I just wound up a good day with the girls by tucking Julia into her bed and reading Dr. Seuss's Horton Hatches the Egg. It's not Horton Hatches an Egg, as Julia reminds me when I slip up. No, but it is a great story: fun to read aloud, great to think about, excellent to discuss. You know that ol' Stan and Jan Berenstain couldn't blot Dr. Seuss's ink when Julia actually sat up, mouth agape, at the climax of the story - even though she's heard the story dozens of times (and, yes, has long stretches of it memorized). You can't spell "he sure was a genius" without S-E-U-S-S.
It was semi-surprising that the day turned out well, given that both girls skipped their naps - Vivi in a fit of pure toddler rage at the ridiculous idea that she should take a nap, Julia because who can nap with a screaming toddler next door? So I put them to work trooping through our subdivision delivering some paperwork from our townhouse association (which took near an hour) and then we went to the Arb for a Tassava Family WalkTM (well, almost: the oldest member of the family stayed home to catch a short break from the youngest pair).
Vivi, recovered from her naptime fit, engaged in various forms of adorable mischief over our 45 minute walk (which covered all of a third of a mile): removing her mittens at least a dozen times, trying to unzip Julia's parka and/or my jacket, and simply running the wrong way down the path - this last, so that I'd chase her down and scoop her up. When she learns to climb trees, we're going to have to stop visiting the Arb for fear of losing her in the upper reaches of an oak. Here's a bit of video to enter into evidence:
Vivi, Mischievizing from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.