Madeleine and sunglasses (M's are pink, E's are green)
Emily and sunglasses.My apologies to the blog readership...things have been busy.
The girls had a wonderful time in Spokane. They had been rather timid about swimminig in the lake, prefering instead to gather rocks and play in the sand. On the last day they surpassed their previous achievement of walking out until the water was chest-high and actually got in the little floaty "boats" designed for toddlers. They went so far as to let me push them out a little beyond the dock. Actually, Emily went for this first and when Madeleine realized that she was on the beach while Emily was in the water with me, we were called back to land so the three of us could go out in the water together. My thanks to Aunt Liz for swimming along with us in the event of an unforseen swamping. Of course, this occurred on our last day at the lake, literally hours before we went back to town. Hopefully, next year we can pick up where we left off.
Emily in white "boat", Madeleine in yellow - Mom's head in between.The girls were also interested in Grandpa's approach to swimming which involved wearing a life jacket while sitting in a lawn chair, in the water, and drinking Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi. When I asked why he wore the life jacket, he can swim, I was informed "I might want to float around." The final straw was the addition of the beach umbrella.
GrandpaBoth girls had fun feeding the ducks at the park and Madeleine learned to roll down hills, something she then tried to demonstrate in the bathtub with limited success. Emily became a little homesick and wanted her daddy, house, and kitties - in that order. With the assistance of Grandpa and Grandma both girls conquered the twisty slide at the park. The girls also delighted in the fact that, for some reason, the light switches at the lake and in Spokane are lower than those in Williamsburg...there was a lot of "on/off" going on.
Madeleine on the left, Emily on the right.
Uncle Kyle helps Madeleine conquer the waterfall boulders in the Japenese Gardens.
Mom and Emily make it across the boulders too.Our return trip was very similar to our out-bound. Emily and Madeleine did a great job and we went through many, many, many stickers. I've included a video of how the girls helped the pilot "blast off"....this is something they literally do during take-off.
Since our return to Williamsburg we have begun potty training. The girls have been basically ready for quite some time. I was holding out hope their kindergarten teacher would volunteer for the task, but Mom told me that wasn't realistic. Also, since there is some cosmic joke where I have to do this with two kids simultaneously the first time I do it - we were going to be VERY ready for it. We are nine days into it and the girls are making steady progress. Today was our first accident-free day and they have a solid grasp of what is supposed to happen and a pretty good handle on letting one of us know they need to visit the bathroom. My type A personality bars me from ever being a professional potty trainer (they do exist). That and I was horrified to find "potties" that actually sing to the child when a deposit is made - talk about a letdown when you transition to a real toilet. In the spirit of 'Never say never' I claimed there was NO way a child sized potty was coming into our house...chamber pots should be a thing of the past, moving from the potty to the toliet was one more step, they could make do with the adapter seat for the toilet, etc. Then Emily wet on the floor while Madeleine was sitting on the toilet. So, we now have one potty and one adapter seat for the big toilet, that way both girls can visit the facilities at the same time. There was some distress when the potty was purchased as there was a request for two "big potties", apparently toddlers don't realize plumbing is involved. The first day I made the mistake of rewarding both attempts and production, one M&M for the first and two for the second. However, I heard the girls conferring about needing more M&Ms ("chocolate Ms" in our house) followed by an announcement they needed to go "poppy". From the second day on rewards were given for production only and the amount of time I spent in our bathroom decreased by five hours. I now travel with two complete changes of toddler clothing (just in case), including shoes, but at least we are getting out of the house again - better than a week ago. About 4 days into our adventure, Madeleine leaned down, put her face right in mine and infomed me "Mama try really hard, chocolate M"....since Emily had produced and Madeleine hadn't - I waited until Emily left the room to slip Madeleine a chocolate M. Yesterday, Emily fell off the toilet and literally landed on the top of her head then backflipped into the shower stall. I was kneeling in front of her and I'm still not sure exactly how this happened. I was worried it would cause a setback, who wants to get back on that horse, but she seemed rather undaunted yesterday afternoon and this morning - perhaps she'll sit still a little bit more.
In other news, the girls now have the courage to pet the sheep in Colonial Williamsburg. They like this except for if a sheep turns its head and his/her nose bumps one of our arms - we disapprove of wet noses! Also, there are two four-week old calves, Lily and Bessie, and we got to pet Lily, she was lying next to the fence. Lily's mother is very protective and would bellow and lower her horns in the direction of people coming near Lily. However, she was ok with the girls and I was allowed to pet Lily too - I guess since I brought my calves, I was given a pass. Either that, or she recognized me as a "local" due to the absence of flip-flops and a slurpee.
Emily left, Madeleine right - sheep on the other side of the fence.
Bessie left, Lily right.
Emily left, Madeleine right, Lily's mom in background.Good luck to all who are headed back to school, whether you want to or not. We hope you have a great year!
