Laughing

Clara and Lucy have quite subtle and sophisticated senses of humor.  I took this video last week and think it is pretty funny.  It is only really interesting if you can hear them, so make sure your volume is on.  Here is the You Tube video.

Clara is in the pink dress, Lucy in the flower print.

Couple of things that are amusing - you can see that Clara carries a nearly-destroyed copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and a foam "B" from the mat in their playroom.  Lucy also has a few round foam pieces in her hand.  They will pick something up and carry it around for hours.

You can also see that Maggie is in the background.  I was recording this at her dinner time, so she was doing a scan under our dining table to see if there was anything left from the girls' snack.  I think Maggie is judgmental at times of my parenting choices - for example, if she were in charge she would not let the girls walk on the couch (especially since she it not allowed up there).

Life in Manila

Again, it has been a long break since my last postings, but I have some photos I thought would be fun to share, so here they are.

Our complex is situated at the end of a fairly large pedestrian shopping area called High Street.  Every weekend there are activities on High Street, usually with corporate sponsorship.  This is from a couple of weeks ago when we took a walk and Stacey brought the girls close to see a fountain.  As you can see, it is a popular spot.  For some reason, people seek confirmation frequently that Clara and Lucy are twins.  It seems obvious , but it always comes in the form of a question.

Lucy in blue and Clara in red having their morning milk.  Stacey is putting a barrette in Clara's hair.  They both pull barrettes out almost as soon as they are put in.  Therefore, their vision is greatly reduced by their curls.

The girls love to spoon their own food, but to not have great accuracy in the direction it travels.  They were very excited by the introduction of their own bowls which have suction cups which are supposed to keep them in place.  Although they work hard with the spoons, they also still dig right into their oatmeal with bare hands when it gets too frustrating.

Yesterday we went for a walk within our complex.  I was on the other side of the koi pond and Stacey pointed me out the girls.

There is a nice seating area where people gather to look at the koi.  This is right by our apartment, so we get a good view of the pond from our living room and bedroom windows.  Sometimes the koi stare back.

We are starting to get into a routine of going to the pool on Saturday afternoons.  This is Lucy carrying the pool toys.  They both love to carry the bucket.  The shovel might actually be more appropriate for a trip to a sandy beach, but they have found it useful for shoveling water in the pool.

Our "swimming" actually is much more splashing around in a section of the pool that is probably about six inches deep.  Perfect for the girls.  They really enjoy climbing in and out of the pool and playing on this wooden deck, too, which unfortunately gets really slippery when wet.  

Stacey doing leg lifts with Lucy.

Clara proving the value of a shovel in a swimming pool.

Striding with great confidence into the water.

Post swimming bath.  Almost as much fun as the pool.

Post bath teeth brushing before going to bed.  We do this every night with mixed results.  We use kids toothpaste, which they love.  But we also call this lollibrushing since it seems like they are much more interested in licking off the toothpaste than actually making any contact between the bristles and their teeth.  Hopefully this will become more effective over time.