No! Yes!

This picture was taken as Joe and Julie were having the following exchange:

Joe: "No Mommy!"

Julie: "Yes Joseph!"

Joe: "No Mommy!"

Julie: "Yes Joseph!"

Joe: "No Mommy!"

Julie: "Yes Joseph!"

You get the idea. Increasing hilarity and escalating giggles. It's a new game. Julie made it up one night when Joe said no to something or other. She just said "YES! Yes Joseph!" and Joe didn't quite know to make of that, so he laughed and kept on saying no until neither of us remembered what the question was.

He is holding his snack trap with the elephant on it. His coincidental use of this snack trap coincided with him having oyster crackers as a snack this past week when he had a tummy bug, which explains why he now asks for "elephant crackers," but it took us a while to clue into that.

She Flips! She Flops!

Fans! Clara rolled from her tummy to her back today! For some time now, we have been unable to keep her on her back--as in "back to sleep" is best. Our little girl is all "Pshaw!" to that. She's ben working on rolling the other way for at least a week now, but you could see how she would get about half way there and then be like, "Whoa Nelly!" But today she took the plunge and now there is no stopping her. Oh, video? Naturally we do not have video. Yet. But we do have this picture of her, looking ever so darling, her favorite way to be--which is to say, tummy side down.

All Things Yellow

Tonight was one of those nights that just floated along perfectly. By this we mean that both children were satisfied and happy and all was right with their worlds and thus with ours in the pre-bed hours. Julie read some stories to Clara and as she finished the last one, Joe decided Clara should try on his Hoover Dam hard hat. And that she should eat some corn. Something with yellow things? Or does he just know that corn is in and Mommy and Daddy are having at dinner tonight?

Library

After the park, we were off to the library ("where the books live")! Julie had a book on hold to pick up and Joe has never been and it seemed high time. Joe held Julie's hand and they walked in and got Julie's book. Then, they walked to the other side of the library where they have the children's books in low bins with more lined up on shelves underneath the bins. At first, Julie thought they were in trouble because Joe began taking books out of the bins and pitching them on the floor. But then Joe saw one with an elephant on the cover and asked to have it read to him.* They collected that book and a few others (one was Corduroy Gets a Pocket**) and Joe put the first elephant book on the counter and handed Julie's card to the librarian. Then, they went outside and after dumping all but the first elephant book in the car, they walked all the way around the library parking lot, holding hands and the elephant book. It was pretty great.

*Joe is all about the elephants right now. They have trunks and--did you know?--they poop big poops! (So sayeth Everyone Poops.)

**Joe is also all about pockets right now.

Up High! (or, Julie Sings)

Julie and Joe also spent some time playing with the teeter totter at the Blue Playground. Julie thought she was oh-so-clever to incorporate the hi-low musical element into this activity!* (She practiced before she shot this video so that her high school choir musical training could be showcased to full effect.) She was pretty impressed when Joe had figured out in no time flat that when the teeter totter when "super high," he just had to walk toward the center to reach it to pull it back down low.

*Less clever: shooting pictures and video and letting the teeter totter get away from her and bonk Joe's head. Crap! This is when we learned the lesson about watching the head, though really it was a lesson for Mommy not to shoot pictures and video while manning her side of the teeter totter.