Water Play

The summer is getting very long and hot around here. Despite the fact that Elaine gets in the pool at least once a day that is not nearly enough water time for her. It is also normal for her to take a bath, a shower and as you have seen in previous posts she loves playing with that hose. Yesterday she fell back in love with this sink. First she was washing her hands which moved to filling blocks with water. Of course the water in the blocks had to go somewhere and Elaine thought the perfect place would be on her head. The next thing I heard was a little voice in the bathroom saying "I'm taking a bath in the sink" and sure enough, this is how I found her.

What a Good Sport

Rob spent some time this weekend with the girls in the Disney Princess tent. As you can tell by the look on his face, he was having a fantastic time.

We have finally arrived at the stage where the girls can sit and play together. It is nice that they can entertain each other. Sharing is of course a struggle but Charlotte has figured out that if her sister steals a toy the best way to get it back is start crying. When Charlotte starts wailing Elaine can't give the toy back fast enough.

Hello Big Sister

Who the "big sister" is changes based on who is talking. Yesterday Elaine decided it was Charlotte. She kept calling her big sister and saying "I am holding big sister". I tried to explain everyone's correct titles but thought it was funny so just laughed instead.

Big Little Sister. Yes she is still a chunk.

Elaine is going Green and recylcing the Bumbo Seat by using it as a hat.

Holding "big sister" while they play Little People Circus

Another incredible outfit. Obviously at 2 and a half Elaine is very fashion forward. Project Runway here she comes.

California Adventure

For the 4th of July we decided to get out of the heat for a few days and visit Rob's family in Palo Alto, CA. It was a quick trip but very fun. Both girls did great on the airplane which was a huge relief. Our only moment of drama came when we were standing in line to check our luggage and Rob said"You've got my wallet, right?" The answer to that was no and so the hunt began. Rob's mom and brother were searching the house and hotel and the wallet was eventually found packed in our suitcase. The irony was that Rob had his ID but mine was in his wallet. He almost had to fly home alone with both girls. I almost got a vacation day out of it.

Rob and Elaine hanging out at the hotel. Yes, the favorite Monkey pajamas came back because it felt like winter to us there.
Charlotte was of course a fun addition to the gathering. She thought Rob's brother, Patrick, was pretty funny. Probably both in looks and personality.
Of course, there were plenty of kisses to go around. Elaine probably got her fair share but only if you could catch her.
The highlight for Rob was introducing both girls to their Great Grandmother who is 92 and could beat anyone in an argument.

We had so much fun that Grandma Gail is coming today to visit for a week. She just wasn't done playing Grandma.

Baby Sister

Elaine helped with the dishes and developed very strong feelings for this water bottle. She kept calling it baby sister. Charlotte was taking a nap and Elaine was apparently missing her.

Hugging the baby sister.

She wrapped "her" in this towel and said "baby is nice and warm". She was rocking the bottle and saying "rock a bye baby"

The pink bowl on her left served as the baby's bed.

Good thing her baby was ready for a nap so Elaine could make a chocolate mess after assisting in brownie making.

Elaine saw me doing this post and said "look it's a baby sister". She is so strange but imaginative sometimes.

Why?

Our dear Elaine baffles me. Her little personality makes me want to laugh and pull my hair out at the same time. If you have ever heard her count she is all over the place it usually goes something like this: 1,2,4,6,8,10,11 teen (her own number) No matter how often I try and correct her she counts the same way. One day I did listen to the conversation she was having with herself and heard her say 1,2,3 but when I asked her to do it she went back to the usual way. She loves to count especially the stairs. Going up or down she always says "Hold my hand. Count with me." Then, yesterday I noticed she could count them herself, in Spanish. She counts to 6 perfectly in Spanish. No hesitation. My question is: What does Dora have that I don't besides a cute accent and friends that are animals? Thank goodness I can count on Nick Jr. to teach my child. Thank you to the creators of Dora, Diego and Kai Lan. Without them my child not ever be ready to school. At least she can learn from her animated friends. If she ignores us like this now what is going to happen when she is a teenager? Thinking about it gives me a headache.