They're Curious

Curious George seems to be the preschool show of the moment in our house. Both Maddie and Sienna are pretty fond of the little monkey, and it's inspiring all sorts of interesting activity. Tonight at dinner we had lots of water experimentation, after Maddie filled up one of the clear plastic block buckets and wanted to experiment with how heavy it was, how it changed once you took some water out, etc. This led to a fun little tea party where she poured out cups and saucers full of tea and "soup" for her and Sienna, accompanied by a fun little ditty where she sang "It's a SOUPY day, it's a soupy day..."

Last week, Brad brightened my business trip by sending me these pictures of the girls and their latest adventures in curiousity...

A couple of comments about these pics:

- In case you couldn't tell, the girls were making a robot.

- Yes, Sienna has wacky rain boots on -- her choice, she is crazy crazy about shoes.

- Yes, Daddy did dress her while I was away...'nuff said.

- Yes, our sliding door is in fact an artwork gallery for Madelyn's creations; she tapes everything up there herself and gets very upset if anyone touches it. The newest sign reads "No Dragons. Keep Out." and she is pretty much insistent that it stay up.

So science is the thing these days. Continuing on with the kick, Maddie told Brad last night at bedtime that when she gets older in a couple of years, they were going to go to Home Depot to buy some wood to make a rocket ship, so they could take a trip to Mars together. What a fun thought!

Baby Talk

Even though it hasn't been all that long since Sienna was in this phase, I had forgotten how unbelievably cute the "baby talk" phase is. Lyla is constantly making noise these days, using all sort of consonants and different mouth positions to get as many interesting sounds out as her little mouth will allow. She says a couple of simple words, one of which is her name! It's very cute to hear her copy you and say "WhhhhhyyWaaa." Not as reliable about Mama, but she'll use the word pretty liberally when hungry or wanting to be changed! It's hard to believe that she's going to be one in just a few weeks. Where has a year gone??

Speaking of turning one, I need to get on the arrangements for her birthday celebration. Since we'll be in Aruba, I'm thinking of having a little get together around the pool. Very casual, but maybe some hamburgers and hot dogs and - of course - a fun tropical beverage or two. We'll be in Aruba with a number of people that we know, so it will be fun for L to have people to celebrate with while we're there!