Spring Break

I was lucky to be able to take all week off to hang with my favorite 7 year old.

We had a blast on a little hike and
checking out a nature center.

We enjoyed Easter with cousins, grandparents,
aunts and uncles. There were multiple
egg hunts and the love of all things in
eggs seems to continue to grow.

She found this house on clearance the day after Easter when we
were grocery shopping. She hugged it for the rest of our trip to the store.
When we got home she opened it on her own while I unpacked the
groceries. I was in charge of the frosting. She was in charge. I put it
where she told me to and she placed all the candies. We made her
bunny house vision a reality and she loved it. 

She loves the water, but swimming had become a challenge.
We quit private swim class in October when she would
scream in terror the drive there and the entire session. The
teacher was wonderful, kind, and patient, but it was not
what we wanted for her experience. I planned to take her
swimming for fun weekly. It is now 6 months later and
this is the second time we went. The first time was terrible.
She never calmed down and it was crowded and rough.
When our friends invited us to play at the pool we warned
them that there would be some fear and screaming.
She screamed going in and for the first 15 minutes. Then
something clicked. She had a blast. She tried doing laps, jumping,
paddling, standing up, jumping again.  After two hours I asked her
to get out. She got out, signed "more please" and pointed back to
the pool. I let her have ten more minutes twice before it was
really time to go. I hope she has this much fun next time!

She has a bird fear. As a result she has aversion to entering
any buildings at the zoo. This visit she choose the swamp.
After that, I chose the reptile house. She fought me a bit, but
I explained she made her pick and this was my pick. She was
okay with it. We spent about 45 minutes in the reptile house.
She adored it. Her favorite was the black headed python. She
wouldn't leave his enclosure. We probably stood there for 20
minutes. The whole trip was super fun. We even saw
the elusive arctic fox, who she decided must be a kitty
because one was curled up sleeping in a ball. 

We ventured across the state to see wonderful family and
butterflies at the gardens.We had discussed the outing for
a few days before we went. She had been excited.
She became extremely agitated upon entering the building.
With all the successes of the week this was one bridge
too far. These butterflies inspired extreme fear, she was
inconsolable. Our family was amazing and handled
the issue with grace. They tried to distract and teach her.
They were patient and understanding.  After I tried to
comfort her and explain butterflies can not hurt her we decided
to get out of the butterfly area ASAP. We had a blast on
the grounds, in the children's garden, with the sculptures.
We wanted to check out the new Japanese Garden. On the way
she saw the horse and wanted to go to it. We agreed horse
after Japanese garden. We went out on an island and were
sitting and chatting in a gazebo. She grabbed her talker and
stated " I want horse". So, off we ran to the horse.