kwanblog

Sunday, July 27, 2003

Vacationing in Little Rock

We are having a great time at the Abuelos house in Little Rock. We came about a week ago to visit and have since been enjoying being at Bobo and Baya's house -especially since the Bisabuelos Hugo and Elsy made a special trip from Guatemala to be here too. Last Saturday, the Abuelos graciously hosted a lovely sip and see for their friends and neighbors to come meet Kobe and see Paola. All had a good time with the wonderful food and company. Kobe napped for the first half of the party, but once awake did really well with all the new faces. Paola did very well in meeting all the new people as well and was very polite.

Swim Lessons
The first week in Little Rock, Paola took some private swim lessons. Mami took the lessons with Paola (though Baya was the pinch hitter the first day), and it was a great experience. Of course the first few days, Paola was hesitant to do the activites during class, but Krystle, the teacher, did a lot to help make her comfortable - such as bringing a pink bunny water toy that Paola would talk about every night before going to bed. AFter each class, Paola would always play "swim class" making it clear that she knew what the teacher was instructing, and it more of an issue of feeling comfortable enough to do them in class when asked to. It seemed like we were making some progress when half-way through the week, it was pouring rain so we had to go to the YMCA for a class one day. In the new environment with lots of new distractions, Paola was hesitant to do much of anything. So it was a big surprise when the next class at the house, she just let loose and went off kicking by herself with a float ring! She was so proud of herself and so excited. Since then there has been no stopping her with her float ring though now the challenge is to remind her that she can't step off the stairs without it since a few times she has decided to test her ability to swim without any help. It has been such a neat experience watching her discover her abilities and learning how to get comfortable with new experiences in the pool. I love seeing her eyes light up when she accomplishes something new and is just so proud of herself. She is an amazing little girl.

Zoo
I had vowed that we wouldn't go to the zoo again this year since last year it was so miserably hot, but gave in when my dad reminded us that the LR zoo has camel rides. Paola has been talking about wanting to go to Egypt to ride a camel ever since Tia MAria gave her a Hello Kitty book about different cities around the world.

So today despite the 90 degree weather, Paola, Kobe, Bobo, Baya, Bisabuelo Hugo,and I ventured out to the Little Rock Zoo. Though we sweated up a storm it was worth it to see Paola enjoy seeing all the animals that she usually only sees in picture books or videos. We saw elephants, bears - mostly sleeping, lions, monkeys, flamingos, giant turtles, peacocks, and giraffes. There was also a display where Paola was able to touch a giraffe's skin, tail, and skull bone which she though was pretty cool. And of course she got to ride the camel! She didn't even think twice when Bobo asked if she wanted to ride with him, and they were such a cute sight being lead around on the camel. Later she said the camel was both soft and hard - Bobo concurred that he would not have wanted to sit on that camel much longer than the 5 minute ride. Another of Paola's favorite activities at the zoo was the traditional train ride with the abuelos at zoo; she could hardly wait for it to start, and smile throughout the ride. Surprisingly Kobe seemed to have a pretty good time too as he enjoyed the zoo from the vantage point of riding in the Baby Bjorn with BoBo. His favorite part of the zoo seemed to be passing through the misters set up all around the zoo to cool off guests.

--Alex

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