Full Nest Syndrome

The New Yorker's Facebook page posted this picture the other day, and I felt an immediate connection:

Because of the babies' fixation with Caillou (it's one of Caroline's favorite words to say, along with "Wheee!" and "ewwww" - she really likes the pursed lips/crinkled nose "ewww" look), wegot them a Caillou doll.  Caroline, being the girl, instantly grabbed it, kissed it, and started playing.

Then she did her best Goya impression and tried to bite poor Caillou's head off!

Another favorite toy is the Elmo doll, which Caroline can call by name (Emmo!)  and they've also discovered the joys of echo by playing with a photo mailer tube.

"Hello....hello....hello"

I've been experimenting with "big kid" lunches - the same food we normally feed them in "courses", just split up into different areas of their trays.

Though they all enjoy holding their spoons, the preference is definitely still to eat with their fingers.

 Including the apple sauce!

Daniel did try grabbing some grapes on his spoon!

They are definitely all still fruit-a-vores, though interestingly, Caroline and Daniel will devour whole blackberries in a bite while Max maintains his opposition to any color-named berry (black or blue...he was ok with "rasp").  On the other hand, Max was a fiend for cucumbers the other day and was more than happy to gobble up the ones that lay untouched on his siblings' plates.

Caroline insists on baths every other day (and would prefer them daily or twice daily, if she were allowed).  We listen to the radio during bath time and Daniel got a kick out of hearing Daddy do the sports cast last week!

We've had a run of warm weather (maybe that's why my sweaty little daughter wants all those baths!), so there have been a few days of diaper-clad naked babies running around the house.  Caroline decided to explore baby jail and found her Cookie Monster doll, talking to him in her best raspy monster voice.

But after a moment it was time to try to get out of jail.

"No, Mommy, I can do it myself!"

This past weekend, we got everyone dressed to go out to a new playground with Uncle Kelly.  Now that everyone's big enough to wear the cool Converse their friend Carrie got them for their birthday, Caroline couldn't wait to show them off.

Max wanted to wear his new A's shirt, so it only made sense to put Daniel in his Giants Worlds Champions shirt!

We went to Parkside Playground, which has a wonderful enclosed play area (even if the gates don't actually lock) and a squishy surface under the play structures.  There are also benches and picnic tables all around.  It was warm and the boys loved finding that the water fountain's drain was plugged with sand, making a little lake that was just fingertip height for splashing!

They also had their first try at a sandbox.  Daniel enjoyed getting his fingers dirty while Max and Caroline played with the buckets and shovels that had been brought by some older girls who were nice enough to share.

Back at home, Caroline found another doll she likes playing with - Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts gang!

Gee...what could they possibly have in common?