The Twins First Day of Preschool

So I was trying to get caught up with organizing all my pictures from last year in the hopes that I could keep up with blogging a little better this year (I'm still working on September...I think the odds are stacked against me).  I was debating whether to try to catch up or just start fresh, but when I realized that I left off right before the twins first day of preschool I decided I had to do at least a little bit of catch up.

So here it is, the twin's first day of preschool:

As I mentioned in my other two posts, we had three different start dates for school this year and the poor twins were last.  Once Hannah left, every single day they asked if it was time for them to go to preschool yet.  When the waiting was finally over, they were pretty dang excited.  The older girls were pretty excited for them too.

For the record, I must say that I did not encourage them to wear the same thing that day.  I do my best to not be matchy-matchy with them.  But my mom had gotten them a bunch of different outfits and they both really wanted to wear this one for their first day.  I figured it was their first day and they had the right to wear whatever they wanted, even if that meant they would match.

They certainly didn't seem to mind.

Addison went to school at 8:00 and the twins had to wait a whole nother hour before their school started.  To complicate things a bit, Hannah starts Kindergarten 15 minutes after the twins start preschool.  Fortunately my mom was there so she took care of getting Hannah to school that day so I could get pictures of the twin's classroom.

We headed out a little early to get said pictures.

 They hung up their backpacks on the backpack hooks just outside the classroom door.

When the girls went into the classroom, Miss Renee (by Maya) and Miss Abrea (by Lilly) greeted them, and told them to find the bus with their name on it and put it up on the door.

I have to interject here, the way Lilly's pants are happens ALL THE TIME!  I have no idea how.  I haven't figured if she pulls them up or one just hikes up somehow.  It seriously cracks me up though.  I love it!

At the open house they were pretty excited when they saw these all-things-a-preschooler-could-possibly-want bins.

They grabbed a pencil and got right to work on their first worksheet.  

And after that I felt a lot like I did dropping off Hannah at her first day of Kindergarten.   Like they were just fine and wondering why the heck I was still there.  So I finally left and took this picture on my way out.

They have been loving preschool ever since.

They're Adjusting

Yesterday was the first day of kindergarten, but it also happened to be an open house for the twins' preschool.  So after we dropped Hannah off, we headed over to meet their teachers and see their classroom.  We also had a few other errands to run, so the twins didn't have much time playing on their own before it was time to pick up Hannah again. 

Today was much more of a normal day.  We came home, cleaned a little bit, and then they were complaining that they were bored (and hungry).  They helped me make some oatmeal cookies for a special treat when everyone got home from school.  That distracted them for approximately two seconds, and then Maya said, "I'm bored mom!"  I told her to go and play something.  She told me, "I don't like playing anything.  I only like to watch T.V."  Lovely.

Apparently Hannah was the initiator of all things play-related in their little trio.  I told Maya that her not liking to play anything and only wanting to watch T.V. just told me that I shouldn't let them watch T.V. any more.  She wasn't particularly happy about that, but then Lilly reminded her that we had twister, and that ended the complaining for the day (well...the morning at least). ;)

Now they've been playing puzzles for almost an hour, and it's about time to pick up Hannah again.

Not having Hannah home is an adjustment, but I think they're going to do just fine.  :)

Kids Really Do Come Different

 

Having two kids the exact same age has taught me that kids really do just come different.  I think any parent with more than one child probably knows this, but when the kids are at the exact same stage developmentally, it really is exaggerated. 

For example (and I could list a million), Lilly is a night owl and Maya is a morning person.  It's funny, more than once at night, coming from the twins bedroom I'll hear Lilly say (in a very perky, playful voice) "Maya, are you awake?"  To which a groggy, sleep-filled voice responds, "Lilly, I'm tired! Go to sleep!"  Don't get me wrong, Maya has taken part in her share of after-bedtime exploits....this in particular comes to mind...but for the most part, Maya is asleep well before Lilly.

As you can imagine, Maya also wakes up before Lilly.  Poor Addison is very aware of this.  Lately Maya has been going into Addison's room probably 15-20 minutes before I wake them up in the morning to ask her sister if it's time to get up, if they can play, or if Addison can help her with some problem she's having (such as no more toilet paper on the roll).  Addison, being the saint-of-a-child that she is always helps her sister when needed, or gently sends her back to bed.  But 15-20 minutes before a wake up call is that awful time when you just can't really get back into a deep sleep, especially if you've gotten out of bed.  On a regular basis lately, when I come to get the older girls up, I'm met with a groan from Addison with an exclamation of, "Why Maya, Why???"  Poor kid.  I am going to have a talk with Maya about not walking her sisters up before it's light outside.

Usually Naps are no exception to the late-to-fall-asleep and early-to-get-up pattern that the twins fall into, but this day was an exception.



Hannah woke up well before I expected the twins to wake up, and asked if she could play with her play-doh that she got for Christmas.  Now, my husband is a ceramic artist.  I try to encourage 3D play whenever possible.  But I have to say, I am SICK of this play-doh.   Part of the problem is that the table where they play with it (and really the only place to play with it in the house) is in this awkward place that is mostly on hardwood floor, but partially on carpet.  Which means play-doh ALWAYS gets on the carpet, and is seriously a huge pain in the rear-end to clean up.  Especially when I'm feeling like this. 

But, like I said, I didn't expect the twins to be up for a while, and Hannah isn't too bad about keeping it clean, so I said yes.  Unfortunately, as soon as she had actually pulled everything out and started playing, I saw a hesitant Lilly peeking through the railing on the stairs.  I couldn't tell Hannah she had to clean it up now.  She had just barely gotten it out.  So I accepted the fact that I would have to do some serious clean up and told Lilly she could play too...wondering why on earth she woke up before Maya.

I also figured I had better take some pictures because I really wasn't sure that the play-doh would ever come out again.








In the end it wasn't so bad.  And I realized just how genius the idea of getting the twins brooms for their birthday was.  By the time Maya came up, the play-doh was put away, but when I told them to grab the brooms and sweep up the mess, even she was excited to join in.  The play-doh may see another day after all. 

And as I later pondered the discrepancy in the sleep-wake pattern on this particular day, I realized that, most likely, the reason Lilly was so hesitant to come up stairs was that she hadn't fallen asleep at all, but rather saw her sister quietly exit her bedroom, and moments later, followed suit. 

The Twins 3rd Birthday

I always plan on getting nice pictures of the kids on or near their birthday, but it never seems to work out.  Determined not to let it happen again, I headed off to a park right after I dropped Addison off at school to attempt a photo shoot with the twins.

Of course, we were at a park, so that didn't last long.

After lunch I put the kids down for a nap and baked cupcakes and wrapped presents.  Then set it out all nice.

In retrospect this was probably a bit like torture for them.  The twins woke up and saw this table just in time to hurry out the door and get Lilly's cast removed.

She wasn't too excited about the splint she has to wear for the next 10 days.  Her skin was super sensative and dry form the cast and I think the splint irritated it.  But she was a good sport and when we got home, after waiting all day, they finally got to eat their cupcakes.

And open their presents (I'm not sure who was more excited for that, the twins or the older girls).

And once they had opened up their bounty, they had a little while before bed to play with said bounty.

I don't care how old you guys get.  You'll always be my babies.  Happy Birthday Maya and Lilly!  We Love you!

The Summer Wardrobe is Cheap

Sometimes I hate blogging about vacations.  There's always so many photos.  There's a million stories I want to share.  It's just overwhelming.  Especially after a two-week vacation like we just took.

So instead of whittling down which photos and stories I'm going to share from our California vacation, I'm just going to share some pictures of the twins playing in their casual summer attire.  :)



I can't remember how they wound up in diapers this day, but they did.  And it was almost bedtime so I decided just to let them run around half-nekked until it was time to actually put them down.  They begged me to let them play outside on their, "cars" but somehow wound up on their sisters' scooters instead. 





At one point Lilly thought it would be fun to jump off the back of the scooter.



As soon as she stumbled onto the sidewalk, I saw the likelihood of a trip to the emergency room with a broken nose increase exponentially, so I put a stop to that. 

But riding around while sitting on the scooters was just as fun.





Then we decided to have a race.


I feel like this next picture gives great insight as to why Lilly never won those races.  I believe this picture was taken at "Get Set..."



And finally the older girls came out to see what all the fun was and talked me into letting them have a little race as well.



It was a much closer race than the twins'.  :)

Alright, back to culling the vacation photos...if you're lucky, I might actually end up blogging them one day.  :)

I Can Tell This is NOT Going to be Easy.

I hate potty training.  Like seriously hate it.  I know moms who really push their kids to be potty trained the second they learn the word popo, and I TOTALLY understand the appeal.  No more changing dirty diapers...yes please!  Not to mention the cost savings from not having to buy diapers every two weeks.  Ahh, so nice.

The problem is they don't go from diapers to toilet just like that.  It takes work...a lot of work.  And I'm going to let you in on a little secret...it is GROSS work.  Poop/pee on the ground, in panties, smeared on the toilet.  Yuck

That is why I really try to hold off on potty training my kids for as long as possible.  And thus far it's worked out pretty well.  Addison was completely potty trained within three days.  Hannah pretty much potty trained herself.   With a few nasty exceptions, I don't really have a big reason to hate potty training.  My kids have been pretty easy.  Well, thus far at least.

Unfortunately, I think the twins are starting to really be ready to potty train.  And the thought of potty training twins TERRIFIES me!  Thus far I have, VERY hesitantly, let the twins sit on the toilet for a while.  They even actually peed in the big toilet two days after Hannah's birthday last week.  (We have a little training potty, but they don't like it very much). 

I have purposefully held off on letting them use the toilet until summer.  With Bart home, in theory, having two adults to potty train two kids should be easier right?  Well, technically it's summer, but Bart has a few collaboration meetings so I have an excuse to, once again, hold off. 

Unfortunately, today the Twins decided they were tired of holding off.  And I got a taste of what I suspect is to come.

I told them they were going to take a shower this morning after we were done eating.  Lilly got done eating well before Maya.  The second she climbed down from her high chair, she bolted for the bathroom.  I said, "Lilly!  We're not taking a shower until Maya's done."  Disappointed she came back into the kitchen.  About 30 minutes later, Maya said, "All done," (she's a slow eater) and once again, Lilly took off for the bathroom.

This time I wasn't able to stop her until she had stripped down to her diaper.  I told her I also had to get clothes for them to change into after the shower, so Lilly ran downstairs, got some clothes, and headed to the shower while I was cleaning up Maya and putting all the dishes away.

A few minutes later, Lilly ran out into the kitchen stark naked, with a very concerned look on her face and yelled, "I have to go peepee!"

At which point Maya yelled, "I have to go poopoo!" 

Maya was still dressed, so I told her, "Go poopoo in your diaper!" and I ran to put Lilly on the toilet.

Maya followed close behind and said, "No! I want to go poopoo in the big toilet."  Unfortunately at this point, Lilly was on the big toilet, so I said, "Fine, just go in the little toilet." 

She said, "No, it's okay, I can get the stool."  And she grabbed the bathroom stool and ran to the master bathroom before I could stop her.  Although Lilly doesn't like the little toilet, she's still a little afraid of the big toilet if you don't help hold her there, so I was holding her and couldn't exactly let her go to stop Maya.  So I just prayed Maya would actually get on the toilet by herself before she had an accident (if she was even going to actually go potty at all).  After a while, Lilly changed her mind and said, "I don't need to go peepee."  And tried to get down.

I had seen the distressed look on her face and knew that she did, in fact, need to go potty so I tried to talk her into trying for a little longer.  She wasn't having it.  So I tried talking her into putting her diaper back on for a little while.  Not a chance mom.  So I let her down, grabbed the little potty and followed her to the Master Bathroom where Maya had actually made it up on the toilet all by herself.  I set the little toilet down figuring worst case scenario I could grab Lilly and force her on the little toilet if she started to have an accident.

I asked Maya if she was all done and, with a grunt, she said, "No."  So I waited.

Lilly kept saying, "I want to take a shower, I want to take a shower!"  The older girls were downstairs taking a shower and I knew that if Maya was on the toilet for a long time, and I let Lilly in the shower now we'd most likely run out of hot water before Maya and I even got into the shower.  But Lilly was doing the potty dance and refused to sit on the little toilet (or put her diaper on) so I figured it'd be easier to clean if she went pee in the shower than all over my bathroom rug, so I turned on the water and let her in, praying that Maya would finish soon.

She didn't.  (Apparently eating isn't the only thing she does slowly). 

After a while I decided I would at least get Lilly cleaned, so I reached into the shower and helped her wash and condition her hair and wash her body.  At this point Maya had actually gone potty.  So I went over to help her wipe, all the time telling her, "Good Job Maya, That's great!  I bet it makes you really happy that you went poopoo in the big toilet.  Good girl."  (etc.)

And as I finish wiping Maya, Lilly yells, "I have to go poopoo!!!"

Cleaning pee out of my shower is one thing, but cleaning poo is a whole nother thing!  So I grabbed her and put her on the little toilet, which did not sit well with her, so after much fussing I convince Maya to get down and put Lilly on the big toilet.

The water had pretty much gone cold by now, so I assumed Lilly wouldn't want to get back in and turned off the water.  Apparently I was wrong because she started crying and yelling, "I want to take a shower!  I don't have to go poopoo any more, I want to take a shower."  Meanwhile, Maya is doing the Naked Dance in the background swinging towels around her.  I'm not too nervous because she did actually go potty, but I try to avoid letting bare-bummed babies dance around my house, so I somehow convince Lilly to stay on the toilet while I put Maya's diaper back on.  Once the diaper's on, she takes off.

I turn back to Lilly and somehow convince her that she would rather get dressed and put lotion on than get back in the tub.  So I get her dressed, and put some lotion on her.  Maya must have heard me say lotion because she comes back ready to get dressed and put lotion on too, so once Lilly's done, I let her run off and get Maya dressed.  We can't take a shower now anyway.  As soon as the lotion's on, she bolts out the door again, and I'm left looking at my bathroom.

The floor is covered in water from washing Lilly and then dragging her wet body out of the tub to the little toilet, then from the little toilet to the big toilet.  There are towels everywhere from Maya's little dance.  The little toilet somehow got tipped over.  Fortunately nothing was in it...except water from when Lilly was sitting on there wet...I hope it's just water anyway.  It's almost 11:00 and I still haven't been able to take a shower, let alone get ready for the day.    Then Lilly walks in and informs me that she has a poopy diaper.

It's then that I finally realize that with twins, I don't think it matters how long I wait.  This whole potty training thing is NOT going to be easy.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

So a few months ago I was attempting to bathe my children.  As I was trying to undress the twins, one of them (I can't even remember which) was giving me a very hard time.  She did NOT want to get undressed.  Drawing on my extensive mothering knowledge (insert laugh here), I thought, "I know!  I'll make it a game." 

So, I started to move her legs and arms like she was dancing and sang, "Naked, naked, naked." It worked like a charm.  Soon each of the kids were dancing around, in their birthday suits singing, "Naked, naked, naked!"  From there it was easy to corral them into the shower and get everyone clean.  I had turned a potential power struggle into a cheerful, fun situation.  I felt as though I was a wonderful, competent mother. 

Unfortunately, that day I taught my children something I never intended.  I now regularly find them stripped down to their diapers/undies (or less), dancing around the house singing "Naked naked naked!" 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the law of unintended consequences in action.

The Twins - 18 Months Old

The other day I had ALL of the girls up and dressed with their hair done before I took Addison and Hannah to preschool.  This is actually a pretty big deal for me.  Most of the time I am proud of myself if I can get Addison and Hannah dressed before we go.

Then, on the way home, I saw this beautiful light coming through the trees and I decided, on a whim, I would try and get some 18 month old pictures of the twins.  (I can't believe they'll be 18 months old this month!)  Let me tell you, I am SOOOOOOO glad I did!  These are probably my favorite pictures I've taken of them...EVER!



They were a little hesitant at first.  I plopped them down in the middle of this clearing and they looked at me like, "Uhhhh...is this some sort of trick?  Are you going to force us back into the stroller as soon as we start playing?"

When they finally decided I wasn't going to snatch them up the second they moved, they started exploring. 





Do you see the spout of hair on top of that little girl's head.  She has more hair than any of my other kids at this age hands down!


Alright, so technically Lilly's hair wasn't done...but I did comb it.

The poor thing actually saw me putting a rubber band in Maya's hair and found a rubber band, handed it to me and pointed to her head.  I tried.  I swear I tried.  But there's just not enough hair there Lilly!  I'm sorry...hopefully for your two year old pictures.


And this picture on the right of Lilly.  Hands down my favorite picture of her to date!  And I love that one of Maya's little tongue too! I LOVE these babies!




I may have to get everyone ready early more often!