Today, Livi did potato prints and had a great time stamping, then used the brush to just paint with, which ended up morphing all of her shapes of trees, 3’s, stars, and birds into swirls of connected colors, which she said she liked better. Very cute. Declan slept through that activity and they free-played together when he woke up.
For the first hour together, Declan was vigilant about telling Livi that “You can’t push Quinny….she’s still a baby…..she doesn’t understand…..” and “Don’t throw the book at her, you can’t do that….” (she wasn’t doing any of these things, but he was the enforcer – can you tell he’s been told these things (once? twice? a million times?) before?
Both kids were excited to make ginger cookies, and they were especially excited to eat the batter (eggless recipe!). They demolished Livi’s brownies she brought over that she’d made at home, along with some cocoa (L) and warm milk (D), then they lost interest in eating the baked finished product. Quinn, however, seems to love the cookies and keeps sneaking some from their snack table. (Recipe at end.)
At one point, Livi responded to something Declan had said, replying, “Don’t talk to me that way!” (don’t know what D said). He got upset and shoved a rolling cube over her way. It grazed her chin and she started crying. I was perched in the doorway, watching all of this unfold while helping Quinny manage a ginger cookie, but I didn’t say anything. Livi cried louder and stared at me, I continued watching but didn’t react. She then walked over to me and cried at me with enormous effort, and I said, “Tell Declan what you need, now.”
She walked over to him very assertively and said “You need to say you’re sorry.” Declan looked visibly uncomfortable and looked down at the ground, looked away, looked basically anywhere Livi wasn’t. Then he walked away and went over to another cube, pushing it randomly at a chair. Livi marched over to him again, hands on hips, exclaiming, “You need to say you’re sorry!” Declan said, “I just have to push this cube, first….” then walked away again. Then he mumbled something, and Livi said, “You have to look at me when you say it.” A little while later, he did what she asked, and all was well, “Diego” and “Alicia” were a team again, combatting the numerous monsters they seem encounter in our living room. It was amazing to watch the whole thing unfold, just working it out between them, by themselves.
Later, we sang a few songs together, with Livi on guitar and Declan on finger cymbals, Quinn on whatever “tasted good” at the time. The favorite was a song Livi brought to our attention by singing it while she worked on a craft one day, “Peace Like A River,” so we sang that together a few times. Mom, those “Wee Sing” books you gave us are absolutely indispensable!! We use them almost every single day!!
GINGER SNAPS
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1-1/3 cups molasses
1 T. ginger
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix all ingredients together, adding water if dough is too dry to form a large ball.
3. Roll dough into 1-inch balls.
4. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
