While I was trying to sort and fold laundry (“trying” is the operative, since C&D apparently disagree with the way I sort and fold my clothes, and would rather just see everything all over the floor), David decided he needed to sweep. He still needs to work on his technique. I guess today he was hoping to use a push broom. Carmen is watching him from her perch, the potty on the changing table at the far left of the camera.
I ordered another broom this weekend. I don’t want to assume he would be willing to share it with Carmen.
You know, he is the the sweetest boy in the world. Silliest, too. He knows he isn’t supposed to put the rubber playground mulch in his mouth, so today he only pretended to eat it. He put a handful near his wide open mouth, and then closed down with gusto, the way he does when he is eating something that he likes. He laughed to himself and “ate” it several times. I don’t think he knew I was watching. Sweet, silly boy!
Saturday Carmen figured out how to climb onto the futon. Then, like the silly girl that she is, she forgot. Whew.
Sunday I found her standing up in her Radio Flyer wagon, pushing on the handle and rocking it back and forth to make it roll. I hid the wagon.
Monday David figured out that walking is faster than crawling. But he still crawls most of the time.
Today David swept the kitchen with me after lunch, except that he didn’t realize that the point of sweeping is to bring the dirt together, not spread it around.
So I learned a new trick this week, too. I can now sweep very, very quickly.
Is it really only Wednesday?
C&D are both signing more frequently. While at Whole Foods today they asked for a snack (by signing “more”). It was the first time they used ASL to ask for something without me prompting them first.
This was certainly David’s day to practice his walking skills. Up, step, step, down he went all evening. He was so thrilled to be using his broom that we decided to take one step further on the path toward spoiling him deliciously rotten. We brought out a toy that I had been saving for him to receive on a walky kind of day like today. He liked it very much, though as soon as Carmen stopped dismantling my bookshelf and realized that David had something new, she needed to play with it, too (hence the picture being a bit askew . . . I had a screaming Carmen at my foot).
The wooden bar in the lower part of the photo is yet another baby gate. We now have:
one at the living room doorway, blocking the front door of the house (because the door won’t open if two babies are leaning against it),
one in the bathroom to block the toilet, the BBLPs (Baby Bjorn Little Potties, for you civilians), and the oh-so-tempting toilet paper,
and then the gate between the kitchen and the hallway.
And, of course, we still have the kiddie corral at the kitchen window. Eventually the corral will be dismantled and made into a practical life area for the babes. The gates allow me the option of having free-range babies, or only partially free-range babies. Splitting the house in half allows me to more easily keep my eye on one or the other while still giving them lots of opportunity to roam.
David loves to watch me sweep, and will come running to find me whenever he hears the scratchy sound of my broom. Now that he can stand and walk a bit, today he got his own.
Today while Carmen slept, David and I snuck out to the porch to enjoy a snack of apples and cucumbers. This was the first time for us to use the toddler table. (The cucumber has a hole in it because I extracted the seeds, which are a little bitter.)
David enjoyed his snack, BUT . . . he kept slipping under the table. Why is that, I asked myself. Carmen sat on the chair for a very long time on Sunday without slipping. Why is David slipping? So I looked under the table. I noticed David’s feet were not on the floor, even though they could reach it. Perhaps David did not want his tender little feet touching the rough concrete. So I stuffed a blanket under them while David dipped his snacks in the cup to see . . . I don’t know, if they would float? If they tasted better wet? I guess I will have to ask, someday. Anyway, the blanket felt a little better, but very soon David was slipping under the table again. We clearly have something to practice this weekend.
She would probably have better success if she just focused on walking, and not flapping or hopping (which she actually managed to do before falling, but I didn’t catch it on video).
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. Even David gets involved with some supportive arm-flapping (but then notice later how he grabs the objects that he thinks she might want before she gets to them).
I’ll see if I can catch her hopping up and down later. Crazy baby. She needs a set of bunny ears for Easter, I think.
. . . the time earlier today when Carmen was kissing the Waldorf dolls my mom brought this weekend. She was air-kissing them, saying, “Mwah! Mwah!”
. . . Carmen saying “Do-yeeee” (dolly) and “Bye” and “Hi,” because she stopped saying them (like all her other little words). When will they come back?
. . . Carmen’s first steps (of course, now she has stopped walking . . . she’d prefer to climb or stick her finger in Matt’s belly button).
. . . Carmen telling Matt, “Yeah!”
. . . Carmen walking circles around us or holding on to our pant legs and following us as we do our tasks around the house.
. . . Carmen foot hoisted up just about any place she can put it. God have mercy on us and her head when she figures out how to climb the furniture.
. . . Carmen testing me. She does things she doesn’t supposed to, like sticks leaves in her mouth, or puts her fingers on the blinds next to the changing table, and then throws a defiant smile my way. I have to try very hard not to laugh.
. . . Carmen brushing her hair with the wrong side of the hairbrush.
. . . Carmen discovering that she can stick her finger up her nose.
. . . C&D’s floppy baby-style waving.
. . . C&D scrambling toward the door when I say, “Let’s go shopping!”
. . . David’s first steps last week.
. . . David’s towers, three blocks tall.
. . . the little baby chirps and baaaas that David made a year ago. I miss them.
. . . David “petting” the cat and “playing” with his tail.
. . . David playing catch, and getting so excited to get the ball back that rather than wait for us to throw it, he just chases after it himself.
. . . David playing fetch with himself. It is how he practices crawling and standing.
. . . David’s first cruising (sideways, vs. Carmen’s straight forward).
. . . David crawling with a peg man. Maybe I can catch a picture of it before he stops.
. . . David with his hands pressed up on the glass door of the washing mashine, watching the clothes go around.
David has his first cold this week. He is in great spirits, but his nose is very runny. Today he was supposed to have his lacrimal ducts probed, but I’m sure he’dl be happy to know that because of the cold I had to postpone the procedure by a week.
