Austen & Gage

Today Gage held his black-and-white stim book while staring at the pictures.  He even flipped a page back and forth.  Also, he played with his new silver rattle, trying to bring it to his mouth:  he’s tasting everything these days, particularly his blankets.

Helping Dada make spaghetti.

From 2009 04 27

Smiles truly are contagious. Show your pearly whites to Gage and he’ll reply with his famous tooth-challenged grin.

From 2009 04 27

(just don’t ask about the letter “S”)

Austen loves to put on dresses (her NYCB tutu, her pink princess dress from Disney, her flower dress from Halloween and her Snow White dress).  She sort of plays at dressing a couple of princess barbie dolls — Mommy makes the dolls sing.  Usually, Austen’s focus is pretend play:  pretending to be a princess or ballerina.  It’s not really like she’s “playing with dolls;” she ends up talking to her imaginary friends, pretending she’s their mom and carrying princess accoutrements from room to room.   

While it’s sometimes hard to get Gage to nap during the day — his eyes pop open at the slightest sound — he’s a good sleeper at night, quickly dozing off after some milk and cuddling.

Normally, Gage smiles, coos and chirps but today, Gage started audibly laughing while talking to Dada.

She carried her pink and purple purse into Barnes and Noble, which amused her friend’s mom, but what’s inside? Coin purse?  Keys? A mirror?

Nope.

Plastic nuts & bolts. Magnetic rocks. A pink wooden percussion instrument without its stick. Kids’ glue. Plastic flower barrette clips from our trip to London.

Always the pragmatist.

Gage’s scared look when Austen comes close (her enthusiasm can get a little rough sometimes) is being somewhat displaced by long stares of fascination. He’s watching people more and more and now Austen’s wild exuberance and child-sized face are enticing his interest.

With his cousins at Easter, Gage was a bit overwhelmed and got overtired. It was curious to see six-year-old cousin Emma do the same thing Austen does: go right into Gage’s face and gleefully squeak baby talk. Cousin Erin was more mellow, which might suit Gage’s gentler disposition. We’ll see. Everyone talks of the boys paling around but in my experience you can’t make assumptions based on gender.

L.L.F.R.

Austen, always the independent spirit, wants complete privacy when using the potty. She closes the door and even locks it sometimes. Mommy has noticed that this is not the norm for kids her age, who usually like some assistancee.