March 27, 2010

Right now in the Nelson house we are playing "Princess", which is make-believe play that can take many forms. 90% of the free time in our house is spent playing Princess. Today's version has Michelle as the evil stepmother who has given Princess Grace numerous chores to do around the house. Right now the Princess is dusting the furniture with a rag. Come to think of it, maybe Michelle has a plan behind today's activities. I am the nice stepfather who provides support to Princess Grace. Claire is Dopey Dwarf, either because she's currently wearing purple or because she can't talk.

Grace had Kindergarten roundup this past week, and that went really well. She got to meet all the teachers and the principal at the school, which is called Nodland Elementary. It's a K-2 building that will be perfect for Grace. She was really excited about it and couldn't wait to tell all her preschool classmates about it. Also got 20 right out of 2o on a little reading assessment they had all the kids do. I don't mind saying that she dominated it.

March 21, 2010

The end of a long weekend of watching basketball. Grace told me today that she only liked watching basketball when it's "real", meaning Briar Cliff games. Not that she actually watches those, but at least those games have a concessions stand and real life cheerleaders.

Grace and Michelle spent much of the weekend out of town for a baby shower for Michelle's younger sister. Grace had fun and was excited that she met a new friend. Grace is unbelievable at making new friends. I personally watched her make two "friends" within the span of a few hours last weekend. First in church she befriended the girl in the pew in front of us, mostly because Grace's princess dollies caught the girl's eye. After a few minutes of quiet play Grace whispered to the girl, "Do you want to be my friend?" And they were friends for the rest of the service. Then that night Grace went with me to watch the Briar Cliff women in the NAIA national tournament, and there the exact same thing occurred. By the second half some girl was sitting by us, the two were playing, and Grace had invited her over to our house to play sometime. We'll never see the girl again, but for that night it was all good. Shyness is definitely not a trait possessed by Grace.

March 6, 2010

It's our first non-basketball weekend in five months, and we hardly know what to do with ourselves. As much as I hate it when basketball is over, I'm happy to see the girls and help out more at home. Grace has a play date this afternoon with one of her friends from preschool. What's interesting is that the friend is a boy named Walker. Grace normally loves playing girl stuff, but her and Walker have been good friends at school all year. Grace was concerned at first about Walker and his two little brothers not having any girls toys, but apparently they've worked it out. Their plans are to play detective and zoo. Grace is at the age where, rather than necessarily playing with toys, what she loves most is playing scenarios (house, school, mermaid, detective, hospital, zoo, etc.) Grace doesn't go to others' houses much largely because of her wheelchair and all that entails, but we're gonna make it work today.

There was an article in the paper today asking for ideas for Sioux City's RAGBRAI slogan. Maybe they should name it Sioux City: Home of Race 4 Grace 2010.