Hanging out

Sasha and Brookelyn spend a lot of time together and have a lot of fun. They are only 16 months apart. All three play well together actually. Brayden and Brookelyn play together and Sasha plays around them. They both think Sasha is fun and like to do things to make her smile, laugh or clap her hands. Brookelyn really enjoys sharing Sasha's food (table food or baby food) and likes giving Sasha food from her plate as well (so I always have to be watching closely). Sasha has been pushing herself up on things and letting go for quite a while now. She has pretty good balance, she likes to stand up on her own and clap her hands. Brookelyn has noticed how much attention Sasha gets for it so she has started copying Sasha and standing up next to her and clapping and then falling to the floor after a few seconds. Of course, we clap for her and cheer her on as well. She knows it's funny. She is a funny girl and does a lot of things that make us laugh. She hasn't done anything to show any jealousy toward Sasha at all. I thought she may regress a little, but she hasn't at all. We had waited to take her pacifier away for one reason or another and suddenly I was on my way to Vietnam and she was still using it. So I waited until we had been home for a few months to take it away. I talked about it for a couple of days and then just threw them all away. She asked for it on two different times and then was over it. I thought it would be hard since she sees Sasha with hers a lot, but she knew that that wasn't hers. We were very relieved it was so easy. She started potty training herself a couple of weeks ago. One day she walked up to me without a diaper on. When I asked her where it was she said she peed. I gathered some things to clean the floor and asked her to show me where. She brought me upstairs to the bathroom and pointed into the toilet and said, "I peed in toilet, Mommy." (This is my child who is in speech therapy because she was hardly saying any words several months ago. Now she speaks in full sentences. ) I looked into the toilet and there was pee in it. I asked her to show me how she got up there since there is no step stool next to it and she climbed right up. Very cute!
Anyway, she and Sasha and I have fun together. It's usually pretty mellow when it is just us. It's a whole different thing when Brayden is home. He likes to set up drum sets (out of drums and various other things that resemble drums) and play them. Brookelyn dances and Sasha will sometimes bounce to the music, clap or try to hit the drums as well. Good. loud fun. There is also always a lot of running around and tumbling when he is around so it is not as safe for Sasha unless I sit down right next to her. Which is great with her! She is happy doing anything. If I sit next to her she climbs all over me or pulls herself up on me and smiles and laughs. The whole world is good then. If I get up she gets very upset and crawls after me crying. I wind up holding Sasha and Brookelyn in my arms sometimes, which is fine. How lucky am I that I get to hold them both?
There is a picture of Sasha holding her own bottle, which is a new thing she just learned. I usually hold her and give her a bottle but do want her to learn how so she can hold her own bottle in the car. She will do it but she loses interest pretty easily. The last picture is one where Sasha has pulled herself up against the kitchen cabinets and let go and Brookelyn is pretending like she is just learning to stand too. I was happy to be able to get a picture of it before they sat down.