Toddler Quotes #4

"I'm making a zibbit for my museum."

"I'm shutting this door with the greatest of shuts!"

Upon seeing the star next to the "1" on an elevator button, she shouted "Macy's!"

"It's a small world after all. There's so much we all share that it's time we eclaire it's a small world after all!"

In the Meantime

While all our big life changes are going on around us, Little Sister is doing all sorts of momentous things of her own.  Over the last few days she's cut two, count them, two new teeth!  Given that these are her first ones, it really was not a huge amount of fuss that she made.  This is in keeping with her generally calm demeanor, so I shouldn't be surprised.  Still I am grateful.  I think Older Sister cried for weeks before her first tooth came through.

Speaking of teeth, L.S. is also making huge strides on the food front.  She was never a great fan of purees, and I did wonder if I might have a picky eater on my hands.  It turns out that all she wanted was to be able to feed herself!  We still struggle through a spoon feeding (which I do to ensure that she gets enough iron-fortified cereal) but when it's time to get out the tiny pieces of sweet potato, she gets very enthusiastic.  Her pincer grip is tops, and she quickly shovels tiny bites of carrot, peeled blueberry, peas, and cereal puffs into her mouth.  If her tray should become empty before the meal is over, she yells for more.  I guess the second child has to learn to speak for herself or she might never get fed.

Fun with Barbasol

In the midst of all the tumult of the last few weeks, it turns out that the kids still need, well, everything.  There's no stopping just because you are booking flights, or trying to find foreign lawyers, or wiring money to the funeral home.  They don't take any time off for meetings with contractors or filling out mortgage documents.  Kids are really not amused by the packing of boxes.  Thus we have been working hard to find activities to keep little brains absorbed, and that is how we found ourselves spraying shaving cream on a dump truck.

The shaving cream is a trick I remember from student teaching in a 5th grade classroom.  It turns out that even sophisticated nine year-olds think that squirting Barbasol on a desk top is a super fun time.  Squishing it around (thereby cleaning the surface) can entertain an entire class for a good 15 or 20 minutes.  When you're finished, everything smells fresh and clean.  Preschoolers are even more enchanted by the idea.  First we tried it out on a table, and it was amusing, but then Daddy had the idea to take it outside.  Mountains of foam on the truck AND a bristle brush made her positively giddy with joy.  Now we have the shiniest truck in the neighborhood, and we managed to get a few things done.