Cute Stories from the Week:

Last Friday, the girls and I were playing in Anna's room. I was playing Peekaboo with Mariah, and I'd gotten her giggling really well. Anna thought that looked interesting, so she raised Lovey (her blanket) in front of her face and said, "Peekaboo, Mommy!" and giggled like a maniac. That got old quickly, so she turned to Mariah and said, "Peekaboo, Riah!" I've never seen Mariah with such a big grin. Anna did it a few more times, and on the last one, she gave a giggle that was practically a belly laugh. It was so fun to see them playing together for really the first time, and it was adorable to watch Anna realize that she had the power to make Mariah happy. Hopefully she'll use that power regularly.

Yesterday, I pulled out Anna's old activity saucer for Mariah to play in. She's getting so strong that I just couldn't keep the gigantic thing in storage for much longer without feeling guilty. Well, Mariah liked it okay (sometimes 20 minutes in it at a time--that's big), but as you can see from the picture, the bigger surprise was how much Anna liked it. She spent a nearly 4 hours in it yesterday. That makes me sound like a bad parent, but really, she was so happy in it that she didn't even want to get out and eat dinner. She was engaged and interested, and I got to finish my book during Mariah's nap, so I'd say this toy is welcome in my house forever. If only it would STAY that interesting forever. *sigh*

On Saturday we went down to visit our friends, the Olsons, in Sammamish. They have two darling boys who are about a year on either side of Anna, and it's the first time I've seen Anna really play with another kid. She and Dallin were racing across the room and back, and even though she didn't really understand what they were doing, she was a part of what was happening. She was giggling and laughing with him, and she wanted to keep playing. I am hoping that willingness to play continues now that she's getting older.

One more note from the week--we worked our tails off all week trying to get our house ready to list, and now that it's finally listed, I wanted you all to see that for once in my life, I actually have a clean kitchen. Be proud.