Look at these kids.

Nashi had the day off from school so I was on double duty. Historically the hardest of days is when I have to watch them both all day long, but as Papaya gets bigger it’s becoming a tad less daunting. We read books and slowly got ready for an outing, then made our way to Discovery Park with some sandwiches, snacks, and water. Later attempted a double drive nap, which only worked for Papaya so we spent an hour driving while trying to keep Nashi quiet. These days we can’t even get him to fall asleep in the car unless it’s at least 2pm, which is too late for Papaya’s first nap. We generally don’t even bother trying to get him to sleep on the weekend anymore, which he sort of handles but sort of not. Is he ready for Kindergarten??

Quick sweet thing about Nashi: when he gets hurt and cries, he goes to Papaya for a hug to seek comfort. All the work of having two kids become worth it when that happens.

Another thing that happened: he was sitting at the top of a few stairs at the courtyard of PCC Greenlake when he fell backwards. He was almost stopping the fall but still sort of slowly fell down – too fast for me to help but slow enough for me to say “protect your head!” He actually did a great job with his arms and hands to tumble down pretty safely. I was very enthusiastic about how he did a great job falling down, which gave him more pride than the fall gave him pain. For the next few hours he kept saying “were you proud that I fell down so well?” I don’t want to get TOO caught up in the metaphorical here, but I want to instill in him as much pride as possible when he handles his falls well. I was a very proud Papa indeed. Now if he’d only take a fucking nap once in a while.

The baby girl is just not so much a baby anymore. She continues pushing physical limits and is currently obsessed with swinging from monkey bars. She can’t reach the actual monkey bars so she finds bars at the top of slides and goes for it. She also loves getting me to chase her around by walking up to tall ledges on the playground. It’s like I need a toddler-sized butterfly net to follow her around with.

She’s getting more and more conversational, giving us the opportunity to have these kinds of interactions:

Me, seeing her pick her nose and eat it: “What are you eating?”

Papaya: “I’m eating a booger.”

The most frequent phrase these days is “papa look” or “mama look” or “Nashi look” when trying to get our attention. She uses the phrase to mean look at me or listen to me. She’ll also use the phrase with family or even strangers. When she’s proudly hanging on the handles of a merry-go-round, she’ll say “people look” and expect the same adoration from the general public that she receives from family.

Funny thing about Papaya, she occasionally talks in her sleep. A few weeks back she said “fig newton,” which is her favorite treat. Another time she said “No! Hold it!” which is exactly what she says when Kai takes something from her so clearly that’s what she was having a dream (nightmare?) about.

They are playing much better with each other these days. More so than injury, the biggest issue between them now is Kai taking things from her or not sharing things. This is made much harder because they covet one another’s things so much. Still, I remain optimistic about their future.