Friends

July 21, 2008: The day Alli and Maddie started playing together.

It started out innocently enough. Alli was bugging Maddie like she's prone to do, poking her, hitting her over the head with stuff, blocking her way so she can't get by. The usual. But this time it was different. Maybe it was the amazing three hour nap Maddie had just taken, or maybe it was nothing more than the planets in alignment, but this time there was a subtle difference that changed everything: she laughed. Alli poked her again and there it was, as fresh as the diaper wrapped haphazardly around her skinny little bum: another giggle. As far as I can tell, that did it, and now they are bosom buddies. (As a side-bar, I so cannot wait for Alli to read Anne of Green Gables and start using phrases like bosom friends.)




There is a law irrevocably decreed that when it is hot and you are in the company of your very best sister, as Alli now saw she was, you must find water. I was actually on my way outside to drain the kiddie pool from earlier in the day, when Alli discovered this glorious boon. Before I knew what was happening, Alli was down to her underwear, clothes strewn across the lawn in a haphazard trail, with Maddie fast on her heels. Even though she can't talk, Maddie made it very clear that she wanted in that pool, and so I did the only thing I could. I stripped her down as well and put her in the pool where her diaper soon ballooned to the bursting point. There was no time to go in and get the swim diaper, you see. Then I did the next most obvious thing. I took pictures.

The rest of the week has been the same story. They play, they laugh, and I relax. Life is good.

Alli has been so tired from all the play, that she falls asleep on cue. I took this picture at around 11:00 pm earlier this week. Her teddy bear Veronica is holding Alli's sippy cup, two things she can't go to bed without, and there are two additions. The barbie dolls are lined up next to her head in a neat lineup, and all are sleeping peacefully. I don't know how she fell asleep like that.

to the temple

My parents live across the street from the new draper temple that is under construction. On Tuesday, we went up to watch the workers hoist the angel Moroni up to his post atop the steeple. On the ground, that guy is huge! There were a couple hundred onlookers, and it was like waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower for your photo op. We managed to sneak in and take this photo. The crane lifted him up with a bunch of cords attached to the bottom, and then some men in a cherry picker pulled the cords until he was positioned over the pole on the steeple. They spent about ten minutes turning him this way and that once he was secured, I'm guessing with a compass in hand, so he pointed East. The whole thing took about 15 minutes once they got started.

Games

I was inspired by my friend Ashley's blog and got a little creative with summer downtime last week. I am shamelessly copying her post, but we tend to do that. Cut our hair the same, have our ovaries removed while pregnant... that sort of thing. Hopefully she won't mind. The game started out innocently enough as a "let's make pretty colors," quick sale, but I tend to overdo things sometimes,and eventually I created the "let's make a color wheel game." First we guessed what would happen if we put two colors in the same cup, and then I arranged them in a color wheel to show Alli the color progression from primary to secondary colors. Looking back, I guess it got a little out of hand...



Another game we like to play is tea party. Finding a cute adult sized tea set is actually on my want list. In the meantime, I make do with Alli's. It's really hard to get enough food on those little plates, although we've tried everything from brownies to pretzels to the timeless childhood standby-- grapes. In the teapot? Lemonade, of course.