Can I tell you something funny? Well, like typical siblings, the girls are engaging in equal parts play and equal parts fighting. If you grew up with siblings, you know what I’m talking about because it’s not the bigger scuffles over toys that are tiring, it’s the constant jabbing and poking and taunting, mostly on Mia’s part. It’s like she just can’t resist doing something to Claudine as she passes by. I think C is getting tired of being picked on too now that she can express herself. Not only does she tell us the occurring offense, but she now saids “Mia, Mia” for any little bump, scrape or fall even if Mia is nowhere to be seen. She’s also resorted to pinching her sister back, a rather hilarious attempt at getting back at her since the pinches coming from her little fingers are so dainty. But to further make her point, she’s been saying “pinch”, like a little exclamation point, while going at it, but it’s been coming out sounding like “bitch”. We can’t help but crack up when we hear “bitch! bitch!” after Mia gives a little push or whatever. Hahaha, love toddler mispronunciations. At least she has a good handle on how to say “fork”.

I didn’t have my camera with me for most of our 4th, but I did manage to take this sweet photo of my cousin with Claudine. She and her husband came over for brunch and a little stroll around our neighborhood. We later drove to our weekend (I mean parent’s) house (ha!) and after Claudine was tucked into bed for the night, Mark, Mia and I drove to get some ice cream and searched for some fireworks. We eventually saw some through the treetops coming from the beach and we pulled over, opened the door to the back of the wagon, and sat in the trunk to watch the colorful bursts. It was nice to be able to spend some one-on-one time with Mia, just like the old days when it was just the 3 of us before Claudine was born. But Mia kept saying things like “Claudine would really like this” or “Claudine should be here because she really likes ice cream”. So I guess even Mia thinks of us as being complete only when all 4 of us are together.

…but only because I felt like Claudine was so behind in her gross motor development for most of her first 17 months. She never learned to crawl (and still can’t, although sometimes she tries and it’s pretty funny), walked late, and just seemed generally unmotivated to move. This was a baby who couldn’t pull up to standing or sit up from laying down until she was well over a year. I’d put her on her back on the floor to see if she would move and she’d just lay there. For an hour. Not rolling over or scooting or…anything. And this wasn’t at 5 months, this was at 11 months. She’d always been a mellow baby, and her ability to put herself to sleep by herself from a very early age without crying or fussing was the stuff of envy, but I also thought she was truly lazy. Most of the time I was too busy to really take note of her delays, but there were moments when I was really concerned that something was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, that bad car accident that we all closely escaped from when she was just 6 weeks old rattled her head more than we knew. The paramedics checked her out and she seemed ok at the time, but how could we really know? Why wasn’t she moving?

But you know, maybe all that laying around on her back was spent concentrating on listening to people speak because she is having a language explosion right now at 19 months. She actually walked by Mark yesterday and casually said “bye bye Daddy. See you later”. Wha??? She’s constantly surprising us like that. She can identify letters of the alphabet, sing the beginning of the ABC song, and name shapes like oval and triangle. She goes about her day narrating everything she does. Mia developed pretty much at the same pace, but because she seemed to do everything early, it didn’t take us too much by surprise.

Now, I know it’s annoying to hear other people talk about their kids all the time so I’ll stop. But I’m really proud of my little girl (who looks about 4 in that first photo, doesn’t she??)

Claudine seems to be making process on her squeamishness for certain sensory-related things. She still refuses to walk on sand or sit directly on sand, but after being placed on a blanket, she slowly warmed up to the idea of getting sand on her hands and feet as she played with her bucket and shovel. Towards the end of our beach stay, she was even rubbing fistfuls of sand onto her legs (maybe she was exfoliating?) and dumping sand on top of her head. So yeah, I think we’re making some progress here. She didn’t really care for the ocean - the waves frightened her, but I wasn’t surprised. I mean, she gets frightened by the sound of the toilet flushing in public bathrooms (something about the echo I guess, that makes it different from the bathroom at home), so I knew she wouldn’t be too interested in going in the water, which was still pretty cold by the way. Mia, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of the waves. What is it about the beach that makes you so tired? Even with tons of sunscreen and our new beach umbrella (which I LOVE - how did we ever go to the beach without one??), I feel we still got a bit too much sun. You know the feeling I’m talking about, when your skin feels tight and slightly itchy?

There’s not much to do when it’s 96 degrees outside but to be in water to cool yourself down. My mom lives in a town in Long Island that opened up a new park 2 years ago that includes the largest public pool on the island. It’s massive. But it’s also a haven for small kids because it features an interactive water playground in the 500 square foot shallow end of the pool, a water slide, as well as a smaller, fenced in sprinkler pool for babies and toddlers. Not to mention the playground, tennis courts, baseball field, etc etc all nestled in rolling green hills. Village tax dollars at work, and it almost makes me think that living in the burbs wouldn’t be half bad when I’m lounging poolside under the shaded canopies. Almost. Ok, maybe not, but it sure is nice to come here.

We knew that Claudine would be hesitant about the whole pool experience, even though she loves playing in the bath. Funny, but when we first got there, she strutted with attitude through the entrance and walked a few yards till she saw a man swimming lanes and then her face turned to confusion. What the hell was that man doing in the water? I think I’ve figured out that she seems to have some sensory issues with her feet. She doesn’t like walking on grass, sand, or anything remotely bumpy, and she didn’t like touching the floor of the pool. We eventually coaxed her to play in the water and we did sit her down, but she did the funniest thing while playing with her bucket and shovel - she actually held one of her feet up off the ground with her hand, with her other foot resting on my leg. Anyone else out there experience something similar with their kid?

…in more ways than one. But seriously, Mia LIVES for crafts: glitter, paper, markers, paint, crayons, fabric, scissors - she loves all it all and more importantly, it keeps her occupied and is probably the only time her constant chatter takes a break. The playground and park across the street from our house hosts a few all-day events with crafts and music every year, and at last weekend’s eco-fair, there was one particularly great activity table where the kids got to make their own little stuffed animals and pillows out of recycled fabric scraps. Sewing machine stations were set up, kids were stuffing shapes with fabric bits, then bringing them to the tables to get the last finishing stitches in. A table of full of buttons, felt, ribbon and yarn let the kids decorate their creations for a finishing touch. Mia made this funny little creature who she named “Pillowface” that features a pretty blue and white striped back. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

For whatever reason I didn’t get to take a walk yesterday so I made it a point to take a break and pick Mia up from school and spend a few hours in the park with the 2 girls and our friends. We had intentions of a nice, relaxing picnic on the grass, but we never got there as we took a pit stop at the playground. Just as well. Picnics are not really relaxing anymore ever since Mia decided it was ok to sprint across the meadow and keep running, despite my calling after her. And with the 2 of them? I suppose it’s just easier to be in a fenced-in playground. It’s interesting to watch the 2 of them play in the sandbox - they are such different personalities. Mia dives in and pretty much buries herself with handfuls of sand, while Claudine likes to stand outside the rim of the sandbox (and not actually go in) and carefully shovel sand into a bucket. Ah, love them both.

Wacky day. Overwhelming but good. A big thank you to Oh Joy!, one of my favorite blogs, for the mention today (2 press mentions in one day, wheeee!). Our shop is empty now (and someone just bought the remaining 5 marshmallows). Trying to get to sleep “early” tonight because tomorrow is going to be packing madness deep into the night for all of today’s orders shipping out on Friday (Red Hook post office, not so great. Clinton Hill is next), but of course I am here, watching Top Chef. I am estimating that I will have to individually wrap over 150 brownies in one sitting and I am convinced that I will get arthritis from this.

In the middle of all this biz madness are the girls. They are keeping each other company and I am grateful for that. There’s lots of laughter and giggles and shrieks and chases and while it’s all very cute, the apartment feels like a zoo, not to mention the clutter that just doesn’t seem to go away. Although we haven’t thought seriously about getting our own kitchen/work space yet, it would be worth it just to get our house back. At any given time there are cookies everywhere in large containers which prompts Claudine to walk around like a zombie repeating “cookieee? cookieee? cookieee?” with her little pointer finger extended.

It appears that we might have a viable business on our hands, so I think I will stop my daily Craigslist search for a job for Mark. At least for now.