Ingrid has had an activity-filled month.

She still loves swimming and playing in water. I got her a new two-piece swimsuit in June, to make it easier for her to get it on and off, and it already looks like it’s been through some serious abuse. The snorkel and mask we bought have also been in constant use.

Other favourite physical activities include driving (go-carts, electric cars, and pretty much anything else you can imagine) and horseback riding, but also climbing (like those indoor climbing walls, or adventure trails, or just large playground climbing structures) and jumping, such as bouncy castles and trampolines.

All this moving around, much of it outdoors, has made her strong. It’s been a long time since she complained about her legs being tired, which used to be a never-ending complaint in this house.

She’s also quite fearless. Speed, heights, water, you name it: she dares more than many others at her age. At the beach she goes deeper and deeper until the water reaches her chin and she is almost on the tips of her toes, and still she tries to go further. At any playground climbing structure she never stops until she’s at the top. At the adventure park in Tartu she never even seemed to notice the height, or consider being cautious about it. At driving tracks etc she always looks for the fast cars and tries to overtake any other kids.

Meanwhile her helpful, friendly mood continues. She has helped me cook dinner on several occasions. And not just joined me for a few moments and then disappeared when the novelty wore off, but actually helped me cook entire meals.

One evening she decided she wanted mashed potatoes, and it was way past dinnertime. (I can’t remember what happened to her actual dinner.) So she proceeded to make mashed potatoes for herself from scratch, with me only guiding her but not doing any actual work. Well, I did the mashing, because she didn’t have the arm strength. But she took care of all the peeling, boiling, mixing, seasoning, etc.

Then she proceeded to pour ketchup on top of it and mixing it together until the lovely freshly-made mashed potatoes were a red mess… but she loved them nevertheless.

Miscellaneous:
We have given up on letting her go to bed when she is tired, because she just won’t. Instead we now have set a 21:30 deadline for her for getting into bed. In practice she often goes to bed earlier than that, so she can fall asleep together with Adrian. Often she is already asleep shortly after nine o’clock.

She continues to devour Bamse magazines and Kalle Anka Pockets. (Kalle Anka is Donald Duck’s Swedish name.)

She has discovered air hockey.

She still does not see any point in keeping her hair out of her face, and I have to keep reminding her to at least put a headband on while she is eating.