Watering Plants

Today was very hot and muggy. It's been a very hot and muggy summer and we are all ready for cooler fall weather. We had almost no rain the entire month of August and the plants and trees are showing it.

We came back from playgroup today and pulled into the carport, as usual. Only two of the four hanging baskets I started with are still up. And I gave up on these two a few weeks ago. Evalyn, noticing that they seemed a little parched and brown, said, "Mommy needs to water the plants."

The Crismis

While swinging in my birthday present hammock, (we finally got it put up this past weekend thanks to Pappy Roy) I watched Evalyn playing in some small trees with two sticks. She remembered I was there and with great excitement called to me, "Do you want to come into my crismis?" I got up and asked her to repeat it, trying to grasp the context.

I gathered that one stick was a key and she was "unlocking" the tree. The other was her wand. She would go in and stand "inside" the tree. It all made perfect sense to her, but I was still a bit baffled. Was she thinking about Christmas trees? Or was there another word I wasn't getting? Either way, she was clearly delighted with her "crismis" and happy that I went "in".

Postscript
8/29/06 I think I figured it out: One of her new books is about a bunny who follows his nose and explores new smells everywhere. In one scene, he is surounding by pine trees and says that it smells like Christmas. So, I'm guessing that being surrounded by trees now means "crismis". : )

Eating Birds, Airplanes, and Trains

This afternoon while Henry was still napping, Evalyn and I went outside in the almost pleasantly warm weather to eat popsicles. Or in her case, happily hold the popsicle and watch it melt. I think she likes the idea of eating a popsicle and what it entails more than the popsicle itself: asking and receiving, choosing a color, going outside sometimes, eating it with Mommy or Daddy, etc.

So after finishing mine, I went back in and got a cup and fork to facilitate the eating process. After I transferred her stain-your-clothes-cherry-red-sicle to the cup and mushed it into perfect slushy bite-sized chunks, she decided she was all done. (argh!!)

But I know my little girl and had a hunch that she really did want it but needed help. So I took a bite of the cold slush ("Mmmm! This is so good!") and then fed her a bite ("My turn Mommy!"), just like spooning food to Henry. My turn, her turn. As I lifted the fork and offered her a bite she says to me, "Do you want to eat a birdie, Mommy?" I paused for a split-second, smiled and remembered the bird flying to the nest game. "Of course I do." Then we ate some airplanes and trains, too.

Go back to your 'puter

I've started this toy rotation thing where about half of the kids
toys are upstairs in the big free for all/storage room and the other
half down here. Last night and this morning I brought down a new
batch of kitchen toys and Evalyn's play kitchen. She was so excited
to play with these "new" toys. At one point she mentioned that she
needed to make a snack in the back room, which I thought meant she
needed my help to get a snack. I followed her back asking her what
she needed. She turns to me and says, "No Mommy, go back to your
'puter!"

(that's computer in case you didn't figure it out)

Wacky Wild World

The weather has been pleasant this week, so we ventured into our very own big backyard this morning after Henry's nap. It is a little "jungley" still in some places, despite the bulldozing Grampa Moore did in May. Evalyn played on her slide a bit then beelined to the 8x8 garden box that never became a garden. It hasn't been weed-wacked recently so the grass and weedy ailanthus trees were almost as tall or taller than her.

I smiled at how cute she was "exploring" and hoped there wasn't any snakes or toxic plants in there. Just to be safe, I went over to make a visual inspection and she turned and said to me with great excitement, "It's Wacky Wild World, Mommy!!!"



(If your 2-year-old watches Blues Clues on a regular basis, you will fully appreciate this. Otherwise, I will summarize it by saying Joe and Blue skidoo into Wacky Wild World where everything is crazy and tall and different. "Skidoo Adventure" is the name of the episode. If you don't know what skidoo means, well, that's just too much explaining. )

Roll the Baby Dry

We play a post-bathtime game that involves rocking or rolling the towel-wrapped child back and forth on our bed while chanting a song "Roll the Baby Dry...Roll the Baby Dry" before diaper and PJs. The kids love it, especially when Mommy and Daddy roll them together....peals of laughter!

Late yesterday afternoon, Evalyn discovered that the Thermarest camping mattress (recently unloaded from the car) rolled back and forth. So, she began singing the "Roll the Baby Dry..." song while rolling the "baby" back and forth. She then asked the baby/air mattress "Do you wanna put your pajamas on? Okay!" and ran to get clothes from her room to dress the baby.

PS Evalyn's favorite letters, below that she contributed while I tried to write this. (only slightly edited)

u[[ipppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

AAAAAAAAAAA88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Toddler Talk: Tasting Toes

Evalyn and I were reading a library book called Busy Toes. It's about the many different things toes can do. Tip toes, shadow toes, wiggly toes, etc. One picure was about tasting toes. I asked Evalyn if she could taste her toes, which she did. Mommy:"What do they taste like?" Evalyn: "Birthday cake!"

(Yes, Heather I stole your idea. I like the Toddler Talk series idea. But at least I'm giving you credit!)

Henry crawling through a "desert" of sand

Henry crawling through a "desert" of sand
Originally uploaded by baunfam.

camping at the beach can be sandy, but it's great to have non-muddy dirt for the kids to play in!

Evalyn buried in sand

Evalyn buried in sand
Originally uploaded by baunfam.

Matt snapped this photo as Evalyn was spinning her head side to side. It was pure luck she was actually smiling and paused when he clicked it!