A package!

Alice loves opening packages.  Presents intended for her are obviously the best, but she really loves to open anything.  Sometimes she is a little overzealous as when she was helping Zac open a recent package from his mom, and she kept unwrapping until she held the bar of soap itself.

When she is playing, she'll often "make packages" by wrapping up some random toys and junk in a cloth or towel.  However, even when she calls us over to unwrap the package she made for us, she will still change her mind at the last minute and open it herself.

We think she'll make a good surgeon.

Hemlock Bluffs

It was a sunny and very chilly day, but the kids seemed to have energy to burn, so we went to Hemlock Bluffs for a little hike.  We love this place because one of the loops is short enough that the kids can do it without being carried. Also, there are lots of boardwalks, which they love.  Simon did really well and walked by himself most of the time.

Sunday morning breakfast

Alice woke up in a good mood and full of energy. She wanted eggs for breakfast, and I was struck by the bright green and yellow color-scheme that emerged.

Alice was firing on all cylinders and basically would not stop talking.  I thought I would make a video, because it seems like normally when I try to capture something on video, the kids will stop doing it (which is why Simon's epic, but somewhat hilarious tantrums, have failed to be documented).  Sometimes I try to use this principle when I want them to stop doing something. In this case, when I started recording, Alice took it down a notch, but didn't really stop chattering.  

As you can see in the video, Zac is somehow able to tune out the madness and read the paper (he does this every morning).  I don't know how he can concentrate. I haven't been able to read the paper at breakfast since Alice learned to talk.

Problem solving

Alice wanted to get on the roof of her little play house, and she wanted me to lift her up there. I told her she had to figure out how to get up there herself. She couldn't immediately figure out how to do it, and so she kept asking me to put her up there, but I held my ground and told her to figure it out.  Eventually she did, but then she discovered some spider webs and tiny spider on top, so she didn't hang out long.

Birthday party

On Saturday, we went to the birthday party for our friends' one-year-old twin girls. I always like to get ideas from other parents, especially about parties.  So far, we've gone to lots of kiddie parties, but haven't hosted one of our own.  We're toying with the idea of having one for Alice's 4th birthday this summer, but it always just seems like a lot of work.  This particular party, held by a mother who is a school teacher (but is currently a stay-home parent), was a good example of why I get intimidated at the thought of hosting a party.  I'm really lazy and I just have no interest in creating party favors or games or ordering fancy cakes.  Luckily, the daycare set that we're friends with usually have pretty low-key, laid back parties, so there's not actually much pressure.  But still.

This was a carousel-themed party (as is the them of the girls' bedroom). There were carousel balloons out front.  The cake was a carousel, but also the top of the cake table was decorated like a carousel (forgot to get a picture of that).  There were lots of decorations around the house too.

The party had a table for the kids to color, and also streamers attached to headbands and belts, so the kids could dress up as ponies.

One pretty cool thing, that I don't think would have worked for our kids, but with twin babies seemed like a great idea is a play area fenced off.

Anyway, it was good to catch up with some of our friends at a kid-friendly event.  I think I might put off Alice's birthday party for another year though.

Balloon morning

The early morning sun streaming right in our living room window and two fresh balloons led to these cool (unphotoshopped) pictures of the kids playing.

Simon using a spoon

Simon has gotten quite good at using a fork, and today he made great strides towards using a spoon.  Zac and I especially like his unique twist on the practice.

We had watermelon for dessert (Alice went with me to the store again).  Simon has evolved from crushing it to eating it off the rind, albeit usually alternating between two wedges.

Simon at play

Simon is really good at playing by himself and seems to be way less intense than Alice ever was (or is).  One of the things he loves to do is drive cars and trains along the edge of the TV stand.

Alice playing catch

Alice has finally learned to sort of catch a ball.

Simon's announcement

Alice at the Arboretum

Tuesday, the second day of my spring break, Zac had to leave for work early, so I got the kids up and ready for school.  At breakfast, Alice was crying because of an earache.  She'd been complaining about earaches off and on for the last week, so I figured I should take her to the doctor.  So I dropped Simon off at school, and took Alice to the pediatrician.  Sure enough, she had a sinus infection and two ear infections.  Poor kid!  She must have a high pain tolerance though, because she was totally fine all day, and we didn't start the antibiotics until that night.

To make the most of my day off and Alice being banned from school for the day, we went to the arboretum on the way home from the doctor's and enjoyed the beautiful early-spring day. I really embrace these days to have one-on-one time with Alice.

At the end, Alice probably picked a hundred dandelions from this field. I gave her an empty plastic snack bag and she ran around plucking the heads off of every dandelion she could find.

Tippy-bottom

Alice, while looking at this picture, observed, "I think they're laughing on their tippy-bottoms." 

You know, like when you're on your tippy-toes, but it's your tippy-bottom.

Simon at school

Sometimes, when we pick up Simon, we can watch him for a few moments before he realizes we are there.  Since he can't tell us about school yet, and the teachers rarely offer much more than, "He had a good day!" we love these little glimpses into his school life.

Skipping

Alice is starting to get the hang of skipping.

Dragons and noodles

I took Alice with me this morning to get groceries at Harris Teeter.  We'd been wanting to get one of these swim float things for Alice for a while, so when I stumbled upon them at the store this morning, I nabbed one, much to Alice's delight.  They also had pool noodles, the big fat ones, so I got one of those too, since Alice usually still sinks with the small ones.  Then, she wanted to play on the dragon on the way out, and she declared, "I am a Jedi Knight!" as she battled Darth Vader with her noodle from her dragon.

Coloring

We used to leave the crayons out so Alice could color at will, but then one day Simon became mobile, so we put them away lest he would try to eat them.  But we've recently discovered that coloring will keep the kids occupied for quite some time. We just have to train Simon not to carry colored pencils around the house.

Cary Arbor Day

We went to the little Cary Arbor Day festival downtown this morning, after stopping at the library to gather a fresh set of books.  They had crafts for the kids and free seedlings--it was fun but not too exciting.

Bye-bye Alice

I love Simon's sweet voice and he is talking a lot more these days as he builds his vocabulary.  We're just so glad that drain didn't swallow Alice, and that isn't his last goodbye to his big sister.

Electricity dragon meat

Alice saw me packing a banana for my lunch, and said, "Zachary (her classmate) gets a banana in his lunch.  Why don't I ever get a whole banana?"

My mind flickered for a second.  Why are we essentially making a fruit salad for Alice every day, when we could just send a banana?  We started the cut-up fruit habit when she was a toddler and only had a couple of teeth, and we hadn't evolved much over the years.  Perhaps because we have to cut up fruit for Simon now, it doesn't seem much harder to do it for Alice also.  But it made me wonder what other shortcuts we weren't taking.

So I said to Alice, "That's a good idea!  Maybe we will send a banana.  What else do your friends bring for lunch?"

"Sweet potatoes, yucky fruit....electricity dragon meat....yuck sock poo...I don't know."

Either she couldn't remember, or she generally liked her lunches and didn't want us to copy her friends too much.

Fishing with a bobber

On Monday, the kids stayed home from daycare and the grandparents played with them in the yard, at the pond, and at the park.  The highlight was that grandpa make Alice a "fishing pole" for the bobbers we found at Yates Mill Pond yesterday, so she could go fishing at the pond.  As always, she was genuinely disappointed she didn't catch anything.

Monday night we sadly dropped the grandparents off at the airport so they could go back to Ohio.