Jumping in to summer

Lucy and I have discovered a new beach nearby. It's beautiful, and has a playground too.

Lucy had such a great time in the water. She gets so excited, splashing and kicking her legs while I'm holding her in the deep water, laughing and screeching with delight. It's amazing to me how much she loves it. Then she wanted to jump off the dock because she saw other kids doing it. She jumped off a bunch of times holding onto my hands, and then jumped in a few times by herself, going all the way under water until I caught her. I was so impressed and proud of my gutsy little girl! Thankfully she doesn't seem to have inherited Caitlin's inclination for jumping into deep water without grown-ups nearby (my parents can regale you with many tales), as she always makes sure I'm close by.

We met some friends there earlier this week, and after a wonderful time at the beach, we decided to go to a nearby farm and get ice cream for dinner. You can watch the cows while you eat your ice cream, and they also had sheep and goats and bunnies. It was such a fun summer experience.

I've also been meaning to write a bit about Lucy's personality. It's so neat to see how she's developing and becoming her own person. One funny thing is that she loves changing clothes. If we let her she would change outfits 4 or 5 times a day. Sometimes she'll tell me, "this shirt not pretty", to convince me that I should let her change it. Matt and I kind of think that for Lucy changing clothes is as much about the independence for her as it is the fashion.

Tonight I came home after a day in the office and Lucy wanted to go upstairs and get me some clothes. I asked why, explaining that I already had clothes on, and she said, "No, those work clothes". So she went upstairs and came down with a shirt and a pair of pants for me- so cute. Then later she decided she wanted to wear one of my shirts too (pictured below). She loves it when I let her go upstairs by herself for these "errands".

Another part of her personality that's coming out is her need/desire for "quiet time". It's been much more prominent recently, and she'll sometimes tell us or her babysitter that she wants to read a book by herself. Tonight when I was trying to get her ready for bed, she crawled under our bed and hid there, reading a book. Also, last week we went to a party where there were lots of kids (mostly 1 year olds)- Lucy took one look around and headed for the kid's bedroom, where she settled into a rocking chair and read books for the first 10 minutes or so. After that she emerged and happily played with toys and the other kids.

We love our little Lucy so much, and look forward to seeing how she continues to grow and become more herself.