Some things they have been doing and saying... and these recent photos also tell much about the girls these days!

 
Pepe was so pleased as she reported how she managed to calm both her sisters down and mediate an escalating situation at bathtime by speaking to them and removing a toy in question. She said that her experiences in school had helped her to speak very firmly to them :)
Polly: Here's a good one (for the umpteenth time)--Raccoon play flute...    
Polly's also showing a lot more interest in reading and writing, and spent all the time at the playground today working on her penguin comic. Pepe also praised her for her improved handwriting today!
Pipa: (responding emphatically to mama's "ladybird") No. It's not a bird. It's a ladyBUG.
Pipa (holding a 'book' at bathtime): I am your mama. I read you a story about a brother and sister. They go to swim. They splash. They go to fish. They saw a tightrope. They go home.
Pipa: ni3 shi4 lan3 duo3 chong2 ma1? (in Chinese: "are you a lazy worm?" to which I respond in the negative) Wo3 shi4. ("I am.") [Penelope and I had a good laugh. Chances are Pipa didn't know the meaning of "lazy worm" in Chinese]
Pipa (on the way to the swimming pool, very pleased with her swimsuit): I have flowers on my swimming pool costume. :)

Other recent memorable quips (mostly over the December holidays):
Pepe: (responding to mama praising her for something) If I was perfect then you wouldn't say "Well done" because I couldn't do it wrongly right?
Polly: (on a new recipe booklet) We will try the recipes in this book, and if they are not too disgusting, then we will know that this is a *real* recipe book.
(on the newly installed toilet bowl; very slowly and meaningfully) Today my challenge is this: to use the big toilet bowl (She thought it was going to be bigger! :) 
(while playing with Pepe): First we must fire up the engine in the cannon...
(while having lunch with Nai Nai): Wo3 yao3 chi1 yu2 qiu2
(continuing on Pepe's game of acronyms): Do you know what FJ stands for? Flying Jicken. (Great thing about Polly is that she's able laugh along with us on the funny things she says)
(trying to persuade Pipa she's got a fair deal on a plain non-pictorial sticker she was given): It says "DORA". It's just the same as the picture...
Pipa: (enthusiastically copying Pepe's "sure, why not?") Sure, not.
I turn! (her "my turn")
I a meimei cheche
I choose Bible story...Che che choose Bible story... Everybody choose Bible story.
I want use potty. (Mama: "I want TO...") Pipa: I want 2 3 4 5. (this recalls her earlier wayward counting of Chinese numbers "yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, Pa qu4 you2 yong3" the final words meaning "(Pi)pa goes swimming")
Pipa's earliest similes: Itchy like a monkey (used some time after reading a book about a monkey who had chicken pox); (and after seeing some pigeons and happening to need to relieve her bladder) I want 'shee shee' like a pigeon