Skipping Town

A few more summer memories: Making clothespin mermaids A visit from Aunt Molly and Luca Sister-ing

Lucia and Greta are still crazy about My Little Ponies. I ordered a lot of 27 small ones from eBay, and I've given them a few of them so far. Andrew went to Mexico City again a couple of weeks ago, and the girls hysterically requested that he bring back a "Mexico pony!!!!," so he gave them a couple ponies from that shipment. (Greta still calls them her "Meh-co ponies.") Here's a picture the girls asked me to take to send to Andrew while he was away. They wanted to show him the ponies I surprised them with the day after he left. Anything to get through those long summer days...

Our summer days in New Hampshire disappeared far too quickly this year. We have more trips ahead this fall, but the warm, lazy days of May through August are over now. Still, we had such an amazing time. One of the highlights of our August trip included picking blueberries at a pick-your-own farm. You picked, you weighed, you put your money in a little slot. The girls loved it. Lucia was an exceptional picker; she picked nearly two gallons of berries, and would have kept picking for who knows how long if we'd had unlimited need for blueberries. Greta was a good picker too, but Greta really, really loves blueberries, and, like Little Sal, barely any berries actually made it into her bucket. She was strolling through the bushes, picking and eating, picking and eating. I don't blame her: they were delicious berries. Another really fun thing from August was the boat Andrew found in the second barn. It was an old plastic rowboat with a dime-size hole in the outer shell, and ther...

One of our nicest trips this summer was to a beach cottage in Annisquam, MA, thanks to an invitation from a friend from Brooklyn. She, her two daughters, Lucia, Greta, and I spent a few days together at the beach house of a family member of hers, while Andrew and my friend's husband traveled for work. I was nervous about the trip, mainly the drive up there, but Andrew and I worked it out so that the four of us spent the weekend before the trip in NH, and then I dropped Andrew off at the Manchester airport so he could fly to Mexico City for work; from there, I had only about an hour and a half drive to do on my own. It was new for me, too, to be on my own with the girls in a new place--but we all had a great time. The beach was just a short walk from the house, and beautiful, with large rocks and tide pools and lots of treasures to hunt for. Lucia was in her glory, spending hours navigating the pools and collecting snails, shells, crab shells, claws, and seaweed. There was just ...

Two cute girls ready for their first day of preschool (Greta) and pre-K (Lucia). A new year, a new school--that we can walk to!

We didn't get to use the community pool as much as we'd have liked this year. We were away so much--we were gone 20 days in July alone--and many of the days we were here were too cool for swimming. When we did go, however, the girls had a great time. This is our third summer of being pool members, and each year it's gotten easier to take the girls to the pool by myself. Our first summer, Greta wasn't even walking yet, so my pool time was mostly spent carrying Greta around while Lucia played, or letting Greta sit in the shallowest part of the kiddie pool. Last year was better, but still tough, since Greta wasn't all that steady on her feet while in the water. This year was the first year I could relax a little. Neither girl can swim yet, but they're both secure on their feet, and neither minds when their faces get wet. Lucia even willingly dunks her head under water. Both girls liked playing in the kiddie pool with buckets, paintbrushes, sharks, ponies, and Barbi...

Dear Miss Miss, Almost-three suits you. You have always been a cute, cuddly little girl, but you have taken your cuteness to new heights lately, growing and changing by leaps and bounds as you approach your third birthday. You are completely potty trained: you wear a pull-up at naptime and at night, of course, but otherwise you are in underwear, and aside from one or two accidents at the very beginning, you are accident-free. It happened so fast, and so easily--I wish I could take credit, but you really trained yourself. You watched Lucia, understood exactly what to do, and just--did it. Done and done. Your speech continues to improve dramatically, and the way you're learning to say things is completely adorable. You respond to any question with a prim, precise "Yes." You are slowly giving up calling Lucia "Sha" and moving to "Chia." You are becoming a tattletale: "Chia do it," you'll fake-cry sometimes, claiming some grievance...