Thank You Photos I

MAKE or give stuff to the New Family and receive a thank you photo collage on the blog (plus receive special pics not posted here).

Grandma and Grandpa Woodall purchased an early birthday present for the Twins. Mom and Dad bought the matching trailer to haul all of their stuff on extended outings.

Another unplanned beautiful day.

Mom belabors the point. 

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa. The Twins seemed to enjoy the ride. 

Thank You Photos II

MAKE or give stuff to the New Family and receive a thank you photo collage on the blog (plus receive special pics not posted here).

These are blankets custom made for the Twins by a very generous, and skilled, anonymous Joint Commission colleague.

They are very nice. Thank you so much.

EJ seems to like his.

Liesel likes hers.

The New Adventure at Snack Time

THE Twins have a new distraction during snack time - toddler feeding bowls. Now they can amuse themselves retrieving their own oat puffs from the spill resistant Tupperware.

Buggy retrieves and inserts an oat puff into her mouth where it has 50/50 chance of winding up on her back side. Notice the AWOL oat puffs littering the tray? They, like water, seek the lowest level.

Buddy's technique is to invert and shake the bowl like a salt shaker. He then gathers them up and fills his mouth to capacity and often gags on the mass. Sometimes he smiles at Dad while eating thus proudly showing off his mouth's contents.

When his own bowl emptied, he didn't cry out for a refill. He just nabbed his sister's bowl. And today for the first time - mark your calenders New Family readers - the Twins began protesting when the other took something from their hand. Yay! Not.

Hopefully this will pass quickly. The otherwise precious Leetle Deelites look a lot less "deeliteful" whining and playing tug o' war over bowls, toys, and other stuff.

Perhaps it was just yesterday's excitement that has them overtired and impatient with each other today. They hardly napped more than a half hour all day yesterday because of the trip to the forest preserve. Mom and Dad hoped they would nap in the buggy, they have many times before, but not yesterday.

Sunday Outing to Herrick Lake

SUNDAY turned out to be a partly sunny, 67 degree Spring day with calm winds. Chores, errands, and responsibilities were cast carelessly aside to venture out to the New Family's favorite forest preserve. The kitchen needed cleaning, and still does, but it will need it again. The temperate weather will soon enough give way to sticky heat. Carpe diem, or to borrow from modern pop morality, YOLO!

Trail head. Let's begin!

Dad loves bridges.

Pretty. Click to enlarge.

Oak grove. It gets dark in there.

 When these oaks have leaves, the trail is much darker than the surrounding prairie. Lions and tigers, and bears. Oh my!

 Back to the lake. Look a bridge! Dad get the camera

 The scenery ain't half bad around here. Nice!

Maybe Dad can get a phone number.

Gotta move fast to catch the good ones.

Reeds and water.

We've been here before.

Imagine the roaring fire you could have in there!

Mom, Buggy, and Buddy in the baby buggy.

This is a property located within spitting distance of major interstates and surrounded on two sides by county highways, yet when one is deep within the property, the only sounds are the breeze rustling then leaves, and crickets singing near the water. It is a nice suburban retreat.

http://www.dupageforest.com/Herrick_Lake_Map.aspx

Four Toofers

EJ's top two teeth have been in for awhile now, but capturing them is a challenge. Click the pic to enlarge.

Monkey Bear's top two teeth

Liesel Climbing

JUST before she pushes off to get the next step she throws a glance toward seeming to ask permission to continue, a behavior she does frequently.

The traction provided on the steps help keep her from falling.

Below she is standing in the background unaided. She does this for as long 20 seconds before falling or trying to take a step or simply becoming disinterested.

Tumble Buggy

AS a follow up to an earlier post, Buggy tried again to duplicate her brother's feat. She was successful on the second attempt. But her lack of fear of falling and coordination means she will need closer scrutiny while climbing than he will for the time being. Unlike him, she depends on the Parents to hold onto her while in their arms. And she will swing wildly while there. Height means nothing to her.

Liesel gets up all right.

With the heavy end extended across the gap and supported on two arms, she looks like she might make it.

Nope, the gap is too large and the leather couch too slippery.

Down she goes. She has a relatively soft landing perhaps only banging a shin bone- just another bruise to add to the collection.

She struggles to get back up and, with an assist from Dad (a hand was strategically placed under her flailing foot, a minimal invasion of her otherwise self sufficient efforts), she is back up.

Sweet victory!

That was followed by a thump from her rump as she unintentionally plops down. Her haphazard balance suggests she is not yet ready to climb heights without Dad's hovering attention.

Next she goes lateral to explore the side table.

Rubber has more traction on ice than sleeper-suit material has on a polyurethaned table top.  Guess where this is going.

Dad gets close. A 24" fall to onto the hardwood below would not make for laughter and giggles.

He notices that she is completely unaware that her foot has slid off of the side table upsetting her center of gravity. He anticipates and prepares for her fall as surely as tomorrow's sunrise.

She fell bottom first into his legs as shown above. She looked up at him with bewilderment for just a moment before she leaned forward to climb out of the safety net. She then casually crawled over to the step stool to repeat her climb before Dad interfered and spoiled her fun.

Earlier Dad opined about risk mitigation. The explorer's cap is a significant and useful effort to that end. She has a head thumping impact almost daily that the Thudguard has absorbed. The Parents are certain it has prevented more than a few lacerations or concussions.