It's hard to decide which pictures to post. We crouch in front of them and snap
and snap
and snap as they do one cute thing after another.
Afterwards we grab the camera cord, download the pictures, and the slideshow begins. Or, we click through them in rapid succession, making a jerky, old-fashioned Carrie and Melina video.
The matching dresses are from Grammy, who just woke up back on the west coast after spending the week with us here.
We saw the Easter bunny, even though it's technically a pagan fertility symbol, a holdover from when Christians celebrated their holidays piggybacked to other holidays because they feared persecution from the intolerant. Oh well. Around here, we're not afraid of little fertility.
Devon hunted for eggs with the same joie de vivre he brings to every task. It was hard to pin him down for a picture. Our plastic eggs were traditional colors, and then some more were decorated to look like balls. They were a big hit.
Carrie and Melina watched from the bumbos. They'll be in the back yard joining the fun next time around, running after Devon and squealing with delight. I can't wait.
For now Carrie and Melina are putting their mobility to good use. They've discovered that Devon isn't the only family member who can spread little baby socks all over the floor.
They spend time in the exersaucers.
Most importantly, they spend time in The Pen.
When we moved here and set up The Pen, I thought of it as Devon's playroom. Now he isn't the only one that occasionally needs a confined space. In the past week, the girls have discovered Ally kitty, her litter box, the cord on my laptop, the on/off switch on our router, the taste of a fresh newspaper, and that it's really fun to put your hand in Mommy's coffee and splash her in the face.
They've also learned to pull up. I see a standing child at the edge of my peripheral vision, do a double take, and find that it isn't Devon watching me soberly and hanging on to the edge of the coffee table. We're predicting early walkers. How early? Hmmm...
It's more important than ever to have a safe place to play. Devon still has what you could call "supervised visitation" with the girls. That means that I try to let them play together for fifteen minutes twice a day so they'll develop a good relationship, but I have to be right by them every second. Hyper Devon tends to come out, and I have to make sure he is gentle with Carrie and Melina and doesn't tip them over.
Right now Devon's favorite game to play with his sisters is still "huggin' the babies", where he bestows affection on one and then the other before he gets a little too aggressive and I have to pull him off. His second favorite game is to wait for them to pick up a toy, scream "Mine!", grab the toy, and put it on the rocking chair where they can't reach it. All three seem to think this is wildly funny. They do it over and over, resulting in a precarious pile of toys on the rocking chair. One of these days, I predict that my assertive Melina will realize the unfairness in this game and haul off and sock Devon. That'll be interesting.
Our first hot Florida summer is coming up. The snowbirds are leaving, which makes traffic thin out in Vero Beach. We're gearing up for four months of outings in the early mornings, quiet afternoon naps spent in an air conditioned house, and walks in the evenings.
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