First days of Autumn.

I really need to be better about posting regularly here. My kids are doing too many things to keep up with!
Last week was my mother-in-law's last week here before she returned to her home in Mexico. Several years ago, my in-laws fulfilled their lifelong intention to retire and move back to Mexico, where they were born. They are very happy to be there, and now return for extended visits once or twice a year. My mother-in-law loves to babysit whenever she can during those times, and we also look forward to it! They get a healthy good dose of Spanish immersion & lots of love while she is here.
Bella surprised us by finally getting a little confident and spoke to her grandmother in Spanish, when asking for food or apple juice. She spoke quietly and self-conciously, but she did it! Lucie seems to have been born understanding English and Spanish. She picks up on social cues very easily. She totally floors me every time we ask her to do something in either language, and then watch in amazement when she actually does it! She also uses a lot of sign language, and makes up her own sign language, for extra clarity.
Friday, we went for a walk at a local park in search of puddles, and half hoping it would rain. It was really beautiful out there, and perfectly overcast. We had a blast. Bella surprised me by identifying 3 different kinds of birds by hearing their calls first (blue jays, grey catbirds & woodpeckers), and afterwards found them with our binoculars.
Lucie ran around like a crazy person when she first got out of her stroller. There was so much for her to explore for the first time. She loves to find bugs now and calls out, "A buh! A buh! A buh!" We heard a huge fish jumping out and then plopping back into the water. My dad met up with us later and saw one too. I think he said it was a large-mouthed bass? We saw a lot of male & female goldfinches, and of course tons of robins. We also saw an egret on a large rock in the middle of the pond and right next to it, a beaver.
The most fun was tap dancing in the puddles. They had so much fun and were just cracking up laughing together. And the best part was when Lucie wanted to hold Bella's hand while we walked. I got lots of pictures of them walking while holding hands. It made me feel like the best thing we ever did was have a second child.
Today, we walked to a local park. Bella was dressed all in black because she felt like dressing like a blackbird today. I did ask her to wear a sweater, so she picked out a rainbow striped sweater. Then she picked black and orange pumpkin-Halloween socks because they matched her outfit. She was very proud of herself. At one point while underneath the jungle gym, I heard a very loud sound. I traced it to under Lucie's foot and found that she'd been stepping on a cicada. We checked it & found that it was still alive. We picked it up with a piece of mulch & after studying it closely, took it to a tree where it could hopefully be more safe. A few moments later, we met a small group of boys who had just found a cicada that they saw climbing out of its shell. At first glance, it looked like a little green frog cupped in the boy's hand. They also were taking it to a nearby tree to be safe.
I love how kids just want to play at a playground, without even asking their playmate's name. Bella helped save the new cicada, jumped in a puddle of Pepsi that another boy had dumped onto the tennis court, ran away with them when bees started showing up, ran races and looked for (and found) ants with these newfound friends for over an hour and they never even thought to ask each other's name.