The Way We Play

In a similar vein to our previous post, we're finding that the toddler way of play is a little different (and WAY more fun!) than the infant way of playing we were used to in this house. We took a few pictures today to illustrate some of the new favorite activities over here.

Note that the girls are debuting new hairstyles here - even though Clara won't allow bows anymore (she loves to pull them out) she left this style in all afternoon. Elena, on the other hand, who loves the bows kept pulling the ponytails out, even when they were already out and she was only pulling at free hair! Funny girls.


First up - playing phone. No matter how many toy phone they see, the real ones are always better. The cell phone and house phone are both favorites, and we call out "Nana Rose? Grandma? Hi!!" They love it, but only imitate the "hi" part. The buttons seem more fun than talking.

The rocking giraffe that Grandpa and Grandma Mary sent for their birthday is a hit whether you are the girl riding or the girl petting the nose (which they take turns at). Here, Elena is squeaking his ear:

But of course Clara wants to get in on the action - this is a VERY regular occurrence now. Whatever a sister has is immediately desirable. Get a load of Elena's reaction here:


This is the best shot we could get of what is an absolutely adorable game that we saw for the first time on vacation in Oregon. The girls get out of eye sight of each other, then pop their heads around to "find" each other. They laugh hysterically as they do this...it's so fun to watch.


This looks like just general mischief, but in fact they were taking turns at a favorite musical instrument- the heating grate. They love running their hands up and down the grate (and it's quite the sound to hear when you're in the shower and they are doing it on the adjoining wall!).

Another household bit of fun is playing with the refrigerator. Being inside is best, but since we don't often allow that the girls have gotten good at pulling down the sheets of paper we have posted on the front of the fridge, and grabbing the magnets. This makes us a little nervous, so we've moved the big magnets to the bottom now, with magnets way too big too swallow being the only ones they can touch.

Listening to cds has been fun for the girls for the last year, but they are really starting to react to favorites right now. At this point, the Curious George soundtrack (from Nanny Rachel and her fiance Damien) and Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell's "Fly me to the moon" (from Auntie Cyndie) are especial favorites. Even more fun than the music is dumping out the cd basket, though!

Finally, especially when you've got some good tunes on, who wouldn't want to dance? Clara is really good at grooving out when you say "Are you dancing?" but Elena (pictured here) is more into a squatting/standing pattern interspersed with trying to figure out the stereo.

That's the fun at our house right now! Like everyone says, it's more the household items than actual toys that seem to occupy them the most, but every day they pick up something new they enjoy, and it's really fun to watch.