What We Did Last Week (Week of 6/8/15)

After a great weekend of celebrating Mom's birthday and a successful garage sale (the dining room isn't entirely cleaned out but it's better than before!) we were happy to all be healthy and feeling good this week!

We visited with tons of family this week and last weekend. We had dinner with Nova, GG, Jama and Aunt Debz for Mom's Birthday. We had lunch with Great Nana on Tuesday and the girls had so much fun! I love that my grandmother is able to spend time with and get to know them! And at 78 years old she can keep up with them just as well as I can! We also got to visit with Aunt Lisa, Uncle John, cousin Sam and Ollie the crazy dog! They were a little scared of him at first but warmed up fast to his kisses and soft fur!

We are clapping, banging on everything, starting to mimic tons of noises, offering things to mom and dad, trying to drink out of cups and pulling up on everything these days!

Nature and Outside 

We spent some time crawling in the grass this week. Viv loves it, Jules is not so sure. She's a little more sensory sensitive than Viv and I don't think she likes the feeling of the dirt under her. We watched more rain storms in my room and looked for a rainbow again too. So far they haven't seen one yet but I'm determined by the end of the summer to make it happen!

We spent Saturday hanging out with Aunt Kate and cousin Jillian in the pool! Jillian was blowing bubbles for the girls and they were laughing so hard! 

Sensory and Exploration

Ice play! It was super rainy and hot on Tuesday afternoon and they were cranky little beauties. They were super impatient while I was making their lunch so I tossed some ice cubes on their trays and gave them some spoons and cups. They touched them really lightly at first, not quite sure what to do with them but then it became a game as they tried to grab them. One cube only lasted about a minute before it was knocked to the floor but it was fun while it lasted!

I learned where I inherited my fascination with loose parts and reused toys - my grandmother! After a great lunch the girls were playing and she brought out something she made for them. I was so happy when I saw it was a crunchy onion container filled with jug and bottle caps - their favorite toy ever!  They shook it for a minute but clearly figured out how to open in and she even did me one better - they were all different textures, sizes and colors! They had a blast and we bonded over our love for loose parts! She gave me the best idea too for when they're older - cans! She told me all about how she would duct tape the tops and collect dozens of all sizes and the kids would build towers, pyramids and walls with them! I can't wait for that!

Music, Movement and Games

This week we listened to a few summer playlists like Summer Acoustic and Mom's favorite, Summer Country. For the sake of having some children's music in there I also put on some Disney music while we played with our new Disney toys from cousin Jillian. Who doesn't love to jam to The Lion King!

We played with our musical instruments a lot this week! My sister Kate brought down some of Jillian's old toys to sell at the garage sale but I ended up just keeping them. We got a real xylophone and a guitar that they love just batting at and strumming. We even did a family jam session where Dad played his guitar, mom played the harmonica (ha! "played" is definitely not the right word) and the girls banged on their xylophones and guitar!

We did a ton of climbing, mostly on me, pulling up, again on me, as well as the couch, tables, beds, chairs and everything. We also tried crawling under things and tunnel play this week. These babies are officially mobile and I'm definitely feeling it!

CanDoKiddo has this great list of ideas for tunnel play and we did a bunch of them. Jules showed off her skills by going through the tunnel for the first time like a champ. They really loved when I hid inside it and said peek-a-boo and popped out!

Speaking of Peek-A-Boo it was by far their favorite game this week. Whether it was the tunnel, a pillow, a blanket or my hands they are giggling so hard every time I pop out and even starting to understand how it works and do it themselves.

Favorite Toys

Coasters, especially the ones Papa T brought back from Australia - These wooden, hand painted coasters are awesome. They can stack them, clack and rub them together, bang them on the table, roll them, whatever. When they get a little bigger I will offer them the stand they fit on for an easy puzzle. They love them and will play with them forever.

Fisher Price Disney Baby Sing-A-Long Train - We also received a train set from cousin Jillian and they love it! They'd rather just flip it over and bang and chew on the animals than actually move it but who am I to tell them how to play?

Tunnel - This affiliate link is for one just like ours. It was quite the favorite this week!

Wipes - One unintended consequence of letting them play with wipe boxes and cloth wipes - they won't leave our real wipe box alone! I swear they have figured out how to open the diaper bag because there have been times I've come out to find them with tons of disposable wipes all over the place and I swear I put them away! At least they're not eating them... yet.

Favorite Books

We brought out the big books this week! The girls' great-great Aunt Mary bought them the 20th Centure Children's Book Treasury and Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics for their Blessing and now that they will sit and listen to books some of the time we tried a few of those stories out. I think they're both great books but they're definitely not made for reading to squirmy climbing infants. I love the variety but they're big and hard to hold and a lot of the stories are too long to hold their attention just yet, but I know we will love them in a few years.


This week will be rainy but we will try to make the best of it!

Xo,
Maigen