First week in Hawaii

Maybe some day we'll update the blog with our September and October adventures. For now, we're starting with current events. This was our first of five weeks in Hawaii for Dallin's psychiatry rotation. Oma and Opa (Grandma and Grandpa Rowley) visited and Dallin had more free time than we expected, allowing us to have lots of fun. Here are some of the places we explored:

Hiking: Diamond Head Crater, Kahekili Ridge, Manoa falls, Makapu'u Lighthouse and Tidepools

Beaches: Kailua, Lanikai, Pahe, Hanauma Bay 

Treats: Fresh coconut and hawaiian shave ice 

September Aftonisms

We’ve done lots of hiking with Afton recently, and although she’s pretty good about riding in the backpack, she also likes to get out and use the hiking poles. (And it's nice for my back to get a break.) On our last hike, she tripped fairly frequently, and at one point, I told her, "Watch your feet!" She stopped in her tracks and stared down at her feet. Our little Amelia Bedelia.

Afton has developed a love of reading recently. Usually she begs to get out of the hotel room and go to the park or the store or something, but the past few days she wants to stay inside and be read to. Luckily there’s a library across the street. She has her favorite books and has memorized some of them, including the Brough family favorite, “Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb.” 

Other things that Afton has developed a love for  include singing songs (mostly requesting that her parents sing songs like “for rainbows” or “shining brightly”) and helping us cook (although she has a hard time resisting tasting the food). 

Afton suddenly started pronouncing her r’s this week. Her pacifier, previously called “powa” is now “powerrr” (with a strong r). It’s cute and we’re proud of her progression, but it’s always sad when she stops saying something she used to say so cutely. Some of my favorite words in Aftonese that have fallen out of use include “yaya” (outside), “apoteca” (pineapple) and “foo futs” (flip flops). 

Once while changing her diaper this week, Afton started hitting Robyn’s chest with her legs and laughed and said “kick nipples!” She sure knows her anatomy! 

Afton keeps offering up evidence that we indoctrinated her too well with her presidential campaign announcement video. For example, when listening to the radio, a reporter mentioned “the president” and Afton immediately shouted “Obama!” On another occasion, I was reading an article about the current republican frontrunner and Afton saw his picture on the computer and said “Dowod Twup!”

Sep 13 Update: 

One morning when praying over breakfast with Dallin, Afton prayed for "Mommy Robyn."

Another morning, Dallin let Afton run around without a diaper on. He told her to let him know when she had to poop, and he'd help her sit on the potty. Shortly thereafter, she ran into the bathroom and announced, "Poop!" She didn't quite make it to the toilet, but Dallin scooped the treasure up and put it in the toilet so she could feel proud of her accomplishment. We made a big deal out of it and congratulated her. Wait, are you really that excited about feces, you ask? Yup. Add that to the list of Things I Thought I'd Never Do When I'm a Parent.

We walk to the grocery store several times a week, and often when Afton sees the items I'm picking up, she'll beg for some, especially if it's fruit. I always tell her that we have to buy it first, and then she can have some. She has accepted and internalized that answer pretty well. Maggie let Afton borrow her scooter for a few weeks, and Afton likes to ride it and tell us that it's Afton's scooter. This week when we reminded her that it's actually Maggie's scooter, she responded, "Afton's scooter. Afton buy it."

Afton and I were heading out the door one day and Dallin called, "I love you, Afton." She responded, "I love you too... Afton."

We must be doing time out wrong. A few times when she has disobeyed, we have put her in the dark bathroom and closed the door for a few minutes. This week when we reprimanded her for naughty behavior, she immediately asked, "Time out? Time out?" She even started begging and pleading to go to time out when it became apparent that we weren't going to lock her in the bathroom. She probably thinks it's cool because Maggie frequently goes to time out in the bathroom.

Afton is typically not picky, but lately when she tastes something she doesn't like, she pretends to gag or cough while spitting the undesirable food out of her mouth. She follows that up with a helpless, "Cough!" as if there was just nothing she could do to keep the food in.

She is always excited for the sacrament to come around (a true food lover, if a piece of bread and a cup of water is THAT exciting). Today when she saw the tray being passed in the row ahead of us, she exclaimed, "Here comes the bread!"

Check out how red Afton's hair looks in the sunlight:

Mima Falls (Sep 4, 2015)

Last weekend we took advantage of an extra day off and hiked to Mima Falls. No, this is not a reference to the Brough matriarch failing at gymnastics. (Robyn's mother is known as "Mima" to the Brough grandkids.) It's a waterfall, although I think they should have picked a more majestic waterfall to name after Mima. This one was on the smaller side. It was pretty chilly and I whined about how our 8 month summer this year wasn't long enough. Good thing we have Hawaii to look forward to in November/December. The 6.5 mile hike was scenic except when we looked down at the trail, which is frequented by horses. I don't think I've ever sidestepped so much poop in my life. Afton had a great time pointing it all out.

Family Pictures (Sep 12, 2015)

We take lots of pictures of Afton. This week, however, we had our "official" family photo shoot. At times, it was hard to get Afton to cooperate: 

But most of the time she was nearly angelic. Here are our favorites: