Camp Papa & Grandma

AJ is at a pirate-themed day camp this week in Chicago and is staying with his Papa and Grandma Francie.  When we were talking about his upcoming departure, I asked him if he was excited to go and he whispered "Am I going to be coming back here when camp is done?"  Once we cleared up that this was not a permanent move and of course he was coming home again, he started to get very excited about going and told everyone who would listen about his trip to see Papa and Grandma.  We get nightly reports via Skype, and so far I am pretty sure that boy has had more fun in three days than he typically does in a month at home.  They are sitting all his favorite museums and our old library and pool, as well as trying a magic show, children's theater and the movies.  I have such good memories of my visits with my grandparents when I was little, so I am so happy that he is making his own good memories of these visits.

Need One of These

I need one of these in my kitchen to keep the boys busy while I make dinner.

Miss Mimi

Julia has been going through a personality growth spurt and I want to be sure to catch it here before I forget.  She is unofficially into her terrible twos now.  She says no to everything to express her independence--"No! No shirt!" when she isn't ready to get dressed in the morning and "No! No want!" whenever anyone attemps to put anything resembling a fruit on her tray.  This one will eat lots of green vegetables but does not like fruit.  Sadly, the girl who has loved to sleep and loves her crib has also started to struggle at bedtime wailing "no! no night night! no kib!" (crib). 

She is enthusiastic about the things she wants to do, and perhaps predictably for a third born, she does not want to be left out of anything her older brothers are up to.  When I ask the boys who wants peas for dinner, she rushes to quickly shout "me! me!" while waving two hands in the air as if to say "don't forget me, mom!"  This has lead to the name Miss Mimi for her around our house.  I hope it sticks.

Julia also picks up on a lot, and at times too much, from her brothers. She loves to stand in her chair, looking at us and laughing when she does it, daring someone to get to her before she can scoot back down and laugh. Davey has a habit lately of saying "look at me!" while he shows off his latest frog jumps or spins in a cricle, and Julia has been overheard in the past days saying "lookit me! lookit me!" as she dances around the kitchen.  Today it was "lookit me!" as she jumped in the pool.

Love for Sissy

In one of those 30% of the time moments of Davey showing his sister love and affection, I was able to capture this on film.