Sudden Growth?

One of the things that attracted me to this house is the "half-wall" between the kitchen and family room. I thought, at this point in our lives, it would be nice to be able to keep an eye on the girls while cooking, etc. and later, I can use it to spy on the girls and their friends (there are times I wish the opening had a curtain, like the type used in hospitals to separate beds, so I could do exotic things like eat a bowl of cereal in peace and quiet...) Normally, when the girls look over the ledge I see eyes and a bit of nose...


Madeleine left, Emily right.

So, imagine my surprise when I looked over the other day and was met with....

Madeleine in blue, Emily in yellow

It turned out the culprit was a set of our chairs, which were confiscated for the time being.


Emily in yellow, Madeleine in blue.


The girls had several new discoveries this week. They found joy in using diaper wipes to clean play-doh off the table in the family room. Mom was ecstatic because she didn't have to do the cleaning. They were also introduced to chocolate chips which were immediately called "chocolate hats". And, finally, one afternoon I was caught chewing gum. I broke down and gave them each a quarter of a stick (sugar free!!), the chewing in and of itself was a major highlight, but I think the true joy was spitting it into Mom's hand a few minutes later - we go through phases when any excuse to spit is welcome. Now, before you report me to the authorities, keep in mind - gum may help their ears pop when we are on the plane this summer.

In other news, we have had our first day with the heat index (opposite of wind chill... heat + humidity = heat index) over 100 with last Friday hitting 104. Till was out of town for a conference over the weekend, and in my humble opinion it went better than the last time he was out of town for a conference...when a stomach flu made its debut with the girls.

Yesterday was my day to volunteer at Mother's Day Out and it had the added excitement of a fire alarm activation. The church that houses the program is being remodeled and the dust triggers the fire alarm. Needless to say all the kids were pretty excited about the fire trucks coming into the parking lot, etc. They have a pretty good routine for the little ones, they pull out two cribs, you load them with toddlers, and roll....most of the children thought it was an adventure because they were told it was a train ride, Madeleine and Emily wanted "more ride", but some little ones did not enjoy the activity. Perhaps I have taught A Tale of Two Cities one too many times, but to me, the cribs full of woebegone little faces had a bit of a resemblance to a scene from the French Revolution. Unfortunately, Emily came home from "school" with both a broken blood vessel in her right eye (tripped and hit her eye on the corner of a play table) and a slightly skinned knee. However, she was psyched about being able to put "blue water" on her knee; Band-Aid brand "Hurt-free Antiseptic Wash", comes in a blue bottle and doesn't hurt like hydrogen peroxide does. A very handy product with little ones in the house, or a mom who is a sissy when it comes to these sorts of issues!

Madeleine with a light at Colonial Williamsburg.


Emily with a light at Colonial Williamsburg.