A little while back, I noticed that Miranda could add numbers to sums beyond ten by counting imaginary fingers on her hands. She counted fingers beyond her pinky. Since then, she’s stopped counting imaginary fingers, but she can still manage sums greater than ten. I can’t quite figure out what’s going on her head as she does this, but I’m guessing that she counts up from one number until she reaches the total.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in MP4 format appropriate for an iPod: MP4 (6MB).]

Also, do I really sound like that?

The kids have been learning a new song at school. This one reviews the capitals of the Eastern Border of the United States. Each capital/state pair is repeated twice. Eleanor knows the song a little better, so she leads this song, with Miranda repeating each pair. I missed Eleanor singing “Tallahassee”, but we have the rest of the song.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in MP4 format appropriate for an iPod: MP4 (14MB).]

I think it’s interesting that you put anything to music and kids this age can memorize it.

One day, the girls came home from school and wanted to show us a dance they learned.

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I missed the first line and a half, but here are the lyrics:

I’m a little bunny.
My tail is soft and white.
Children love to cuddle me,
Especially at night.
My ears are pretty pink.
My eyes are baby blue.
Now my dancing feet
Will do a bunny dance for you.
Mm Hm.
Hop one, two, three, four.
Side, side. One, two, three, four.
4x (Jump out, jump in, jump out, jump in
Boogie, boogie, boogieboogieboogie.)
Do you like my bunny dance?
I thank you. I do!

Agnes recorded this video of Miranda reading. In this case, the book is Frog and Toad. I think Miranda had her big breakthrough in understanding that the letters make up sounds that make up words almost two months ago and she’s been steadily improving her vocabulary ever since. In the car, she’ll tell us about all of the signs that she’s been reading.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in MP4 format appropriate for an iPod: MP4 (4.05MB).]

We got robes for the girls’ swim lessons. The robes we were using before had to be pulled over their heads, and it just took too long while the kids were shivering. On the day that the robes arrived, Eleanor tried hers on. With a little prompting, Eleanor called out “float like a butterfly–sting like a bee.”

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in MP4 format appropriate for an iPod: MP4 (266KB).]

We have a book that teaches the girls addition. It has sticks of different lengths and you can count up the squares that make up each stick. If you line up, for instance, the 2-stick and the 3-stick, it will match the 5-stick. Tonight, the kids seemed to have a break-through on what this means for addition.

Later, I showed Miranda how this also corresponds to adding on one’s fingers. Here’s a video of her adding.

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It takes her a little bit of time to configure her fingers correctly, but she gets it.

We recently replaced the Sound of Music with Mary Poppins in our home, and the kids seem to be most interested in the songs that the Dad sings. The kids have been singing the last song of the movie, Let’s Go Fly a Kite.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in MP4 format appropriate for an iPod: MP4 (3.4MB).]

For those who can’t make out what the girls are singing, here are the lyrics:

With tuppence for paper and strings
You can have your own set of wings
With your feet on the ground
You’re a bird in a flight
With your fist holding tight
To the string of your kite

Oh, oh, oh!
Let’s go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let’s go fly a kite!

Our kids have been obsessed with “The Sound of Music” for the last two months. We have the DVD constantly cued up to play any of the songs, as well as the CD in the car. This obsession culminated in “The Sound of Music” sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl, where we, and 20,000 other people sang along to the movie. It was the kids first official movie.

So, for Halloween this year, I ordered two dirndls from Germany. A dirndl is the traditional Austrian and Bavarian dress that is worn by Julie Andrews and all the girls in “The Sound of Music”. Note, the Baroness, played by Eleanor Parker, never wears a dirndl because she is a sophisticated evil woman from Vienna.

The girls tried on their dresses and sang “Do-Re-Mi”.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in XviD format: XviD (1.4MB).]

The kids are getting to be quite competitive with each other. So much so that you can’t praise one in front of the other. Basically, praising Miranda is the same as insulting Eleanor and vice versa. Also, they’ve become very jealous of my attention. A few weeks ago, they raced to me after their bath, when all of a sudden Miranda took a chunk out of my thigh. I was completely shocked because she didn’t seem to be upset, and the only thing that came to my mind was to put her in time-out. I then had to go to the bathroom to deal with the bleeding and Bernard carried out her time-out.

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in XviD format: XviD (5MB).]

Miranda’s supposed to be sitting on the stool, but she’s too busy flipping out. She doesn’t want to be in time-out. She wants to read before going to bed, and there is a Barney book on the ground, just off camera. She’s saying, “Want that one! I want–I want–I want this. I want the Barney book! I want the Barney book right now! (???) I need that. I need that. I need that! Get it! Get it! Stand up! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Aaah!”

We ignored her, and she eventually settled down. Later, I realized that she probably bit me because Eleanor had been clinging to me all evening and pushing Miranda out of the way when she tried to get my attention. The same thing happened at school the next day. Miranda took a chunk out of Eleanor’s back. The preschool teachers were quite shocked because she hadn’t bitten anyone in school since she was in the toddler room. One of the teachers said, “Well, she’s been bossed around by Eleanor for the last six months. Eleanor treats her like a baby and tries to feed and dress her. Today she tried to show her the “right” way to play with a toy. I think it was the last straw for Miranda.”

We didn’t tell anyone at the new school about their sibling interaction, but this is the feedback that the new teachers gave us, “Eleanor always wants to be near Miranda. She wants to do projects and puzzles with Miranda. Miranda, on the other hand, wants to do her own thing. During naptime, Miranda tries to sleep by pulling the blanket over her head, but Eleanor tries tickling her arm or her leg. We had to separate them for naptime, and we’re trying to encourage them to do separate activities.”

This twin interaction has turned out to be really complex. It leads me to believe that Eleanor will be traumatized when we separate them for first grade, but that it will probably be the right thing to do for Miranda.

Last night, after the kids had their bath, we noticed that Miranda was dancing while Eleanor was still getting dressed. Add a little ABBA, and we have this video:

[If you can’t see the Flash player above, you can download the video in XviD format: XviD (4MB).]

She starts a little slowly, but then gets into it at the end. We think she’s been picking this up from the other kids at school.