Around the house

To add to the list of things that Becca likes - she also enjoys playing with the laundry. I've found that she can be entertained through most of the 'putting away laundry' ritual each day just sitting up on the bed and grabbing, eating, and covering her face with clothes. She's funny. Doesn't she look so happy in this picture? Her head also looks extra big... but that's because she has a big/smart brain, remember?

I feel like I've been focusing completely on Becca lately with my posts, so now I will pay some attention to my dear Emma. :) She enjoys the following: Reading stories with mommy and Becca, hide-and-seek, strawberries and kiwis (in addition to the string of typical foods that young ones like such as macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, corn dogs, and pizza), dressing up, dancing, and helping in the kitchen (when mommy is patient enough to allow it). These last couple of items I will dwell on a moment - Emma LOVES watching Dancing with the Stars and she also very much enjoyed So You Think You Can Dance when that was on during the summer. She's so funny about this. When it's time to watch "the dancing show", she insists on changing into a dress, which she calls her "dancing dress" and she dances with the performances throughout the whole show. It's really hillarious. She gets so into it... it's very "interpretive"... I'll have to try and remember to take a video of it this next week. The other item of cooking/helping in the kitchen has been a fun one lately. I'm usually not that patient with having her help me cook dinner because I tend to be in a time crunch and I'm hungry and I just don't want to take the time to have her really help me much... so I've recently started having a cooking time each week together, in which we make a pre-planned recipe together that's rather simple. This morning we made a caramel/peanut butter dip with apples (courtesy of Rachel Ray's Cooking with Kids book). Emma acts so pleased to be given so much attention and be allowed to do so much of the cooking. It's also been a good teaching time to get her acquainted with the names and uses of various cooking items. We do this while Becca takes her morning nap, so that I can really focus on Emma. I think she needs that sometimes.

So, I feel like so many of you have been making posts about your favorite songs... it made me think of this one I discovered a while back... the group is called The Bird and the Bee... I don't necessarily endorse their other songs, because I fear they would need some editing (aye!), but this song is a winner to me. It's called Again and Again. I get it stuck in my head quite a bit, but I really like it.