Natalie and Abigail: I am amazed...

It's been a long time since I've blogged. Too long - not necessarily because of all those waiting eagerly for updates (all 4 of you?), but because I feel like I am letting so much be forgotten and I can never those little moments back.

Natalie and Abby are my absolute joy. I never cease to be amazed every day at the adorable things they do, how smart they are, how funny they are and well, how amazing they are. I could be biased about that though:-)

Who needs toys when you have a really big box?

Pretending to be cats curled up in the box

I think what mesmerizes me most about Natalie and Abby is their incredible curiosity about everything. They love to learn about everything around them. Natalie and Abby love books and we read on a variety of subjects: dinosaurs (a current favorite), cats, dolphins, whales, sharks, Bible stories, fiction stories, princess stories, Highlights magazine, the human body, illnesses, castles...everything. Obviously, animals of any kind are a favorite subject - especially babies and mommies.

Wait! We need toys!

I am also always amazed by how much Natalie and Abby absorb from the world around them from books, tv, and their environment. One day, Abby excitedly informed me, "we are investigating the dark". I think this is the influence of Dino Dan on Nick Jr. Dan is a young boy who sees dinosaurs and spends his days "investigating" and learning about them. Dan is also the source of their current dinosaur obsession, and along with supplemental books and a little teaching from mommy and daddy, has also influenced their vocabulary with words like carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, as well as a number of dinosaurs I can barely pronounce.

From Sesame Street they have learned about experiments thanks to the Three Little Pigs and their attempts to determine the best building materials to thwart the Big Bad Wolf. Last week I was cleaning the garage and I had a fan on. When they noticed a plastic bag blowing around they gathered up a few items to test (like the Little Pigs) to see what would stand up against the fan. (Plastic bags = no. Pieces of wood = yes)

Possibly riding on a boat to escape the sharks

In another example, a few days ago Abby can running excitedly to get me to come see an experiment she had set up. She kept saying, "the paper doesn't move, the paper doesn't move". She had made a little track on 8x10 pieces of paper overlapping to run her little cars over. She was so excited that she could run the cars over the paper without it moving. She kept saying, "I thought the paper would move, I thought it would move!". I asked her if her hypothesis was that the paper would move. She said yes, and then she said, "my hypothesis was wrong!" I was so proud.

Roasting marshmellows (packing peanuts)

In addition to curiosity about everything, the depths of their imaginations knows no end. They can turn anything into a toy, game or moment of extreme excitement, ie: hurry, Abby, there's a shark coming! They love to re-create moments of their own life (camping) or things they've seen on tv. They also re-enact books like The Good Samaritan or Bambi. They are still very much into their "babies" both doll-like and stuffed animal. Dolly the Horse (a 4 foot tall Christmas present from Grammy last year) is

still a huge hit (who knew?) Dolly and her friends, Strawberry and Blueberry are well fed and cared for. Dolly, though, does have a propensity for attracting predators and has suffered a number of injuries from hyenas and other pesky creatures which requires intensive medical veterinarian care.

With Natalie, I am always amazed at how sweet and thoughtful she is. She is so sensitive, especially to Abby. When Abby was a little sick last week, Natalie disappeared into the playroom and returned with a little flower she had made for Abby. She gave it to her to help her feel better. It was precious. She is always aware of Abby, and if she can't find her, she will ask, "where's Abby?" Early one morning, after she had climbed into our bed during the night, she woke up, and wanted to know where Abby was. We told her Abby was in her bed, in their room. She wanted to go back to her bed to be near Abby.

Natalie headed out on a little trip:-)

Natalie also loves her tricycle and rides it around the house relentlessly. She started out only riding it back in forth in the hall on the hard floor. Now, she can ride it all the way around the house in a circle across the carpet. Abby, who until recently refused to ride the bike, also rides it around "the circle". But, it's not simple bike riding. Natalie will often dress up as a princess with her crown, put a baby (or two) in the bike basket and away she'll go! She gets so, so excited and loves it so much. Just today she said, "when I ride by bike so fast it feels like I'm flying!"

Outdoor Fun