Had another great romp at Liz's house today. It was hot and sunny so Parker and Samatha enjoyed the pool. Eli and Miranda did not. But they liked the swing. Samatha got a little grumpy at one point and Lincoln had a gas with the rocket balloons.
Parker and Michael had a play session last night that was blog worthy. I'm not sure how Michael's stomach felt about the whole thing, but it was damn sweet.
I took Parker and Elizabeth to Adventure Playground yesterday (Jenna was watching Miranda). We met Amity and Mac there. They seemed a bit overwhelmed with everything but had a good time, nonetheless. Parker kept asking where Peter and Oliver were.
We then went to the park next door where Mac and Parker ran up and down the hill for what seemed like forever. 
Elizabeth just took in the scenery.
We had such a good time at Tot land this week we decided to go back today to show Dad.
Parker had another fabulous time on the ramp (which you can see in the picture of the back of Miranda). And the gals loved the baby slide. It's a great park.
Parker has a thing for numbers. Whether this will translate into a thing for math remains to be seen, but for now playing with numbers, and counting—in English, French, and Spanish—are a major preoccupation for him.
Here he's playing with a new numbers game that Rachel bought for him, which he's pretty keen on. I'm not sure what the educational purpose of this is supposed to be, but it doesn't matter to Parker. He will sit for an hour putting the tiles in place and taking them back off, and talking about them. One of his favorite books is Chicka Chicka 123, and he often reenacts the plot with whatever numbers he has handy, including these tiles.
Here he's playing with his giant calculator, another favorite toy. He has a few games that he plays with this. One favorite game is to enter (and then clear) all of the numbers in order. "I made a one," he'll say. "I made a two!" This often goes on up into the twenties. 
Another game, which he's playing in the above picture, is to enter numbers sequentially from 1-n, and then sing the song that corresponds to that track number on his favorite CD. Yep, he's also musical.
And, as demonstrated in these pictures, he also recently learned to say cheese.
The girls were cranky this evening due to missed naps and a messed up schedule. So we tried to give them a bath to change their mood. It worked...for about 5 minutes. Here they are before they lost it again.
Miranda woke up super grumpy from her nap. Parker tried to comfort her while watching Baby Shakespeare.
Grandma Judy bought Parker this car a while back. We never thought he would be big enough to use it, but sure enough almost immediately he started riding it around. He calls it his Beep Beep (probably because we always say, "beep beep" when he is riding it.)
The girls have discovered it and they love it. Elizabeth walked pretty much across the room with it the other day. Miranda hasn't gotten the hang of it completely, but she still likes it.
It seems that whenever I go to other moms' house, I end up wanting something they have. A particular toy. A feeding device. A bathseat. Something.
This week it was a play yard. A play yard is a big gate thing to keep your kid contained and safe if you have to run to the bathroom, check the mail or if you are a twin mom, deal with the other twin. I have one. I got mine used from another twin mom. It's boring, ugly and reminds me of puppies. My friend Kym has another kind. It's colorful, exciting and has a gate (so you can just open it up rather then bend down each time.)
I suppose I don't really need one (since I have one that I don't even use yet since our house is so small), but that didn't stop me from coveting it. It sure was pretty. And almost as cool as her hands-free safety gate.
Ahhhhh....
For Elizabeth. Not me, of course.
After a great romp at Tot Land in Berkeley, we came home and I quickly put Parker down for a nap. You see, Michael and I are going out tonight on a date and I thought he might go to sleep earlier if he napped earlier. Then Miranda and Elizabeth seemed ready, so I put them down. But about 30 minutes later, Elizabeth decided that she would rather not nap.
For the last half hour, she has been roaming the house. Pulling up on the trash can, eating the left over cheerios from this morning, tearing apart my paper, trying to get at Noe, shrieking at nothing, pulling down brooms, and generally having a grand old time. I can't remember the last time she was alone in a quiet house. And I doubt this moment will happen again any time soon.
This morning we played in the kitchen. Parker with his numbers. The girls with the letters.
Then we headed to the dining room to play in some laundry baskets. Noe hid nearby.
And we ended with the now obligatory hug session.
