Sunday, June 24, 2012

FaceBook Posts 2010 - Part 2

I post a lot of  snippets on FaceBook -- the Social Networking site.
I wanted to preserve those snippets here, so they'd be included in the book form of our blog that we're making for the girls.

Below are posts from 2010 (part 2):

October 9, 2010 1:17am "cakes are frosted. woohoo! and there's still some night time left for me to sleep :) :)

October 9, 2010 10:14am
"This girls are down for a nap. I can tell that Kayla is sleeping, and Megan is still awake. I know this because I can hear Megan saying, "Dah, dah, dah" over and over. That's how she says "Kayla", and she doesn't like it when Kayla is asleep and she's not. Hopefully she's not tossing dolls in at Kayla to wake her up, like she sometimes does..."           

October 10, 2010 12:01pm
"It's official. They're two years old, and mommy and daddy survived the first two years!"

October 16, 2010 11:49am
"My girls are supposed to be down for a nap. I can still here one -- I assume, Megan. Sing-song noises, "my doll", and just now, a Diego quote -- over and over -- "FREEZE BOBO""

October 17, 2010 2:39pm
"The only thing more sad than a sick little girl is TWO sick little girls :("

October 17, 2010 9:44pm
"It's official (as official as dr's office measurements can be). Kayla is 1 inch taller than Megan. (I get asked a lot because of how they look in pictures sometimes)"

October 24, 2010 7:26pm
"Had a great time with the girls at Applejack Pumpkin Patch! They got to see some animals, slide on slides, climb in the hay and see a lot of pumpkins up close and personal! (Which was pretty exciting for 2 year olds!)"

October 29, 2010 9:09pm
"Megan and Kayla are sleeping in each other's cribs.
It was Megan's idea.
Mike Vogts let them.
Yes, it was really her idea."

November 14, 2010 8:09pm
"Megan got up. I took her to the living room to rock her, and told her "Lay your head down on mommy's shoulder" and she said "no, i wanna watch football".
She's now sitting on daddy's lap, watching football."

November 19, 2010 8:47pm
"‎Ruth Evans Bingham and my daughters went to dinner tonight at Chilis.
The girls pointed out every "apple" they saw, starting with the big one over the door.
Mom was kind enough to share her dinner with Megan.
And Megan was kind enough to share her mandarin orange-dipped-in-ketchup with her grandma :)"

November 28, 2010 6:08pm
"Our girls have renamed us "mommydaddy" or "daddymommy". They appear to be interchangeable. So do we."

December 5, 2010 10:38am
"‎Mike Vogts is watching a Mickey show with the girls. They're all three in the recliner under several blankets. Soooo sweet!

I love listening to them as they have serious conversations about Mickey and Donald."

December 5, 2010 5:38pm
"We talked to Grandma Ruth Evans Bingham on the phone. We talked to Granny Cathy Vogtson the phone.

Then Kayla was playing with a phone, and announced she was talking to Kelli Martin. She said, "I ate hotdogs" into the phone. Just passing on the message. LOL"

December 7, 2010 7:09am
“Megan told me it was "time to go". I asked her  where she was going. Her answer? "the bus!" She confirmed that Daddy's car was the bus! I guess that means Miss Kelli's house is school? This 2-year-old thing is a fun! (Except when she was up at 1:30 am hollering for Mommy!)”

December 10, 2010 1:04pm
"When I was young, I wanted to be a nurse. My mom pointed out to me that most people dont want a nurse puking on them, which was likely given my low tolerance for gross things.

She never warned me that being a mommy involves a lot of gross things!!
Thank you, Mike Vogts , for taking the worst part of the clean-up effort from the over-night pukefest that occured in the girls' room."

December 22, 2010 5:44pm
"We took the girls to see Santa last night. Megan did great and sat on his lap. Kayla, not so much -- refused to sit on Santa's lap, so this year we have a picture of just Megan. Kayla did wave from a safe distance though!

Once we got home, they were BOTH excited about their trip to see Santa -- same thing today! You'd never know Kayla had thrown a fit about it the way her eyes light up when she grins and says she saw Santa!"

December 22, 2010 8:32pm
Earlier this week we took the girls to see Santa. Kayla wouldn't sit on his lap. Not. At. All. Mike Vogts took a picture of them while we were in line but I don't have it yet. Here's Megan, who DID sit on his lap. She wouldn't smile, but that's not surprising.

They BOTH smile when they tell us how they saw Santa! I guess Kayla forgot how she wailed "DAAAADDDDY!" when mommy tried to set her on Santa's lap.”

December 27, 2010 8:16pm
"All right, who turned the switch from "Sweet Little Girls" to "Fussy Tired w/Attitude"? Whoever did it needs to come tuck them in bed."

December 31, 2010 8:37am
"If I give the girls 1/4 of a graham cracker, they'll say "I want a big one!""


To Be Continued....

FaceBook Posts 2010 - Part 1

I post a lot of  snippets on FaceBook -- the Social Networking site.
I wanted to preserve those snippets here, so they'd be included in the book form of our blog that we're making for the girls.

Below are posts from 2010 (part 1):

February 21, 2010  7:49pm
 "This girls spent the weekend with Granny and Grandpa. I missed them terribly! They all did fine and had a great time though!  Now one is asleep -- and one is fussing in bed. Mommy might have to snuggle with one! :) :)"

March 1, 2010 11:42pm
"Yay for measured feet and properly sized tie-on tennis shoes for 16 month olds! Boo for the fact that only a professional can get them on their feet."

March 1, 2010 1:15am
"My mother kept our dog for us for a few hours this weekend. She mentioned that she made him take a nap. I keep forgetting to ask her how she accomplished that one. I wish my mom would blog...."

March 15, 2010  7:15pm
"The sweetest thing to overhear.... "come here, Daddy will help you""

March 22, 20120 7:46am
"Putting eyedrops in an 18 month old's eyes is quite the challenge!"

April 5, 2010 12:18 am
"I guess the Easter Bunny should have come to our house later. Little Megan woke up and saw them already."

April 11, 2010 9:21am
"A glass of water too near the edge of a desk + quick little girl = first shower for Megan!"

May 9, 2010 10:32pm
A lot of Mother's Days came and went, reminding me of what I didn't have. I am blessed with my girls and treasure them more than words can say. A wonderful day with my girls and both sides of my family. I am truly blessed, this day and every day.

July 15, 2010 7:14pm
"My girls asked for french fries before bed. I didn't know they knew how to say "french fries". Now they're in bed, yelling for daddy. I guess maybe they think he'll give them french fries?"

August 7, 2010 10:10pm
"Megan and I got home from Grandma's a few minutes after Daddy put Kayla in bed.   We got Megan ready for bed, and Daddy carried her. In the hall, he explained Kayla was a sleep, we had to be quiet, and they both said "Shh Shh Shh" together.
 Daddy stepped up the door and before he could open it, Megan leaned forward and pounded on the door, yelling "knock! knock! knock!". So much for not waking Kayla!"

August 11, 2010 10:00pm
"It's cute when Megan says "I go" in the morning, because she wants to go to Miss Kelli's.
It's not so cute when I say "okay, give mommy a hug?" and she says "no, I go" because she wants to go to Miss Kelli's. At least hug mommy g'bye first! LOL"

August 25, 2010 7:05am
"I understand FB ads are tailored to you based on your interests as evidenced by your information.....but Minnesota Twins baseball is soooooo not the kind of "twins" that have my interest......and I refuse to by MLB custom M&M's for that team, just because my girls are twins."

September 21, 2010 8:47pm
“Our girls' latest trick --- laying their heads down and making fake snoring noises.
Where'd they learn that one :)”

September 26, 2010 10:32pm
"When little Megan cries when we put her in bed, it tugs the heartstrings. When she cries and wails "Mommy! Mommy!", though, it tugs the tear-duct strings.

Then there's little Kayla, who just lays down in her crib to go to sleep."




To Be Continued....

Monday, June 11, 2012

I did it


In Andover out on east Central there's a municipal park that I've taken the girls to a few times (though not as often as I should). Pretty standard stuff as far as city parks go: the two main features being a couple of jungle gyms. One is kind of roped based, with a plastic super-structure (thanks, Star Wars) filled with strategically placed holes and climbing hand-holds. The other is basically fort-themed, with a couple of slides, one straight and one "twisty" that is considerably higher up.

Each time we've gone, there's been a progression on what the girls are capable of doing. The first time, navigating the "swinging bridge" on the fort was the big achievement. It's one of those contraptions that is jointed several times over the length, and slopes down in the middle. The effect is a perpetually changing, uneven surface, and kids have to carefully navigate themselves over the bridge or risk getting stuck. That first time, the girls a couple of times did just that, getting a leg a bit out of place and not really knowing what to do next. But after a few tries and restarts, they were able to get from one end to the other, and this was a proud achievement.

The second (or maybe third) time was the twisty slide. Daddy said no the first couple of times we went, as the top of this slide is about 20 feet in the air, and all kinds of horrible scenes of little girls flying off into a random direction while daddy desperately tries to run and catch them fill your mind. Absurd in retrospect, of course. There's got to be at least a 2 foot groove in the slide at the top; you literally can barely see the top of their head as they begin sliding down. The sides are curved inward as well, almost to the point where it's completely enclosed. I should have of course known that designers and lawyers had long ago performed a strange dance that lead to this incredibly safe piece of playground equipment, but understand, the last time I spent significant time on a playground, the infamous "bump" slide at the Canton Grade School still existed, where the "side" was about an inch high, and the "jungle gym" was just a bunch of pipes welded together in a cube-like pattern.

They handled the "big kid slide" without issue of course, loving every minute of it. Kayla also surprised by easily handling a set of circular climbing stairs that, likewise, takes her up at least 10 feet to the safety of the fort, which she found the best way to head toward the slide again. Again, Daddy was a bit nervous about this, but her footing was sure, and even if Megan was still content to run around the long and safer way to get back into the fort, it was clearly another day of big achievement.

Then this Sunday, we decided to attack the rope gym. This one is definitely made for bigger kids, as to get on it properly requires risking an unsteady "web" of rope suspended semi-horizontally, which itself requires being able to sort of leap out onto it, as there's a good 2 foot gap between where the ropes are anchored to the structure and the web structure begins. They tried this but were not ready for it, as they kept getting high centered on the initial connecting rope, not stable or sure enough to make it out to the web.

However, the back side of the structure also contains a multi-layer climbing activity, which if you make it to the top, puts you a good 10 feet above the ground, sitting on the crest of the up-sloping web. This is also something we've tried before, but have never defeated, getting scared when faced with open air on the third level.

Not this time. Megan was the first to reach the summit, surprisingly. She hoisted her leg up further than I would have though possible, allowing herself to leave the comfort of "ground" and hang momentarily until she could pull her self up through the hole and onto the third landing. Kayla had one false start where she chickened out, but I think couldn't stand the thought of Megan being able to do it and not her, and similarly made it through on the second try. The pride on their faces was so evident; I tried to photograph them both, but the sun was in a bad position to get a clear shot. "I did it" and "I did it too", however, are exact quotes, uttered by both girls at the moment of their triumph.

As I thought about this later when posting the photos from my phone, it occurred to me that "I did it" might be the greatest thing you will ever hear your child say. There's a balance there to figure out. Be there, be helpful, but make sure you're not doing it for them. She has to figure out she can lift that foot off the second landing and hang on with only her hands. You did it, big girls.