Eva is moving from babyhood to toddlerhood more each day. She's mastered the stairs for one. She's been able to climb them for many months, well before she could even walk. However, she just learned how to go down the stairs by. That gives me some relief, but I will not remove the baby gate completely since she is still very small and not big enough to be let free to climb up and down the stairs like the other kids. Well, honestly the main reason is because we live with the in laws and they don't keep the upstairs very safe for baby to roam on her own. If we lived on our own I would make the rooms safe for her to play in. So for now the downstairs gate stays on. She also understand a whole lot more. She can follow any command I give her. If I ask her to get a diaper, she does. If I ask her to get off something she does. She can turn lights and TV's on and off and knows what those actions mean. Today for the first time she was able to play in the playground by her self with out my constant presence next to her. Of course I remained close by and kept a very watchful eye on her. She noticed that too. When I took her off the stroller she walked a few feet away from me, paused and turned to look at me and gave me a little mischievous smile as if saying "Do you realise how far I've gone from you?". When I smiled back at her she ran even further toward the playground and again she turned to look at me with that same smile. I smiled again and waved at her saying "Hi Eva!". Suddenly it hit her that I was letting her free and she went on to play with no more doubts that she was now on her own to have fun.
At the park we also had a very delicious picnic lunch that Isabella had prepared for us. The only problem was that she didn't make enough sandwiches so there was a bit of drama because of that. Bella ate too many, Rosie didn't get enough. In the end Rosie decided she didn't like the sandwiches after all and she ate a Go-gurt yogurt and drank some water. We finished eating our apples and played a bit more then we went home. It was a beautiful though very warm day so we were relieved to be back home.
Isabella decided to go for a swim and Rosie played for a while in the computer.