Aria Adventures

Time to update y'all on what my favorite 3 year old is up to these days. 

Over the last couple of months Paula and I have become a big part of Aria's world. She is asking to come to our house to visit more and more often. When she can't come to us, she asks us to come see her at her house. Of course we do our best to honor her request. 

By spending more time with her, we get to see how much she is growing and learning. I have a whole lot of new memories just from the last several weeks. I just want to share a few of them with you. 

Let me start with something that happened during one of her visits back in July. 

Paula's exercise tension bands were sitting out in our living room and Aria discovered them. Once she found out what they were she had to use them. 

She was counting her "reps" and Paula was recording it on her I-phone. I started to count along with her but Aria wanted me to do something a little more "important". She was definitely ready for her "close up." Check out this video. Listen carefully, the audio is very important, but not the best.  

My fascination and interest in Lego has become a common interest for Aria and me. 

A necessary part of every visit to our house is our investigation of the shelves of the bookcase in the corner of our living room. They are populated with my latest Lego creations and displays. This includes the cars, animals, and other models. But her favorite things are the mini-figures.

She must take each of them out of the display case, repeat their name, and place them on a table next to her, in an order of her choosing. 

Our time together in that corner is mostly about Lego but sometimes ends with a quick game of "this little piggy". 

 On her July 19 afternoon visit I decided it was time that we take the next step in our Lego time together. 

While she does enjoy playing with her Little Mermaid Duplo block set...

   

I felt it was time she be allowed to play with her Papa's Lego brick collection. 

As you can see she really likes them. We had a great time playing with them together for the first time. 

A couple of weeks later, on August 5, this cool looking Lego table came into my life. 

Now this is probably not too exciting to you. But it's really special to me. It allowed me to be Aria's hero; at least for a little while.  

You see, the table was given to Brandi. But there was no place for it at their house. When Aria found out that she was not going to be able to keep it, she became rather upset. 

When it comes to Lego she knows that I am her "go to" guy. So I was the one she thought of in her quest to possess  the table. 

She grabbed at one last straw with a final plea. "Call My Papa", she appealed to her mom.

To make a long story short, the three of them (Brandi, Aria, & the table) came to my house that night. After a big hug and a heart-felt appeal to me by my grand daughter, the table is now residing at my house. 

On Tuesday, July 28, on a warm and humid evening at the Southern Kentucky Fair Aria put on a beautiful dress, and with curled hair...

...she made her first appearance ever in, what I'll call, a "cutie" pageant. She was part of the 3-4 year old division. She didn't make it past the initial judging but, in my humble yet accurate opinion, she was the cutest. 

Here's a video of her debut. I am telling her "not to smile" because when I do, she usually does the opposite.  

In the 2nd week of August Aria experienced a couple of more "firsts" and met someone she's been waiting see for quite a while. 

On August 9th she spent the night away from her mommy & daddy for the first time ever. The next night, she stayed at our house for the first time as well.  

Paula & Aria shared our bed and I slept on the couch. A small price to pay for the joy of having Aria around for a few extra hours.  

We spent a lot of the time playing with Legos on our new table in the living room. 

The reason she spent the night with us was because Brandi was at the hospital waiting for her cousin, Jackie, to give birth. 

Aria & Jackie have a close relationship and Aria has been excited about the new baby since the day she found out she was on her way. 

On August 11, Miss Elliette Peyton Pullium was born. She is Aria's 2nd cousin. My grand daughter met her for the first time the day she was born and really adores her. She loves helping "Jack" (as Aria calls her) with baby Ellie. 

As I sit here finishing up this post on August 22, Paula & I have just spent another day with Aria.

We started off by going to breakfast with her, Brandi, and James at Theresa's Restaurant. It was the first time we'd ever been there. 

Aria came with us afterwards and we went to the local farmer's market. That's where she found her first pumpkin of the year. 

The remainder of our day was spent at our house playing together. Tonight she is, once again, spending the night. This time it was her choice. Yet another chapter in our further adventures with Aria.