A little bit of this and that

There's not really a subject for this post, I noticed I haven't posted in awhile. Let's see, Terry and I both had a stomach bug this past Monday, that was fun. Who takes care of the kids when both Mom and Dad are in the bathroom? It hit me about 5am, and Terry didn't succumb till about 9am. By the time he went back to bed, I was able to stand, so I took the kids to the basement and let them tear it apart while I laid on the couch. Luckily my friend Lisa took Sophie for the day. She loves playing with Lisa's kids, Cate and Garrett. Michael and Emily took a long nap, I think they knew we needed one as well. The good news is by Tues I was better, and none of the kids got it.

Sophie has started swim lessons, and is enjoying them. My motivation: get her as independent as possible for this summer. Since Michael and Emily will both require full adult attention in any water situation, the more independent Sophie is, the better. She loves the water, and by the end of last summer was in the shallow end without a float. Her lessons start with the kids wearing the float, but the goal is to get them out of it. She and Noah are in the same class, and that makes for some funny conversation. Last week I took both of them as Kathleen was out of town. We headed to the family dressing room to get changed. Without prompting, they each went to a separate corner, backs to each other, to disrobe. However, the temptation to compare undies was just too strong, and they settled for holding the pair out for the other to see once it was off their body. For the record, Cars and Cinderella. Here they are paying rapt attention to their instructor, although pictures taken at the indoor pool aren't all that great.

Michael and Emily are about to turn 18 months and are really funny to be around right now. They love to play together, even though they have NO CLUE about sharing, so every few minutes one of them steals whatever the other has. Short of getting two of everything, there really is no solution except time and maturity for that dilemma. Even getting two of everything wouldn't solve it, I don't believe. The thrill is in having what someone else has, not your own boring toy. Some of their favorite things are playing chase, their own version of peek a boo/hide and seek, climbing up the stairs as fast as possible, and coming back down. They differ in their approach to that; Michael does what most kids his age do, he backs down the steps. Not Emily. She holds on to the railing, or rather to the hardware that holds the railing to the wall, until she gets to the balusters, then she uses them. But she walks down facing forward, as if she is 3. I tried to teach her the backwards way, she wanted nothing to do with it. Par for the course, as she is pretty opinionated....wonder where that comes from? Michael has gotten one important skill down, he can turn on the TV with the remote. Now, if Sophie could just get him to figure out how to change it to the Disney Channel, she would be all set.

And last, but certainly not least, here is the look Emily gave Michael after he took her cup in the tub. I am telling you, don't mess with her, you will get the frown.