Spring-time Babies

The children have enjoyed the warm weather, because it allows them to "ride their bikes" in our driveway area and to go to the park frequently. At the park, Ella enjoys swinging on the swing. We suspect that--if she had her way--that is ALL she'd want to do! She and Grace both are very adventurous. They will first observe other children doing something like climbing a rope ladder, and then they'll try it themselves (usually successfully). Buggy is still little, so sometimes she has to clamber up onto the see-saw / teeter-totter or other equipment. Joel enjoys playing with the woodchips that form the substrate of the park. He will also occasionally pull the crescent wrench (which we carry to tighten nuts on the stroller) out and "fix" the park equipment. A few days ago, another girl found a lady bug and a group of children gathered to look at it. Joel confidently reached out and carefully took the lady bug from the girl to look at it. Such a brave boy! :o) All three play well with other children there.

Several weeks ago while Ella was swinging, she was reaching out towards me as she was coming in my direction. She then grabbed my earphone cord and, on the reverse swing, completely ripped the left headphone out of the assembly. The pair of headphones in question is black. A number of days later, as I was preparing to take the children on another jog (and therefore was putting in my one ear piece), Ella told me that she "had broken my black Ohrsprecher (earphones in German) and that I should look for the white ones instead. This surprised me: almost a YEAR previously, I DID have a pair of white earphones which I subsequently lost. Obviously in the iterim I had no occasion to mention the lost white pair to any of the children, but Ella remembered!

For Christmas, Ella received a simple remote control car (the remote unit has a single button which makes the car go). For some reason, the toy has stopped working (I've replaced batteries, checked to ensure that the remote control button was making a connection, and done everything I know to do with no success). Yesterday, Grace had the remote control piece and made a comment to Ginger about how the car didn't work. Ginger responded that the remote control wasn't functional, and Grace replied: "It probably needs gas."