Kids All Over the Place

So, the kids have been sick for the last few days. Molly even stayed home from school one day last week, which almost never happens (not if we can help it!) Henry's been battling a cough and runny nose, but that's par for the course. Everyone is getting over their various ailments, but it has definitely meant we've had a wonky schedule and everyone has been piled on top of each other and cooped up more than usual.

Lucky for us we had a terrific play date with our friends Paul and Sarah and their kids. They live in a wonderful scenic part of the state, and have a big back yard and lots of fun toys to play with. The kids had a ton of fun and Sarah sent some great pictures of our kids.



In other news, Molly is getting really good at learning the alphabet. She recognizes all of the letters most of the time, and she can spell her name and is learning to spell Henry's name. It's pretty exciting to see her learn this stuff; it's the first step to her reading on her own. She also is showing more imagination in her play and in her stories. A typical Molly story involves dinosaurs in a forest chasing us. Strangely, her increasing imaginative play is not extended to naming her new pet fish. She got three fish for her birthday and I keep encouraging her to name them. But all she can come up with are things that she sees right in front of her. So sometimes the fish are named "plate," "fork," and "cup," or "foot," "other foot" and "newspaper." At this point we think she's just doing that because she knows it's silly. Which it is!