Snickers and New Tricks

I have a teddy bear from my childhood with two tones of brown in his fur. He also has a pink bow that's half falling off. He was super silky and soft for quite a long time, but he had to get washed eventually because of a bug going around our house. And his trip through the dryer mottled his fur. He became more fluffy than silky. But he remained my favorite teddy bear, nonetheless.

Melinda has really taken a liking to teddy bears recently (as confirmed by her wish on a dandelion, during our strawberry picking outing). We were fortunate enough to get a used teddy bear (in great condition!!) from our friend Johanna only a few weeks later. Now Jacob and Melinda can both play with a nice teddy bear at the same time! (Too bad Melinda's not too keen on sharing them, half the time....)

Long story short, I told Melinda the name of my teddy bear: Snickers. And then, because she asked, I had to explain why it's named Snickers: because of the colors, which are so similar to the candy bar of the same name. She didn't quite understand, though, so when we went grocery shopping this week and a container of Snickers at the checkout counter caught my eye, I had Jesse add two of them to the conveyor belt.

We split our Snicker bars in half, and enjoyed them wholeheartedly. It's actually been years since I've had a Snicker bar, I think! (Well, unless you count the itty bitty variety you get from Trick-or-Treating... I guess they count, but it's not the same!) It was kind of fun to introduce my kids to a well-known candy bar. Of course, chocolate candy bars, even when split in half, aren't really meant for preschooler hands....




Melinda learned a new trick this week, too. I'm pretty sure she didn't even really have a chance to practice and fail at it first. She could just suddenly do it. What, you ask? Climb the door frames as if she was born a monkey, of course. See those monkey toes?!?

And yes, I know the kids' bedroom is a royal mess. I'm ignoring it. They mess it up every single night if I try to clean it up, and I don't like wasting my energy.


She climbed the door frame over and over again. Even gave her hand a blister, and had to take a day off! But it was all better today, and so she was back at it again. Jacob tries to copy her, but he's not quite big enough to reach across like that yet. Thank. Goodness.

Of course, Melinda almost was born a monkey, wasn't she? She is the same girl, after all, who was rolling over both ways at 3 months,
Cruising on the furniture like a pro at 5 months,

Crawling just before 6 months,

Climbing up our furniture at 7 months,

And walking!!! at 9 months. (Good thing she was my first child and not my third!!)

I had to know she was always physically strong, right? Still, her new tricks always amaze me. :)