Go Cats!

Last/ First Days

Friday was the last official day of winter and hence, Saturday was the first official day of Spring. The confusing thing is that when your birthday arrives, you turn another age. When Christmas arrives, you get presents, guaranteed. When Spring arrives, you don't always get warm weather for the duration of the season. Why am I telling you this? Well, Lucy does not understand why she can't wear shorts, tshirts, sandals and run through the sprinkler. It is, afterall, Spring. To make things even more confusing, Friday, the last day of Winter was in the 70's. This meant that Lucy dream of shorts and tshirt came true, as did her request for a "water day". We filled the buckets with water and the girls washed their tea party dishes, their babies, their bikes and anything else that came into contact with their sponge.

As you can see, Lucy is thrilled to be in her shorts. They are SHORTs. Her legs have grown a mile since the last time she wore them. That's ok. She is perfectly ok with me buying her more shorts and tshirts. No dresses, though. She has requested a jean skirt, but only because one of her favorite music videos has kids in jean skirts.

Harper on the other hand, doesn't give a flip about clothes, right now. She just wants to make sure that she is outside as much as possible. She does like her big floppy hat, though. She decided that is was great for playing peek-a-boo, maybe not so great for running races since it flops into her eyes.

The girls spend their time taking care of baby dolls, digging in the dirt for worms, "making compost", riding bikes, kicking balls, playing with chalk and bubbles and trying to get the attention of the boys next door- anything to be outside. Lucy is most looking forward to filling a bucket with worms to take to school after spring break. We tried one day, but the worms escaped overnight, outside thankfully. The girls also love to give me sprout reports and tell me where new buds are on the flowers, trees and shrubs. We have even spotted a bird sitting on eggs in her nest.

Ian and I have longed for a backyard where we could release the kids and they could run free and play for hours at a time. Now that we have one, it has not disappointed. Well, ask me again next Fall when we are raking out 60th bag of leaves, again. Until then, bring on the shorts and the longer days!

Because sometimes I just can't choose

Here are some photos of Graham in his bucket hat. A bit repetitious, but sometimes I just can't choose which photos to use. Note: Graham only likes his hat for one thing and one thing only: chewing on the strap. Other than that, the hat has to go and he has mastered taking it off.

Lucy's First Crime Thriller

This is the cover to Lucy's first novel, a mystery: "Murder at the Mansion, a Grotto Mystery". Really, this was her dress-up attire moments before but I thought it made sort of a funny display on the chair. Come to think of it, it made for a sort of funny display on Lucy.

Cookie Monster

Who Dat?

This is why I love 6 month olds. I walked into the room to find Graham seemingly asleep in his exersaucer, but then he popped his head up and smiled. And then repeated. It turns out that he found his reflection in the tiny mirror on the tray of his toy, and couldn't get enough of the good lookin' fella in the mirror. This went on for another 10 minutes. They say babies are a good judge of character, well, Grammy was liking what he was seeing.

Spring Training

It's that time of year again, when the top players hit the grassy green lawns of Virginia to work on their agility, footwork, speed and hand-eye coordination. Where those that can quickly spot, run and grab their intended object come out the top winners. It, my friends, is Easter Egg Hunting prep time, and my girls love to practice.

That's right, we have half a dozen egg hunts a week these days. For Harper, we use it as an opportunity for her to learn her colors ("hey Harper, why don't you go out and find 2 yellow eggs?"). For Lucy, it gives her a chance to either, one, be in charge and do the hiding, or two, work on her speed so that she can smoke all her friends in the friendly egg hunt we host. Sometimes I put jellybeans in them, sometimes Cheerios, raisins or chocolate chips. Often, there is nothing at all except bragging rights as to who grabbed the most eggs. The real prizes come on April 10, when we play host to our friends in a giant egg hunt (last year we had almost 1,000 eggs!) For now, it is back to the girls' spring training.

Nagging questions

Why do both of my daughters like to pretend to be dogs? Usually when we are around folks who they have never met or haven't seen in a long time? Why do they spend the time panting and crawling around on all fours instead of saying hello?
Why does Harper feel the need to lay down on the carpet- any carpet. Wherever we are. Why does she do this at school every day? Why does she do this in the book store? Why is carpet so appealing at a friend's house?

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Pow!

Bam!

Yowza!

Strike!
Super-heros. Lucy is obsessed. At school it is reported that she goes into the dress-up room each and every free-time and puts on the Buzz Lightyear costume. At home she runs around fighting the bad guys. And then it came, the invitation to Eli's birthday party. A super-hero party. It was a BYO Cape party. No problem. Lucy has a pink cape with her initial prominently displayed on the back. But Harper. Hmmm. That was more difficult. Lucy decided that she shall be Superman while Harper was to be Supergirl. Harper was thrilled. She had a title, she practiced running around the house yelling "Supergirl!" But still no cape. We tried an old Superman cape that Ian had from a Halloween several years ago- it was too long. Then Lucy said she could wear the red cape and Harper could wear the pink one. Again, too long. Then we remembered that Harper liked wearing the snow-princess cape so she threw that on. Next step, teach Harper how to pose like a super hero, ready to pounce on a baddie. This is Lucy's attempts to teach her the poses, in Ian's old Superman costume, while Harper donns the ever-super snow-princess cape and hood.

Lucy Love

I'm not sure how other 4 year olds spend their time. Whenever I presume that they slip into imaginary land like Lucy does, I am told that somebody's kid does not do that. I honestly don't know what else she would do with her time. These days she is either a super-hero, a construction worker, a jockey, a hockey player, or a motorcycle rider (these are her terms). She plays with her little animals still, but not as much. She is much more into running around outside pretending to fight the bad guys in some way.

The photos of her in the hard hat are her pretending to be a "constructioner designing a new road that will help people not crash". Her window drawings actually look a bit like a metro map. She worked on this for about 2 hours, with stories and demos to an imaginary crowd. It reminded me of somebody being at a dry erase board in a big board meeting, with hat on for effect.

The other thing Lucy loves to do these days is to get Graham to laugh. It isn't that hard really as he is always wanting her attention. She plays with Harper in new ways as well. They "cook" in the basement and color or chalk together. Lucy can be seen leading Harper around the house or the backyard, holding her hand, telling her how to do something or just dragging her around as part of her imaginary landscape. Most of the time Harper doesn't mind and some of it is running off one her as well. I will catch her talking and playing her own pretend games and when I ask her what she is up to she will reply "talking to myself".

Lucy has started to mourn some of her tshirts. They simply can't be worn any longer. They are beat up, too tight and too short. She is growing and the only part of this that she minds is that she can no longer wear her Snoopy tshirt, the other parts are just fine with her- like skipping naps to get more time outside, getting to jump on the trampoline next door, and getting to fetch the paper at the foot of the driveway, all by herself. She is most proud of the fact that she gets to help Ian with some of his chores, like cutting down bamboo (she used her little scissors- not so effective, but she was wanting to help), or putting the top on the sump pump out in the front yard. These seem to trivial to us, but she thinks the world of getting to help her dad out.

The other thing she thinks the world of- the 15 year old boy next door. Ryan. Ahhh, Ryan. He is dreamy to her. He can kick a soccer ball like no other, he is the best at basketball, he jumps on the trampoline with her. He is humoring the little girl next door- she thinks he is wanting to spend time with her. I even had to tell her to quit yelling his name in the corner of our yard the other day. He was at school so, no, he could not come over to play stomp-rocket. She climbs trees to impress him. She stacks books up to watch him out her bedroom window. I know she just wants the attention of a "kid" next door and nothing more. But the fact that our pretty little blonde is trying to get the attention, so deperately, of the older boy next door has been pretty funny to observe. Just wait until I really blow her socks off- he may do some babysitting for me this Spring and Summer- and then he'll be in OUR HOUSE- OMG!

Nobody moves like Harper

Here it is folks, the pose. It is ridiculous and you can't imagine how many times a day she does this, usually just throwing it in to be funny. Today she was in trouble and she went in to her "pose", laughing and carrying on. I told her she could go pose in the time out. She didn't care, that was fine.

The other video is of her dancing to "hot diggety dog". Sorry about the lighting. We are running an amateur gig here, but you get the idea that she LOVES, this song, just as Lucy did at this age. Harper's favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse character is Goofy. Ya don't say.

Six month Sitter

He's getting there, sitting that is. He doesn't really tripod, he is too busy trying to reach for other things to bother putting down his hands. This usually results in his falling flat on his face. Today he was sitting on the ground at the playground at school and was mesmerized with the dirt and mulch sifting through his hands. He tried to eat it several times and then continued with his looking about. Then he got his wish, he truly bit it. He landed face first in the dirt. No, no tears, just the opportunity to eat some of the prized grime.
Graham went to the doctor last week to check on a cold he's been battling for about 3 weeks. He was diagnosed, shockingly!, with a cold. The nice part is that we got to have him weighed and he is now tipping the scales at 15.4 pounds. He goes again next week for his 6 month appointment and we will truly be able to tell how fast this guys is putting on weight. He is now eating 3 meals of solids a day, plus a snack of toast or cookie, plus he nurses 6 times a day. Let me do the math for you: he is eating constantly. Sturdy, that's what we'll call him and because he is so sturdy we have decided that waking up to eat is no longer an option. You can imagine his dismay at this new development, but he seems to be doing ok with it. He is actually more upset at midnight when we don't let him eat than he is at 7am, when he is truly hungry and waking for the day. That's when he just kicks around his bed, talking and laughing at his airplanes flying above.
He has moved to the sink for baths. He barely fits in, but he seems to like it. As soon as he is a bit stronger in the sitting department he will be moved to the tub, solo, until he gets the hang of it. Hopefully by May he will be joining his sisters for bathtime.
Below there are three photos of him "smiling". It almost looks like he is pain, but they are truly the biggest smiles you have ever seen. They start out as normal little smiles and Graham minding his own business. Then it happens, he will make eye contact with you and that normal little smile gets expanded into the hardest, widest smile you've ever seen. All gums, lots of drool and usually some sort of squeal, grunt or goony sound (think Beavis and Butthead). When he is in his exersaucer you get all that, plus some serious thrashing and carrying on, like a one man band.
Naps are a funny thing around here. He is still unpredictable as to how long they will be, but the time of day seems to be fairly regular. Oh, and most of them during the week are in the car. We go out, he wears himself out and then he snoozes in the car. We get home, I roll down the windows, find myself some activities in the front yard or front room, check on him every 5 minutes and there he sleeps, up to 2 hours sometimes. I realize these days are coming to an end since the weather is warming up. Too bad, he does some prime napping in there and I get a lot of laundry folded, garbage taken out, floors swept,etc while he dozes.