I have to compromise the big fancy camera a lot more theses days and just make do with the camera phone, but this one was so sweet I will take a poor photo over no photo. We had a playdate at the free summer movie today with Elena, Maeve, and their cousin Lincoln. Before the movie started, Ashley took the big girls to the bathroom and the little girls came to hang out with me and the popcorn. We didn’t have the booster seats yet, so I thought that maybe Julia and Maeve would weight enough to hold the seat down together. They loved sitting together on the seat chowing down on their popcorn. It was really sweet.

The other morning when I went in to get Julia up she was standing and waiting for me with one sleeve off of her jammies. I suddenly had a flashback of a little Emily excitedly waiting for me to get her up from a nap and having one arm pulled out of her shirt. Just another sign that Julia is growing up.

This morning when I went in to get Julia up she had thrown all of her blankets and animal friends from her bed and removed her pj bottoms. I guess she was bored. The game of undressing is a lot of fun and it makes me wonder what I will find tomorrow when I get her up from bed.

I would have loved a photo with the girls looking at camera, but that never is a guarantee these days. They were very facinated with all the little clover flowers hidden in the grass. It was sweet to watch their discovery of the blooming treasures.

This is a classic and wonderful story, enjoy! On our way home from Cades Cove, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Our first stop inside was the restroom. On the way I gave Emily some verbal directions to the bathroom. I told her to find the flashing stoplight on the back wall and the bathroom door would be below it. Half way back to the bathroom, Emily stopped walking and I asked her why, after all, we were staring right at the entrance and she knew where she was going. She told me the stoplight was red and that meant we had to stop. Everyone standing around up had huge smiles! Because the light was never going to change to green, I gave her permission to continue on. I’m glad our first lesson on the rules of the road have taken so well.

Wow! Time is really going by quickly now. One thing that has taken its time is Julia’s teeth. For months she has only had six and then one molar started to come in. In the last three weeks we have seen three new ones start to show themselves. One additional molar and the other two are front teeth. Yeah! She had done a great job of eating just about anything despite the few teeth.

Julia is not using many words yet and when she uses them she is only giving partial sounds. One unfortunate side effect is that she has started crying and screeching in place of words. The crying and screeching is a pretty effective means of communication with Emily, but it is a little tiresome. I have started teaching her more sign language so that she has the means of expressing herself in a more positive way. I hope she sees it that way. I can see a decent amount of frustration when we are not understanding her when she is trying to communicate the desire for something.

Her awareness of bodily functions is becoming more acute. She will point at her diaper when we talk about it, but also when she desires it to be changed. She has been asking to sit on the potty like her sister. That sister influence thing can have some good influences. Occasionally, she will fetch a diaper when she wants it changed.

Bad habits are formed lots of way – poor reinforcements to behaviors, distracted mommy, lazy ways of getting things done, and things learned directly from a sister. Some days I’m feel like I’m fighting a losing battle as I correct Julia only to have Emily demonstrate the improper behavior immediately. It is exhibited in lots of places like throwing food, touching curtains, kicking, standing on furniture, and disobeying mommy. The dynamic of sister influences and relations will be a topic of growth for the rest of the girls lives.

Two sweet girls sharing wild flowers and enjoying a sunny day! Happy Father’s Day!

Grandma rode with us to Orlando. It was nice to have a little extra company in the car as we traveled. The stay at Jolie’s was very short, but lots of fun. All of the family came by and enjoyed a dinner together. And before dinner we enjoyed some time out at the pool.

The girls got to play in their new bathing suits (thanks, Nichole) and enjoy the cool water on a warm afternoon. Emily had been looking forward to her visit with Natalie for quite a while and was so excited. The girls had a blast swimming together. They poured water, swam around, and jumped into the water a million times.

Dylan wasn’t left out and enjoyed running around the house with Emily, watching TV together, and driving push cars in the house. He enjoyed the pool, but couldn’t compete with Natalie in the pool.

Julia did her own thing for the day. She hung out in the pool until she got too cold then cuddled with a variety of people. Then shortly after dinner she was rocked to sleep by Grandma.