Tie one on and Elmo obsession

An update from the Morillo household, where life goes on amidst interludes of laundry, cleaning, piano lessons (if anyone wants to give me tips on how to teach Suzuki piano to a 6 year-old, I would highly appreciate it, as sometimes I feel like I'm just faking my way through), preschool and insanity work-outs (I started doing these a few weeks ago with two friends from my mom's group, and we gather in a family room as the kids dance around us and we try not to step on them):

- Reni's new obsession is Elmo. 'Elmo? Elmo?' He will wander around the house asking for him, and, curiously, he doesn't mean the show Elmo's World - he means any book with Elmo's picture, or any one of the three plush Elmos we have strategically placed in the house and the car so that Elmo or Elmo's doppelgänger is always available when we need him.

- Anika's new obsession is tying things. A few days ago she announced, apropos of nothing, that she wanted to "tie daddy's shoes." Dang if she didn't sit there for twenty minutes, diligently twisting and tying and looping the shoe laces; when Armando, exasperated, removed the shoe and went to retrieve another pair so that he could get to work, Ani remained steadfast to her goal. It took me even longer to untie the fruits of her labor. A balloon's tie also had the misfortune of being strung to one of the cabinet pulls in the kitchen. I had to cut that one free. She must've spent three days on it, on and off, experimenting with different ways to tie the thing. Reni, for his part, would amble by and attempt to bite the balloon.

- Reni has also recently discovered what Anika has known for a long time: Daddy rocks. Absolutely and positively is the coolest guy EVER (other than Grandpa. And Mickey Mouse. And Elmo, of course). Daddy is in constant demand -- unless, of course, you have been pushed to the ground, or have fallen while running in your ridiculously slippery dress-up shoes, or are teething, or are feeling tired and grumpy, or need to bump your head against a boob. Or want to spit up some half-masticated food or wipe a booger on someone's shirt. Then you want your mama. Any time we pull into the garage, it's "daddy? Daddy! " and during the day he constantly toddles up to the door and asks, full of hope, "daddy?" He crashes into Armando's chest when he gets home from work each day. It is adorable.

- They are starting to play together. They still fight a lot, but I can actually release them into the yard and let them play around, and it's so fun to watch Ani march around, steer Reni into what she wants to do or what might get him into trouble, or occasionally give him a big hug or bring him a ball and ask in her high-pitched baby-talking-voice, 'you want to play with the ball, Reni? Here you go!' and Reni much of the time loping around in his adorable Frankenstein walk and finding absolute joy in things like looking for airplanes or the moon or rolling the soccer ball around or sifting dirt through his fingers while Anika runs from one activity to another, talking away in some imaginative land that usually involves Captain Hook or her friend Demasio from school or Goofy.

- They also like to sing. A lot. Reni will make the hand motions for "itsy bitsy spider" or look at you and smile and say, "ashes" and Ani will launch into her own version of "Ring Around the Rosy." It usually ends, after the umpteenth time, with Reni crying because he wants out and Ani is insisting on falling to the ground one more time, but for the most part they both have a blast. We always sing "Wheels on the Bus" when we're in the car, and a lot of times they will both just be singing to the radio tunes. This is usually ok, except the other day when Ani belts out, "I'm sexy and I know it!" Guess it's time to switch to the kids' station on Pandora.