Skinny dipping

This afternoon I set up a little pool in the yard for the kids. Upon seeing this, William instantly stripped down to his birthday suit and jumped in. He ended up putting on swimming trunks at Mom's insistence, but both Mary Grace and William stripped down immediately after swimming time.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing naked and we just finished a naked dinner. It's the first naked dinner since last summer and it was well planned since we had homemade sauce (which inevitably gets on the kids clothes).

Tomorrow will be the Memorial Day parade followed by Memorial Day celebration at Midtown (including lots of frolicking at the pool)

Loving summer with a 4 and 5 year old! (and my wonderful wife!).

Stick and Stone collectors

When the kids were really young and we used to go for walks in the neighborhood in the stroller, or even in the wagon. This inevitably led to collecting of sticks that we found laying on the ground (sadly, it was originally my idea to collect sticks).

Mary Grace took this a step further and collected leaves and nuts.

William, being a boy was more interested in collecting rocks. He would get very attached to them and cry if we didn't keep them.

Recently, Anne found Williams "buddy" (a teddy bear backpack with an optional leash) that we had put away over a year ago, and in going through it, she found a nice big baby rock in the pocket. :)

Little phrases of the moment

We've noticed that both kids have little signature phrases that they like to say. A few that come to mind right now are:

William: "What'cha say?" He says that both when he didn't hear you and when he wants to confirm that the thing he's doing is ok.

William: parent name! parent name! parent name! parent name! parent name! He'll repeatedly and continually call out either Mommy! or Daddy! until you respond. We're trying to work with him on this, encouraging to just ask the question but so far it's not taking.

Mary Grace: "I don't mind". Used for any situation she's flexible on. For example, eating frozen french fries rather than homemade.

Mary Grace: "I need to tell Mommy if I can have a treat". She confuses ask/tell. She'll tell you a question and ask you a statement.

William is making great strides

William's efforts are finally paying off as he makes great strides in everything he tries. He knows all his letters, can put together puzzles, tries almost any food offered to him, and knows right from wrong (although he seems to prefer to do wrong lol).

I'm noticing that Mary Grace seems to be becoming a little more independent. Tonight I noticed her in her playhouse in the yard working on an activity while the rest of the family was sitting on the back porch.

Both kids are looking forward to a wonderful summer full a dance recital, cousins visiting from Arizona, swimming at Midtown and going on rides at Seabreeze. I sure hope it's everything their little hearts desire!

Here's a photo of the kids at their family birthday party in March.

Naughty girls

Tonight we had Mary Grace's BFF (and her family) over for play and dinner. All seemed to go pretty well and at one point the girls locked themselves in Mary Grace's room and CLEANED UP. Weird, I know.

A little silence goes by and both girls come downstairs with a powerful coconut smell. Our guest is nearly naked and covered in a red balm of some sort. All the parents rush over and ask what happened. Mary Grace, sensing impending discipline answers "I don't remember". When pressed harder for an answer, she sticks with her first instinct and repeats "I really don't remember!"

We finally get to the truth; they were in the bathroom playing with Avon Kids Bath Body Paint and our guest thought it would be fun to apply it to herself. Liberally.

Lucky for us, she was heading home for a bath shortly anyway. :)

I love you

I noticed that when I tell Mary Grace that I love her, she doesn't respond that she loves me. Now, I know that she does love me, but all the same, it IS nice to hear! (And I have observed her telling Mommy that she loves her.)

I mentioned it to Anne one night and she queried Mary Grace about it. Mary Grace responded that she doesn't say it because she's shy. In other words, she loves me so much that she's embarrassed to say it. I'm ok with that.

Anne later suggested that rather than saying "I love you" to me, Mary Grace could say "me too" in response to me telling her that I love her. So now, every night, I tell Mary Grace I love her and she responds with "me too". I'm cool with that too.

However, yesterday, I got this card in my email, which I'll treasure for a while, I think.

Brothers and Sisters

Mary Grace:

Mommy, did I tell you that William hurt me 90 times today, and he just kicked me with his foot.

He was hitting me with his feet like this (pushes her foot into his forehead, bumping his head into the wall. No tears.)

He hurt my nose when he was climbing on me.

I don't remember what else he did.