There was another thunderstorm that rolled through last night that started a small wildfire part way down MT. Macpherson, one of the two peaks we see from the porch. It was a bit strange for us but it must be the norm in fire season, there was no smoke by morning so no big deal. There is a fire ban already so no campfires while we are gone camping but that is only less work for me and our kids won’t have to stay up so late. Life here is still the same, swim play beat the heat. Cecilia is not quite walking as there is nice carpet to crawl on here, we feel she would have been up and at it if we stayed with the rough and sliverful floors. MadB was a week over one and Will was 15 months. Cecilia is waving and saying hi, and a lot of gibberish growling and howling. Madeleine was talking we are sure moments after birth and has kept up pretty well since. I don’t recall with Will but he seemed pretty normal on that front but a bit chatty at three. It is hard to gauge as I was pretty intense with MadB reading and talking, I still claim she could read at 18 months and would be way further along now without all the other distractions of parenting multiple kids. The focus I find out later for small kids is to play and develop social interaction not learning through lessons. I guess I was not so creative on the play front with MB or maybe it was the long winters in Calgary. We played lots anyway and that is all we do now and read. Any way I am sure these kids will make out OK in the smarts department and with all the mistakes I’ve made they will at least get good leadership and direction, tempered with whatever kind of safety advice and cautious optimism Josie has to offer.