Winks of the Week: Curtsey's, Easter Jesus, and Mamama

This week is wrapping up wonderfully. Our days have been so busy and full that the cold windy cloudy YUCK outside today is almost welcoming. Ainsley wanted to lounge and play. I got some organizing done in the house and Louise got her awesome morning nap. So far so good.

I can't get over how much EASIER life is when the weather cooperates, how much more effortless days are. We run into friends spontaneously, linger outside and meander on the streets just playing and marveling at the wonder of this new season. I can't WAIT for Ainsley's new boot scoot bike to come on Monday so that we have another excuse to play outside. You can bet I'll let you know how it goes.

In an effort to organize my life, and my writing a bit I'm going to try something new. On Fridays I'm going to write about the week, rather than all these little updates, and highlight some key moments for you and me of course. I hope it will serve as a smaller, but more interesting window into our lives and an archive of sorts for us as the girls grow and change ever rapidly. I'm working on some witty title here, we'll see how it feels.

Winks of the Week::

Ainsley Learning How to Curtsey.

We read Angelina Ballerina the other night and she was fascinated with the dance terms. Lucky for her I have 12 years of experience under my belt and taught her all that I know, plie, arebesque, jete, curtsey. She of course does them all with her crazy coordination and enthusiasm...at the end of our tutorial I asked Ainsley if she liked ballet dancing. "No mama, DANCING!" and proceeded to do her Katy Perry crazy dance. At least I tried.

The Downside to All That Work on Emotion Recognition

On the way home from Costco last night I took a new route to avoid some traffic ahead and immediately heard "NO MAMA! NEWA GO THAT WAY! AINSLEY MAY WEWY FWUSTWATED AND MAD!!!" She pouted until we got closer to home where she calmed. "Ainsley ok mama, you find it." I think she was genuinely concerned that I was lost and she'd have to help her ol' mom out.

How Do You Explain Easter to a Toddler?

I tried my hand last night and I think I just confused her more. I threw around the words "savior" and "forgiveness of sin" like they were no big deal. We try not to "dumb things down" for our girls, but at the same time there are some things that she's just not developmentally ready to process. At the end of our brief conversation I asked Ainsley if she understood what I'd said. "Oh... JESUS come outta the egg, bring Ainsley May CANDY!!!" Her sheer joy and confidence in her answer was almost too much. Sure Ainsley, we'll go with that for this year.

Milestones

My new favorite moment of the day, when Louise reaches her hands up to me and says "mamamamama!" and grins her toothy grin. You can tell me a 7 month old can't talk, you can tell me she's just babbling, but I don't care. She's totally saying my name and I'm her favorite. I can say that because Ainsley's favorite was far and away Ian and her first babble word was dadadadada.

This weekend we look forward to brunch with awesome friends, lots of to do's inside and prepping for our big week of sister visits, friend-filled Easter and LOTS and LOTS of fun!

Happy Friday!