little mommy

Ever since Gabe arrived, Julia's little maternal tendencies have really surfaced. I've written about her "nursing" dolls and toys, but she also puts blocks (or any other toy) to sleep in the swing, changes diapers on her dolls (just fiddles her fingers around as if changing a diaper), and yesterday I caught her putting four dolls to bed in her room and going through our entire nap time routine.

Today, this little mommy and I went on a walk with our babies. When I suggested an afternoon walk, she hurried away and came back with her little stroller and doll. I explained that I would do the walking while she and Gabe sat in the stroller (as usual), but she would not have it. So we headed out, Julia strolling behind Gabe and me. Just like all walking moms do, we chatted as we walked. She commented on every bike we passed, noted the flowers, said "Bye-bye, water" to the sprinklers, and counted the flags that lined the streets today. (Her counting went like this, "One, two, three, four, five, six... two flags!" She can count to ten, but if there is more than one of anything, it's always "two!") It took us quite a while to walk around the block, but it was quite pleasant. And I couldn't help but remember my days as a girl pushing my own doll and stroller around the neighborhood. (Ashley, we don't have to tell anyone exactly how old we were when we did that. Ha.)

And another motherly instinct came out when we watched Dumbo today. During the "Baby Mine" scene Julia was in tears! She snuggled close to me and cried for the "mommy and baby." I admit I may have shed a tear or two myself.

Although not directly related to this post, I've included a slide show of a photo shoot by Jonny a few weeks ago that I discovered on the camera. I love all the different expressions.



Okay, Gabe's expression is pretty much the same in every picture! But it really is so easy to get a smile out of him these days. Most of the time, all you have to do is give him one and he'll giggle and freely smile back.