Just in case you haven’t seen the most recent pictures posted, I’m here to tell you that Emmett and I love to paint. And color with chalk. And we also love to taste the paint and the chalk. But-here’s the kicker-we only love to color and to paint on the side of the house. It’s a good thing that Mom and Dad really trust the “washable” claims of the Crayola color people. Because we have graffitied the side of the house in really, really bright pink paint. And, so far, the rains haven’t washed it off. The chalk, yes. The paint, not so much. But stay tuned. Anything can happen.

We both love to copy one another. So, in a bad example, when Emmett is mad-he hits me. And so I learned that when I am mad, I hit Tessa. But, in a good example, I learned that when I am going to get something for myself-for example, my cup of milk-I should bring one back for Emmett, first. And he has learned that asking things with his voice-and not sign language-sometimes pays off a bit faster. We mimic one another, too. If Emmett turns around in a circle, I try it. And if I get a graham cracker from Mom or Dad and sit on the floor with it, Emmett does the same thing. Mom and Dad think that when we are doing something good, it is very cute. When we are doing something not-so-good, they think that maybe spacing us farther apart would have been a good idea.

As for me, I do this thing where, when Mom and Dad come into our room in the morning, I stand up in my crib, I take my cup of milk, and I watch Emmett getting dressed. But as soon as they turn to me to get me out of my crib, I dive onto the sheets, turn over onto my side with my bunny, and pretend to be asleep. It’s pretty funny.

Emmett, on the other hand, has turned into a real helper. He gets me my pacifiers, he likes to pick out my clothes in the morning, and he dresses me for walks. He makes sure that I have my hat, my shoes, and regardless of the weather he makes sure that I am wearing my coat. He isn’t really helping Tessa with stuff yet. He’s still getting used to her. He likes her but isn’t sure she’s really playground material yet.

We both love songs: The Wheels on the Bus, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle are our favorites. We like to spin around in circles or wave our hands and jump around when we sing. When it comes to modern music, Emmett prefers Deep Forest (he laughs super hard to the first song on the CD we have, although no one is sure exactly why) and I like-for better or for worse-80s hair bands. Cheap Trick came on the radio and I started clapping and dancing in my car seat. Mom and Dad are trying to steer me in another direction but I don’t like to be told what to do, so it isn’t really working so much.

Anyway, that’s it for today.

See you soon,
R

So, for the first time, Mom and Dad took us to the Aquarium and it was really great. First off, there is a HUGE bubble machine in front of the building and Emmett couldn’t get enough of it. He ran around, chasing one of the older boys, squealing and laughing. Second, did you know that fish live in water? Water that you can splash? Riley tried, every single time Mom took him close to one of the open tanks, to reach in and splash the water. He didn’t love it when the fish swam close to him, but he loved that they were in water.

But the best part was seeing all of the fish that we’ve only seen in Finding Nemo and in our books. Emmett liked the shark tank and thought that it was fantastic that there was a diver in the tank with them. The diver even came over to the glass and gave Emmett and Riley high-fives. Emmett kept following the diver along the glass, putting his hand up to the glass for the diver to mirror on the other side, all the time Emmett was jabbering away in Emmett-speak. (For those of you that don’t know, Emmett-speak is a combination of known and unknown words. The inflection, however, and the gesticulations convey the general meaning.)

There were HUGE fish in that tank. Riley was initially interested in a puffer fish that was slightly bigger than he was. He would reach out and touch the glass, pointing and saying “oh!” Then when the puffer turned around and began to swim up to him, he backed into Mom’s arms shaking his head. Finally, when the puffer-with his great big eyes-was right up against the glass, Riley would make the sign for “all done! all done!” Once the puffer turned around and started to swim away, he would begin again.

Emmett was very interested in the other kids at the Aquarium. Mom and Dad think that he is going to love starting preschool in January. He would follow the kids around, or just watch as they interacted with each other. He would copy them when they climbed up, over and through displays meant for this sort of interaction. He was quite curious. Maybe more curious to see what the older kids would do than to see what the fish were doing.

The morning at the Aquarium was finished off by sharing a breakfast burrito with Daddy. All said, it was a wonderful day. And it came in a string of very tiring, active days. Memorial Day at Grandpa’s, playing for hours in the backyard; going to the garden store and planting a garden; and, of course, the visit to the Aquarium. Busy, busy.

Next week we are going to the zoo! Stay tuned to see how we like that…

We’re out,
Emmett and Riley

PS If you are wondering why there are no posted pictures of our trip to the Aquarium, it’s because the flash wasn’t working and nothing came out. But Mom posted some video recently of us doing crazy stuff, so there is that.