Madison Set the Table

Madison is only 2 and a half but some days you'd never know it.

Tonight before dinner she set the table. The non-breakable plates were recently moved to the pantry so the kids could reach them. Maddy went to the pantry and one at a time brought out a plate announcing who the plate was for. "This is plate is for papa" she would say.

She then picked out the forks for Emily and herself while Sondra handed her our forks (don't want her grabbing a knife). She put the forks by the plates and was beaming with pride the entire time. :)

War

I taught Emily the card game War yesterday. I took out the aces and face cards so we had 36 cards in play. After going through our decks one time we counted our cards to see who was the winner.

Emily 31
Papa 5

You can't make this stuff up. She is already a card shark, ready to knock me off of my game playing throne. :-)

Papa is so proud!

Step Stool

Maddy, obsessed as ever with pink, received a pink step stool the other day for the bathroom.

She carries the stool with her all over the house and it is hilarious to see her place it in front of the TV and pretend to do step aerobics with it. She even counts as she steps. 1-2-3-JUMP!.

She is 2 and a half.

Tonight Emily Tried Her Food At Diner

This is a miracle here people. The kind of stuff you only hear about.

If you don't already know, diner at our house has gone something like - Sondra puts food on plate, Emily refuses to touch her plate. We have tried everything to get her to eat but she simply will not. She would rather go hungry than eat a meal that doesn't include PB&J or a cheese quesadilla.

Tonight we had Lasagna at Nana's and out of the blue she tried it. And guess what? She likes it. She ate all of her lasagna and wanted more. We are thrilled!!! It's 3 hours later and I think Sondra and I are still smiling. What's next, baked chicken? Spaghetti? The possibilities are endless. :-0

The Great Momnents of My Life

Everytime I dance with my girls I am living one of the great moments of my life. How wonderful to be living a great moment and be aware at the time that I am living it.

Today I bounced around with Maddy to the Beatles "Balad of John and Yoko." Her smile, her giggle and her hug when we were done, forever a memory.

One of my favorites is the time I held a 2.5 year old Emily tight and danced a slow father-daughter dance to "Sailing." I must confess I think of their wedding days at times like these.

Emily and Swimming

Emily's fear of the water has faded and returned over the years. Just when we think it's gone, it returns stronger. One summer she was jumping off the step to mom, the next she was glued again to the step.

Then this happened...

She went with mom to Cary's and wore "floaties." Even still, she glued herself to the step. Or so she thought...

At some point she realized that she had floated away. :)

Seeing that she did not sink, she was no longer afraid. Well at least not afraid to float. Sondra and I are hoping it's a step to swimming and not an addiction. We'll be patient. :)

Madison Swimming

Maddy sounds very intelligent when she speaks.

Me - "Maddy do you want to come in the pool?"
Maddy - "No, it's Ok, I'm standing on the step." (pause - looks at me) "I'm Ok."

As if to say you can go away. :)

Last weekend we were swimming and I did drag her off of that step. As Emily was before her, she is terribly afraid of the water. I carried her around the pool. I held her belly as if she was "flying" in the pool and she practiced kicking.

Then I looked at her and said,"Do you want to go under water?" She said yes but must not have had any idea what I was talking about because when we came up her eyes about popped out of her head. Crying ensued but she settled and we continued about the pool all the while she was insisting we return to the step.

Later Cary took her out amid screams for PAPA! Cary transfered her to be with a push just enough to make her do a half stroke to reach me which she did with ease. Kids are natural swimmers. They just need to get over the fear.