Kids Songs, Pretend Play, Laughing Spots, etc.

Anja is getting so big and fun. The other day in the car we started singing "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" and I did the singing part, but she did the "woof! woof!" parts. She is very good at it. After a few times of doing "woof woof" she got kind of excited and carried away and just started "woof"ing through the whole rest of the song... but that's okay. It still sounded good.

She's learning lots of animal sounds. Not many of them actually sound like what the animal says... and many of them sound very similar to each other, but I can detect the subtle differences. Anyway, she knows what a duck says (sort of) and I've put her little wooden rolly ducks on the bottom shelf of the new kitchen cupboard with her books and crayons. Yesterday she flung open the doors, grabbed the rolly ducks and started quacking like a madman. It was really weird... and hilarious.

She carries her dolls around with her everywhere. She has Cook Baby and Baby Doll, and for the most part Cook Baby wins out, but many times she'll carry them both around, or give Baby Doll to me to carry around while she takes care of Cook Baby. (She must think I don't have enough babies to care for.) Sometimes I am very proud of her and the way she cares for her dolls. She is very loving; she nurses them, puts them to sleep in their cradle, feeds them Cheerios.... but sometimes I wonder where I went wrong in my example. For instance, today, when she came to me proudly, wanting to show me what she'd done, and led me by the hand to the kitchen cabinet. She opened it, and there was Cook Baby, stuffed into the cabinet with all the pots and pans. She thought it was great! I don't know why. I promise, I've never put any of my babies away in the kitchen cabinet, no matter HOW foggy sleep deprivation has made me.

The other funny thing about both our girls is what Martin calls their "laughing spots." Anja's is under her chin. Gracie has found it and thinks it's a pretty great thing. Greta's is right in the middle of her belly. Greta is especially ticklish if you use your face for tickling instead of your fingers.

Greta is not crawling yet, but she is still standing on that "any day" mark. And she's beginning to make forward progresss instead of just backward. Nowhere near sitting up, last I checked.

And that is the update on our girlies.