Team Smith

This evening Cassidy revealed to me a small secret to keeping her occupied. After dinner she asked me if she could watch a show. We don't have tv, but we do have netflix through the wii on our tv and we watch all the greatness that PBS and Nickelodian have to offer! Except for Caillou because I think he's kind of whiny. Anyway, she gets to watch limited amounts of Diego, Dora, Dinosaur Train, Super Why, Word World, etc and sometimes we throw in some Cosby Show for good measure. She'll pick two shows and watch one, 20 minute episode of each and then we call it good. Well tonight when she asked for a show, I told her she could watch one episode of her favorite after she cleaned her room. She went into her room and as she started putting toys away, she started playing with them. She'd go to put books away and start "reading" them. Twenty minutes later she'd start putting crayons away, then start drawing with them. Ten minutes later she'd start putting awa

We live across the street from an awesome park! This weekend has been beautiful for being outside. The weather has been that perfect touch of coolness that means a sweater over a couple of layers is more comfortable than a jacket. We meet friendly toddlers at the park each time we visit. It's fascinating to watch Cass develop. Her dexterity and balance are really progressing. I stand back, willing my arms to stay down and not rush out to assist her when she climbs bars and tunnels on her tummy through the jungle gym. She makes me laugh when she walks up to the other kids as if they have been fast friends for years and converses with them, drawing them into her imaginary world of play. In particular she really likes to sit at the picnic table and pretend to cook and have meals. Then she likes to run around the play around. I encourage this running of course for the exercise as much as the nap I know will soon follow!

This Halloween Cassidy was a fisherman. She needed rain boots and a rain jacket anyway so Matt made her a fishing pole and we were done! Easiest costume ever :-) The neighborhood we live in is on the affluent side. (Quite incredible we found this super affordable apartment!) So most of the homes we went to took some trekking up long driveways and lots of steps. Admittedly we picked several houses I just was plain nosy about! They were so beautiful! The architecture is just incredible. We stopped at the homes of a few faculty members from my job and we also took Cassidy trick or treating around the business in our cute downtown area. She would get so excited and say, "Let's go to ANOTHER house!" She hasn't eaten any of her goods. She doesn't like candy. Or cake. Or ice cream. Believe me, I've tried to feed her these decadent items and she wants no part of it. I was in shock when she had cake on Matt's birthday! She didn't touch any of the leftovers the