Summer fun!

This week Sydney and I have had many opportunities to play indoor and out. Hooray for summer time! One of the big adventures we (well, I) took on was blowing up a little pool that Grandma Ponton had bought for Sydney last year. We didn't get to use it last year but I thought it would be great to start off with before heading out to the public pool. Soon after using all of the air in my lungs (which Joe didn't think I would have any problems lacking the "hot air" necessary) we carried it to the backyard to fill it up with water. As the little pool was filling up with ice cold water from the hose, Sydney started splashing her hands in it and flinging water everywhere and saying "brr!" and laughing and having fun. Then came the hard part: taking her away from the pool so the water could warm up. Yikes! She threw one of the biggest fits I have ever seen our little girl throw. It took her at least ten minutes to calm back down; then it was time for lunch! After eating lunch Sydney laid down for her afternoon nap and I started getting things situated to head straight out to the pool once she awoke. When she finally woke up from her nap, I got her all slathered in sunblock, got her in a Little Swimmers diaper, got her hat and swimsuit on and we were "off"! I imagined this lengthy stay in the pool (much like her bath which she would stay in all night if she could) but I bet we were out there thirty minutes before she started getting antsy. (Later I figured that was probably pretty typical of a 17 month old!) At least we were home and didn't pay admission! She had fun though and I can see that we'll be doing that many times this summer!

Sydney loves exploring and just being outside. She'll just sit and watch the cars go by or dig for rocks or color with sidewalk chalk. She found two rocks yesterday and she treated them as if they were her treasures! I'm trying to get her to understand that to play outside during the summer she needs to wear her sun hat; so now instead of remembering to get her shoes for outside--she needs her hat too. She does well for awhile and halfway through playing she gets sick of it. :) (then we move to shady parts)
Our little lady still loves to read and I bet I have read more stories out loud this past week than I did the entire last month or so of teaching! :) (Some of those stories are read over and over and over again!) It's great though to find her in her room just looking through books or "reading" them. I know that she's at a very active and mobile age and so to have that quiet, quality time with her snuggled in my lap is great. She especially likes the times when her dad reads to her! He's always up for stories when he gets home from work--she'll bring him one, they'll read it and she'll go get a new one, and so it goes like this for probably 5 books!
Her new thing lately is playing/carrying with her Hokey Pokey Elmo that Traci and Justin got her for her birthday. She loves watching him dance/sing but mostly she carries him around and loves on him. She even will point to him as if to say "stay" when she has to eat lunch or get her diaper changed! :)