A real sweetie

Just a month ago, Rachel was nigh unto driving me batty (admittedly, not the longest trip, but still...)--mood swings on a dime, tantra (?), and lots of yelling.  All age-appropriate, of course, but not fun.  Well, what a difference a month makes!  Our sweet Rachel is back (most of the time), and we're glad to have her!  She spends a lot of each day in pretend play--she plays with her dolls, imagines a sandbox in the living room, and lines up chairs for storytime (I am usually assigned to be the librarian, since Nathan isn't too good yet at leading the songs.).  She brings Nathan toys to play with and explains things to him.  (She also makes a lot of decisions for him, like what is his favorite color.  That has recently changed from pink to blue.  (Sigh of thanks.))  And she talks incessantly.  (I am told she comes by this quite honestly.  My mom said something about payback the other day...)  Some examples of funny things she's been saying over and over lately:

--"One, two, three, fir, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, firteen, sixteen, firteen, jump!"  (Followed by her best jump.  Still working on actually catching air.)

--"Nafan, I'm going to show you your options.  Which one do you like?"  (Pause.)  "Nafan, which one do you like?"  (Pause.)  "If you don't choose, I'm going to choose for you."  (Can't imagine where she heard that!)

--"We can't make a _______ [pie, cake, etc.] because we're out of _______ mix."  (The child is out to dissolve all my cooking cred.  Honest, we don't use pie mix--or almost any other kind of mix--at our house.  Not even sure what a pie mix would look like!  But it sounds cute.)

This the laugh-out-loud-with-ecxitement face she made when her new pink diaper cover arrived the other day.  It's the simple things, really.

And here is one of Nathan's many life lessons.  Note his intense focus.

...or does he?

We (and everyone else) keep saying that Nathan has inherited his father's gorgeous round noggin.  But today he tried on one of Daddy's baby hats!

To be fair, this hat almost fits David now, so it was likely big on him then, as well!

It's been a big week for Nathan.  He can sit, roll both ways, and grasp toys and bring them to his mouth.  And he's been sat on, rolled on, and grasped and bitten.  (Not naming any names here, of course.)  And for all that, he just adores his big sister and loves when she pays him attention.

Oh, for springing out loud!

We went to Texas to visit the grandparents at the beginning of March.  Two words for you: Eighty.  Degrees.  Oh, my, is it heady stuff, that warmth.  We had a delightful time.  Nathan got to discover what it feels like to have air touch his skin.  He decided that puking in Texas is just as fun as puking at home--note how his clothes are soaked!  

And he let us know, by his goofy grins and laughs-out-loud, that he loves turbulence!  I guess when your parents bounce you around to soothe you, choppy air isn't too scary.  

Rachel, too, enjoyed her time in the Lone Star State.  She got to dip her toes in the pool with Daddy.

 

Then she helped make and decorate a birthday cake for Grandpa (See where she wrote "Grandpa" in icing?),

 

We had a marvelous time.

And then we came home to winter again.  Fortunately, it took less than a day for the airline to reunite us with our coats.

Then this week, that old tease Mother Nature gave us just a taste of spring.  We jumped at the chance to be outdoors.

It's gotten cold again since, but the bulbs we planted last fall are poking their leaves above ground--soon it will be spring for real!  And let me tell you, we are excited.  We went to the park the other day and can't wait to make a regular practice of it.