Recently we’ve had quite a few “rainy, rainy days” in the words of Max. The good part is it hasn’t been too cold, so we’ve been able to enjoy some puddle stomping and are getting good use out of our raincoats. The pictures below are just the alley behind our house, but the kids were having fun in their boots and coats with the puddle, so I grabbed the camera.
School is going well for Max so far. He often says he doesn’t want to go, but is okay with us leaving (as long as the prescribed routine is followed: watch him wash his hands, then wave to him through a particular window). He reports back that he has fun at school, so that’s good to hear. He’s also recently started a “Creative Music and Movement” dance class at a local studio. The teacher is great and it’s a nice small class–one other boy and two girls. Max wasn’t too sure about taking a class where we didn’t go in and participate with him, but I talked up the fact that I would be right outside the door and he could see me through the window the whole time. He has done really well and the teacher reports that he is a great listener. He’s really into pretend games right now so we play a lot of restaurant, hardware store, doctor, etc. Of course he has very specific ideas about how these games should be played and doesn’t hesitate to correct us if we stray from the script in his head. 
Anna has started to talk a lot more! She’s still a bit behind on her expressive speech but doing a great job catching up. We’re hearing a lot of two- and even occasional three-word phrases, and she’ll try to say almost any word if asked. She can now say “I love you” which is about the cutest thing ever. Probably her most frequent utterance is “Me too!” and she doesn’t miss a chance to do whatever her big brother is doing. She’s really into doing things by herself–she wants to climb into her car seat and buckle the chest strap unassisted, and she’d really prefer that I just leave the bathroom entirely when she’s washing her hands. She’s in that brief but delightful window of actually wanting to help with household chores. So far the cutest one is helping fold laundry. Her version consists of wadding up an item and tossing it onto a pile.
Here are the rainy day pictures!
