Going Around Town

It often amazes me the things that Haley can find on the Internet.  Lately she has been "walking" around town.

Occasionally I check out what she has on the computer screen.  Today she has been all over town on Google Maps.  I was not surprised to find her at the train station, I assume she found a link to it through one of the train sites that she frequents.  I was, however, surprised to find her at the airport.  I don't know how she did that.

My husband is responsible for her new hobby.

At some point he typed in his parents address on Google Maps and looked at an aerial view of their property.  Haley saw it and recognized it as Grandma and Grandpa's house.  The funny thing is that you can even see Heather in the picture.  That map is saved in Haley's favorites and she often visits it. 

She knows how to find aerial maps and then she looks at the street view, then she moves around.  She was in the center of a four lane road at one point today.  I said "Haley, what are you doing in the middle of the street?"  She just laughed.

She uses Google Maps to look around at the buildings, the cars and even the people (whose faces are blurred.)  She seems to be completely entertained.

It's kind of cool.  I don't want her out walking the streets by herself, but I don't mind if she does it in "virtual reality."

Isn't it amazing what you can do on the Internet?

Time to Share

As I was making Haley's lunch this morning she came up to me and said "Grandpa's house tractor ride."  It took me a moment, but then I realized that she was starting to tell me what she did over the vacation so that I could fill out the form that she uses to share her home experiences with her teacher and aides.

I said "Hang on a sec, Haley," and I got her form; I wish I could have recorded what happened next, but it was happening fast and believe me I don't work fast in the morning.

I started to write something about Haley going to her Grandma and Grandpa's house and she just kept talking.

"Open presents, yay, 844. Boat ride. Lunch, yum, good. Heather. Horses, presents."; There was more, but like I said it's morning.

So to translate these are the things that I wrote about on her form:

Haley got to visit her Grandma and Grandpa over the vacation; While we were there she got to ride her Grandpa's John Deere tractor.

Haley is getting really too big to do this. It is kind of sad. Her Grandpa usually sits her in front of him on the seat so that he can operate the tractor. Her legs are so long that it is really difficult for him to do that. No way is she riding that thing solo. After some discussion we decided that next time Grandma is going to ride with her. Haley is actually taller than her Grandma now.

She also got to see Heather, the cow that lives behind Grandma and Grandpa.

Haley just loves seeing that cow. She got to feed her a branch after her ride on the tractor.

Haley also got to ride in a ferry and we had lunch.

We went on a special trip with the express purpose of riding a new ferry. This is quite a story. I will write about it soon.

Haley loved opening presents. She got a new stable for her toy horses, four new horses, Toy Story 3 figurines and some train videos.

You can read about her gifts here.

Haley watched her new UP 844 video.

That is really the only video she has watched since we got home.

Haley went train watching with her Dad.

This is something she does every Sunday and this last Sunday was no exception.

Haley went shopping and bought four new pairs of pants.

This seems like ancient history now, but a couple of days before Christmas I took her shopping. We spent a lot of time in the dressing room trying on many pairs of pants. My assumptions about her size were way off.  I actually bought her pants that were four sizes bigger than I would have guessed.  We got some really good deals.

Haley had honey mustard chicken, rice and veggies.

We always report what she ate the night before.

Haley had a bath.

Those are the things that Haley did on her vacation; those are the things that she wanted me to write on her form. I told her that if she was that excited to tell me all she had to do was go to school and tell her teacher, she really didn't need the form.

I know better.

She will clam up when she gets to school, but hopefully if they read the form back to her they may get one or two words out of her. My guess is that they will be:

"Grandpa."

"Tractor."

"Ride."

One Track Mind

Five more days to go and (maybe) this will stop.

Haley does not want to listen to reason.  She starts talking about going to Grandma and Grandpa's as soon as she wakes up, before her feet hit the floor.  She is constantly trying to get me to get her suitcase out.  She wants to pack her DVDs that she has meticulously stacked.  She wants me to get the "case" out for her toothbrush and the shampoo and conditioner that are sitting on the bathroom counter.

Yesterday I tried to convince her that we were looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa.  That they were coming to our house (not the other way around).  I got this idea in my head that if I showed her the route they were going to take it might help.  I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea.  I think I am losing it.

I typed their address and our address into Google maps.  I showed her the the blue line that indicated the most likely route that they would take.  I pointed to our house on the map and to their house on the map.   I clicked on our house and showed her a picture of our house.  She thought that was cool, but she wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa's house. I tried to click on their house to see if there was a photo.  There wasn't.

I got her ready for school and sent her out the door.  I enjoy the reprieve.  I get about seven hours a day of not having to listen to her talk about going to Grandma and Grandpa's and explaining to her that we are not.

When she got home it started up again.  I finally got to the point where I wouldn't answer her.

That didn't really help.

She stood at the top of the stairs and ranted.  After about five minutes I thought it would have been smart if I had been recording it, you know, for posterity.  She went on and on about going to Grandpa's and crying and then talking about crying.  Her teachers would have been amazed.  I am sure they have no idea how loud she can actually be when she wants to be heard.  Not everything she said was recognizable.  It was just a lot of grunting and moaning with the occasional understandable word. "Uh, uh, uh, Grandpa's house, uh, uh, Heather, uh, uh, uh, cry..."

Pretty soon her Dad came home.  He came in the room where I was and talked to me a few minutes and then went upstairs.  By then she had quieted down some.  All of a sudden I hear "How would she have gotten a picture of my parents house on the computer?"  I said, "I typed their address in to Google maps this morning?"

My husband's parents usually call on Thursday nights just before Haley's bedtime.  She likes to listen to them talking on speakerphone.  She rarely talks to them, but she really enjoys hearing their voices.  I went up to get her ready for bed and saw that there was an aerial view of their house on the computer screen.  I said "How did you get that picture?"  My husband said "That is the picture that was on the screen this afternoon."  I told him that I hadn't seen it before.  We just looked at each other.  He showed me a small brown mark on the screen.  "We think that is Heather."

How did she get that aerial shot to come up?  I will never know, but I imagine it will be on our computer for some time to come.

I Couldn't Resist

Heather is the cow that lives behind Haley's Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Haley loves Heather.

Haley can never get very close to Heather.  First there is that electric fence in the way, then there are those horns, there is also the fact that Heather is just not very friendly.  Heather only likes you if you have food in your hand for her.

When we went to the feed store to look for Schleich animals we were really hoping to find a Heather.  We didn't.  We ended up with a different kind of cow.  She was a cream color and she didn't have the long hair that Heather has, but she did have horns. 

Haley wasn't too concerned.  She was a cow so she name her Heather. 

Well, I tend to be picky. 

Call it perfectionism. 

I thought Heather should look like Heather so I went for a search online, and look what I found.

I found Heather.

So now Haley has a Heather that she can touch,

...and hold,

...and love.