Play time

Pamp called me at work to tell this funny story: Kennedy has been playing with the two rocking horses - apparently one is now named "Mama-nee" and the other is "Nana-nee" - feeding them and then teaching Pamp how to milk the mommy horse. This is accomplished by squeezing the stirrups so that the milk goes into the bucket. And if baby Nana-nee isn't ready for a drink, the milk goes in the fridge for later. The other day I was talking to her about what horses eat: hay, oats, apples, carrots, grass, and sugar cubes. I also mentioned that baby horses drink milk. I think the combination of this and milking the cow at the farm must have given her the idea.

I love to watch Kennedy play. She talks to herself when she's playing alone. It's the cutest thing to hear, and no matter what she is playing with (animals, dolls, tools, magnets, musical instruments...) her scenarios always seems to involve, "This is the mama and this is the Kennedy!" There's usually a daddy and a baby sister, too. Then the family goes on adventures to the museum, or errands to the bank, to school, takes naps, eats lunch, and then they go to bed. They have conversations with each other about all kinds of things. Sometimes there's some crying by the Kennedy toy and comforting by the mama toy. That makes me smile.

Naming her friends is also a new thing. Before we had "blue baby" and "pink baby" and each animal was just called by its animal name. Now all of a sudden her octopus is called "La-la" and she was playing with a wedge (from the flooring installation kit) the other day named "Baby Molly," which she swaddled and carried around all over the house.

Macy is starting to play much more, too. She reaches and grabs for toys and passes them back and forth between her hands. And, she's reached the stage where everything goes in her mouth. My dad said that yesterday she took the bottle from him and held it herself for the entire feeding. She is showing quite the interest in eating real food; she watches us very intently at mealtimes now. I think we started Kennedy on cereal at 5-months, so it might be about time.