Plenty of Beach and No Ocean

Our local sand park is always a fun treat. The kids had fun playing the plethora of castle tools strewn about the sand, digging holes, and playing with the other kids. Aria especially was having fun with another older girl; although, I'm not sure the feelings were reciprocated. Aria kept climbing in to "her" sand hole.

Xander was more sophisticated in his exploration and he searched for treasure and bones. I was very proud that he was NOT like one little boy who ran around stomping on other people's castles. I thought it was hilarious to watch that boy smash our hill, but totally relieved he was not my kid. Xander was respectful of other people's things and space, and didn't get upset when other kids used the tools we brought.

How our garden grows

Our garden is growing. We've got our first baby tomato! The plant has a lot of other little buds on it so I wonder what kind of crop we will get. The variety we planted is yellow colored. How about some yellow marinara?

This is our scare owl. His job is to guard the strawberries from birds. We've had two strawberries thus far but there are quite a few flowers on both plants.

This pot contains my special treat, French breakfast radishes. I had read about these in some online article and found them at our local gourmet store. They are the best radishes very. I bought the seeds from an Illinois seed company on Amazon.com. I think I made a mistake by planting these all at once. What am I going to do with this many radishes?

Happy Earth Day

As we played with the slip 'n' slide today, Xander took cups of water and gave one of our oak trees a drink. He told me "I'm being nice to the tree."

If that wasn't cute enough, here's a picture of Aria wearing her very first swimming suit.

Understanding

Aria still doesn't have many very good words, but she understands SO much and communicates SO much better non-verbally. For instance, she knows what different rooms of the house are called. We can say things like, let's go to the kitchen and she'll start walking into the kitchen. Totally practical skill! She often will "show" us what she wants by getting us to follow her and then pointing. She nods her heads and shakes her head appropriately. I often wonder if I am better at reading toddler non-verbal or if she is just better at it than Xander was. I'm almost certain that Xander didn't get the head non/shake thing until he was like 2. Then again, he could verbalize no and yes very early. In any case, I really do believe these two have totally different language development.

Big Bro

Xander can be such a great big brother at times. Some of his recent big bro moments: 1) Aria woke before us, but the monitor was out so we didn't hear her. Xander heard her crying and entertained her while she was in her crib. Entertaining her involved taking literally EVERYTHING off her shelves and putting it into the crib. I arrived to find Aria standing a huge pile of books and toys giggling. 2) Aria is starting to not like drop off at school so much (separation anxiety). Xander likes to pick out a toy usually to distract her. One day, after he had given Aria a toy another child took the toy from Aria. Xander marched over and got the toy back for her. 3) He's really good at entertaining Aria in the back of the car. Probably her favorite game is for Xander to make some crazy noise and then Aria tries to repeat it. 4) He's mostly tolerant when she does annoying things like try to brush his hair or poke him. Considering is general lack of patience for everyone else, it's pretty impressive.

Slowly but surely

Aria is sprouting some hair. A couple of times, she has come home from school with these pony tails that her teacher puts into her hair. I don't know where she finds these little bitty rubber bands.

Daaanda

It's pretty subtle, but Aria now has her special way of saying Xander's name "Daaanda". If you are not really tuned in, it almost sounds like "Dada". She looks up to her big brother and if he is doing something, she wants to do it, too. Now that her language skills are getting better, I'm encouraging Xander to start to use his words with her more. He doesn't always remember but when he does, he tries SO hard. So, instead of just grabbing a toy, he's started to ask for it first....treating her like a real person. It's so wonderful to see a more meaningful relationship starting to form.

Happy Easter

The Easter bunny paid a visit to our home last night and left a few eggs and treats for the kids. We're really been building up the Easter Bunny with Xander this year. "The Easter Bunny only comes to kids who have clean rooms so we better clean your room". "The Easter Bunny only comes to kids who are sleeping. Do you want to take a nap to see if he will come early?"

So, it was no surprise that Xander was super excited when he woke up and spotted the first egg. The Easter Bunny must be some kind of math nerd because he also left out Giant Foam Polyhedral Dice for the kids to find. Inside the eggs were yogurt bites and a pacifier for Aria, Peeps and a Cadbury egg for Xander.

The Easter Bunny left two baskets out on the back patio, which Peanut (our dog) diligently guarded all night. Aria's basket had socks, a stuffed Minnie Mouse, "Horton Hears a Who" shirt, Hello Kitty Shirt, and more yogurt bites. Xander's had socks, pencils and a sharpener, a water bottle, a glowing Super Mario shirt, and a Finneas and Ferb shirt. There was also an R2D2 version of the board game "Trouble" and a white chocolate bunny to share.

After our little parade around the neighborhood in the wagon to show off the new shirts from the Easter Bunny, we headed out for a special lunch at the famous Salt Lick restaurant in Austin. There was a very long wait, but the kids had a blast playing in the dirt and trees, and listening to the music (live, of course!)

When we got home, we had water play outside with sprinklers and the wading pool. Then, we had a blast playing with Xander's castle and tunnels, sang songs, and danced. Aria is getting so fast with her walking that she was almost able to keep up with her brother. I was barely able to keep up with them both though. By the end of the day, I was ready for a nap with no such luck to have one. I think the Easter Bunny must have forgotten my day at the spa. Darn you, Easter Bunny!.

Dinosaur Train

Where did my fearless little boy go? Xander had been a fearless little playground kids for the longest time, but lately, he says he is too scared to go on the big slides or certain ladders. He does perfectly fine on playgrounds that are suited for his age, but he used to even be fearless on the big kid equipment, too. Oh well, a little more time spent with his sister on the little kid equipment is probably good for them both.

Moo, Baa, La, La, La

Aria is just a wee bit obsessed with Sondra Boynton's _Moo Baa La La La_. She will ask for other books, see that the first page is not a cow saying "moo", and immediately close the book with disappointment. The only book that she will sit all the way through is _Moo Baa La La La_. Moreover, she seems to be able to read it repeatedly without getting bored. Sometimes, she tries to make some of the animal sounds (baa and la being the most successful). Gee, I hope we can find something else she will like soon.