7 Quick Takes… Make that 10 (on Saturday)

This didn’t make it up for Friday. And I couldn’t stop at 7. There was a week’s worth of cuteness to record. Can you handle it?

1. Bella can carry a glass of water across the house. If I remove the lid from a sippy cup, she will go and fill it from the Britta filter on the kitchen counter and bring it back for me to screw the lid onto it.

This is such a God-send with a boy who loves to nurse for forty minutes at a stretch. And those are the short sessions. It’s especially cute when Bella is fetching the water for Sophie.

2. Ben rolled over from his stomach to his back Sunday night. Completely surprised me.

I haven’t been very conscientious about giving him tummy time. Like many babies he hates it and well there are just so many things to do and so many distractions. Life is crazy. But tonight we were having a nice little chat after his diaper change. Ben is always his most chatty and amiable right after I’ve changed him. We have great conversations. Anyway, I flipped him over on his tummy and for once he didn’t get frantic right away. Instead he started pushing himself up, really getting air between his chest and the table for the first time ever. And he was doing it with such intense concentration and deliberation. He was clearly experimenting with leverage. And he got his right arm underneath his chest where he could sort of use it as a pivot and he was pushing off with his left hand and he was sort of swiveling his hips and he pushed off and he’d have flipped over if he hadn’t run into the side rail.

So I carried him out into the living room and put him on the mat and he did it again. This time with no rail he managed to roll all the way over onto his back. And he was so happy.

3. I might have mentioned this here before; but it’s worth a repeat. It completely cracks us up to open the bathroom door and find Bella reading Popular Science on the toilet. She loves it when Dom reads the articles to her too.

4. I’m mystified. Why does wearing a pillow on your head make you a ballerina? Bella does not reply. Just chants, “ballerina, ballerina…”

Sophie joins in the action. A pillow on her head, she chants, “Rina, rina, rina.”

Another variation: a book on the head instead of a pillow.

5. Bella: “When you spill something, you say ‘uh-oh’, Phia”

Phia: “Uh-oh!”

6. This morning Sophie was quite impatient, wanting to climb into my lap and share my oatmeal (as she does most mornings). I was stirring the apples and almonds into the cereal and so she had to wait, impatiently whining, until I was done. But then something clicked and off she ran into the kitchen: “Bowl!” she announced. And opened the drawer and found a spoon (didn’t see the bowls, I guess) and then pulled out a plate.

I got up and found a bowl for her and filled it with oatmeal. Then we were both happy.

I’ve given her a bowl for her oatmeal a few times before; but I didn’t suggest it to her today. I was so impressed with her problem-solving skills.

7. I’d got behind in the sippy cup sweeps and a few days had gone by without my running any through the dish washer. This morning when Sophie asked for water I went and scooped up yesterday’s cup (or was it from the day before?) off the living room floor. She refused it. I found another two in the diaper bag. Refused. Another two in their bedroom. Refused. Eventually she refused seven sippy cups.

But when I went and got a clean cup from the cupboard and filled it, she was at last satisfied. I guess she didn’t want stale water.

8. The other night I got overheated with Ben sitting in my lap and pulled off my socks and dropped them on the living room floor. Sophie came in and saw them and scooped them up and ran off with them saying, “hamper, hamper.” I knew I’d want to put them on later when I got chilled; but didn’t have the heart to stop her spontaneous tidying.

9. The other morning I was loading the washing machine when Bella, who had been “reading” to Sophie in the living room came running. She wanted me to read two pages from the middle of the book. I guess she was a bit hazy on that part of the story and needed her memory refreshed. Now she’s got the book down almost word perfect.

10. I like to sing hymns to the girls. They love to join in. I sing, “Holy God we praise thy Name” which is one of Sophie’s favorites. She always echoes back the chorus and it is so adorable:

Me, singing, “Holy God”

Sophie chirps: “God”

“Mighty God”

“God”

“God immortal be adored”

“‘Dored”

Yep. Dored. Kills me every time.