New "hobbies"

Here's the latest with what the Solano girls are up to...

Ashlyn is loving Preschool. She is a Peer Model in a reverse mainstream classroom and loves all her new friends. It was an adjustment having something fixed on our schedule 4 days a week. Our oldest is attending a school...I can't believe we are entering that phase of our life just when Brock is getting out of it finally :) I love how her backpack is bigger than she is.

Ashlyn has also been getting into knot tying. Here is Tweety birds torture. His beak is being tied to his eyebrows and below that is a tangled mess where several toys have been knotted together and threaded through a ruler.

Below you will see what she calls "traps". She builds a barricade of stuff either stacked on something or blocking off a room. Brock was the victim of this ingenious trap and oddly enough he didn't wake up for about an hour (I have video proof of him lightly snoring throughout the process). This was a joint effort between Ashlyn and Claire and neither of them whined during the entire process...they were both very dedicated and involved. I hope pulling a trick on dad doesn't have a similar allure later on during the teen-age years.

A similar stacking technique is used to make "Rocket ships" and box beds. This particular box is now on Ashlyn's bed and is a bed or house or whatever she wants to pretend it is and it is where she all her "special" toys stay that she doesn't want anyone to take.


Claire is a wonderful partner in crime for Ashlyn. She firmly believes that she should be attending preschool as well and I try not to take is too personally that she wants to leave me so early.


She does have a little play group she goes to once a week with some other cute 2-3 year olds. She loves having her own friends to play with.She likes having her alone time and usually will shut the door and pretend play or color on her own for a little while each afternoon. She does not like coloring at the table ( a little too confining) and with a crayon eater named Lara on the loose the bathroom became a place of retreat one day. I don't know how I feel about that yet.I hope someday Claire will embrace the use of utensils. She prefers hand feeding herself still, but she is a good eater.Lara is almost one now. She is developing quite the personality and is pretty determined and feisty.She loved playing with this little water spout at Universal Studios. The top middle picture is her "Stay Back" face/gesture usually given to Claire many times a day. She did not want to leave this spout.We are definitely busy little girls. I loved this shot featuring Ashlyn's "pose" that she strikes for the camera from time to time. Here they are with Brock enjoying the wonders of cotton candy...what is that stuff? It's magic. I used to love that stuff as a kid. Now all I can think of is, "That stuff has to be ruining their teeth" and "I hope they are still able to sleep during the car ride despite the sugar rush." We are no fun as adults. Of course I had to have a few bites for old times sake.