Hill Billy Will

What do you think? With just one big chomper on top, doesn't he look cute? I just had to get some pictures of that sweet goofy little smile before his next tooth came in. :)

Fear: swings and slides

After a wonderful trip to Missouri to see family, I got on the computer to upload pictures only to realize that I didn't take a single one with my camera. Oops!

Pictures of Rosalind traipsing around with her Aunt Kathryn or dolled up with her three cousins will have to be left to the imagination.

Newlywed friends hosted us for a delightful lunch on Friday and then we headed back home.

Chick-Fil-A presented itself at the perfect time. We ordered chicken fingers, ate them and an hour and a half later pulled out of the parking lot exhausted. What took so long?

The play place of course.

Fear is a funny thing. It's so random. We tremble at safe things and are brave in the face of actual danger.

I brought Rosalind into the play area. An hour later she came down the slide. The first time. Each step towards the slide brought her closer to the big scary slide. Joshua stood and coached her. At one point, the other kids (all boys) crowded around her. They tried to "rescue" this poor little girl in distress and convince her to be brave. "Look. Watch me. It's not scary." It didn't work.

At long last, Joshua climbed through the kid's hoops and helped her down.

She may be terrified of slides, but get her on a swing and she begs to go higher and higher and higher.

William loves the swing too...especially if big sis is pushing him!

Memory and memories

Playing your first real, bona fide, "I can beat Mommy" game is quite a milestone. Rosalind just reached it. For the last couple weeks, Memory has formed a vital part of our daily routine.

And it's been so fun! Learning the rules took practice, but she's hooked now. Generally, she excels the first round (and does sometimes actually beat me "when I'm playing my hardest") As her attention span wanes with the second round, I win handily. Then we stop. A two year old can only handle so much.

I'm envisioning hours of family fun around a Scrabble board or playing Settlers of Cataan. Someday. For now, I'm loving Memory!

William is cutting his second tooth, but is such a chilled out trooper. At least most of the time. He mastered the art of squeaking yesterday, and regaled me with his happy noise from midnight to one last night. Accompanied by fingers scratching the sheets. (For those unaccustomed to this latter sound, it's frightfully near running your nails across a chalkboard.)

I cut his fingernails tonight.

They grow up way to fast! Enjoy each moment--even the squeaky ones!