My creek

Kai calls the little creek adjacent to the main road "my creek," but with the hot summer weather, the creek completely dried up. The other day when Nik was working, I took the kids our for a walk and we stopped by the creek. I was surprised to find that after only the little bit of rain that we had gotten, the creek had returned! The kids loved it and proceeded to throw in stick after stick.

With the return of the creek, it's nice to have another diversion for the kids. It's a struggle to come up with ways to entertain the kids when one of us is in single parent mode (or even when there's two of us!).

There's playdough..

.. crafts..

.. the library..

.. even watching the squirrels scrambling in the rain can be a welcome diversion..

.. and when all else fails: frozen yogurt.

Kai is quite proficient with his letters and numbers, and can correctly identify them most of the time. He is an eager learner and requests that we "test him" during his storytime: he'll spell out words or count out objects in pictures.

Basically everything that Kai does, Sora also wants to do. If Kai's drinking without a lid, Sora also wants to drink without a lid. If Kai's playing a tackle game with Baba, Sora wants to play the same game with Mama. If Kai goes for a trolley ride (basically a piggy back ride), Sora also wants go for a trolley ride.. I could go on and on. The only thing that hasn't quite caught on is the potty training. Although Sora will sporadically go on the potty, she doesn't do it consistently and I'm concerned that it will eventually become a contest of the wills with our stubborn and smart little girl (my sense is that she knows how to do it, but she simply doesn't want to).

Kai: "That's not how you wear underpants!"

In spite of her stubborn streak, she has her moments.. and Nik and I have a hard time resisting her (a dangerous combination!).