Who wouldn’t want these two as your shopping helpers? To borrow my friend’s phrase – they were super cute! At one point they turned away from each other and were pushing against each other with their backs. Another time I looked down to see both heads popping out of the side window checking on what I was buying. There was plenty of “honk, honk” heard in our vicinity. The shoppers were happy and I got my shopping done which involved a decent amount of thinking and counting. As always they were rewarded with free cookies from the bakery when we were done shopping.

Emily is a girl and thus likes to shop – at least she likes to shop the local toy catalog. Her eagle eyes found the sales flyer on the counter and spent at least an hour pouring over it. I should save them when they come in the mail for car trips and times when I need her to be occupied. At the moment it is the best of the both worlds. She likes to look at the sales flyer, but doesn’t beg for the toys found inside. Actually the only requests I had from her about the flyer was to put it back together after Julia tore it apart.

It appears we are starting our playground season. Our Saturday was simply lovely and we enjoyed some play at the neighborhood playground. I think my favorite part of the day was just watching the girls as they worked out solutions and explored.

While Emily is our cautious one, she was off on her own exploring and enjoying the equipment on her own. She enjoyed having us nearby, but was happy playing on her own or finding other kids to play with. Julia hung with her Mommy, but also escaped when she could. I was able to appreciate how much Emily has gained in ability and interest as she played on the equipment. She didn’t have to be coaxed down the big slides, she didn’t need warning at high points, she didn’t need suggestions on what to do next, and she knew how to play and interact with all the equipment.

Julia enjoyed swinging, but freedom the most. I let her walk and choose her own direction. I had to have Emily physically restrain her at the top of the slides or she would have gone without me to catch her at the bottom. After she had been down a slide once I was able to just wait for her by the slide. Julia loves to slide. There just were a lot of slides to choose from. She will go down on her bottom if I help her and if she could get away with it she will take the slide on her tummy. She mastered the stairs up onto the equipment and moving along the bridges and paths. On one arched walkway she figured out that she could crawl across it because the incline and decline was a little uneasy for her.

Julia’s confidence is so much stronger then Emily’s. But then this comparison is not fair. Julia has watched Emily do everything and figures that if Emily can do it that she can too. This makes me want to sing the line from a song, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” I wonder if I won’t be singing this song for a long time.

We are proud to announce the addition of two new teeth to Julia’s mouth. They have been taking their own sweet time, but finally we have numbers four and five. She now has three on the bottom and two on the top. Humorously, she had the third on the bottom come in while she only had one on the top. Then, in the next couple of days the second top tooth came in to complete the set of four front teeth. While you can’t see all of her teeth yet in photos, her smile is definitely changing with the addition of teeth. No more toothless grins for us.

We let the girls experience the billiard table from a different angle. They enjoyed rolling the balls into the holes and checking out the cool colors and stripes found on the balls.

Julia was playing by herself and found the box of Mrs. Potato Head pieces. She had the best time putting features in the holes and pulling them back out. I had the best time watching her grow and develop in her play. I also love how she sits on the floor. She won’t sit like this for long, but she does it all of the time right now. It is nice when you are very flexible.