today we had a playdate at simon's house--we have been looking forward to this for almost a whole year, since ava knows where he lives and we have to drive by every day on our way anywhere. she perpetually asks "when are we going to simon's house?" and i perpetually say "when they invite us, honey." but simon's mom just had child #2, and i have not dared to bug her. so, it was great when they showed up at playgroup here on monday morning. (they were the ONLY ones to show up at playgroup on monday morning, because even though playgroup has been scheduled among the playgroup mothers since september: "april 23: erin's house," another mother scheduled her own competing playgroup when no one heard from me by sunday afternoon. i sent the "come one! come all!" email on sunday evening, but it was too late. playgroup was usurped. i was so ticked. anyway, since this mom only invited SOME of the playgroup moms, and i had invited ALL of the playgroup moms, this left me stuck at home, having to clean the house and cancel carter's tumbling and prepare a snack, just in case some of the mothers invited to my house but not to the other playgroup happened to stop by. which is what happened, and it all turned out ok because it was simon, and we had wanted to see them anyway, and a private playdate with them was probably better). so, we were invited to their house. when we got there, i said to ava "wow, their house is really nice" and she said "and it's BIG too!" then she paused and said "mommy, is this house the size of the house we have to have for me to get a kitty?" (the standard response to the 'can i have a kitty?' question is that our house is too small--carter also asks, but he just says "meoooowww" and points to his palm--ie "i would like a cat right here, in my hands, please.") i laughed and said yes.

we had a lot of fun at simon's house, particularly because a second girl arrived and the three preschoolers managed to actually play together. however, it took a while for them to warm up to each other. ava brought all of her horses in shoeboxes, and when lisse said "ava, let's play with your horses," ava was completely flummoxed. she went through a little nervous monologue about them, coupled with intensely awkward hand motions, basically relegating them to life forever in their shoeboxes. she gets SO NERVOUS and when she has to talk, she speaks incredibly fast and laughs loudly, almost like the silliest parody of a shy person that has ever been done in hollywood. i intervened, and started to translate for lisse and then suggested some play-possibilities, and slowly, ever so slowly, ava opened up to the possibility. when i suggested that the box top be a paddock for the horses, ava immediately told me it was unacceptable, because they all had to stay together, and that it was too small, etc etc. so i made a fence out of some blocks, and she started to get into it, and finally simon, bless his soul, said "OH! I have a fence!" and then he went rummaging in his closet and appeared with a barn and a fence. and finally we reached the energy of activation and play began. all this time, carter was playing with a little train that would only move if you said "go" into a little microphone. HA! i looked at him and said "you HAVE to talk to make this go." he hemmed and hawed, and then finally put the thing right on his mouth and said "UH" --and it went. talk about self satisfied. he never said "go" per se, but he got pretty close. fortunately it was not as sensitive as the voice activated phone line at United Airlines.

later today, he confirmed that the song he sings while sitting in the sandbox is actually "ava ava ava ava ava ava ava ava ava va va va va ava ava ava va va va va..."he did this by pointing to her towel and saying clear as day "ah-va!" then i exploded with praise, and so he pointed to her and said it again. i have been suspicious, but was not entirely sure.

he is even prouder of the fact that he can jump from a standstill now. two feet up, pop! right into the air. it is so cute. he does it over and over and over.

ava made the mistake of crawling under a clear plastic bin (to be with her new pet ladybugs, in their new fancy home) and he saw her, got an absolute belly laugh out of it and immediately crawled on top of it. pretty much like the cat in Benjamin Bunny. For those that have forgotten their Beatrix Potter, essentially, Ava was now trapped. But she could see her tormenter, and he could see her. He was triumphant. She was desperate. I was hysterical. I knew she had air, as the bottom was not sealed, and I intervened before she got claustrophobic, a significant risk for her, but I did allow her to come to a full realization of her error before doing so.