with her friend Aaron away, Caroline spent the first 15 minutes of the Little Gym crying. Aaron is never allowed to go away again.

We joined Annie, Ellie, Riley and Emma Grace at the pool this afternoon. Caroline was very excited to show me her ability to swim with a noodle - she's been practicing with Cheryl at her Saturday morning lessons. Hopefully Casey will have some noodles to share when we visit his parents and their pool in a few weeks.

Caroline is very possessive of the pirate ship at Miller Park. The little girl seated to the left barely escaped Caroline's wrath.

Thanks to intermittent rains, the playgroup trip to the pool today was postponed. Some of us hit the mall for lunch and the carousel instead.

Caroline and her hat were ready for a shopping trip to TJ Maxx with her mom this morning.

At some point this afternoon, Caroline managed to cut off most of her bangs. Poorly. We are not impressed.

Getting four pre-schoolers to pose is hard.

According to their parents, second babies aren't photographed nearly as much as the first born. I'm helping to fix that with this picture of Alec and Lily.

uvniii7u9uhhhhhhhhhhhhhiokiioppppp-gjujj

Caroline wrote this. She wanted to write something.nmmmmillk8oio8o

She wanted to write about Caroline and Mommy and Daddy.

nnb, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,gggggggggggggg,,,.m,.....vcxjjjjjj vokf;tg

The girls climbed into these high chairs and strapped themselves in at Costco this afternoon. And then I ate the rest of Caroline's ice cream, and she couldn't stop me.

Caroline made some awesome art with glue and starfish and stamps and sand at the Children's Museum this morning. And then the glue dried and the starfish and sand fell off. And the remainder of the art is not hanging on our fridge. That's right - Dad of the Year nominee, I'm not.

Three of these statements are true:
1) Caroline, as of Monday, is no longer in pull-ups. She had been using diapers as an insurance policy for her rare relapses, but she's been very good lately and decided underwear is the way to go. Surreptitiously, a change of clothes and a pull-up accompanies us on all our travels.
2) Caroline finally broke the sucker habit. In an uncomplicated ruse, we informed Caroline that her younger cousins Casey and Adelaide needed her pacifiers, and she was a big girl, and big girls don't use suckers, so we should send them to her baby cousin. On Monday, we stopped by the post office and "mailed" her last three pacifiers to Baby Casey. And only a year after Caroline's dentist told us to stop using them.
3) Caroline's current favorite animal toy is her rubber snake.
4) Caroline's one of the among the youngest OT VII's in our church.
5) Caroline's current favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla, which, in my opinion, is the absence of a flavor.

Caroline on the phone with Aunt Cristen this evening. She still doesn't get how a phone works. And she's still illiterate. Caroline can't read either, but she's only 3.

Cheers!
Actually, I like it. Sadly, Caroline won't be trying it for another 18 years or so - if it stays on the market...

Finally!

Caroline can't get enough of her snake - she insisted on taking it with her on our travels today.

After we returned from the pool this evening, Caroline spent a good 20 minutes pushing her new rubber snake up and down the hallway and hissing.

Madeline enjoying a slice of pizza. Caroline finished off 2 slices - she won't eat again for days.

Darcie and Clayton invited the playgroup over to their neighborhood pool this evening. The weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate, and I would have had one very disappointed pre-schooler to deal with this evening. But the storms passed, and the trip was on. Caroline was in heaven. Thanks Darcie!

She's coloring otters here, at the Sci-Works storytime. Otters aren't supposed to be orange. D-

Caroline helps Emma Grace attack her mom.

Playgroup was at the Tanglewood pool this morning.

In a long unused bag, I found a small digital camera that Cheryl thinks she somehow acquired on one of her business trips. Caroline spent a few hours taking pictures (poorly) in our backyard. Here she's taking a picture of me.
Her results: