lessons learned: tap shoes are NOT the smartest gift in the world for a 4-year-old.

to be sure, she loves them. loves them. asked to sleep in them. in that regard, they are a great gift. however, after 10 minutes of tapping tapping tapping tapping tapping, you have had enough. after 2 hours, you think you are going to lose it, and after 4 hours, you have. not only that, but they mark the floor. not good. and WOW do they hurt if accidentally clipped against your ankle. oh, and they are wickedly slippery on certain surfaces. but she does look cute in her long pink and blue tutu, pink cardgan, pink tights and tap shoes.

lady and the tramp has edged out mary poppins. both of them love the bloodhound.

carter is actually adding words at a furious pace. his current favorite is STOP! and CHOP! he said something today that was unmistakable, and surprising, but of course i canot remember it. but he still manages to convey complicated and abstract ideas--whenever we go to fish creek playground, he plays this game where he runs up the ramp of the play-scape, says "bea!" = "beast" , i say really! and he holds up one or two fingers. then he runs down the ramp, "kills" it and runs back up, and says "bea" in a way that cannot be written--basically he conveys that the beast is no more. and then suddenly there is another one! and he runs down. and runs up! and says "bea!" and holds up a finger, and i say "another one!" and he nods vehemently, and then runs back down and "kills" it again. he plays very intently with his animals, and his favorite thing is to help them go potty. or to feed them. today we were sitting together, and i wish i could remember exactly what we were discussing, but i said something very complicated and abstract to him, and he did it. i wish wish wish that i could remember it. but i was too distracted by the crazy dance he did with the 2 flyswatters almost immediately thereafter.

ava had her art supplies while i put him down, and when i came out, she had made a surgical mask out of pink construction paper. with a little help from me we got it tied on, and then she almost immediately pushed it up on her forehead. i got a green one, and when i put it on, i did the same thing. and promptly forgot about it. THANK GOD i saw it in my rear-view mirror before leaving for the playground. it was not an attractive headband. although i could have perhaps said i was considering jainism.