Pool Days, Cool Days!

The pool is open and ready for business! Here are Harper's first splashes of the year, and my favorite, the girls doing a food dance in their bathing suits. They work up quite an appetite swimming and food makes them endlessly happy while we are there!

Our time at the pool usually consists of Lucy screaming "I'm swimming! Look, mom! I'm swimming." Her version of swimming is kicking and paddling, usually while walking across the pool. She will also float around with a kickboard to "swim". She is getting closer to swimming, if she would just be confident. The rest of the time she is asking for me to "catch her" while she jumps like a loon into the water. This is definitely her favorite part of swimming.

Harper, on the other hand, hangs close to dry land. She prefers splashing in a bucket of water. She also likes to walk over to the edge and throw things in the water that she expects me to pick up immediately to hand back to her so that she can repeat about 30 times. Lately she has added pouring water over head with the watering can and dunking her naked baby doll in the bucket head first.

Ladybugs!

We went to the Museum of the Native American on Tuesday to attend their ladybug release. They had bags of thousands of ladybugs that they would spill into the kids' hands. Lucy loved it and went back for more ladybugs three or four times. Harper wasn't given any bugs of her own, but she had no problem releasing her own- they were everywhere, all over the ground, crawling up the girls' arms, feet and legs. She actually didn't squeeze even one to death, amazingly! One ladybog was a castaway and when we got home 3 hours later it was hiding in Lucy's shoe. We let it go out the window and she was so happy that she hadn't squished it.

After the ladybug release we went to the air and space museum. Lucy is obsessed with astronauts and space again. She thinks of the story of the Hubbel telescope as some sort of fairy tale that I have to tell over and over again. She walked in and immediately started pointing out rockets and missiles and telescopes and shuttles. She loves Skylab and the moon rock you can touch. She came home and told Ian that she had "gotten to touch the moon today!"

On our way home, Harper fell asleep in the car. We were driving along the river past the marina when we noticed a dozen or so of the prettiest sail boats. We decided to stop. I parked in a shady spot and opened all the windows so Harper could continue her nap for a couple of minutes and Lucy and I dashed out to see the boats. We were only there for about 5 minutes but decided right then and there that we had to come back to see them again. They were so plentiful, colorful, speedy and entertaining and Lucy decided that it would be the perfect spot for a picnic.

Koosh ball painting

Pickle Breath

Lucy loves foods with a little punch and now, so does Harper. Here is Harper's first dill pickle. We figured she would take a bite, throw it to the ground and never ask for one again. Wrong. Now if she sees the pickle jar she won't eat anything else until she gets one.

Cherry Picking

These top photos were how Lucy spent some of her time in the cherry trees- taking photos. She wanted to share them. She was also particularly proud of the yellow leaves she had found. It has been a particular agenda of hers to point out whenever she sees yellow leaves since I explained to her that the spring meant everything turned green. She is constantly wanting to prove to me that not everything is green in spring and summer, that sometimes things are yellow, brown, etc. She actually took about 15 photos of yellow leaves to make her point, I only posted one- point made.

We headed to Homestead Farm with our friends the Wells last week to pick cherries. They were so tart that the kids mostly refrained from eating them by the handful, but no worries, they still got plenty down the hatch. We used ours for cobbler and crisp.

Lucy and Parish picked cherries for about 30 seconds and then spent the rest of the time running through the orchard and hiding in the trees. They spotted a birds nest and helped keep and eye on the little girls. Caroline and Harper did most of the eating, and once I convinced Harper that picking cherries was like cleaning up cherries, she was on board for picking. It was her personal mission to make sure that each branch she could reach was rid of cherries and that they ended up in our box. The kid loves to clean up!

Lucy's first soccer camp

Lucy started soccer camp this week. Or, I should say, Lucy, Harper and myself started soccer camp this week. Nobody mentioned that it involved parental involvement. The first day entailed me, 6 months pregnant, holding Harper and practicing my passes and traps with Lucy. Not exactly what I pictured. Thank goodness that Lucy has decided that she wants to do camp all on her own and I have been sidelined. She will even go to the far side of the field away from us so that she can have the one of the coaches as her partner. Fine by me! In all actuality, the parents are more optional in most of the lessons but some just can't stand to sit it out. I think I have my hands full enough since Harper likes to spend the hour each day picking up all the cones the coaches have put out, eating, and chasing kids in the middle of their drills. She also likes to line up with the kids or just hang on to Lucy while she is getting instructions. I think she thinks she is part of the action as well. She hasn't noticed that not everybody runs around with a naked baby doll or a cracker in their hand.

So far, so good. Lucy is wiped out a the end of each camp day. She has learned passes, traps, dribbling and other skills I can't even name. She loves her coaches and finds them very funny and they liven up the camp by playing games about dragons and pirates, having wacky hair day, and having all the kids decorate their soccer balls. They are British and many times the kids have no idea what they are saying or talking about, but I think that makes Lucy like them even more. Her favorite game so far is "Blast off" where they place their soccer ball on a short cone and take 5 big steps back from it, then countdown and the whole group runs forward at blast off to kick their ball down the field.

I'll post photos of the rest of the week later, but here it is so far.

Off to bed

Harper is obsessed with climbing on things. She will carry out the stool from the bathroom and spend 10 minutes trying to figure out a way to climb up on it. She tries to scale bookcases, chairs, her crib, whatever. Her new favorite is to climb up on Lucy's bed. She gets up there, plays for a while and then cries because she can't figure out how to get down. Each and everytime she ends up there, though, she has a bit of a celebration.

When is it our turn?

Lucy asked today, "when is it kids' day?" I replied, "Everyday". This was not the answer she was looking for. She is not keen on having a Mother's Day and a Father's Day with no "Kids' Day" to even things out. Nevermind that her past week has consisted of swimming, playdates, the candy store, feeding ducks, picking cherries, the library, the farmer's market, a ladybug release, the air and space museum, watching the colorful sailboats on the river, sprinkler fun, and endless treats and funtime with friends outside. Indeed, she just celebrated Kids' Week. Where's my week?

Repeat

Harper has moved on to a few phrases. That might sound great and would seem to help with communication, but that is not always the case. Here are the phrases:
"Get down"- used when she actually wants to get down from a chair or your lap, but also when she wants to get up onto something, like our bed. Can get confusing.
"Stop it"-she likes to say this whenever I tell her to do something, or not to do something. She also says it when she is at the top of stairs to signal that we should all stop before going down.
"More, mine"- she uses this a lot when she wants more food. The problem is that it is always unclear what she wants and she will usually throw herself to the ground kicking and screaming if I don't react properly. And all drinks are "milk", even if she wants water. More tantrums if I get it wrong.
All of these are said daily, although on any given day they are said a million times. She begins to say something and until you respond correctly she repeats it over and over again, or falls into a tantrum. Another case of easier said than done.

Don't tell the Secret Service

We were hanging out in the family room a couple of nights ago when Ian caught a whiff of something. He inquired if Lucy and I smelled anything. We did not. He asked Harper if she smelled anything. She replied with her only answer to any question, "No!"
Then he asked, "Harper, are you stinky?"
Harper replied, "No!"
Ian, "Harper, did you toot?"
Harper, "No!"
Ian, "Well, if you didn't toot, who did?"
Harper in the clearest voice said, "Barackobama!"
Now, you can say it was babble, and maybe you are right, but we like to think that she was blaming her stink on the president.

Name that boy

Here is a typical conversation that I could be having with any adult at anytime, on any day.
Me: "Hi, how are you?"
Adult #2: "Great, how are you?"
Me: "Fine, blah, blah, blah, blah..." (I hear a murmur to my right at about this time in a mouselike voice)
Me: "Excuse me. What Lucy?"
Lucy: "What are we going to name our baby brother?"

No joke. This happens a lot. In pretty much that same order and usually with people that I don't see that often. Why this pops into her head the second I try to have an adult conversation with a seldom-seen friend, I have no idea.
The other time she brings this conversation up is when she doesn't have anything else to talk about. This is when she likes to offer her suggestions. So far, the best (read WORST) suggestion she has is to name her sweet baby brother Toenail. Other suggestions are Mushin', Bushin', and Cushin' as well as Alex, Reggie, and Melon. She honestly can't understand why we wouldn't consider the name Toenail for her brother. She likes the name, why wouldn't we? But why Toenail? I don't know, but what I do know is that Toenail has to be clipped from the list.

City Kids and Capers

Lucy has created some sort of alternate universe. No, this is not a first, but this one is a bit different than the others. Yesterday she said, "Mom, can you help me find the child with the spooky eyes?" When I replied that I did not know what the child with the spooky eyes looked like she said, "Just like Harper." She continued looking for said child.
Then she said, "Me and the city kids are searching for the truth." I asked who the city kids were and she said, "LaLa and Heart" (Heart is her stuffed dog that she drags around on a "leash"). When I asked what "the Truth" looked like she said, "I don't know, but we're gonna find it!"
All of this was said while she looked under beds, behind doors, in cabinets and in her toy bags. Harper followed. She was not a City Kid, but the child with the spooky eyes, so her role was limited. I'm not sure if the truth was ever found, but Lucy was busy looking for it for a few hours.

They look alike, they talk alike...

I don't do this much, dress them the same that is, but when I do, it is funny to see this tiny little shadow of Lucy following her around. They are starting to look more alike and dressing them alike only enhances that fact. I don't, however, think they look like twins (I have been asked that on numerous occasions. It seems people think I have one petite 3 1/2 year old and her twin dwarf sister who, well, acts like a baby!) Lucy, of course, notices that they are dressed the same and Harper has started to as well. If they are sitting next to each other Harper will touch her outfit, then Lucy's and repeat over and over again. I'm sure that as a little sister, who just wants to be like her big sister, it is a thrill to look like her. You can always tell them apart though, Harper is the only one that likes to play in the toilet, trash, recycling or dirty laundry.

A slice of life...

Lucy and Harper are absolutely gaga for watermelon these days. Actually, they are consuming the produce aisle and the farmer's market on a daily basis. They just can't get enough of the fresh fruit and vegetables we have around right now. Being tired of tackling stains, I declared that watermelon time was time to strip down. And so they did. It is much easier to hose down a bare chest sticky with fruit juice than it is to clean their clothes each and everytime they drench themselves in juice. They seem to think it adds to the fun as well.

The Big Chill

Our pool was closed due to a broken pipe for the past few weeks. Today it opened- much to Lucy's pure delight! But let me give the background. They fixed the pool, then filled it Thursday. It rained Thursday and Friday with high temps around 70 degrees with very chilly nights. You can do the math, that means the temperature of the pool today was something like FROSTY. To top it off, the morning was cool and cloudy, not helping the temps. But she was not to be deterred.

The minute the clouds parted and the sun came out Lucy and I were on our way. To say it was cold is an undertatement. It was too cold to put a toe in. But there she was, in all her purple-lipped glory dunking herself into the icy waters. It was a polar bear plunge. She spent about 20 minutes running crazy and screaming in the water, even fully submerging herself a few times. Then it was time to warm up and she only went back in up to her ankles after that. But she will be back tomorrow. And the next day and all of those after that. It doesn't snow in June, right?