Summer's Beginning to Give Up Its Fight

A note to my future self, for when I look back at our photographs from this period and get annoyed at how few high quality photographs we took, let me remind me: there's no safe haven for the camera. There is not enough higher ground in Brooklyn. Sure, our phone cameras document the moment sufficiently, but the days when we took fancy, high res photographs are on hiatus until the twins slow down a bit and can be trusted not to dart out of the playground or pick up an acorn and eat it while you fiddle with putting the camera away or whatever. 

Today [actually a few weeks ago now that I'm actually finishing up this post] we went to the twins picnic (finally! it happened!) and I was chatting with a woman who was there with her 21 month year olds, who basically stuck beside her the entire time. After the fact I wondered, is that just who those kids are or can I expect that kind of behavior from Maggie and Sylvie in a few months? I doubt it, but it would be nice. As it was, Sylvie was trying to dart off to the zoo and Maggie to the carousel. Rosemary hung out with the clown, who had a nice thick Brooklyn accent. They had an amazing psychic connection, as evidenced in this picture:

The twins are in their leprechaun phase right now. This is the one where you are CERTAIN they are beside you only to look up and see them 30 feet away on top of the play structure. If it's Maggie, she's probably carefully going down the twisty slide. If it's Sylvia, she is probably standing in the gap waggling her foot over the edge grinning at you in a taunting kind of way.

Actually, if I had a quarter for every time some one looked at her and made the observation, "This one looks mischievous, we'd have our groceries all paid for. But Sylvie does have her quieter moments, and has been giving some amazing hugs lately. Tiny arms give you a good tight squeeze. She also has developed a serious stuffed animal addiction, and insists on going to bed each night with a whole host of friends in her crib. We often come by to remove a few after the fact.  

It being summer, and Jason working from home, we have spent a lot of time at playgrounds. I choose them carefully right now, aiming for ones with few exits and good sight lines, that are close enough to home that the girls don't fall asleep in the stroller. There are a couple I'm avoiding until future notice, until they have their quest for independence a bit more in balance with their street smarts. (By which I mean their not-going-out-into-the-street smarts.) It's a bit limiting, on the one hand, but the good thing is that we usually run into a friend or two wherever we go.

We've hit the age where you need two of everything.

Parallel Strolling

But more useful would be magical powers to clone the desired, fought-over item so that both girls think they've won the tug of war. Because supplying a second, equivalent item does not solve much, really, in that particular instant. Maggie is almost always the toy-taker, and Sylvia the toy-loser. This is notable because Maggie is, in all other ways, so unbelievably, uncharacteristically (for a toddler) charitable and thoughtful most other times. When I pour them sippy cups of milk, she will often wait until I have both, nestle them both against her chest, and go bring one to Sylvia (who is usually not hovering about waiting for hers). Yesterday Sylvia was upset about one thing or another, and Maggie went over to Sylvia's crib and pulled out a stuffed animal that Sylvia particularly likes, and then went and handed it to her.

Maggie, Ms. Fix It, also takes time out to take care of any thing she sees needs to be done. Shut an open door, get your shoes at first mention of leaving the house, close a drawer, smooth a wrinkled area rug, put a sippy of milk in the refrigerator (albeit the fake kids' kitchen refrigerator, not truly helpful). And beware standing in the real refrigerator trying to get something out, as she will probably try to shut you inside.

Sylvia, a cat-like little person, tends to follow her own whims a bit more. Fortunately, her own whims include dancing to anything even remotely musical, smiling broadly at strangers in a way that makes them think she has only EVER smiled for them, and singing along to the ice cream truck whenever it goes by. On the less adorable side, she will try to dart out of a playground if you give her half a chance.

Fancy Pantsless

Double decker chalk drawing

Hugs

I hear something.

Jason recently gave Sylvia the nickname the Littlest Big Shot, because she will give you every sign she is excited about doing something - say, going on a carousel. But when the carousel ride is imminent, she is suddenly really, really not into it.

Meantime Maggie, who appears the more circumspect of the two, appears to be a bit of a daredevil. She loves a carousel:

When we went to the Columbia County Fair, Maggie was torn at the end of the ride between gripping on too tightly to be removed from the horse and signing for more. She also got really mad that she wasn't tall enough to go on the roller coaster. Maggie mad, by the way, or excited, makes an imitable, throaty, squawky sound I hope I never forget. She also understands everything (but says little), even relatively complicated things. She's been trying to go down the stairs facing forward rather than backward, and has been so frustrated I keep telling her to go down the safe way. So when I proposed a compromise yesterday -- that she go down the first half of our very steep staircase the safe way and then the second half the other way, she understood immediately what I meant.

This is such a Maggie stance. She walks around like this all the time:

Over the summer, Rosemary has been studiously avoiding reading, which she can totally do (each word still takes a bit of work, though she sometimes surprises me by reading something in her head), and has making more elaborate drawings, including my personal favorite, the cartoon "Hello Dolly and the Monsters":

And braids / hair accessories:

Gratuitous mustache section:

Fairy foliage hair:

Just yellow:

In August, Rosemary stayed in the Berkshires for 1 1/2 weeks, while Jason and I and the babies came back to the city. While we missed Rosemary dreadfully, we took advantage of slightly greater flexibility to visit the Bronx Zoo, go strollerless to Governors Island, and swim in the pop up pool along the waterfront. (While Rosemary is getting better and better at swimming, we're not quite ready to do a full family swim.)  

It was great to get her back home a few days later. It felt like a long time apart.

And I'm so glad we didn't miss this momentous occasion, which happened just a couple weeks later. 

More and more the three girls are playing together, for little stretches here and there. I love it when the three little independent spirits converge. Mostly it's tickling and rough housing, but also reading books and chalk drawing, chalk drawing, chalk drawing!