In retrospect, the winter holidays marked our last routine naps. I count us really lucky (and persistent) that we managed to keep these girls benefiting from daily naps until a few months past age four.
As nap frequencies plummeted through January and February, even I admit they have well and truly grown out of them. We still wind down and need some “down time” after lunch, but we can now do stuff in the afternoon, too.
Saturday
Bill left early to participate in his first charity bike ride of the season. He sent this selfie from the rest stop at mile 40, then wrapped up 49.6 miles before coming home:
Bill
While Bill was riding, the girls and I played at home. Cate and Sam quietly tackled our big space puzzle:
Sam worked on planets and the sun while Cate worked on the moon and earth
They high-fived each other once the last piece was placed.
After lunch, girls took a super extendo bath with ALL of the bath toys. Afterward, we laid in bed together and read a Magic Tree House adventure with Jack and Annie from cover to cover.
Sam and Cate love a warm bath!
Sunday
Somehow the beginning of daylight “savings” time meant both girls woke up an hour earlier than usual. Cate climbed into bed by me and asked if she could “play a little Ida” (Monument Valley), but Sam and Dad declared for seeking breakfast. When asked, Sam chose Taco Cabana as an outing, and before they left, Cate decided we should go, too.
After lunch, Sam and Cate lobbied to tackle an activity from our Big Book of Experiments, and recruited Daddy Bill to help them make balloon rockets. A quick trip to Walgreens produced fancy balloons with battery-powered LEDs inside. Then, Bill strung twine from the front door to the far end of the dining room, and mounted a straw.
Bill helped Cate tape her balloon to her straw
Sam was initially concerned by the balloon deflating rapidly. But once she grasped how the “rocket” worked, she asked Dad to run twine and a straw for her, too. With two tracks in place, there were balloon rocket races.
Cate and Sam don’t quite have the embouchure strength yet to inflate their own balloons.
Both shouting, “Ten! Nine! Eight!…”
After rockets, it was time to play outside again. Hand walking immediately segued into scaling the automated containers:
Cate on garbage and Sam on recycling…
A little later, someone observed the ever-larger loquat tree next door was covered with yellow fruit, and asked if we could go pick some. I boldly asserted that loquat season comes later in the spring, but I was mistaken. A ton of these loquats are already ripe!
Just like last year, the neighbor’s house is still vacant, and I feel comfortable entering the yard to gather some of the fruit that will otherwise go to birds, squirrels, and opossums. Apparently, Cate and Sam feel comfortable, too. Within moments, wildly autonomous children raided the kitchen for big plastic bowls, departed the house, and went next door to collect fruit.
Loquats!
Sam and Cate munching loquat “twins” and “triplets”!
I went back inside to inquire whether Bill might want to help us reach some of the bulgingly ripe fruit higher up on the tree. But before we came out again, girls had taken the matter into their own hands and feet, and were halfway up the tree!
Sam and Cate up the loquat tree
The best part of our care-free Sunday? It will be followed by a week of spring break. More fun soon!