Celebrating Ady

Next Saturday is Ady's birthday. (She will turn 2). ToysRus is having a special Thomas the Train day tomorrow. It is free and Ady was sent an invitation via email. (Everyone on Oahu was invited, but we told Ady it was special just for her, don't tell her). They will have coloring activities, games and prizes. Ady loves her train set. It is not Thomas, it is Imaginarium-the cheaper brand of the same thing. So we thought we'd take her and let her play with other kids at the activity. She loves coloring, playing trains, and hanging out with other kids-so it should be fun for her. I will probably only last a little while with all that noise and chaos of other children and will probably have to run out of the store screaming at some point. No worries, there is a miniature golf course next door and maybe I will sneak off and let Kasey deal with all the noise. Anyway, since this is going on this week and Kasey and Ady have birthdays back to back we decided to just celebrate Ady's Tomorrow and Kasey's next weekend. So after we get done there, we're taking Ady to the zoo. Hopefully she has a great day and is so tired that she sleeps the whole way home when we are done. I can't believe Ady is already turning 2! She is getting pretty big. She was measured this week at 34 inches long! She is getting much better about talking and is already frustrating me at times. Her favorite way of being a nuisance is tilting her head and leaning forward just a bit while saying "what?" every time you say something. Caught me off guard the first time, but now I expect it. Then after I repeat what I said, she then asks "why?". Finally, usually she disagrees with the explanation and then says "no" and wanders off. Even so the increased communication has been nice.
Sometimes I am fairly surprised at what she knows. She seems to be a quick learner and since I just finished a semester I thought that we should give Ady a report card for her last semester also. Being that she is so young I figured A's, B's, and so forth weren't needed, just pass or fail. Ady passed math, health, science, history, yet failed art. For mathematics we've been focusing on numbers and their relationships to other things. She does okay. She knows that you count to three before you say go, get an underdog push on the swing or jump in the water. However, like any brilliant mind she has come up with her own theory. She no longer counts "1,2,3", instead she just says "one, three-go!" and takes off running. Pretty smart if you ask me, the one is for starting, the three is right before go and the two doesn't really serve a purpose so she skips it. As for health, Ady has learned that you should drink plenty of water, I taught her to get a drink every time you pass a drinking fountain. She understands this well and now gets really upset whenever we pass a drinking fountain. I was in grade school before I knew that darker colors absorb heat and lighter colors reflect heat. Ady has already learned this because she almost never wears shoes and she knows that the black asphalt is much hotter than the sidewalk. The only problem is that when she does wear shoes she loves to run in the road. As for history, Ady knows that roads and sidewalks aren't natural and that a sure fire way to become famous and attract attention is to explore unchartered territory. She definitely catches people's attention when I have to go chasing her through a set of bushes, into someone's yard, running into a classroom or office during a lecture or dashing into a women's bathroom and then laughing at me as I stand there in the doorway calling for her. She always loves going somewhere that she hasn't been. As for the art, well Ady has really started to enjoy coloring and all. We don't expect her stay within the lines or to have perfect color schemes. She'd have received a passing grade for art if it hadn't been for a little experience last week. Kasey had a coupon for a little restaurant and we went during a Jazz game. It is one of those places where they give kids a couple of crayons and a paper to color and play games on. I was watching the game intently with my back to Ady who was sitting next to me. I thought she was just rubbing my back and shoulder. Little did I know that she liked coloring my white t-shirt more than the paper. And of all the colors why purple?!

my little pony

So last week at church, Adyson was acting up during the sacrament. She was bored with her current toys she had, so with it being the sacrament and all, I asked Adam if he brought any of her books about Jesus, the Book of Mormon, or any of her Children Church books since he packed her bag that morning. He looked in the bag and said "no." I then asked if he brought anything Churchy. At that point Adam looked in the bag and said "yes." Then he proceeded to pull out Ady's pink happy meal My Little Pony...and says "Look Ady, Jesus rode a pony --I mean --a donkey to Jerusalem."

Its a good thing that our ward is so loud during the meeting or a lot more people would have heard me laughing in the middle of sacrament.

BYU Hawaii Graduation

Adam had to recently apply to graduate for this coming Decembers graduation.  BYUH only has graduation twice a year-June and Dec.  Usually a general authority apostle comes and speaks for the main speaker.  Adam just told me that if he doesn't walk we can save 23$ so he doesn't have to get a cap and gown.  He doesn't think he needs to walk.  

Now I never knew that graduation was such a big deal until we moved to Hawaii.  Graduation for me was just something you did that I thought was expected.  I was totally surprised at the party Morgan High School threw for the grads.  It was an all night party and was very fun with tons of prizes.  But the next day I just moved on to the next step-working and going to college.   I wasn't even going to walk for my bachelors degree cause I just didn't want to have to go to a long boring meeting to just walk across a stage and get a fake diploma cause the real one comes in the mail later anyway.  But it just so happened that I graduated the same semester as my brother and all my family was going to come and so I ended up going.   

But now I have seen graduation-Hawaiian Style.  Adam tried to warn me about it.   The first time I saw stands and stands of people selling lei's and other congratulatory things, Adam said, "Do you see what I mean now?"  I thought I did and then I saw the thousands of people and the 50 or so lei's that graduates had been given to wear around their necks and I then thought I understood.  I knew about the party after graduation cause I went to my own.  But once I heard about the personal party after that party for each individual that is thrown for the graduates here, I think I finally figured it out.  Parents here don't just save for their kids to go to college, they save for years so they can afford to have a party for their kid if they graduate high school.   And then they have an even better party if they graduate college.  Realizing that Hawaii hasn't been a state that long and the drop out rate is high, a lot of people over here are first to graduate in their family.  It is a big deal.  

Now you may think "wow" a little overboard there, but the more I see it the more I am agreeing with the way they treat graduation as such a big deal.  Think about it.  You just spent how many years of life studying, test taking and jumping thru hoops to get to this point. Why not party about it... take some time and relish in your accomplishment.  Celebrate what you have done!  I have to admit Hawaiians do know how to party-and the food is always enough to last for a week.  It is a big deal, and I agree-it should be.  

Looking back, I am glad that I was forced to walk at my graduation.  Even if the ceremony wasn't that fun. I am glad I have the pictures of me in my cap and gown.  It was a very big stepping stone of my life.  I wish I would've taken a graduation trip or something.   Oh well.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone else thinks it would be foolish of Adam not to walk for his graduation?  I was totally looking forward to giving him a lei...who knows, it could have even been a money lei.  

Happy Easter and Ady is a Copycat

Hi and Happy Easter from the Van Tassells. Ady loves to wave to everyone and say hi to anyone and anything she sees. Not only will she wave and say hi to strangers at the grocery store, but she says even says bye to the swings, the slide, the birds at the park, the mailbox, the car, you name it she will say hi and bye to it. She has her mouth closed and is not saying hi in the picture because she just bit through the top of the hard boiled egg she is supposed to be coloring and is trying to figure out if she should swallow the shell or spit it out. Don't worry she immediately dropped it in the coloring dye as soon as we were done with the picture. At our house we don't just dye the shell we end up with colored insides too!

These days Ady will try to do anything that I do. Sometimes she tries to copy her mom but usually just me. For instance, a few days ago while we were eating dinner I was talking to Kasey with my arms folded and I looked across the table at Ady and she had her arms crossed and was watching me. I realized I probably looked like I was about to pray and unfolded my arms. As soon as I did so, Ady did too. Noticing that Ady hadn't resumed eating I picked up my fork. Ady picked up hers. I put mine down, Ady put hers down. Then I put my hand on my head. Ady did the same. I opened my mouth, Ady copied. This went on for a minute or so. Mind you I hadn't cracked a smile during this whole thing and nor had Ady. Then I chuckled and Ady decided to outdo me and busted up laughing. We all laughed pretty hard. Seems harmless and playful right. Well not always. The other day I was carrying Ady cause we were in a hurry and her short legs may move really fast but the zigzaging back and forth weaving across the sidewalk takes forever to get anywhere. So I have her in my right arm and am being bothered by some phlegm in my throat. I look around, don't see anyone, hawk it up and spit in out on the grass. Ady not to be outdone makes some weird noise and spits. Problem was, she didn't spit on the grass, she spit all over me. A couple of nights ago all three of us were in the bathroom brushing our teeth and I noticed that the drain catch was getting plugged. So I reached down, pulled it our and cleaned it off. Looking down the drain a moment I noticed how dirty the first couple of inches of drain that could be seen were. After putting the catch back we left the bathroom. About 15 minutes later Kasey and I heard, "DAD, DAD, DAD" being screamed from the bathroom. There was no crying or any sign of danger, but we quickly moved into the bathroom. There we found Ady who had used the stepping stool to climb up into the sink and she was pointing at the drain. We moved closer and could see that she was holding the drain catch in one hand. She showed it to us with a smug confident look that said, "look I can take it out too". Then concern came back into her face and she pointed once again at the drain. Looking down the drain I could see her toothbrush and the remains of a bar of soap stuck several inches down the pipe. Not to worry, while we were looking, wondering what to do, she grabbed Kasey's toothbrush and made a move to stick it down the drain also. We stopped her and eventually I was able remove the lodged items. A final story for those of you who are still reading, we have come to the conclusion that Ady's copying of her Dad is seriously inhibiting our progress in the potty training. We have determined that she knows what her potty is for. And she knows what she is supposed to do. The problem lies in that when you get her in there and get her pants off, she stands next to it and pees. Her aim is absolutely atrocious and she gets pee all over the floor.
Happy Easter!

Lego Maniacs

Last week Adam finally decided it was time to get Ady her own Legos, so she will stop bugging him and trying to play with his-which are too small for her.  Now I live with 2 Lego maniacs.  Currently Adam is playing "make a new Lego castle" and Ady is napping while holding on to two stacks of her Legos so she can go right back to playing with them when she wakes up.  How could I be more lucky?