Another week has flown by. I've written down a few things to write about but I know there's probably more that I've forgotten already.

Annika is becoming more and more independent and then every once in a while she regresses and wants to be a baby again. She has taken to dressing and undressing herself pretty well. She's been able to take off her pants and socks for quite a while but just in the last few weeks has she mastered shirts. She used to try to take her arms out of her shirt and then put them through the neck whole. She would get so frustrated then when the shirt wouldn't slide down over her waist. Once I showed her to take her arms out the bottom of the shirt and then to lift the shirt over her head, her frustrations lessened. Now you have to watch out though or you might have a naked girl running around the house!

Last Wednesday when I was working from home, Annika was in the room with me. She ran off with my highlighter but I was busy on the phone so I wasn't paying much attention (bad me!). When I was done I was working on something else and didn't notice that Annika was writing all over the wall! I quickly grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom and started scrubbing the wall. Luckily the highlighter hadn't dried and it was coming off easily. That's when I noticed that Annika had drawn a pretty good picture of a person on the wall. I asked her who it was and she said "Nika!" I made Kris run to get the camera so I could get a picture of it before we wiped it all off. Of course by now Annika was into cleaning the wall so she wiped off one of her arms before Kris got the picture taken. Either way, I was impressed. And then we sat Annika down for a (another) lesson about writing on the walls.

I'm pretty sure James is a genius baby. Either that or he's got some dumb luck. Last Wednesday James was sitting on my lap facing me. I asked him who his daddy was and if he could find Daddy in the room. He turned his head to the left and locked his eyes on Kris. I was amazed! I couldn't believe that at only four months old James could already recognize and find Daddy. So then I said James, can you find Mommy? And sure enough! He turned back and locked eyes with me! Genius! So then I asked him again if he could find Daddy. And then he turned his head to the right and locked his eyes on Brian Williams (NBC Nightly News anchor). I'm pretty sure Brian Williams isn't James' daddy. Ah well. Maybe he's not quite a genius. But he has found Kris a couple times since then when I've asked him where Daddy was. So, clearly the kid has some smarts. Must get that from me!

I've started to notice that James pays a lot of attention to Annika. He's often smiling at her and watching her. I think he may just like her! One way for me to play with Annika in the evenings while also caring for James is to pretend that James is playing with Annika. I'll have James "chase" Annika. He'll "run" after her (that's basically just me carrying him) and she'll run and hide under covers or on a chair and then James will "get her." That's when I plop him down on her and he "gives her kisses" or you know, just lays like a lump on top of her. It's pretty fun though to hear her giggling about James and asking him to play with her some more.

We had a lovely father's day. Well, I thought it was lovely. I sure hope Kris had a good day too! The kids and I left him sleep in for a bit before waking him up by giving him presents (already sounds like the perfect day to me!). Then Kris played with James while Annika and I cleaned the house up a bit. Then Kris ran to work with Annika while James and I went grocery shopping. Annika was so excited to go to Kris' work with him. She's so used to Daddy leaving at night to go to work and now she has something to associate that with. Then after lunch the kids and I laid down for a nap (James and Annika have been tag-teaming with the waking up at night again and I am TIRED!). After about an hour though James woke up. I brought him down to Kris who was watching some TV. Then I slept about another hour and a half with Annika. By this time our dinner guests were arriving! Krystle, Grandpa, Marcia and Nana were coming over to celebrate Father's Day with us. Kris made the most delicious meal. Yes, Kris grilled his own Father's Day meal. He's just so good at it! He made a grilled shrimp cocktail with dill and garlic. Then he grilled fresh bell peppers with a creole seasoning that we dipped in southwestern ranch dip. Then he roasted some red potatoes to go with the Rosemary Pesto New York strip steaks that he grilled (to perfection!). It was all so super yummy! And before we knew it, it was time for everyone to leave. The day went quickly, but it was so nice!

And lastly, James may or may not be rolling from his belly to his back now. Kris thought he might have done it on Sunday. One minute James was on his belly and when Kris looked again, he was on his back. At least that's what he thinks. He can't remember for sure. Neither of us has seen James roll that way but if he hasn't done it yet, we don't think it will be long!