The Zoo, the Duck Pond, & Tummy Time

Rebekah, Nana, Papa, and I went to the Texas Zoo here in Victoria. (Josh stayed back with Luke) Anyway, it was a perfect zoo for precious Rebekah- she LOVED feeding the goats who licked her hands! She also loved the bird sanctuary where she got to walk amongst the birds. She even got her first vacation tee-shirt from her grandparents! Oh- I almost forgot to mention that Nana took us to the duck pond, too! At both places, Rebekah would haphazardly throw the food at the animals and command them to eat- "Eat, duck! Eat, goat!" She even asked the duck, "Did you get in the water, duck?" as it did indeed get in and swim away... :)

(side note- there's a pic of R and Mike looking at a bird house- the idea is that something of a cool or distinctive texture is unseen inside and can be guessed at by sticking your hand in and feeling it (a deer's antler or a tortoise shell). Rebekah is sooo my girl! There was NO way she was sticking her hand in something she couldn't see! However, she readily volunteered Papa to do it!)




I get this look a lot, so I thought I would document it before she turns 13 and it's all I get...



Duck Pond- this is a fave of mine- you know a kid's excited when all they do is point!



Baby Luke being entertained by Dad


One of my favorite friends of Phyllis' is Betty- she invited us all over for a great dinner last night- she even set up a slip-and-slide for Rebes...I had my doubts, but as soon as we turned down the water to a dribble :P) and Josh threw her down it, Rebekah was all for it!

Baby Luke chilled with Nana...

Slippin' and slidin' is hard work...


Rebekah also insisted "I want to do tummy time with Baby Luke" this morning- it was very sweet! I forget sometimes how much she wants to be a part of things...yesterday, she carried in his bottle to Nana- she carefully placed her forefinger over the nipple with one hand and shook it with the other- I had NO idea she knew that's what we did to prepare his bottle!


Mike and Phyllis bought us tickets for the local production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamCoat" so we had a nice dinner and date night! Of course, Rebekah "borrowed" the heels before we went!

A few other Rebekah tidbits-

I'll ask her to come with me somewhere and she'll realize she "needs" something precious and say, "Let me get my ____ " before agreeing to go- such a female!

When she wants me to do something, she'll ask, "Mama, do you want to hold me? Mama, do you want to chase me? Mama, do you want to hold this? Mama, do you want to open this?"

Her new phrase is "I can not _____." For example, she colored with a pale yellow crayon and it was really light so she squinted and said, "I can not see the yellow" as she scornfully shook her head and discarded the crayon.

HEB grocery store gives out free balloons- this has been quite a hit with R! One time, I said, "Look at that sad balloon over there..." It had been lost by a child and was losing its gas...anyway, now our grocery store visits are defined by how many "happy" and "sad" balloons there are- seriously, that's all we talk about!! Last time, she pulled my arm (I guess she realized I was distracted) and said, "Mama, look! Do you see that sad balloon?"