Mother's Day - [A post that was never posted]

Written on Mother's Day weekend 2013, but accidentally saved as a draft post and never published on the blog

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 Husband isn't feeling well, so the girls and I went out shopping this morning, met grandma for lunch, and more shopping this afternoon.

At one point, Megan started to cry that she really wanted to go to Dillon's -- because she wanted to buy me flowers for Mother's day there -- but it was a surprise. Could they do it themselves and would I not look?

It was quite entertaining to people watching us as I let them pick out a bouquet of flowers while "not looking" (even though i had to help them get it out of the holder -- "Dont look, mommy!").

And then had to help them put it back and get a different one "Close your eyes, mommy!"

They finally they settled on some light pink roses (which happen to be my favorite, but they didn't know that -- just that pink was my favorite color).

More grins and giggles by the people in line with me and the cashier as they would squeal, "DONT LOOK, MOMMY!" while we paid for them.
 

The sheer joy on their faces when we were at home and they finally "let me see them" was priceless.
Love them!

Thanksgiving Heart-Warmer

The girls are 5 now.  They're in preschool and I am continuously amazed at the things they come up with these days!

Sometimes they bring the most creative things home from school.

And sometimes, they bring home things like this.

I apologize in advance for the pictures that will make it difficult to read.
This was one of those preschool projects where they make a Turkey out of a handprint.
Then they had a paper and they asked the kids to draw a picture of something they were thankful for, and one of the teachers would write it what they said to complete the phrase, "I am thankful for __________."

Now I realize that at 5 years old there may be coaching or prompting, but I'm choosing to ignore that possibility and just enjoy the sentiment.

Megan made this:

 Megan's handprint-Turkey, "GIVE THANKS"

 Megan's picture of her and Kayla "I AM THANKFUL FOR ____KAYLA______"

Doesn't that just melt your heart?
Well, maybe it's a mommy thing.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail....

I told the girls I was going to make a salad to go with dinner and that they could help.
We planned to go to the store to pick up the ingredients that afternoon.

I was planning to make mom's Calico Salad -- a green bean/corn/pea salad.

Kayla: What kind of salad are we going to make?
Me:  A Calico Salad.
Kayla:  Can we put fruit in it?
Me: You want to make fruit salad?
Megan:  Yes!
Me: Okay, we'll make that, too.

We sometimes make our own combination of fruits to make our own kind of fruit cocktail.


So we went to the store, picked up what we needed for both salads.
We made the both and put them in the fridge until dinner.

The girls said they wanted to surprise Grandma with the fruit salad.

Grandma came over for dinner, and the Megan was excited to tell her about it.

Megan:  and we made cottontail salad!

Name That Tiger

Mike Vogts posted on FaceBook:

 

I sometimes play "The Adjective Game" with the girls.

Kayla: Daddy you're funny.
Me: You're super funny.
Kayla: No you're super funny.
Me: You're exceptionally funny.
Kayla: No you're exceptionally funny.
Me: You're surprisingly funny.
Kayla: No you're surprisingly funny.
Me: (searching for another word)...You're staggeringly funny.
Kayla: No you're staggering funny.
Me: Staggeringly.
Kayla: Staggeringly would be a good name for a tiger.
Me:....Yeah, I think it would be.

Affirmative!

Loki, the dog, was nosing at/licking something under my chair.
Me: Is there something under my chair?
Megan: no
Me: What's Loki licking?
Megan: I don't know what it's called.
Me: Can you get it?
Kayla: I can!

(Kayla picks up a paper.)

Kayla: It's a piece of paper!
Me: Loki was licking a piece of paper?
Megan: Affirmative!

Mornings

Our work schedules necessitate getting the girls up around 6-6:20am, which is about an hour earlier than their natural wake-up time. And it shows to, as getting them going is always somewhat of a chore. We learned early on that simply turning on the lights and telling them to "get up" wasn't sufficient, so most mornings the "Scoop" is performed, which is essentially just picking up each girl and holding them for a bit while they stumble into consciousness. It works to varying degrees, but there is usually drama of some kind, particularly from Megan, who in the evenings fights sleep like a Viking warrior. There are always grumbles, and sometimes even tears, during the process, but of course once they're away for a bit and get a little breakfast they perk right up and are ready to roll.

So this is part of the background you need to properly appreciate the scene this morning. The other part is this: Kayla and Megan have been pretty sick the past few days, with the flu/norovirus (according to the doctor). Started in Thursday evening, and lasted until Sunday night; even water was coming back up for the duration. Jenn had them to the doctor Saturday, got some anti-nausea pills along with the diagnosis, but it was a solid three days of nothing staying down for very long. The girls were just wrecked; they'd get up out of bed and want to "wake up", go into the living room and watch cartoons for about a half hour, drink a few sips of water, throw it back up, then ask to go back to bed and sleep for another couple hours.

Finally yesterday the fog lifted and we were somewhat back to normal. Ate a lot of crackers and toast all day without issue, played somewhat normally, and while they were still somewhat lethargic it was otherwise a normal day. Bedtime came late last night, around 8:30, because sometimes schedules get disrupted and Mommy and Daddy don't pay attention to the clock. Megan was out like a light, but from what I hear Kayla outlasted Daddy.

This morning I instinctually faded closer to 6:30 for the girls wake-up time, as I suspected this morning was going to be a rare chore. They were better yesterday, but not all the way, and probably did not get as much sleep as they should have due to the late-ish night. They've been off-schedule since Friday, weren't back to full strength, would be hungry....my guard was up. Sure enough, simply exposing Megan's face to light was enough to elicit guttural groans, and the flat-out crying commenced as soon as I picked her up. Usually as long as they can sit on your lap and snuggle in a bit they're OK in the mornings, but this morning Megan was just flat crying, not even wanting to lay her head down on me. Even her body language was protesting: "I do not want to be upright for any reason whatsoever, and you're histories greatest monster for making me do so". This went on for a couple minutes, until finally she settled down and stopped crying, but clearly wasn't in any mood to go get dressed, or do anything but try to fall back asleep on me. Kayla was likewise still motionless in bed.

Then the strangest thing happened. I, almost rhetorically, asked them if they wanted pancakes for breakfast. Megan sat up and looked at me, saying "Mommy said we could have toast for breakfast." Sure, of course, you can have toast, and I'll even cut the crust off, even though I did this a dozen times yesterday and swore I would never make toast again. 

And that was it, the switch was flipped. Megan started telling me something about her dolly and immediately went to get dressed. Kayla got up on her own and started doing the same. They were chattering in that way they only do when they're happy: a non-stop barrage of facts, stories, and remembered occurrences as they seek your affirmation on what they think and experience. Actually making the toast (and waffles, as it turns out) was literally the hardest part of my morning after that. 

You just never know.

Kayla's Story

Ever wonder what it sounds like when both girls get to talking at the same time? Happens all the time around here...and if you don't stop it, they jabber over each other.

This has no real video to speak of -- it's just for the sound.
The girls were in the tub.

Kayla asked me to tell her a story at bed time.  With a little bit of prompting, she told me the story of Goldilocks and the three bears.  While being poked and interrupted by Megan.

More gymnastics pictures

The pictures Jenn took at the girls gymnastics class were somewhat blurry, as they were taken from behind the glass of the gymnastics area. Luckily as someone with advanced computer knowledge, I was able to enhance and sharpen these images, to give you a better idea of  how the girls did in their class.

I won't lie, they seem to have a talent for it.

First Organized Class - Gymnastics!

The girls attended their first organized class this weekend -- they started gymnastics!  It's a recreational class at the YMCA for 4 year olds.

When I first told them about it a couple of weeks ago, Megan didn't want to go, and Kayla was excited.  But the day of the class -- Megan completely melted down. She did NOT want to go at all! And Kayla followed suit. The half hour before class was crying by one or both, about one thing or another.  They were feeding off each other, and nothing was right with the world.  It got to the point that I don't think Megan even knew why she was crying.  (Spoiler alert -- she laughed when I showed her this video later and agreed that it wasn't worth it)

Megan, before class

When we got there, we found out they were supposed to wear shorts or leotards - not the pants that we'd been told.  Regardless, they did fine.

At first, they sat on the mats with the other kids -- but didn't do the motions they were doing during the warm-up.  They'd stand and sit when they were supposed to, but that was about it.  It was interesting that they chose to sit across the circle from each other at first.  Later on, they started sitting next to each other, though.

When they started doing specific activities one at a time, the girls started getting into it.  You could tell by their body language that they were getting comfortable and warming up to the situation.  By the end of the class, they were right at home and having fun.

The first activity was to crawl through a tunnel made by a mat, then do a forward roll down an incline.  Megan went through the tunnel right away, but Kayla took some coaxing.

(Please forgive the photo quality -- they were taken through a window, quite a distance away, on an iPod Touch.  Great camera for an iPod, which I love -- but obviously it's main purpose is not for zoomed-in photos)

Coaxing Kayla through the tunnel

 Megan at the end of her somersault 

  Kayla, mid-somersault

They walked the balance beam forward.  Kayla did fine - had her little arms out for balance, and only stumbled a little bit.  She loved it!  Megan, on the other hand, kept her arms down at her sides, and walked quickly across the entire length of the beam without falling off once.

Megan's balance beam style

They both needed help going backwards.

 

Kayla, backwards on the beam

Megan, backwards on the beam

 Megan on the bars

  Kayla on the bars

They thought Megan had a bloody nose part way through class, so they brought her out to us.  She announced that she missed me, and snuggled.  When I realized it wasn't really a bloody nose, I tried to get her to go back into class.  She wouldn't, and just snuggled with me.  After a couple of minutes, one of the teachers saw she was fine, and came to get her.  Megan went with her, saying "I don't want to go" the whole way-- but walking along willingly, holding her hand.  When they got back out to the equipment, though, she went running for her turn.

The favorite for them both I believe was the trampoline.  They have several trampolines lined up along the back wall.  They have them jump the length of the wall, with a foam-block pit at the end.

After class, they were very excited.  Megan, who had melted down and did not want to go, was so wound up and bouncing around afterwards, I couldn't get her to give a good video recap.  They both got froggy stamps on their hands and little plastic bracelets after class.  

Needless to say, they can't wait until next week's class!

Then and Now

Kayla with her Dancing Doll in January 2011 at 2 1/2 years old.

Kayla with her Dancing Doll in January 2013 at 4 1/2 years old.

 Megan with her drum in January 2011 at 2 1/2 years old.

Megan with her drum in January 2013 at 4 1/2 years old.