Amelia

Amelia is such an awesome walker/runner/skipper, she amazes me on a daily basis! Every afternoon she gets woken from her nap, runners and a hat thrown on her and told "come on!.... let's go"! She is such a brave trooper, she climbs like a mountain goat up the grass hill (always choosing the hardest way), helps me push the stroller up the steep part of the townhouse complex, mostly keeps pace with me walking up the fire road, and then, when we finally reach the top...... look out, the race is on!

Amelia holds her own with the race to each lamp post on our way to the school. She is so much fun to watch as she races ahead then slows down just enough and does a little hop! Some days she sings a little song as she hops down along the road. Some days she just races full speed ahead to the next post and can't wait until she hears me say "on your mark... get set.... GO!". Some days, once we have raced down the hill, she just wants to come and hold my hand. The past few weeks she has seemed extra fast, I think she just wants to get far enough ahead so she can get to the salmon berries before anyone else does! Her strength and coordination is amazing for a little girl of her age. I am often surprised at some of the things she is capable of doing. I love having Amelia as part of our day, she always brings lots of enthusiasm and wonder and joy into our day.

Layla

Layla has always had a great love for books ever since she was small. I recall many winter nights when it's already dark outside, they are the last two kids to be picked up and sitting with her on one side and Noah on the other side reading book after book until their mother finished work. They never seem to get tired of hearing stories. As Layla has grown older ( the ripe old age of 3) one of my favorite things she does still while at daycare is to sit in the story corner and read out loud to herself. I sat and listened to the story she was telling and these are her favorite story lines;

"oh my, oh my"

"then he said"

"no...I'm not"

"he's serious"

"doggie everywhere"

"my brother!"

"I'm a big girl now"

and my personal favorite

"goodness!"

I wonder if she will grow up to be a writer?

Jamie

Today when I brought out the laundry to hang it on the line, i put the basket down on the grass, took down the clips and set the bucket on the path beside me. Jamie was riding his trike by when he noticed the bucket full of clips. He got off his bike, grabbed a handful of the clips and head for the patio. He sat and squeezed clips onto all the fingers on the one hand and then tried for a few seconds to figure out how to put them onto his other hand when the one hand already was covered with clips.
When I asked him "what are you doing Jamie" he told me he was turning into a monster. I then asked him "doesn't that hurt" and he answered " no". I stood and watched while he tried unsuccessfully to ride the trike again with the one hand covered in laundry clips, then he tried to run over to his friend Phoenix who ran away from him and didn't want any part in the "monster" game. All this took only a few moments before Jamie came running over to me and asked for help to remove the clip saying "ya Donna, these do hurt".

I guess it's not as much fun to pinch your fingers without your friends Noah or Max who love to normally play the "laundry clip game".

Phoenix

After no one even looking twice at the hula hoops all winter and spring, I added two new ones and taadaaa ......... all of the sudden everyone wants to hula!
After I sat and watched then praised Amelia for learning the Hula hoops, Phoenix calmly walked over and said "yaa, I can hula better than that". He then picked up the hula hoop and unsuccessfully tried to do it. He kept on trying for at least 15 minutes before he finally got the hang of it. On each attempt he would say "Donna, watch me , I got it" By then, every one wanted in on the action and there was a line up for your turn with one of the hula hoops.

Emily

Emily is such a funny little girl. She can get dirty and wet while making a volcano in the sand box, and two seconds after stomping into the pile of mush her and Noah had made she stops and sadly states" oh no, I'm wrecking my nails".

Emily and Noah spent the better part of the morning outside time hanging out in the sandbox today. I tried to write down the story behind the play they were doing, but with Emily's non-stop chatter I couldn't keep up the the plans they had in store for the "volcano" and the "blowing up of the sandbox" . Their play started out as one thing but evolves over the non-stop chatter continually! It's very interesting to sit back and listen to, loads of imagination!

Indirah

Yesterday while playing in the sandbox with the kids I sat and watch how Indirah would stand back, observe the other children who were playing at the other end of the sandbox, before deciding what she wanted to do. She took a cup and spoon from the bucket and started filling it with water.

I

I asked her "what are you doing?" and she replied "tea....Hazel". she then took her overflowing cup and offered it to Hazel, who happily drank the whole thing. She repeated this several times until Hazel left the sandbox. But my favorite part of the whole interaction was each time after hazel drank her "tea", Indirah would always check the cup to see if Hazel had indeed finished all of her "tea". I love to see how as each week goes by the vocabulary from my friend Indirah grows clearer and longer.

Note: the series of photos is reversed.... not sure how to move them around.