Playdate!

This week we had a playdate with my good friend Laura and her daughter Keira. Keira is 18 months old and gets cuter every single day. Gavin must think so too, because he gave her her first kiss!

Gavin refused to take his coat off (again) but I have decided that is a battle that is not worth fighting. When he gets hot, he'll take it off. Keira brought Gavin a book to read by the fireplace:



Gavin loved Keira's play stove and sink:



The kids enjoyed a little house-tent in the front room:

Evie wasn't sure about going in the tent, so she had a snack on the couch:

Gavin and Keira joined in - everyone had a snack-cup with little goldfish!

Instead of moving the beads around, Gavin and Keira thought it was more fun to hit the wires:

Gavin and Keira had fun running between the living room and dining room, jumping, babbling, and pretending to fall down. Then it was time for a little rest, on the dog bed (that the dog doesn't use):

Evie played with the Exersaucer (now stretched out):

We had such a great time and can't wait to play again!

The Cermak 500

Last Monday was a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr, and Grandpa Vic had the day off, so he and Grandma came over for a visit. When Gavin got up from his nap he felt like cuddling with Grandpa:

Then Gavin and Evie got on their little cars and started driving through the house. Evie liked to stop at the fridge to play a song on our new "Fridge Farm" magnet set:




Gavin stopped long enough to see what Evie was doing, decided it wasn't interesting, and kept racing:



"My favorite song is She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain!"





I managed to get a video of the twins racing. Evie just smiled at Grandpa and he pushed her all around the house (and even spun her around). This girl is going to charm guys into giving her things all of her life, I can just tell right now! Grandma provided the commentary as the twins zoomed through the kitchen:

Library Time

We spend a lot of time at Naperville's libraries. We went to Nichols library twice this week! Evie played peek-a-boo at the puppet window in the kids' area:









Evie and Gavin love to sit in this little chair. This time, Evie happily listened to stories, while Gavin ran around refusing to take off his coat or play with anything.



Gavin was only happy in front of this computer. Francis helped him search for his favorite books, since Gavin also refused to take off his mittens. Gavin was constantly trying to draw on the computer screen with the nearby pencils. I think he must have thought it was a gigantic Nintendo DS toy!



We went back later in the week for a puppet show. This was our first one and the kids LOVED it! They were dancing and clapping and pointing out all the animal puppets. They were also intrigued that there was such a big crowd of parents and kids there. Luckily, I got us a spot right in front. We can't wait for the next one!

Road Trip To Gurnee!

This weekend we drove up to Gurnee to visit our dear friends Mark and Robin and their kids Annie and Sam. We had never driven that far with the kids before. On the way up there, they were fine. When we arrived, Gavin headed to straight to the toys with Annie. He didn't even want to take his coat and boots off (this lasted about an hour).

Gavin loved the play power tools. Here he is with the weed-whacker:




Annie and Sam decided to attack Uncle Francis with the sander and saw:




Gavin and Annie played piano:



Evie enjoyed air hockey with Uncle Mark:




Gavin and Annie hung out in her room:




Evie and Gavin had such a great time playing with Annie and Sam and their toys. They also have a fishtank and two cats, one of which peed in the litterbox for us. The kids found this fascinating! Gavin did not want to go home.

I was sure they would sleep on the drive home, but they stayed awake. I put them down when we got home and they had a late, short nap. They were still wound up and cranky when they awoke, and it was a good thing Grandma and Granpa Cordes were here to help out!

Old Toys, New Toys

At some point this month, Evie and Gavin got around to opening the last of their Christmas gifts. Auntie Clare helped Evie open this book:

It was If You Give A Pig A Party (from Francis' co-worker Pat W.). Note the stuffed pig in Clare's arm! This book is such a huge hit that the kids want to hear it several times in a row!

Clare is such a trooper at cleaning her parents' basement. She continues to find neat toys that she and Francis used to play with. Below are two dinosaurs that used to be part of a game:

Evie holds her stuffed pig and mouse (from If You Take A Mouse To The Movies):

Gavin is pulling a Fisher Price tractor, circa 1950. It used to belong to Grandpa Cermak!

This one is a new toy: cookies that have shapes in the center:

Here's Gavin pulling the vintage toy. It makes a very unique sound from a metal spring contacting a spinning wooden cog.

Kids-n-Cats

Last week we visited Auntie Di and our cat cousins. Here is Evie, patiently waiting while I got Gavin's coat on. I think she looks really grown up in this picture, like she's ready to go to kindergarten (if she was a foot taller).

"OK, Mom, I'm ready to go!"




As soon as we got there, Evie wanted to snack on some cheddar bunnies:

Gavin had a great time opening and closing this box, with Fergie in it. I don't think Fergie enjoyed it quite as much as he did:

Evie flipped through a cat book, unaware that Fergie was stalking her cheddar bunnies:




Gavin tried and tried to get the cats to chase their red ball, but half the time they weren't falling for it. So he crawled under the table to convince them, but they only looked at him like, "What are you doing under here? This is our spot!"




Fern reclaimed her favorite patch of the floor:

Evie petted Fern very gently:

Books & Tools

Sometimes, Gavin likes to sit or stand by Evie and do whatever she is doing. She isn't always receptive to this, mind you, but the other day she was happy to have him read near her:



"You can sit with me, Gavin. You're OK for a brother!"


Gavin loves tools and loves to take things apart. Here he is playing with a new tool bench from my cousin Susan and her family.



And here is Gavin using one of our speech therapist's toys to "drill" a hole in the wall. Yes, it is really a toy and the drill bit is not sharp - however realistic it may look!

In Which Evie Decides The Elephants Shall Be Tossed Onto The Floor

I think the title sums it up quite succinctly! Evie almost never throws or tosses anything, so it was even more funny that she spontaneously started this. These were the elephants from our "Little People Noah's Ark."

"Bombs Away!"

Time to Vacuum

Last week Gavin developed a two day obsession with our vacuum cleaners. As long as he had them, he was one happy kid. And if I had let him turn them on, I would have had one super clean floor!



Not to be left out, Evie grabbed one of the toy vacuums and got to work:


Ahhh, so sweet and helpful. I wonder if they will repeat this in ten years?

Tune into the blog every day this week for a new post in the morning!