Our friend Ella was over to play this morning, and the kids decided to make a fort.
Ella arranged the kitchen, while Milo coped with the walls and roofing.
Upon completion of construction, Ella stood up to survey the new digs. “This doesn’t look good,” she announced, pointing to the blanket drapings. “None of the colors match. You need to take them down.”
“Arg!” said Milo. “Ok!” And he stomped around, removing the offending blankets.

“I do it!” she insists, about EVERYTHING, ALL day long.
Independence is good, I remind myself as I take a breath. It’s no doubt harder to have a hesitant child who you’re trying to coax towards initiative than a capable child who insists on spending the tedious time to put her OWN shoes on before we can depart the house. But it the charm does wear thin.

“I do it,” she insists, as she skidders on the pebbles down the steep grade. After a couple wipe-outs she acquiesced to holding Milo’s hand.

We’ve entered the Era of Resistance with Naomi too.
“You need to wear a bib.” “No!”
“You need to sit in your own seat at the table.”
“No!”
“You need to take a nap.”
“No!”
The nap won in the end. She can climb out of her crib but she can’t reach the high door handles in her room.

Grandparents still love you after you’ve bitched and moaned the whole walk up the hill.  Yep, that’s a genuine gripe on Milo’s face.

Grandparents don’t get bored with hours and puddle play at the Moeraki boulders.

Grandparents insist on civility in binocular turn-taking.

Grandparents like jumping on the trampoline as much as their grandkids.

Grandparents don’t get tired of hide and seek at Castle Hill.

Grandparents don’t mind being silly.

Grandparents chase waves in and out and in and out and in and out and…you get the picture

Grandparents wrap you up when you’re cold and tired.

Grandparents tuck you into bed for nap time, and then take a nap themselves.

Grandparents play tag on the beach.

Grandparents share the little moments of the day, and still love you when you wreck the puzzle in a temper.

Grandparents admire your self-applied make up.

Grandparents let you hide duckies down their shirts!

Grandparents laugh as they smell thyme-scented gourmet bunny poop.

Grandparents pick you up out of the mud while mommy’s busy taking photos.

Grandparents share their love of music with you.

And Grandparents share their breakfast chairs too.

Grandparents know how to look up answers to your questions on wikipedia.

Grandparents make mundane tasks like pooping and bathing fun.

And these grandparents just traveled a LONG way to share all these little life moments with their grandkids.

I’ve got a high-energy version, not surprisingly.

Miss Naomi has zip of her own, of course, but she also imitates her big brother in all sorts of stances. Why stay in the tent if it’s raining? And if we’re already wet, why not shoot the water guns at the dry folks who are sheltering in the tent? Yeah, that would be fun, let’s do it!

I’m pretty sure I was a high-energy kid too. I remember during family vacations at Sunnymead, my grandparents’ Lake George house, I would wear out one relative after another. “Come on, Uncle Tom, let’s go up Mt Cook and pick blueberries.” “Come on, Uncle Ted, let’s go for a run.” “Come on, Nathan, let’s go rollerblading.” “Come on, Uncle Stewart, let’s swim to the buoy and back.” Now with my own kids I’m carrying on another family tradition, this one a quieter one. “Come on, Milo, let’s read The Hobbit.”  Thankfully, he’s happy to oblige.  

This is where we were about a month ago, and where we’ve been until TODAY. Today, for the very first time, the poop is NOT on the floor or in the undies. It’s in the potty. I was vociferously thrilled. Naomi just looked puzzled, but she was happy about the THREE M&M’s she got as a reward.

Milo had the technique down–a little bit of jiggle, a lift and a blow.

The weather recently moved from wintery chill to summery heat, and we celebrated with an after-school ice cream on the patio.

There’s a picture of me at this same age inside a cupboard in the house in Virginia. Except, as Mom pointed out, I had emptied the cupboard of its contents before taking up residence.

Riding the bike naked, of course. That DOES sound like fun.

Miss Princess, watch out for the Imp!

Just a little morning grump, a reminder that they aren’t always smiling.

“Weddy, Set, GOW!” Naomi is swinging the play person on on the swing, and she is embracing language with both arms. She is so different from Milo. She will sit and play an imaginary game of something quietly and independently for a wee while. It’s amazing.

It’s such a novelty to me, this independent play thing. I took a picture of Naomi interacting with a toy that I had completely put away from Milo because he didn’t actually build with it, he just threw the pieces around the living room.  Milo needs another person to interact with at all times.  

“Pea-dut-bud-der!” That’s got to be the longest word she’s come out with yet, but she still ate the chocolate-smothered end of the banana first.

Naomi and I sat down by the edge of the lake, commenting on the messiness of the cow pies and the length of the black swan necks, sharing an apple back and forth. We can have real conversations now, particularly if they focus on body parts and colors and poo.

Naomi explored this pile of tires at playcentre first, then Milo decided it was a nice fit for two.

There’s my beautiful baby!  We’re at Hagley park, in the alpine garden.

I forget what we were doing this day, but it sure wore her out. She was actually asking to go to bed.  It doesn’t happen very often.  

Milo is DETERMINED. This massive box of diapers was delivered to our front door a couple weeks ago, when I was sick and decidedly low energy. “I’ll just leave it there for daddy to deal with,” I told Milo, and plopped down on the grass to rest. He had other plans. He pushed the box down a flight of concrete stairs and then rolled it end-over-end back up the driveway. Take a look at that set jaw.

Naomi is DELIGHTED. She sure thought this playground merry-go-round was fun! I kept waiting for her to turn green, but she must have a stronger stomach than I. Even Milo decided to be the driver after a while, but Naomi just kept spinning.