What Divina is Up To...35 3/4"

Mark and Divina have been going swimming almost every night (evening) for the past week and a half. We can see the pool from our apartment, but decided not to go swimming for various reasons. (1) If Divina found out she could go swimming there, she would want to go every time she looked out the window. (2) We've seen people in the pool late at night doing unsavory things. (3) It seemed like a hassle. But we went anyway. Why? Because it's HOT. Ha. Divina never ceases to amaze us. She does not, in fact, beg for the pool at all hours, nor does she protest when it's time to leave it. When Mark comes home from work he asks her if she'd like a swim. Of course, she does, and heads to the bedroom to retrieve her swimsuit and floaties. This is a really nice time for them. I usually stay behind and fix dinner. She chatters away the whole time and follows Daddy's instructions. She likes to jump off the steps and dunk her head under the water. Naturally, this makes us nervous, but it's part of learning to swim, and she enjoys it so much. (Took these pictures from our balcony.)

We enrolled Little Miss in pre-school. This seems so much more like school than when she was in daycare, which was at a pre-school. On Friday we spent about an hour there getting acclaimated. This is a big step for us. I'm sort of at a loss as to what to do with my time without her. It's only four hours, two days a week, but it seems like such a chunk. Ever since we visited the school, she keeps mentioning it. "Go to school and see kids?" she asks me. "Divina go to school and eat lunch," she tells me. On our way out today, she says to me "Enroll in school?" I think she's ready. Not too sure if I am.

It seems that Divina is smarter than most kids her age. Perhaps I'm biased...NOT. She makes complete sentences and uses things like plurals and pronouns proficiently. She also shows a great deal of empathy. When someone is hurt (sad, sick, etc.) she pats them on the back and says "it's okay." Mark was feeling a little under the weather yesterday (sinus) and was laying on the big pillows by the TV. Divina checked him out then laid her blankie on him (no small gesture, believe me). Then she sat beside him quietly with her hand on his shoulder. Now, is this the behavior of most two year olds? I think not. Yet, she still hits occaisionally. This frustrates me to no end. ***Actually, while visiting her new school I noticed that some of the other kids had words like hers, too. I was amazed at how radially different all their personalities were. Divina's vocabulary is excellent, but some kids are climbing and figuring out mechanical things more than she is. Humans are so diverse.




Look what we got at Target! Hurray! This little tent-thingy finally went on clearance, so we bought it. It's supposed to be for sand, but I filled it with all Divina's stuffed animals. Piling them up like this, I realize just how many animals she has. Good grief, too many! Well, they make for a great dive. I set it up while she was in nap. When she woke and saw the thing, she squeeled and dove, I mean dove, right into the pile and rolled around giggling. Now she's made it part of her bedtime routine. She dives in and pulls out which animals to sleep with that night. I'm surprised that she always picks the little ones, beanie babies or such, not the big fluffy ones. Silly kid.