Signs of Change

I have recently noticed a change occurring in the girls' behavior.  It is a sign of maturity, and, sadly, it has nothing to do with me.  

The girls have always been pretty good about sharing and playing together.  As we spend more time at school, other parents have told me how impressed they are with Cassidy and Taylor's ability to make good, lasting friendships as well as play with others without arguments or tantrums.  Yesterday a friend of mine said that her singleton son has never had such relationships in his life, and that he talks about his "friends" Taylor and Cassidy all the time.  I think it has to do with the fact that they've always been together and that they're happy little girls.  I don't know.....

So lately they have been making up little scenarios and games to play together.  As I type this, they're carrying around little animals in their music boxes and pretending to do all sorts of things with them.  For instance, they're now "exercising" on Dave's weight bench while the babies are playing in the day care center.  Now Taylor is giving her babies stuffed animals as pets.  I am not invited to play, but I am sure they'd let me.  These games can go on for up to an hour easily.  They just keep expanding on them and changing what they're doing.  It's very entertaining to watch, that's for sure.

Their language during these games is hysterical.  They practice the words they're learning while playing.  "Unusual" is one word I have heard often this week, along with "responsibility" and, thankfully, "awesome" comes out every now and then.  Of course, I also heard "oh crap" from Cassidy the other day, so we had to have a discussion about how that was not nice to say and that Mommy shouldn't say it either!

But they're definitely changing, and while it is absolutely lovely to see, it's kind of sad.  I see other moms with their babies while we're out at classes and such, and it's nice to reminisce about those good old days.  I don't EVER want to do it again, but man were they sweet.  Lucky for me they still are.  Most of the time.

Oh, and the weather still sucks.  Going on 3 weeks of below freezing temperatures.

OKAY THE NEXT PART DIDN'T WORK. I'LL HAVE DAVE TRY TO UPLOAD THE VIDEO WHEN HE COMES HOME. SORRY. IT WAS FUNNY. Here's a video of them playing.  Sorry I left the TV on in the background.  It's on Sid the Science Kid on PBS, so at least it was educational.  Basically here's the scene:  The girls are playing in their doll house and Taylor has Mariposa Barbie and Cassidy starts out with Eve but eventually switches to Wall-E.

Taylor:  Cassidy, robots don't go in elevators

Cassidy:  Oh, I didn't know!

        Did you know that robots don't have ears?

Taylor:  Nope!  And they don't have mouthesss.....

                       (as she pulls Barbie out of the elevator)  Ahh, my arms!

Later...

Cassidy as Eve: I am tired.  Where do you have a bed for a robot?

Cassidy then puts Eve down and picks up Wall-E and takes him up the stairs

Taylor as Barbie/Mariposa falls down

Cassidy: Sorry Pocahontas!

Taylor:  No she's Mariposa

Cassidy as Wall-E crashes to the floor

Swimming

Here's a picture of a recent snack time at our house.  We built a snow fort and a snow girl on the back deck. 

Last week we had swimming evaluations.  That's right, when it was snowing and well below freezing, the girls went swimming.  Indoors obviously, but still, when you live here, you do begin to do crazy things in the winter.  They both were so excited that they were ready to leave 2 hours before we needed to go.

Cassidy was able to put her face in the water, blow bubbles, float on her stomach and back by herself with the teacher.  She did really well, and I was quite surprised at how much she did on her own.  The teacher was complimentary and said that Cassidy would be in the Red level, not the white, which is their equivalent of beginner.  Yay, Cassidy!  I was nervous about Taylor going and getting the same level because she has been a more hesitant swimmer than Cass.  I asked the teacher about it, and she said that it would be no problem for them to stay together.  Well, Taylor kicked the water's you-know-what, and did everything Cassidy did, and got the same evaluation.  Yay, Taylor!

So today was their first lesson with Ms. Carol.  She's a nice, big, older lady who seemed to have a lot of experience and patience for little monkeys.  The girls were beyond excited and again were ready 2 hours before we needed to be there.  I had to go to the (cold) parents' waiting area, but I had a good view of them swimming.  They were able to swim to their teacher on their tummies, and her goal seemed to be to get them to float rather than to swim entirely under the water.  They used noodles too, for tummy swimming and back swimming, which I had never seen.  They also got to use something that looked like a dumb bell with styrofoam on the ends to help them learn to put their faces in the water while kicking.  Taylor got a little scared at that because she was expected to swim a long way (the width of the pool), and she did cry.  Thankfully the lesson was almost done by that point, and Taylor recovered enough to do the last activity with the other 3 kids.  They got to jump into the water and swim to the teacher and back to the wall by themselves.  Cassidy, insanely eager, jumped in before the teacher was ready, and had to get back out to wait her turn, but she wasn't phased - hey, she got to jump twice instead of just once!

All in all, it was amazing, and I am a very proud mom.  They loved it and can't wait until next Tuesday.  I am happy that in the dead of winter, I don't have to get in with them this way.  We'll probably have to go back to the community pool one of these days, but until it's above 20, I am absolutely refusing to get in the water regardless of whether the pool is inside or out (well, outside all the pools are frozen so that's not really a choice...).  

Maybe I will remember to add pictures next week.  Don't you want to see two frozen little swimmers?  It's kind of funny to see swimming suits and snow boots.

Hawaii, look out!  We'll be ready to snorkel this summer!