Mooserific!

A little genius?

Josie can already count to eight! This afternoon while changing her diaper, I said one. She then said two. I repeated two, and she said three. I was impressed by that alone, but I still repeated three, and she said four! This went on until eight. Amazing! She’s not even two yet! (And, I should say, this was the first time we did this. I’m not sure where she learned how to count.)

Fun at Winton Woods Park.

Determined. She did this for about 10 minutes.

She’s getting so big!

And now it’s time to find our wonderful new house.

We’re disassembling our furniture. Abby used the impact driver to remove about 40 screws. That’s standard for four-year-olds, right?

Abby, can we please read something other than princess stories at bedtime? I’m getting bored reading the same stories over and over.

“Papa, you can’t take my dreams from me. ”

A chip off the old block

Arriving at Coney Island, Abby took one look at all the rides and declared “This is right in my wheelhouse!”

We decided to escape from the stress of packing and house-hunting with a visit to Coney Island this evening. It was just what we needed! The girls had a blast, and enthusiastically rode every ride. (And, kids under two ride free!)

The girls enjoyed finger painting at the library after storytime today. We’re happy to be moving back to the Ohio side of the river, but we will greatly miss the playart storytimes.

Two parks in two days! We’re loving this nice weather.

A valuable lesson

In addition to Josie’s daily reminder that nurseys are “all gone” (with a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders), both babies like to tell me about a recent trip to the park. This was not an ordinary trip though. There was a baby boy about Gwen and Josie’s age who liked to hit, and he hit Gwen in the cheek a few times. We initially did not think much of it. No one cried. Gwen seemed a little concerned, but didn’t fuss. We didn’t think the boy was being mean. John actually thought it was more like a misplaced high five. It was not a high five though and the experience stuck with them.

At least once a day now, Gwen and Josie will tell me about it. With a look of concern, Gwen will say “baby, hit.” She will then touch her cheek and say “ouch.” Josie will too, but she looks at Gwen or says “Gwenny” when she says it. I will then say something like “yes, did that baby hit you? That wasn’t nice, was it? Hitting hurts. It’s not nice.” They will agree “not nice” and move on. I’m so surprised that the experience made such an impact. I’m also shocked (and pleased) that they can tell me a story. They still seem so little to me.

This weekend Abby got in on the action too. She likes to talk about it with them now. It was a valuable lesson for everyone.

Abby enthusiastically rode every possible ride at the St. Pius festival this evening. She had no fear! Last year, I got to ride the fun slide with her, but not this time. She was adamant – “I can do it all by myself.” What a difference one year makes in the life of a little one.

With all those necklaces, we call her Josie T.

It’s so helpful to have a big sister.