Play Day!

Tiffany and Kiera came over for a playdate Sunday morning. The temperature is dropping and the wind is howling, so we decided it would be an inside day. The girls don't really play together yet; it's more like they watch each other play and then try to take toys away from each other. Sydney has a living room full of loud and silly toys, but Kiera went straight for the big purple ball.

The other toy of choice was a little colored slinky. Each of the girls found one in a basket and seemed to think they were great chew toys.

Books are also lots of fun. Tiffany read "Where's Elmo?" to the girls (who are both calling him "Melmo").

Sydney shows Kiera where Little Bird is hiding in the mailbox.

Looks like they're both teething again; both of them kept gnawing on everything.

I almost caught both of them smiling.

Kiera: "What's up?"
Sydney: "Nice butterfly."

Both of the girls are giving kisses when asked, so we asked them to give a kiss good-bye. It's too bad I couldn't get to the other side quick enough to get their faces.

Tiffany and Kiera stayed until naptime. Our power went out about halfway through Sydney's nap, and it hadn't come back on by the time she woke up. It was very windy today (gusts up to 75 mph) and I'm assuming that had something to do with it. So Sydney and I headed to the mall. She actually said "mall" while I was putting her coat on. She patiently waited while I did some Christmas shopping, and then we split an Auntie Anne's pretzel (which she calls "ca-ker" - every snack is a cracker right now) and an iced tea, her favorite. And then we hit the play land. Shoes are not allowed in playland, so I took off her shoes, set her on the ground, and she took off screaming. She had a blast.

I was afraid I was never going to get her out of play land, but then she ran out of energy. She actually laid down on the floor. I took that opportunity and loaded her back in her stroller. She didn't even argue. I think she had a lot of fun playing today.

Tiffany was kind enough to give Sydney a winter coat and snowsuit that were too small for Kiera. Sydney wanted to try the coat on immediately, even though we stayed in the house. When Daddy woke up, she brought him the pants to show him, so of course we had to try them on.

Tiffany also had a pair of fleece-lined Crocs that Kiera had outgrown. Sydney had to put those on as well. My little pink snow bunny is ready for winter. And not a moment too soon - we had snow flurries tonight.

Play day wasn't over yet - Sydney still had a little time to play with Daddy. They laid out the alphabet on the floor. Sydney says a bunch of letters; Daddy's working on getting her to say them in order. But then they found her stacking cups, which are much more fun to hum into and look through than they are to stack.