'S', 'T', circle, 'P'.

Just before I took the girls out to lunch on Saturday I was sitting in the front room with John who was playing some music for me to listen to. Jack gets very annoyed when his dad's music interferes with his own internal soundtrack. He came in the room, turned to the wall and started writing letters with his finger. As he did it he named his letters, S, T, circle, P and then turned around and looked at John and said 'Stop'. He is working on learning the letters in his name at school but they said they haven't discussed the word stop. But then they would have taught him to say 'O' instead of circle! I am just fascinated when I can get a glimpse of how he works things out in what must be a very confusing world to him. Here is an example of him writing his own name at school, it has taken us years to get him to hold a pencil for more than three seconds.

Silly slumber party

The thing that Hannah wanted the most for her birthday was a sleepover with her cousin Eadie. They are less than two weeks apart in age but don’t get to see each other as often as they might like because my brother’s family lives just far enough away that it is hard to just drop by.

As a birthday present I let them shop for some dressy clothes and then took them out to lunch at IHOP. I just found this picture of them at Sweet Tomatoes when they were both less than a month old. I think this is the last time they went out to a restaurant!

I love how different they are. They picked out their own headbands, dresses, and pancakes and ended up almost opposite with the same basic ingredients! The best part though is how being so different makes them better friends and they don’t mind that the other one doesn’t always agree with them. From the crazy blond curls contrasting with the elegant straight black hair to the bouncy, impulsive temperament combining with the quiet thinker they are very fun to watch!

Jack and the Cat

Our neighbor's cat has been trying for a few months to get Jack's attention but is afraid of all the other children. Jack used to be terrified of the cat (figuring out people rules are hard enough he has always avoided animals).

He seems to have figured out how to get the cat to do what he wants now. Last week we found some boiled eggs missing and found Jack putting them to good use!

The cat even let Jack carefully pull on its hair and pet it with his foot until he got brave enough to use his hand. It is a good thing it isn't a stray we have to keep feeding, I have no idea how long Jack has been bribing it.

Doctor visit.

Today when I took Connor in for his shots I asked the doctor about the funny pattern on Hannah's hand. We haven't been able to figure out what it was but had ruled out anything contagious. The doctor recognized it instantly and called it 'ring of pearls' and then by it's real name, subcutaneous granuloma annulare. Apparently it is an inflammation that is harmless and often goes away after a few years. One side note is that it is occasionally associated with autoimmune disorders. We seem to encounter autoimmune issues from someone in the family at least every few years. Just one of those things that make you go 'hmmm'.

I had to start somewhere.

Well nap time is over now but I actually got a blog set up.

Time to run!