More of Ayda...

...because we just can't get enough of her and she just keeps suppling us with more of her!

My Dad has a really big tin of popcorn from Kernels in his office that he keeps full for the kids. I was doing something else while they were having a snack, and when I went back to check on them, they were playing with something else. I was asking them about their play, when Ayda casually reached into her ear and put something into her mouth and started chewing. Even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what it was... "Ayda, what did you put into your mouth?" Yup, she had stuck a popcorn in each ear, you know, to save for later. And I just happened to see her pull one out to eat. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.

We were at Bible study at a friend's house, and Ayda and her little friend, Janne, were playing in Janne's room. They were quite happily reading books, playing with trains, etc. and we were quite happy to let them. We should have known better. We went to check on them, as we had periodically been doing, and found a couple of geishas. Or mimes. We aren't sure what they were trying to be. They had found a tub of butt cream (and were about to crack open another one) and had very carefully applied it to each other's faces. Seriously, it was so perfectly done, not a big, random mess. Their hair, however, had fallen victim to random smearing of butt cream. I have pictures, but don't know how to get them off of my phone, which was the only thing I had on me to take pics with. I'll keep trying. It was classic.

Later that same day, Ryan set the kids up to paint and went about another project (mistake #1). Jared soon got bored and went to play something else, but Ayda was curiously content for a fairly long time. (Anyone that knows Ayda knows that her attention span is lacking in the span area.)When Ryan finally did get back to check on her, she had methodically and carefully painted her entire arm. Thankfully, he caught her just as she was about to paint under her sleeve, which would have definitely ended up ON her sleeve.

And while our yard, I mean lake, is frustrating for Ryan and I, it is Ayda's dream come true. I was doing dishes the other day, while the kids played in the lake that is the sand around their play centre. Guess who was doing back floats?! Yup, Ayda. And who then turned over to do front floats, but got distracted and instead began drinking the water? Oh yes, Ayda. Seriously, that girl is going to have the best immune system ever. She has eaten so much disgusting stuff (remember the urinal puck incident?! and did I blog about the raw beef?!) and survived. I don't know how many cups from fast food restaurants that people have left laying around (in parks, stores, etc.) that she has picked up and attempted to finished off. G-ross. I try to stop her, and usually can, but there is the odd one that goes down. Uhhh. I can't keep up.

Mucking around in the yard is her favorite activity. She just doesn't care how dirty she is. I've become very good at getting mud out of clothing. (The key is washing ASAP.) We were at my cousin's house the other day and somehow she managed to get a huge bunch of mud into her hair. They have grass. Hmmmm. And it looked like she was a head injury victim. The way the mud matted and flattened her hair against her head, it looked like dried blood. Very disturbing.

And yeah, she will randomly strip down to nothing. Whenever it suits her fancy. That is usually followed pretty quickly by Jared yelling, "Mommy! Someone! We have a problem here! A naked Ayda problem!" Thanks, Jared.

And now a Jared story. We were in a restaurant the other day with friends, and out of the blue, Jared turns to me and says, "Mommy, you are so beautiful." It was so adorable, and when we all kind of chuckled, he turns to Ryan and says, "And Daddy, you are so handsome." Who would have ever thought that I would think of Jared as my easier child?! (Don't get me wrong, he is certainly challenging, just in a different way than Ayda!)

I hope that was enjoyable! I was reminded by a friend yesterday that I better be recording these incidents, so now I have!