Summer's here!

The past couple of months have been a time of lengthening - days, joys, and Ofelia's body! She's moved from the 6th % of her age group to 26% in height! She's such a little girl now. Still fascinated with rocks and all things outdoors, Fiki loves to hike and discover, play in her sandbox, go to the park, watch the river, and observe any sort of living thing. We went camping for the first time Memorial Day weekend and she had a blast. We saw a horned toad (which is actually a lizard) sunning on a rock; he let me pick him up and while Fiki was very excited to see him and screamed Hiiiiiii!!!! at him repeatedly, she would not pet him with her hand. For that purpose she employed a leaf. I wonder if she gets this natural caution from her Grandma Lottie? We went again with Ty the following weekend and this was even more fun! We plan on continuing going on adventures together and watching Fiki learn from these experiences. The great thing about Durango is that there's so much right here. There's a tendency to seek distant and exotic places on our time off, but Fiki gives us the opportunity to explore the great terrain so close to home: while it's still cool, we can have fun scoping out dessert sites, and when it really heats up we head high!

Ofelia still loves school and socializing. She is especially fascinated with older children, as is the norm for her age. The one kid I really get a chance to observe her interact with is our friend's daughter, Ayla. Ayla is 4 months older and runs fast. I cannot yet tell who will be the "bad influence". They are a couple of lil ladies together and it's super sweet.

One obstacle that's been challenging is this teething phenomenon... Molars breaking gum make Fiki all kinds of irritable. Literally, she gets uncomfortable, at times whiney, can't sleep, drooling, fever, congestion, indigestion, unexplained restlessness... oh boy! Through it all, she is still a mild-mannered and pleasant child, and fun to be with. She loves to climb and does so every chance she gets, and she's paying more attention to her baby doll, which she calls "my baby" and repeatedly wraps in her snot towels. Other words in her vocabulary include:

• Hi
• Bye, see ya
• Mama, mommy
• Tata, daddy
• choc (Polish: come)
• zaba (Polish: frog) interchangeable with English: shovel
• bucket
• the beloved: shoe & jacket (signal going outside)
• tak, yeah
• doggy, piesek
• puppy
• ptak, birdy
• cat 
• rock
• daj (Polish: give; pronounced d-ah-y, as in "Mama, daj")

As well as a growing number of mimicked words, but fortunately no cussing thus far.

Miscellaneous extras

Some have been patiently waiting... Here are some catch-up photos!

I have a new phone number: (970) 317-1053.
My 773 Chicago number is no more...