Bathing, Doll Houses, & Dora

"Look, Mommy! Bubbles!"


Gerritt's favorite bath toys


Gerritt - the king of the castle (or doll house, in this case)

Friday is finally here & even though I have to work tomorrow, somehow, my mood is a little brighter & my shoulders are a bit more relaxed. My husband & I took the kids out to a Korean restaurant today (an event, I must say, since we are usually afraid to go out with them). Gerritt ate a big bowl of rice & washed it down with some barley tea (completely refused to try anything else), while Sophia nibbled on bean sprouts, seaweed & pieces of pork dumplings... We had to cut our meal short when Sophia started screaming & laughing at the top of her lungs. She started doing it regularly this past week & enjoys it tremendously. She & Gerritt usually compete who can scream louder.
This week Gerritt is in love with taking bubble baths & has had one almost daily. He plays with the bath toys he inherited from Luly (an octopus, 2 fish, Sponge Bob & a crab). He pretends the animals are sinking into the "ocean" or completely covered by the "ocean waves" (the bubbles), so he rescues the little critters over & over. The best part of the bath is when Gerritt drains all of the water out of the tub & puts the toys away after he is done. He has been insisting on dressing himself for the past week, so it is always fun to watch him putting on his diaper & pajamas. He has been buckling himself in his car seat as well, & I really struggle with patience as I watch him try again & again while my lunch minutes are ticking away. He is getting better & faster, I must say. I am only happy to support his newfound independence. The more he can do for himself, the more time I can devote to his little sister Sophia, or just take a deep breath myself. I've been working non-stop, it seems, ever since we became a family with 2 kids in diapers under the age of 3.
Gerritt also loves to play with doll houses. I have finally sorted out a few big boxes of toys given to us by Luly prior to her move. I was pleasantly surprised to find several plastic doll houses, furniture, miniature people & animals (did I mention Gerritt now loves fairies?), little cars, bikes, kitchen, doll clothes - you name it. We now have a perfect activity for rainy days at home, which are so frequent during fall & winter in the Northwest.


After being told he couldn't watch more Dora :-)

Gerritt loves anything to do with Dora the Explorer so the little pink backpack with Dora's face he inherited from Luly became an instant hit. For the past couple of days he's been playing a game of surprising us with presents. He would hide a toy (usually a small car) in the backpack. After putting the backpack on & running around the room for about a minute, Gerritt would stand in front of me & say, "Mommy, I got something for you!" Then he would proudly present a little car from his backpack. I would hug, kiss & thank him. Then Gerritt would do it again & again. He just really enjoys surprising people with things! It is never dull at our house.