No Recent Pics

Again, sorry for no recent pics. We really need to leave the camera on the counter so that we take photos everyday, but the house has been extra-clean because it is on the market. The owner, Joanne, is selling the condo and we will be living here  until it sells (or until we decide to leave, whichever is first). So everything has been put away and in its place, which is new for us and nice. The hardest part is picking up after M--she is a hurricane and can mess up a tidy living room in the time it takes me to pour my coffee.

M likes to help clean though, and gets dish towels out from the drawer and uses them to wipe the windows. She also will help pick up if we ask, but not quite at the rate at which she makes a mess. She likes to "cook" these days, a game that involves taking all the food she can reach off of the shelves and containers out of the cupboards. She also likes to unpack the tea Grandpa left behind and smell it ("Mmmmmm," she says).  Then she uses the can of coffee as a seat and mixes with a spoon and empty bowl.

Not new but still strong is M's love of books. We went to the library last weekend, and have read the few new books a dozen times each. Hooper Humperdink, Curious George, Ruby Uses the Potty--all now read when we wake up and before we go to bed. M is funny because she says the names of the characters (or trys) and knows when her favorite parts are coming and gets very excited. If the story is about an animal--Sheep in a Shop, for example--M will run to her shelf and pull her stuffed sheep down and we take a break to sing "Ba Ba Black Sheep."  When we read "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?" she gets her lion doll since lions are featured in the book. It is so amazing to watch her develop these connections, and I will do my best to get some of this good stuff on camera to share with you all.