Library Day
This week's storytime theme was bugs, and the girls got to make caterpillars out of clothes pins and pompoms. Several of our friends were there too. We came home with these books:
Listen to the Rain
George and Martha: Encore
Fish Splish. Splash Dash
I Had a Hippopotamus

Potty Training Take #2
Goose didn't so much learn how to pee in the potty as Mommy relearned that every kid is different. For Monkey and Bug potty training meant a few days of intense potty training (diapers thrown away and Mommy and Aunt A issuing reminders every minute to "Tell me if you need to potty"), and they were golden--just the occasional accident after that week. For Goose it appears this is going to be a considerably longer process. Even with all formal lessons cancelled,  Uncle N on hand for constant back up, and even Daddy home from work for a few days, Goose completed six intense days without ever succeeding in reaching the potty in time. The intensity is stressing us all out and simply isn't possible to keep up. So, we're going into the next week planning to resume all normal activities and put her in pull ups when we're out and about.  Prayers appreciated.

our current favorite look

Despite all of that the entourage still managed to have lots of fun! Of course, just having Uncle N (aka, the teenage human jungle gym) around provided hours of entertainment. These cute little girls even managed to talk him into being a mommy horse and pretend to give birth to a baby horse (Bug) out from under a blanket (sorry folks, no video available for that one). They even had Granddad around for about 24 hrs of fun when he came to take Uncle N home. They read LOTS of book, watched episodes of Pingu (because everybody's 2-year-old loves Swedish claymation, right?), made fudge, and experimented with hairstyles.

Fortunately, with Uncle N and Daddy both around Monkey and Bug actually got to leave the house during this potty training attempt. They got to ride their bikes around the neighborhood, and of course attended their karate classes. Apparently, the class played a game to see who could stand in attention the longest (basically, the karate version of the quiet game). Monkey and Bug were very proud to report that they won both rounds! They also learned a front block this week. (Oh, and Monkey and Daddy also discussed that one is only allowed to punch or kick one's sisters during a parent-supervised sparring match--not whenever they make one angry. At least her form is looking good.)