him around and it was nice to watch her play. Bailey likes my attention, naturally, and so during the day she wants me to play with her most of the time and follow me around helping me. I love it, but it also can be a bit difficult if I need to do something productive. So, it gave me some peace thinking that having another child would be a great playmate some day. 

Bailey colored for the first time with Silas. I have never given her crayons but she has been trying to imitate me writing and so I thought she might enjoy it if she could withstand from eating them. I was super surprised in how enthralled she was with it. She colored all over her paper while switching colors. 

Endless fun.