James and Julie: Phones, Bikes, and Birthday Parties

We had a fun and busy week! James finished up his classes for the semester (Yay!) and Elise has been perfecting her walking skills. Her confidence is rising, and she can now turn while walking instead of just going in straight lines! I think she's figuring out that walking can be much faster than crawling. Elise also has discovered the joy of pulling toilet paper off the roll and pulling tissues out of the box. I think all children discover this at some point, and now she's reached this milestone, too. She also likes to shred it into itsy bitsy pieces...so small that it looks like fake snow you buy at Christmas time.

Saturday I took Elise to a birthday party at the local natural living museum for a boy from her daycare who turned 2 years old. It was a fun party. She got to see a bunny and an owl close up and then they opened presents. Elise quietly sat and watched all the other kids tear into the birthday boy's presents, until the last gift was opened...a tricycle. Then, she couldn't help herself and raced over to it and tried to get on it before the dad even had it on the ground! Elise loves bicycles (like her dad) and is always trying to play with his bikes and help fix them. When James is working on a bike Elise will go pick up a tool and help fix it too, so when she saw the bike at the party she was all over it. It took me a while to tear her away! After the party Elise and I went through the museum and she loved it--she could get right up close to see the animals and fish in the aquariums. Her favorite to watch were the stingrays, the jellyfish, and the otters. She insisted on doing most of the walking (and falling...) while we went through the museum and did really well.

Here are a few pictures from the week...