29 July-8 August: For most of this week and a half, we mainly stayed around Lowry and Kyle’s to visit and to spend time with Corwyn and Oakley. We went outside with the girls when they played in their backyard (swings, slide, and sand box) or on their front lawn (pouring water in and out of buckets and bins). We read stories and played with them indoors (hide and seek, trying on inherited Halloween costumes). We went for walks and bike rides to neighborhood playgrounds with them. One day all six of us went to the Denver zoo. We visited with Kyle’s parents twice for dinner. Of course a couple of weeks in the lives of a five-year-old and a 20-month-old doesn’t go by without occasional bouts of crying or yelling, but the fun times were the rule and it was a precious time for us to strengthen our bonds with these two granddaughters whom we get to visit with all too infrequently.
Corwyn is looking forward to kindergarten this year. She is already reading pretty well and the prospect of making new friends excites her. Although she is towed on a Trail-a-Bike for long rides, she has mastered peddling her own two-wheeler and will soon need a larger bike. Beginning swim lessons this summer have made her much more confident and capable in pools and at beaches.
Oakley doesn’t yet speak many words, but she understands a lot, usually responding to questions by pointing or with yes or no. She is cautious and methodical, spending a lot of time observing before trying a new skill or activity. This was our first time to truly forge a bond with her, because we haven’t seen her in person since she was a newborn infant. She had been rather impassive during our family video chats before this visit, but after interacting with her in person on this trip we feel we have grown to really know and love her.
