In May, we had the chance to watch my friend's four-year-old daughter once or twice a week while she finished her student teaching for her master's degree. Clara is a precocious little thing, and she and Rory have the funniest love/hate relationship. She often said to me, "And that's why I don't like your baby."
We got to do a lot of fun things with Clara, but the two of them really loved swimming together the best. Clara has a pool at her house and has been taking swimming lessons for a long time, so she swims like a fish. Rory, with her newly purchased floatee, was SO STOKED to have a big kid to follow around the pool and wanted to do everything as soon as Clara did it. I think that Clara is the reason that Rory is so fearless in the water and why she actually has become a pretty decent swimmer; she was just so desperate to play with her! Here are the girls sharing an orange julius after an afternoon at the splash pad.
I bought Rory a little princess tea set at Ross (vicariously living my childhood dreams through her? maybe.) and she LOVES it. All day long she begs me to fill it up with water again and again. She comes running up to me with a cup (or a plate) and says, "Mo? Mo? Mo?" until I do what she says. I figure with the weather getting warmer it is an excellent way to stay hydrated.
Like I said, thanks to our play dates with Clara, Rory is complete obsessed with swimming. You can't say "water" or "pool" around her without her running to grab her floatee. Most days she begs me to put her floatee on her just so she can wear it around the house. It is hilarious to watch because she doesn't have great mobility in it so she has a hard time climbing up on the couch and chairs or picking things up from the ground.
One day I told the girls we would go to the pool and laid out Rory's swimming things while I changed into my swimsuit and put sunscreen on Clara first. As I am lotioning her up Rory comes in with her sun hat on, swimsuit pulled over her neck and sunscreen in hand, obviously all ready to go. I swear, it just does not possibly get cuter than this baby. I love her face in the second picture that so obviously says, "What mom?? I nailed it."
These days, you'll typically find Rory with multiple headbands around her neck as a necklace, covered in water from her tea set, possibly wearing her floatee, but definitely begging to watch Super Why.
And last, but CERTAINLY not least.... RORY'S HAIR CAN BE PUT INTO PIGTAILS AND I AM NO LONGER LIVING BECAUSE I DIED OF THE CUTENESS OF IT. This first ever pigtail 'do was what Rory rocked to the baptism of a new beehive in our ward. I walked in just SO proud about how seriously darling she looked, and then as I sat there I felt a little silly for making such a big deal about it in my head. But as soon as the program was over and it was time for refreshments, all of my beehives in attendance ran up to me and just gushed about how cute her hair was and how much older the pigtails make her look. So yes, these twelve-year-olds and I think pretty much exactly alike. And also, Rory is the cutest thing that has ever happened to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment