the adventures of Aubrie and Dena: grass and salad

So the other day, Aubrie and I took a stroll down the driveway to my car so I could bring my stuff into the house that I would need to spend the night. When I say we strolled, both of us really did. It was Aubrie's first time walking down the driveway, to my knowledge, and she was stoked about it. At first she didn't want to hold my hand, but once we embarked down the inclined plane, she was clinging to me like a monkey on a banana.

I love how fearless this kid is; she wasn't clinging to me because she was scared, she just knew that she had better hold onto me if she didn't want to eat cement. She did stumble a couple of times, but because she was holding onto me, the impact wasn't as bad as it could have been. At another time I will write out the obvious spiritual metaphor in that image.

Her mom hadn't gotten her dressed for the day, as sometimes happened, so I strapped on tennis shoes over her polka dot footie pajama's. She loved walking to the car.

And she looked like a dork doing it. The cutest darn dork I have ever seen, that's for sure.

Instead of immediately emptying my beat up once-a-podracer car, I put Aubrie in the grass to play for a minute. She tried to eat dirt. I'm sure as hippy-tasting as that was, it didn't quite hit the spot.

She is uber fascinated by grass though; she loves touching things, and, of course, sticking them in her mouth. Once I realized she wasn't going to play in the grass so much as get her fill of it, I decided our outdoor adventure was done for the day.

The next day was Sunday. We went to church, I got a break for a couple of hours, it was a great time. Aubrie is a favorite with a lot of the people at my church. A couple of the nursery ladies told me how much they just love having her in the nursery; she loves playing with the other kids. They said there was a little boy crying in the corner near the end and Aubrie took a toy over to him and tried to make him feel better. This kids possesses so much natural grace and love it just makes me want to gush with love myself. Again, the spiritual metaphor is going to have to wait.

We were invited to join a few of my friends at Souper! Salad! for lunch after church. After nearly knocking my entire freshly made salad to the floor at the bar with her foot, Aubrie was sat in a high chair and we proceeded to eat lunch. Aubrie is almost always the loudest person in any place we go, so you can imagine that we got a lot of attention. One of my friends mistakenly gave her a napkin to play with; unfortunately, that's not the kind of fiber she needs in her diet, so I had to empty her mouth and her hands of it.

I was eating lunch with four of my good guy friends and one of them asked me if people think that Aubrie is my baby, to which I answered a prompt, "Yes." Everyone who doesn't know me thinks she's mine, especially at church, which I really don't understand. I'm a single girl, going to bible college, and Aubrie didn't appear in my life until she was six months old. I had been going to the church for nearly a year at this point. I was never pregnant, never even dating anyone, and yet apparently no one noticed me until I started bringing a baby to church. That says something about people I think.

I also told my friends that people often assume whatever guy I might be with is her father. Since there were four of them, I wonder how many people were trying to guess which one was her dad. The mystery is still in their minds.

Aubrie had some ice cream at Souper Salad. She never has ice cream. So why was I surprised when she played in her bed for two hours instead of taking a nap? I just feel like that had to be asked. She was a hoot at the youth leader meeting at the end of the day too; she felt her voice should be heard just as much as anyone else's as we discussed different things concerning the youth and its future. My favorite part of that meeting was watching Aubrie climb all over my good friend Derek, trying to touch his beard, giving him hugs that she reserves for the people she loves most, and him hesitantly playing with her right back. Aubrie doesn't care if you're uncomfortable or shy or anything, she's just going to love you.

When we finally made it home, she had crashed. Poor little tyke had had all the excitement she could take for one day, apparently, and so had I. I just love this kid.

As our summer days draw to an end, I'm seeing even more just how much of an adventure and rewarding experience this summer has been with Aubrie, let alone everything else I have been able to do. Stay tuned for more Aubrie moments. Thanks for reading. :)