Tea party with Joy

We had a wonderful day with Kiva yesterday....Ken took her with him to the pet store and talked donald duck talk to her on the way...then a tea party with Joy in the afternoon at Joy's house...all her good china and silver, candles, cookies, the works. Kiva was very shy at first, but warmed up quickly, especially when Joy started showing her treasures (sea shells, birds nests) and reading her Dr. Seuss books. I'm afraid the chocolate cookie really wound her up, and she was pretty wild by time Jim picked her up. I hope she was not too rambunctious that evening. [Joan]

NO WEEDING...you play with your friends!!!

Your princess was too funny again today. Lots and lots of elaborate imagination play...play acting, assigning identities, imaginary playmates, the whole works. We didn't go swimming today, just to the nursery for plants and then played barefoot in the dirt the rest of the day. Kiva is obsessed with Bambi right now. We had to watch the video (no scary parts), then played Bambi outside. She was the mommie dear and I was the baby Bambi. She had to inspect the meadow to make sure it was safe for me. Later on, I was weeding and she came over and said I was the child and had to go to school to play with my friends. She took me over to a corner of the yard and I had to sit down. She then went over to the weeding saying "I'm the mom, I'll do the work, you play with your friends". When I started weeding over where she had left me, I got yelled at from across the yard...."NO WEEDING...you play with your friends!!!" The dirt pile later became the house and we had the bedroom, the office, the kitchen etc. Making couches out of piles of dirt. We also planted stuff and Kiva has her garden where she planted carrots, peas and beans. Great day, lovely weather. [Joan]

outdoor nudie time

Jack loved his outdoor nudie time. He spent some time exploring his boy parts (can't get to them most of the time poor little guy), but mostly talked to me and Dancer and rattled his toys. He kept leaning over to pet the grass a little bit too. His balance is really good...he would start to tip over backward, and lunge forward to save himself. too funny. [Joan]

Cheerio Necklaces

Your girl was a joy again. When Kiva first got here we had mango pudding (juice, fruit and tapioca...no sugar). Then we made cheerio necklaces with red crochet thread and my big plastic knitting sewing needle. I'm happy to report that Kiva can now cut thread, thread the needle, string cheerios on the thread and count the cheerios to make sure we had the same on both necklaces. She's a genius as you know. We wore the necklaces to the snow and ate the cheerios while we were playing. Then she planted pansies out in my garden. [Joan]

Too old to work

Kiva was trying to figure out why you and Ken don't work... She was asking where we all lived and worked etc. When she asked where you and Grandpa worked, I said you had worked a long time and now you didn't have to work, it's called being retired. She replied, "oh...so they are too old to work!" I replied, in fact you weren't too old to work you were both very capable just planned well and now don't HAVE to work. She said, "oh, so they're lucky!" It was pretty cute. [Vanessa]

Sewing

Did Kiva tell you how she helped with the sewing? poked the needle in and pulled it through! She was so proud of herself. [Joan]

Sproinngnnnnng, sproooooigniinnnng

Jack's fine motor skills are really moving along. I put some broken up cheerios on his high chair tray (broken really small so they weren't a choking hazard, and I stayed right with him in any event). He was soooooo intent on picking them up, working his little hands and fingers. He managed to get some of them into his fist, but can't quite manage the finger pickup yet...but is trying so hard. Once he had the fragment in his hand, he brought it to his mouth and made eating motions with his mouth. No food got from fist to mouth of course, but the little genius has the right idea. I was feeding him his lunch in any event. Jack spent some time this morning in his jolly jumper, and was loving it. Sproinngnnnnng, sproooooigniinnnng away. Also loves to sit on the floor and torment Dancer. too funny the two of them. Sometimes Jack pulls her hair and she just crouches down until he lets go and then takes off. Of course she comes back on her own five minutes later, so it can't be that bad. I also swear he said DADA today. In closing, we had a wonderful time, and I can really see you in him these days. Yes he looks like Dad, but that is partly the man thing, and I can definitely see your face in his.

p.s. I forgot to tell you this one.... in the afternoon around 1:30 he was having his bottle in our favorite rocking chair. Swilled it down contentedly, with eyes falling shut. But when he was done, he started squirming around and getting ready to cry, like he didn't want to fall asleep just yet. Started a loud howl, and fell asleep right in the middle of it! I laughed all afternoon about that one.
[Joan]

Email from Kiva

Dear mommie,
i'm playing with Dancer. I love Dancer. I'm a beast. Have a good day.
Love,
Kiva

Don't ask me, I'm just the secretary.
Love,
Joan

Fat little fingers

Jack's fine motor skills are really picking up too. He is paying attention to little details like small buttons on my shirt, and trying to touch them individually. Very cute with those fat little fingers. Jack is now calling Dancer over to him when he sees her. She comes right over, stands on her back feet and lets him pull her hair and touch her face, while she licks his fingers. [Joan]

An amazing conversationalist

Jack and I have spent a lot of time today "talking". he is an amazing conversationalist, and always waits until I am finished before he responds. Very attentive, gazes intently into my eyes while I am talking. It's clear he thinks I have extraordinary things to tell him. ;-) Jack makes a huge variety of sounds, and talks directly too me. I wish I could understand exactly what he was trying to say.
I saw some of the temper today. I had to put him down in his crib to take the phone to Ken, just for 2 minutes but he didn't know that, wow! he was howling. then in the afternoon, I gave him the rest of the peas and brown rice. He hadn't been to keen on it in the morning, but did eat half the jar. In the afternoon he took one bite and was off his head with rage. Tears, red face. I hastily heated the carrots and he inhaled them as fast as he could. Was in a great mood as soon as I started spooning in the carrots. No other symptoms of temper tantrums, so I'm not worried that our little mellow man has turned into the raging monster. But what a shock to see the sweetheart have a howling fit. He loved his bath again today, was deliberately splashing in the water with his hands and feet. Also sitting up very well. Also, we were up in my room playing and talking on my bed when Jim got here. I was making bee buzz sounds with my big stuffed bee and he was laughing really hard. As soon as the front door opened, he looked toward the bedroom door and didn't look back at me until after Jim came up the stairs and into the bedroom. I swear he knew his daddy had arrived, way before he saw him. Ken had come in the front door maybe 15 minutes earlier and Jack didn't pay any attention to it at all. The kid is another genius.