Happy Mothers' Day!

 It was a nice day with small gifts and lots of love.  Also, we picked a leaf from my Japanese maple (my Mothers' Day present last year) ...

 ... and went to the park and BB dropped it in the water for her mother in China.  I thought of her a lot this weekend and BB and I spoke of her and China often.

It was a really lovely day.

Recently, she was tricycling with a friend.  I'm happy to say that BB is no longer helmet-resistant.  After her friend Bo-Bo came over with her trike and helmet, our BB was willing to wear hers (no wheels without helmet is the rule) and go for a roll.  She used her new scooter too and is becoming quite the pro.  The evening these pictures were taken, she even wore her helmet through dinner.  Yeah, baby!  No more helmet problems for our BB!  Thanks for a little encouragement, Bo-Bo!

Unrelated, but I love dogwoods.

Q & J

Q, he was awesome.  I'll miss him too.

Two of a kind

Bing-Bing goofs with her buddy Bo-Bo.  We have a wonderful arrangement of shared baby-sitting with Bo-Bo's parents, which is giving the girls lots of time with each other and each couple a night out every month.  Also, the moms are walking every week, while the dads provide dinner and entertainment for the girls once a week.  Bing and Bo are a wonderful pair.

Games we love

The one above is a Melissa and Doug block balancing game.  Part of what I like about it is its flexibility.  There are at least a dozen different games you can play with it, not counting just building.  BB loves to build.

The one below is MindWare's Imaginets.  BB is very good at puzzles (doing ones for 5 & 6 year olds now) and this is a great toy for her.  There are picture cards that you copy with the magnets.  She does them very quickly, then embellishes.

She also has Tangoes, Jr., which she isn't quite in love with right now, but I am.  It has two levels, one is too easy and one is too hard for her, which is why it isn't so great for her now.  In many ways, the Imaginets fits right into the middle.  I think she might like Tangoes a little better down the road.

As you can see, BB is very visual and enjoys building.  Sometime I should shoot a video of her putting a puzzle together.  It's amazing to watch her.  I've never been good at puzzles and watching her... all I can say is wow.

Growing up

School pics - Feb 2011