Nashville Ventures
The Whomptons have a strong policy of local restaurants only, so when we travel we research the best places to eat along the road. I chose a place solely based on its dessert menu, but Lola was still sleeping when we reached that town. Instead, we ate in Paducah at a Mexican restaurant. Lola ordered something from the menu for the very first time. She was very excited to eat her enchilada, beans, and rice, and chips & salsa!
Over winter break, Raina and Mama Jo made a cardboard box house. Atticus, Lola, and Raina played in it a lot this week. Here's Atticus peeking out the window.
And Lola playing peekaboo out the front door.
Raina had a very wiggly front tooth but it refused to leave its home while we were in Saint Louis. We yanked it out in Nashville. Raina was very worried that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't find her in Nashville, but we were rather confident she'd make the trip. Raina was thrilled to find Silly Bandz in place of the tooth the next morning!
Lola walked into the kitchen, saw the two melons, shouted "BALL!" and then proceeded to roll them all around on the floor.
Raina and Lola patiently are waiting for something exciting to happen. Notice Raina's new array of Silly Bandz.
Every Compton / Whompton / Monaco gathering involves pictures. With so many small children, our collective patience for the pictures has decreased; as a result, many adults strategically plan out the picture and position furniture, and then we are summoned to smile. This photo is from Day 1 of picture taking.
Lola's sleep schedule was destroyed by our Nashville trip. Eric valiantly took Lola duties and let her wallow around until she crashed. Here, Eric had blockaded the room's exit with his body and then fell asleep after she did.
Lola and Atticus had a love-bite relationship during the week. Atticus wanted to do whatever Lola wanted to do, which sometimes resulted in bites from Lola. Here, Lola wanted a snack, then Atticus wanted a snack, then they wouldn't stop snacking on bread. I think I gave them five pieces of bread total.
Atticus and his Mommy! Emily may have been the only brave adult to venture into the cardboard house!
He's a cutie.
The Whomptons took a college tour of Vanderbilt. Raina acted like a college student and wanted to take a quick nap on the bench.
She also wanted to skip and run. Most college students don't do that in the hallways :)
An elementary school and its playground were within walking distance of the Compton abode, so we spent a lot of time there. Lola continuously did slides until she saw Raina climbing. Then Lola wanted to climb everything too. She successfully climbed this structure twice.
The girls chose to slide down together. It was a precious (and rare!) thing to see, so we captured as many shots as we could.
Raina swings by herself now! Sometimes she needs a little starter push, but she's totally self-sufficient after that. Wonderful.
Stephanie kindly negotiated for Raina to join camp for a day. Raina loved it and she said, "I did lots of fun stuff. There was only girls in my class. I did swimming. I stayed in the shallow part."
Another precious shot. I love that Raina and Stephanie are holding hands. Raina treasured every moment that she spent with Stephanie.
The little ones gained two push train toys from a neighbor and then proceeded to play with them incessantly for the rest of the week. The train parade was lots of fun to watch.
Raina and Lola scored Camp Widji shirts and Lola proudly displayed hers. Her excitement is immense here because she's ready to 1) go 2) swimming. We cheated and let her in the pool one day before we technically were supposed to, and Lola panicked a little bit when we took off her bandages, but she was ecstatic in the water.
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