Paige

It's been a long time since we've watched our niece Paige. Between the holiday schedules and the flu bug our whole family endured, she really hasn't needed a sitter. I think the last time was more than a month ago that we'd been graced with her presence.

She's grown now. So taking her places is easier. Today we went to watch Westerns 5th grade girls play some basketball at Grass Lake. Then we ate lunch at Panera with Jenna and Kathy. We shopped at TJ Max and visited grandma Patty at work. The whole day, she was great. It was extremely fun to interact with her. She's learning more words and how to communicate more and more each day. Don't get me wrong, her "do it myself" personality was shining all day. But in a sweet 17 month old way.

We played "what does a _______ (fill in the blank with an animal) say?" game in the car ride. If I paused too long, she's say 'gan (again)'. She totally flipped and went crazy when she saw the Panera sugar cookie after she was done eating. She refused to nap in the pack and play so together we fell asleep on the guest bed. She wanted us to play music and dance with her. She climbed on uncle Josh's lap for him to play the Mickey Mouse video 'hot dog' over and over again. She played with our toys. She really liked hitting the ball off the tee.

As she played, I thought about how it's been 17 months of watching her one day most every other weekend while her parents worked. It used to be over night when she was an infant. Crazy how they grow so fast! She repeats anything to say too. That's dangerous. :). It's so awesome to be a part of my niece's life. She's so sweet!

I'm thankful today that we got to play with Paige all day.