Isabella's been playing make-believe and interacting with others for awhile, now. But, to see her playing with her sister (and not just Henry), the way my husband or I play with either of them just tickles me pink. In this video, Isabella's doing "This little piggy" with Victoria's right hand, and she had already done that twice before I shot the video, once with each of Victoria's feet.
The Children's Museum is a three-story place, and we didn't get past the first floor this time. Thanks again Momma, Poppa, Aaron, Jenny, and Becky for a YEAR'S MEMBERSHIP to The Children's Museum. The girls had so much fun in the shoes-off area of the first floor. The rest of the videos are taken from part of that area.
Before talking about those videos in more detail, I'd like to say that my blog postings aren't ever meant to be these shiny perfect little resumes of what my children do. In fact, I've been careful to point out what I shall refer to as struggles. I don't want parents to stress out about what their children are allegedly failing to do or to let achievements alone define a person. Observing certain strangers react to their children, at the Museum, is a stark reminder to be super careful about not being unrealistic with my children, to expect age appropriate behaviors, and to exude patience whenever possible. One instance that comes to mind was in the midst of the kiddos participating in a craft activity. There was this little boy, not more than Isabella's age, probably somewhere between my two daughters' ages, who was trying to figure out how to use a pair of scissors. His mother kept trying get him to hold the scissors correctly, and we could see the frustration and impatience in the mother's words and physical gestures. She got mad at the boy for putting too many figures in one place. Then she got mad for him cutting with the scissors using two hands. His face looked so broken and sad, and he gave up trying all together. The mom forgot or simply neglected to realize that boys take longer to master fine motor coordination. Besides, so what if the little boy uses two hands to cut paper?
I'll get off my soap box now. Changing my tune a bit towards the positive, it's fun to see my younger one emulating me. Towards the beginning of the video, she announces that she's cooking.
Food or cooking isn't the girls' only fascination. The footage of them sitting and playing with food related items was simply easier to capture, because elsewhere they were constantly moving and climbing. Below is a video where my older daughter was fixing a meal, and she made and set aside three dishes for me (how did she know I was hungry?!).
The last video, below, involves Isabella and Victoria playing in the same space and playing some with each other. It almost ended badly, with Isabella wanting to take the rolling pin from her sister so she could make cookies.
