Egg coloring

It was a good thing that the weather was nice today. It meant that we were able to color easter eggs outside. If we had done it inside, I fear that our kitchen floor would have been permanently colored pink, blue, green and murky brown.

Teo, the four-year-old who lives on the other side of our dorm, came over to join in the fun. Mabel and Stella loved dunking the eggs into the cups. Stella liked to pull them out right away and put a new egg into the cup. Mabel didn't bother pulling the eggs out, she just kept plunking new eggs on top of the ones already in there. She managed to get four eggs into a single cup and then moved on to filling up another. After all the white eggs were colored, they re-dipped the colored eggs, making some really nice colors and patterns. By the time we were finished, their hands were just as colorful as the eggs. They loved it.

the Easter bunny is a little scary

The Easter bunny made an appearance at our local CVS. We went to go see him. I tried to warn the girls that it was a big bunny that we were going to see. They were very happy about getting to do it. I wonder just what they were picturing in their heads when we were talking about seeing a really big easter bunny. Whatever it was they were picturing was nothing like what they actually saw. Mabel was a little startled when we walked in the door of the CVS and saw a giant white bunny with creepy eyes and a purple vest sitting all alone on a wicker chair. My plan was for them to sit on the bunny's lap, Santa-style, and have their picture taken. Their plan was to stand about fifteen feet away from the bunny and stare at it. I can hardly blame them. The bunny creeped me out a little too. There was something wrong with it's eyes. They were dark openings that did little to disguise the human eyes peeking out from within the bunny's head. And he didn't move much. He sat straight ahead with his head very still and his hands perched on the arm rests. Every now and then a hand would raise up and wave back and forth. I think it was trying to say hello. It was clearly a very nervous bunny. He made everyone around him nervous.

The girls and I managed a compromise, they sat on my lap while we got our picture taken next to the bunny and they didn't have to look at him or pet him.

A Sandbox is Born

We brought home 650 pounds of play sand from the local garden center. It's very nice sand, soft and clean. Mabel and Stella helped push over the bags of sand into our sand box under the slide. After it was filled, they were both a little hesitant to climb right in. They didn't like getting dirty. Mabel said "fa-fa di-di" and sat with her feet up in their air. This translates to "flip-flop dirty". And she didn't like it... at first. After we played in it for a while they both began to accept it. I really like our sand box. I think I'm going to have just as much fun playing in it as the girls will.

Ouch!

Stella and Mabel have this fun little habit of lifting their legs and hanging when we try to hold hands and walk together. They do it the most when we are actually trying to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. Stella did this again when she and Mabel and Daddy were walking back in from exploring the golf course. This time, it caused her elbow to dislocate. She didn't cry at first but did after getting picked up to come into the house. She stopped using her left arm and just let it hang at her side. She would cry if we tried to bend her elbow. After about a half an hour of not using it and still crying I took her to the emergency room.

They call this elbow dislocation "Nursemaid's elbow". I guess because nursemaids were always dragging about their uncooperative tots. The doctor popped her elbow back in place and she screamed for a while afterward. We came home and she still wasn't using her arm. So the next morning we went back into the ER to have it checked again. The doctor tried doing the pop-it-back-in maneuver a couple of more times and then wrapped it up in a splint and sent us home with a number to call if it didn't improve. After being home for about an hour she demanded that I take the splint off and she gradually started using her arm again.

It's still tender, but it's much much better. Now, if only she would stop dangling when we hold her hand. I have to make sure that I only hold her right hand and that I let her drop when she buckles her legs.

a new song

Stella seems to really like singing. She's got quite a little repertoire of songs that she has created. The latest is her variation on Happy Birthday. Today she was singing "happy to you, happy to you, happy to you" and bouncing her little head as she sang. Mabel started singing along with her.

We've had many opportunities to sing happy birthday in the past few months, the latest was for Justin's birthday two weeks ago. We called him, which woke him up, and Mabel, Stella and Zach and I sang to him. It was the first time Justin has been away on his birthday.

Hey Stella

The novelty of jumping out seems to be wearing off a bit. For the last three nights they have gone to sleep nicely.

A couple of nights ago I woke up at 2am to Mabel climbing out of her bed. As I was heading up to her room, I heard her say "Hey Stella" (hey ta-ta). So I moved more quickly trying to prevent her from waking Stella too. When I opened the door I expected to see both of them awake and ready to play. But that's not what happened. Mabel had climbed into Stella's crib, snuggled up next to her and fallen asleep. Both of them on their tummies with their legs tucked under, like frogs. I wanted to take a picture. They looked so sweet snuggled together. I covered them with a blanket and they slept the rest of the night together.

Crickets

The last five nights have been exhausting. Trying to keep the girls in their beds has been like trying to keep crickets in a box with no lid. One hops out and then when I'm trying to put that one back in, the other one hops out right behind me. These particular little crickets of mine think it's really funny. They laugh and laugh while they hop around and out of their beds. Tonight was a welcome relief from crib hopping. Maybe they were just really tired, or maybe the fun of hopping out is starting to dwindle. Stella tried only once to get out. Mabel didn't try at all.

I love my little crickets.