Daddy’s Little Helper

Nessa was helping me do chores Saturday morning. No, she really was helping. You could actually tell where she had been sweeping leaves on the deck, and she raked them all into the leaf shovel by herself. She was quite a sight, maneuvering the broom and rake all by herself—I was very impressed. She also held the nails and handed them to me when I was putting up plastic over the sliding door on the deck.

All the while we had a great conversation. We talked about all sorts of things: why we were sweeping the leaves off the deck, where God is, what to do when you’re scared, why we were putting plastic over the sliding door, how many boards I was going to need and how long they should be, what she did at daycare last week, what we should do next, where we were going to put the leaves, and many other things. It was absolutely delightful to get such an extended glimpse into how her mind works and what kind of connections/comparisons between things she’s making now. Between Sunday School and what we read to her, Nessa’s been exposed to lots of Bible stories over the last year, and they often surface when she can make a connection between something she’s doing and something in a Bible story.

Afterwards we just played for awhile. I pushed her on the swing, and then we played Tag. Nessa seems to have Tag confused with Hide and Seek: she thinks that after you tag someone you’re supposed to go hide from them. Then we climbed up by the top of the slide and took the ship to Egypt, to the new playground there. Nessa has a wonderfully inventive imagination, and things from all over get conflated in her play scenarios.

Saturday afternoon Nessa helped me rake leaves. She did a good job of raking leaves into a pile…until the pile was big enough for her to jump in. Then the rake got abandoned and the pile succumbed to entropy. This happened several times in different places in the yard. She was having such fun that I was having fun watching her, so much so that I didn’t even mind raking. Now there’s a first!

Family photos and family fun all in one day!

Is that a great picture of Nessa, or what?!? Anyone that has tried knows it isn't easy to get good natural pics of our sweet girl. ;-)

We met Rachel at Tweite's Pumpkin Patch near Byron, MN as we were spending the day there as part of my niece Rebecca's birthday party. The bright sunny fall day was great for fun, but a bit challenging for pictures. From the few preview pics, I think Rachel did a great job.

You can see the rest of the preview pics on her own blog:
http://www.welikedogs.com/?p=772

After pictures we had lunch right at the pumpkin patch which is a nice treat for us. The Tweite's are familiar with celiac and were able to tell us what was safe for Nessa and I to eat. While picnics are great sometimes, it's also nice to just come and play and eat when we're hungry.

Then we went and played, and played, and played. There are many different playground areas, including slides and fun for the big kids. There are lots of fun make believe areas as well as a large corn maze too. And then there is the large sand
box that kept Nessa's attention for over a half an hour late in the afternoon. There are lots of amateur pics of the day too, but not on my camera which was left at home...when I get some from my family I'll post a link to them.

As the rain came throughout the day today (Sunday) Shawn, Nessa and I still had one reminder of our fun fall day that was filled with sun -- sun burned noses and cheeks! Apparently MN in October is still sunscreen weather when you're outside ALL day! :-( It's pretty mild, but still a good lesson. Hopefully we got a nice dose of vitamin D too. ;-)


And in other notes --
It was a nice break between hectic weeks. Last week we were recovering from Nessa and then Shawn being ill with a mild stomach flu when Wednesday evening I got sick as well. Of course I had to do it while trying to have a fun night out at Oktoberfest with Megan. Poor Megan didn't get to go on many rides this year.

This week is my work customer conference, so along with my normal deadlines I'll be making sure all my business clothes are ready to wear. Then Shawn and I will be preparing for a couple of nights away while Grandma and Grandpa Brooks stay with Nessa next weekend.

And Megan and Nessa just keep growing and learning each and every day. I sometimes wish I had a recorder going 24/7 just so I could remember and share all the wonderfully entertaining, and sometimes impressive, things they say. Nessa's not too entertaining new thing is to be a back seat driver. Megan did the same thing so I'm not surprised, but why it it that I have to teach my children the rules of the road when they're THREE or else they don't stop asking why we don't "get in front of that truck" or numerous other questions or demands concerning driving. Nessa also likes turtles lately and she said that yellow lights are like turtles because I told her yellow lights mean "caution / slow." (Why do we teach kids that anyway?) Oh, and Megan is learning just a bit about politics this fall although I wasn't actually able to take her to see Obama when he was in La Crosse this past Wednesday. Megan did however fall asleep while watching the VP debate. And that was the exciting debate. ;-)