What IS Normal, Really?

I love that our kids look at things differently, that they're creative and think outside the box. We allow them to learn by making mistakes, and they've been learning so much this week!
Sara is learning how to feed herself with a spoon and fork. I'm not sure if I encourage it because she needs to learn how eventually, or if it's just so cool that I don't have to feed her all the time. Either way, we let her get messy in the process. That's how she'll learn, right?
So I let her feed herself a container of yogurt this week. She was doing so great that I stepped away for no more than a minute (I swear!), and when I came back she'd found a new utensil to practice with. Yes people, that is her toothbrush. Maybe she's just multi-tasking?

Liam loves playing with those little suction toys that pop up loudly from wherever you attach them. He should have paid more attention to his older cousin and learned that they can leave a teensy, totally unnoticeable mark if they're left on your face. Nope, it's hardly visible at all, buddy. I'm sure no one will notice. Now sit still so Daddy can take a picture of those totally unnoticeable spots on your face so we can harass Alison all over again...

Salt Water & Strawberries

Liam's last day of kindergarten was yesterday, so we decided we'd celebrate today by going to Birch Bay for a couple hours. The kids waded in the water, discovering shells, hermit crabs, and how wet one can get when they squat down to see these critters. We went to a drive-in fast food place for lunch - Liam couldn't believe they brought us our food on roller skates! Then we wrapped it up with fresh strawberry shortcake and time in the playground at Boxx Berry Farm. Hello summertime!

But Where's Your Nose?

Sara's learning her body parts. Listen and see if you can tell which one is her favorite.

One of These Things is Not Like the Other...

When Sara was born, I thought I knew exactly what to expect. I knew how Liam was and how he behaved, and assumed Sara would be somewhat similar.

They do both have most of the same body parts, but the similarities just about end there. Liam is my blue-eyed, light haired rational child who was always right at my side. Sara is my brown-eyed, brown-haired independent go-go-go child. But she does it all with this incredible smile and laugh that just take you in.

We moved into our current home when Liam was about two years old. I wasn't worried that there were no doors on any of our cupboards, because I knew Liam would never get into anything without checking with me first.

Sara empties out these same cupboards on a daily basis, even though they do now have cupboard doors.

On the rare occasion that we had to tell Liam "no" to anything, we knew he'd never try it again.


We tell Sara "no" and apparently that means just run in the opposite direction and keep doing what you're doing until Mom catches you and takes it away.

When Liam had a sippy cup as a toddler, he would return it to a table when he was done with it. Sara drops it in mid-sip and keeps walking.


Our phone rang yesterday afternoon, and Liam and I scrambled to find it before voicemail picked up. We tracked the sounds to the kitchen, and lo and behold, our garbage can was ringing. Just below the green bean too-old leftovers I'd just tossed out. Want to guess how it got there?


Can't wait for the teenage years!