Allie Cousteau

Dad here in journal mode. So my little Allie cracks me up all the time. I traveled for work the last part of the week and left poor Wanda at home (see below). When I returned and walked in the door Luke squealed something about candy, super excited to have his dad lift him up and hold him. Wesley was totally excited too. Allie on the other hand--- no running, no squealing; my feelings were about to get hurt. The neighbor girl was over and the two of them were in Allie's bedroom playing dress up. I had to hunt her down to say hi. She gave me a nice little courtesy hug then I asked her if she missed me... Hesitation... "Um... yea a little bit... well not really... but I still love you dad."

My little Allie has always been like this. Homesickness and separation anxiety are not her thing (unlike Luke). These snapshots show her at the end of a downed hollow Great Sequoia log that she and her Aunt Ilene explored. The entrance was pitch black so I gave her a key chain flashlight to use. Always the intrepid explorer.
We visited Pismo Beach during our trip to Jay and Ilene's. Allie had a great time playing in the cold water and then decided to go see what she could see. I watched her for a bit and waited for her to come back but she kept wandering off. So I decided to teach her a lesson by keeping a far distance so as to let her get lost and look around for her family and cry a bit. She won, I got bored, she never turned around and was halfway up the beach playing in puddles, heading for a distant swing set. I went and retrieved her- she was furious that she could not play on the swings.On her first day in nursery, she just ran in without ever looking back. Sunbeams - no sweat. Primary class in California: no hesitation. We got home today from church and instead of running inside she ran outside and yelled across the street at our neighbor Bob who was in his driveway. "Hi Bob, what are you doing?" So we went outside and chatted with Bob for a bit.
Our home teachers came over tonight (Jim Jeppson, the father of our babysitters). He showed Luke and Allie some pictures out of the Friend magazine to give them some clues about what they are thankful for. Allie's response: "I'm thankful to be a good dancer, good gymnastics and I love everyone in the whole world."

She sure is a little Joy.