A Little Piece of Earth

A few months ago, Andy saw the moon in the sky and he said, "That's the moon. It's like a little piece of the earth." Cherise told me they had been learning about the earth at school, but to hear the word "earth" come out of a 3-year-old's mouth seemed really smart.

As soon as Sylvia could crawl, when she heard music she brightened up, promptly crawled to the piano, lifted herself up and, without even being able to see the keys, reached up and began to play with her little fingers. The kid knows music. (She was only about 8-9 months old when she revealed this talent.)

Both kids love to dance. A few weeks ago, I was taking care of both of them -- all day -- and in a desperate act, played the song Mamma Mia and picked up Sylvia and started dancing. Andy wanted to dance to so I put down Sylvia who promptly began to cry her complaint. What else could I do but pick up both kids, one in each arm and dance to not only that song but a few others by ABBA. Both kids thought it was pretty funny and fun and were laughing with each other. I, on the other hand, had sore arms as I was holding about 70 pounds together. By the end of the day, I was ready for the soaking tub and a glass of wine - or two.

The other day, Tom and I were bringing both kids to the pool in our car. Andy promptly fell asleep in his car seat. Sylvia, unaccustomed to not having to compete with Andy for our attention (he's very communicative these days), began talking very loud in a continuous stream of blabber but with the cadence of words. We couldn't see her (her seat faces the back of the car)and she couldn't see us, but that didn't stop her from getting her two words in while she could.