Playtime

I'm feeling a little bit like Zoë, like perhaps the world is bullying me, because I was just helping the kids engineer a marble run out of these Lego-compatible marble run pieces (I don't know what they're called) and as I was putting two pieces together I slipped right through a sliced my finger open with the little connector bits. My finger is not happy, but now I have a bandaid to match Zoë's. 

Here's Alexander letting out an enthusiastic "Wow!" after watching his marble make it all the way down the track.

Zoë's finger is actually doing much better and no longer requires a bandaid (thank goodness—because it's been difficult to keep her out of the sandbox). Her wound has healed up nicely and she's got a lovely fresh layer of dermis, so I cut off the remaining flap of skin last night at bath time. Waffelles was very interested in bath time today. She tends to...avoid...Alexander and Zoë quite a bit, but last night she decided to investigate matters personally.

Ordinarily the tub is empty and Waffelles will hop in to bat around the tub toys at her pleasure (the kids have a bath "marble run" of sorts and she loves the little balls that came with it). She wasn't quite sure what The Small Humans had done to her play room.

Alexander came very close to pulling her in the tub with them, but Waffelles didn't seem to be a big fan of that idea so she ran away, but the kids enjoyed her interest in them.

The crown Zoë is wearing in the top picture is from the kids' primary lesson this morning. They were all very excited to make their crowns. Alexander is especially excited and decided that he wanted to be a king for "second Halloween." 

I'm sure he means next Halloween, but saying "second Halloween" is also cute because it means he has memories of the past that he's keeping with him. He's been looking forward to "second Christmas" as well. It's almost as if he thinks we invented all sorts of fun holidays last year and is encouraging us to keep up the tradition (not realizing that these holidays have been celebrated long before he was born and will continue to be celebrated for years more). 

The kids were all rather proud of their crowns.

After church, Zoë was flipping through a book of Victorian-era dresses and she stumbled on a page called "Night at the Opera," or something, which featured a dress with enormous puffed sleeves. Zoë immediately wanted puffed sleeves "as big as [her] head," so Miriam did her best to help fashion a very pouffy dress for Zoë to wear with her crown.

Zoë was not disappointed. In addition to being extra-pouffy, her dress was extra-twirly!