March 26, 2007 by Barbara.

Reid and Karin dropped me off at my conference this morning and then went to return the car we had rented. Reid had asked a few times why we had borrowed the car, wondering if her purple car was broken. I explained each time that her purple car was fine but far away. When told that they were taking the rental car back, Reid wanted to know if her purple car was fixed. I reminded her that her purple car was far away with Daddy. She nodded and acknowledged that she knew it was far way. She had to ask, though, just to be sure.

Now the following is hearsay, but I wanted to capture Reid’s day even if I wasn’t there to witness it myself. The car rental company wouldn’t give Reid and Karin a ride back but they did call them a cab. It worked out for the best, though, as the cab that came for them was “lello!” They went back to the hotel to drop off the car seat and pickup the stroller and then started to walk to the firefighters museum and Balboa Park. The walk was mostly uphill and the incline is steep. Reid was undaunted, though, and insisted on walking by herself. After an hour, they stopped to buy chocolate milk. After the second hour, they were almost to the park and it was lunchtime and they stopped for lunch at MacDonald’s. Reid fell asleep soon after in her stroller and Karin rested on a bench. They went to a park with animal sculptures to climb on and sand to play in as well as the usual slides, swings, etc. Reid shared her sand toys with a little boy from Italy. They also saw lots of flowers and trees. As they left the park to walk back to meet me, Karin insisted Reid get into the stroller since they were in a hurry. She wanted the seat put back because she was tired but Karin refused to be sure Reid would sleep at night. During the course of the walk, Reid was talking to herself, “I and Mama’s sister went to park. Mama’s sister saw fire truck.” And so on. For any linguists out there, I only noticed the appearance of “I” where once “my” had been on Friday when Reid first corrected herself. It’s been coming out more and more as this week goes by. I have made an issue out of it, she is sorting out grammar and pronunciation on her own as is normal - and interesting for me to observe. (I had the cutest little white-hair linguistic professor at U of Guelph who taught 36 classes without wearing the same tie twice, I get all nostalgic as I think of Reid’s language development).

Reid and Aunt Karin were outside the conference hotel, which Reid call’s “Mama’s hotel”, when I came out. Reid came running to me and I was reminded how lucky I am to have such an enthusiastic person to love me. I carried her to the nearest Starbucks so that Reid could nurse while Karin had a coffee. Reid pointed out a few chairs and benches on the street as we walked but I was too chilled to stop. It was in the low sixties, I’m sure but I’ve acclimated to the seventies we had over the weekend. Next, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper. Reid was quite impressed by the motorcycle popping a wheelie a short way from our table but otherwise didn’t notice the memorabilia. After supper, we went to the Horton Plaza, a mall with “nothing on top!” There were roofs on the stores themselves but the inner courtyard was open to the weather and we got rained on a bit. We went into Macy’s for just a few minutes. Reid put her shoes on so that she could get out of the stroller. For Reid to be be able to reach her feet, I had to open the tray that usually helps to keep her in. As she went to get out of the stroller, Reid slipped and sprawled on the floor. Not missing a beat, she asked what my sister had done to cause this. Reid didn’t believe it could have been her fault.

We split up again at almost 7:30 because there were opening remarks and whatnot for the conference. Karin and I were sure Reid would fall asleep on the walk back - remember I said that Karin wouldn’t let Reid sleep on the walk back from Balboa Park - but she didn’t. Once they got to the room, Reid got into her pajamas and fell asleep watching Antiques Roadshow. I would fall asleep to get away from that show, too.

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March 26, 2007 by Barbara.

I was just sticking my hands in my jacket pockets and I remembered a story Karin told me about. After playing in the sand, Reid was still covered in it and so were her clothes. Karin noticed Reid put one hand into her jacket pockets and then try to put the other one in before changing tactics to pull her hand up into her sleeve. When Karin asked what was going on, Reid told her that she wanted to put her hand into her pocket but it wouldn’t fit because there was too much sand in there already. Karin laughed as she shook the sand from Reid’s pocket and then Reid happily buried her hands into the newly available space. Walking about with her hands in her pockets is a favourite posture of Reid’s. I bet the sand in her pocket was annoying. I can’t imagine why she didn’t try to get it out (or maybe she did but Karin didn’t notice). Or maybe she was bringing it with her as a souvenir. The world will never know.

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March 26, 2007 by Barbara.

Oh the horror, I have to confess that we didn’t read anything. Karin tried to take Reid to the firefighter museum but it was closed. They walked and explored and did lots of physical activity. Karin asked Reid at one point if she wanted to read some books. Reid put her finger to her pursed lips, closed her eyes and considered a few moments before offering a definite “no”. Maybe my concern at having only twelve books with us for the week won’t be such a problem after all.

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