leverage

This weekend, we went downtown and explored with the kids. They enjoyed checking out reflection pools and skateboarders and reflective granite walled buildings, pigeons, parks and most of all, a relatively empty plaza with stairs and ramps and tables and chairs and multilevel landscaping (which was fun to run around in).

Sylvia decide to help the city of Houston rearrange the furniture. After all, pushing things at this age is about the most fun imaginable.

She started trying to push the chairs at the height where she pushes Rafa in the stroller:




Not very effective. The legs kept getting stuck.

So, more leverage was needed.

Do kids figure this stuff out or is it just dumb luck?! I continue to be amazed at what they figure out, so they either need to enter the lottery or college... Cuz I guarantee, we weren't on our hands and knees demonstrating.

pics from the nanny

Our nanny asked if it was okay if she sends us pictures of the kiddos. Of course!! Although they sometimes cause us to be overcome with emotion at work, so we'll have to be careful when we actually check them out.

Here are a few faves of mine from Valentine's day in the outfits from Grandmother and other random days.

lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

The twoddlers LOVE animals.  Well, they love pictures of animals.  Or animals that are about 5 feet away from them.  Anything live (or even resembling live, like, stuffed animals) that gets near them and their hearts start racing, they start trembling and kicking, and whimpering.  Big, small, sweet, calm, doesn't matter.  I'm sure that all my friends who are loving parents to animals think it's all my fault because I selfishly don't want to clean up after a pet around the house.  So be it.  We do try to let the twoddlers get to know our neighbor's dog who is adorable, small, and sweet.  While they clutch onto us with one hand and both legs squeezing tightly, we have gotten them to pet (touch) little Farrah.  But, it is definitely a mixture of fear and excitement and curiosity and who knows what else all mixed into one. 

While completely understandable, it's also a little nutty to me.  I mean, they both make more animal sounds than speak words.  What does a dog say?  Woof, woof!  cat: meow, mouse: eeeeeeee, camel: pbbt, fish: pohp, pohp, rhinoceros: pubbt, rabbit: nff, nff, nfffff.  Seriously, they can make a rhinoceros snort sound and get excited about it.  Rafa's favorite book by far is the Winnie the Pooh animal encyclopedia.  I don't blame him, the pictures are fantastic.  I bet he could look at those pictures by himself for an hour if we let him.  But, yet, show him the real thing, and he would rather go running for the hills.

The twoddlers do love animals if kept at a safe distance and they get really excited about seeing the creatures that I think they can communicate with better with than their parents.  So, while on a recent trip to New Orleans, we took them to the aquarium and the zoo.                                                    

story time

Sylvia loves to read out loud. She sometimes reads to us. Other times she just opens a book and starts reading out loud to herself.

Rafa probably even loves books more than Sylvia. But he just takes it all in.