Friday, July 31, 2009

July 31, 2009

Grace shares some of her strawberry carrot yogurt with Kate, a sign of kindly sisterly love or a sign that it wasn't as delectable as Grace had hoped.

Suki is very intent on coloring.










Grace creates magnetic monograms for her animals.

Suki looks for her fifth car.

Kate bites the camera strap.

A little lesson from Max and Ruby.

A report from the trenches: when we flipped the calendar to July, we told Grace that there were no diapers in July, that she would just wear underpants to bed. She'd been dry at night for ages but reluctant to give up that last diaper. She agreed to the novelty the first night but on July 2 insisted that we were back to June. We disagreed and underpants it was. We are so proud that during the entire month of July there was only one early morning "concern" and even with our vacation travels and illness, etc. that was it -- she is officially done with toilet training. We've come such a long way from last July. The past year has been such a tough one trying to figure out what would work with her and as always, the answer was to give Grace time to figure it out on her own. This last nudge was really just a way to show her that she had.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

July 30, 2009

We had an unbelievably good morning, but it really was not a time for photos. We went to a farmer's market and met many friends as we went through choosing our corn, tomatoes and a few cookies. We took in another outdoor concert, this one featuring three singing sisters which my own girls may or may not have thought was interesting. At the library afterward we met up with even more friends, and so it was just a lovely time moving from event to event and meeting so many people we know slightly and those we know well along the way. These pictures are from our time relaxing on our front lawn after our busy morning.



July 29, 2009

Not a great picture but the one that seemed to highlight poor Grace's injury the best. Would you believe it if I told you that it was inflicted by sweet little Kate? Last night we caught a housebound ladybug in a jar and Grace wanted a closer look. So she held the jar, then forgot about it on the couch -- where Kate found it. Grace approached her for the jar and Kate flung it at Grace's head in a move that combined defensiveness and generosity in one lip smashing moment. It was awful, but Grace did get to use an ice pack and she really enjoyed that.

Spinning before ballet class.



Kate is walking with so much more skill now, and she loves the wide open spaces of the studio.


Getting ready for ring around the rosie.









Ta da!


Jumping!


Fun with Katiekins.

Running and running.







Pretty wary of the princess in the mirror.


Kate chooses a wand.

Looking at the ballerina music box.


A surprisingly tired Grace.

Kate tries to wake her up. First she pushed with her hand, I had to stop her when she started nudging with her foot.

Everyone anticipates lollipop time.

Kate tries to navigate this tiny tiny ledge.


A stamping fiend.

Looking at some bows.

We've never used this kind of cart before, I couldn't believe Grace and Suki could stay on the teeny ledges but they had no problems.

Happy, happy girls.