Twin Challenge

The girls do love that ravioli!  But can you tell who's wearing her dinner in this picture?
 

Wordless Wednesday 8/25/10

Just a quick link

Kayla and Megan Tea Party

Over the River and Through the Woods....

There are a lot of advantages to living in a house that backs up to your family.

However, for my mom, visits from the granddaughters hasn't often been one.

Even though we literally live behind each other -- I haven't been brave enough to take the girls to my mom's house very often.  Many reasons for this...but the easiest explanation - I dare you to take two babies down a flight of stairs, across the yard, up another partial flight of stairs, and into a house with pretty things everywhere and an open stairway to the basement.  Yeah, I can rationalize with the best!  

Now that the girls are getting older, they can navigate the stairs themselves (with someone ready to catch them if they fall --or to hold a hand to help them along).  And they go through the yard just fine. In fact, I can say "let's go to Grandma's house" and they go right to her back porch.  And since they're starting to get the idea when we say "no" and "don't touch", we mean it, so it's not quite as daunting.  

This weekend we went over to Grandma's right after dinner.  Grandma had some tomatoes, and the girls wanted them.  So Grandma shared.  We diced them up and put them in a bowl.   Mom didn't have dirty pants.  The girls kept wiping their hands across her pants to get the tomato juice off them!

Then we washed up their hands and let them play in the living room for a bit.  Megan made herself right at home on the couch, taking off her shoes.

Kayla made herself at home on the loveseat and took her shoes off, too. But Megan put hers back on, and then helped Kayla put hers back on, too.

When it was time to go outside, Grandma got a big hug from Kayla. 

We invited Grandma to sit out on the porch while the girls played in the yard.  She taught the girls how to sit at their picnic table.

It was a challenge, and they thought they were supposed to get on top of it...but Grandma got them straightened out.

It was a really nice evening to sit outside.  The girls had a great time playing at Grandma's house and out in the yard. 

We'll have to do it again, soon!

22 Month Report

One of the quirks of parenthood is that chances are good you know a friend or family member who ends up having a child shortly before you do. Such a child acts as a bellwether for your own child's development. Dealing with your own child day-to-day, as well as the minutia of life, often obscures development, or at least removes the focus from it (regular readers will detect this running theme of the blog, and likely not for the first time wonder aloud, "They let him care for children?"). You end up surfing through days that turn into weeks that turn into months, with little thought besides what you have to do at work or when the next Burn Notice is on, then you spend time with your little Canary Cousin and come away thinking, "Oh yeah, they can do that too", or more to the point, "Wow, I can't believe they're going to be doing that in a matter of weeks". It's not an exact science of course, since all children develop at different rates, but nevertheless, such is the service Linda's son Jalen provides to us, whom we saw yesterday at his 2nd birthday party.

Getting ready for supper yesterday, I was about ready to go grab one of the high chairs we brought up for the girls (Granny possessing the other). Kayla and Megan still take every meal in their high chairs; we know they do OK in booster seats from experience at mom's, but typically we're slow in changing such habits, mainly because the more restrictive devices tend to offer a measure of control as well. This is one of the major reasons the baby gate separating the kitchen and living room was only taken down this week, despite the fact the girls have been able-bodied enough to simply remove it themselves should they wish it gone for quite some time now. Mommy and Daddy's binky's, as it were. But back to the high chair: Linda told me not to bother, since Jalen would just sit at the kitchen table chair.

Would he, now?

Yes, as it turns out. I had doubts when he sat down and his nose was level with the table, but Linda just told him to get up on his knees, and all was well. I'm trying to imagine the scenario in which I would have casually suggested a similar course of action for the girls, and honestly most of them involve promises of game show winnings/riches. And yet I have to remind myself: There, but for 2 months, go we. Give or take.

Scenario #2. Granny and Grandpa have a swingset-on-steroids in their backyard, which the girls gravitated to at one point. But they're too little for such a playground still, they couldn't possibly climb the ladder to go down the slide, right? Wrong again, Superdad. The truth is yes, they are probably a bit too little for it, as it took myself and two heroic in-laws to manage the scene, but again the question lingers: For How Long???

Language skills continue to amaze as well. Last night, headed home after cake and ice cream (or rather, some strange new creation I call "ice cake"), Megan entertained herself/fought off sleep by singing the first two words of "Happy Birthday", tune relatively intact. Now, like most families I would imagine, we're not given to spontaneously bursting into Happy Birthday choruses for no reason, and byzantine copyright laws ensure that the girls are not hearing it regularly on television. The point being, when was the last time they would have heard this song? Many months ago? Yet there Megan is, disappointing us when the song morphs into Ring Around the Rosie. You probably saw the Wiggles video previously; this is another song that has only improved with practice. Is it too soon to start them on a diet of Decemberists and Cardigans? Experts are divided.

It gets you thinking, occasionally: Are we babying our baby's too much? As mentioned, we're slow to change habits that make life easier for us, one of the pratfalls of having to keep track of two at any given moment I think. Well, a pratfall of life really, but life all-encompassing is not the subject of this blog. Are we ridiculous for feeding 22 month old children in high chairs? Is it silly that we still feel nervous when they're back in their bedroom silent for more than a few minutes?

Then again, there are often stark reminders that you own underwear older than they are, literally. I'm in the office this morning, taking care of various server updates, while Jenn's at home taking the "We didn't get enough sleep last night, we've got a bout of diaper rash, and there just isn't a whole lot right in the world" bullet you still occasionally have to deal with. I just called to see how it was going, and would officially classify it as "hectic, with a 30% chance of chaotic".

Hurry up, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 install.

How time flies -- how quickly they grow up.

From discovering toes --- to painted toes!  This morning, Kayla pointed to Megan's feet, saying "pretty toes".  Both girls have remnants of mommy's attempt at putting bright pink toenail polish on their wiggling toes.  Then she pointed to her own toes and said "pretty toes".  Next she showed me my own toes, "pretty toes".    Now if only we can get Daddy to let us paint his toes, he can have "pretty toes", too!

Wordless Wednesday 8/11/10

Wordless Wednesday 8/4/10 - New Chairs??

The Wiggles Rock

Kayla and Megan Dancing to The Wiggles

I posted this on my Facebook this weekend, but in case you don't follow me there, there you go. This video is proof that the Internet is at once the most wonderful and horrible thing ever created. In 10+ years, when the girls are too-cool-for-parents and need to be taken down a notch, I can just pull this up when their friends are over and embarrass them beyond words. On the flip side, however, the girls will probably learn to keep it uploaded on whatever phone/device they carry around, and regardless of what they've done - break curfew, wreck the car, start an intergalactic war - it will all be forgotten the moment I see Kayla clap and yell "Yay!" halfway through the video.

Granny was down for this week, coinciding with a week off work I had as well. Originally our daycare was going to be gone on vacation this week, but that was cancelled, so I ended up alternating between doing a few chores around the house and watching Granny work her magic. Every time she's around the girls for an extended period, they seem to have a quantum leap in development. It's the teacher in her I'm sure; she naturally sees in them/does things with them that we mortals cannot. This time the leap was in play. I (finally) baby-proofed the girls room, so Granny brings up from the basement the Disney Fairy Princess table and chairs Grandma Ruth got for them a while back, and they spent a significant portion of the week playing Tea Party, or perhaps Business Casual Lunch, whatever the cool 22-month-olds are into this year. I cleaned out the garage, Granny sees the two doll strollers stored there and forgotten, and before I can finish sweeping the floor the girls are challenging my parenting skills.

I see things like this happen, and it does not escape me that I'm very fortunate to have an extended family filled with teachers (including my wife, who is a teacher herself, if not in title, then in spirit). When small humans have needs that never stray too far from Hungry, Tired, Soiled, and Mad At The World, they fall right into my wheelhouse. It's the scientific method, really.

Hypothesis: Baby Is Hungry.
Test Hypothesis: Feed Baby.
Is Test Positive? Negative.
Proceed to Secondary Hypothesis: Baby is Sleepy.

If all tests fail, endure 30 minutes of crying and repeat. It's all very predictable and orderly when you think about it, and it should not be surprising that a man who is rarely more than 50 feet away from a computer would manage infant care in such a manner. The equations become more complex, however, when things like knowledge, language, emotions, wants and preferences begin to erupt from our charges. This I am less equipped to deal with, and though I'm sure I will find a way to adapt, it is comforting to know that there are those around me willing and able to pick up my slack.

Wordless Wednesday 7/28/10 - Room For Two -- Usually

Faces of Kayla

Little Miss Kayla sometimes likes to ham it up for the camera.  Even when there isn't a camera around. Lucky for us there often is one nearby in our house, although sometimes in the form of a phone.

Kayla has gotten so expressive lately. Little things will cause her to make the most surprised face -- complete with the perfect little oval-shaped open mouth and wide eyes, frozen just long enough to make it more comical.

She's absolutely adorable when she does it!  It's hard to catch her in full-surprised-mode, though.
She's turned into quite the climber, too!  I keep calling her my little monkey girl.  If we take the tray off the high chair, she'll climb up into it all by herself!

But sometimes, she just wants to lay in a chair and watch Dora or Diego.  She does suck her thumb -- usually only when she's tired, though.  We haven't tried to stop her yet -- figure we'll give it some time and let her be a kid for a while.

Hugging is fun!  And sometimes -- she gets overzealous and hugging becomes near-strangling.  But even strangling can be cute when it's a stuffed animal.  When she's excited she'll run at you and throw herself into your arms for a big hug!

She thinks watermelon is fabulous.  She makes an awful mess with it, with juice going everywhere.  Especially when she smooshes it in front of her.  Here she's actually showing me her mouth, in response to my request that she put it in her mouth instead of smooshing it on her tray.

 And she doesn't care what she looks like eating playing with it.  Here she's quite proud of her accomplishment of getting her finger stabbed through it without it breaking into multiple pieces.  I was actually pretty impressed!

She's the ultimate girly-girl.

Okay, maybe this was a rare moment caught with a bow in her hair.  She left the bow in her hair for quite a bit that morning, probably because she found it on the dresser and wanted to wear it.  Everything's better if its not mommy's idea, right?

She's almost always the helper girl.  If we leave something within her reach, she'll pick it up -- and if we scold her, she doesn't stop -- she just proudly brings it to us so we can put it up.  She's pretty good at sharing things with her sister -- if you give her two sippies, she'll take one to Megan.  If Megan puts her sippy down, Kayla will often pick it up and take it, giving Megan hers.  Any opportunity to trade -- after all, Megan's might have something better!

And she'd would love to be Mommy's little kitchen helper if we'd let her!

Always a cutie, even when she isn't doing anything special.  Here she's showing us the buttons on her top and telling us what they are.  Over and over. She doesn't have many outfits with buttons on them, being a choking hazard and all, so this was pretty special to her--the buttons on her top, instead of mommy's or daddy's!

She's definitely a daddy's girl.  His hat is a much-loved toy, although she hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. In her defense, it is a tad big for her still.

She is absolutely precious to me.   I cannot even imagine what life would be like now if she weren't a part of it. She's got me by the heart.

She's pretty good at making other people smile, too.  After all, who could resist this face?

Faces of Megan

Mighty Megan prefers to be held a lot of the time.

That started from birth and hasn't stopped. She's always reaching to be picked up, and asks with a persistent and insistent "Up!  Up!" and who could resist her cute little demand plea?

She does have a determined streak in her.  When she wants to do something, she doesn't like to be told no.  Like sneaking food to the dog from her high chair, for example..

Eventually I predict that determination will work into a beneficial attribute.  Right now, though, it's inconsistent.  She's very quick to say "Hep, hep!" when she wants someone to help her do something -- often before she's tried to do it on her own.  She's learned already that people will do things for her if she asks them to.  Manager in training, perhaps?

She's quite vocal, learning more words every day.  She's very good at picking up what people say and do, and mimicking it.  I'm not sure where she got this one, though -- it's certainly not something I do!

We have to watch Megan carefully, and be careful where we leave the laptops. Megan looks quite at home here, though, in this rare moment where she was able to get to a computer without being on someone's lap.  I have no doubt she'll have more than her share of early exposure to PC's in our household, but so far, it's limited to watching clips of preschool TV shows on the internet, and seeing pictures of herself on daddy's screen saver. 

She's pretty good at identifying the usual body parts.  Here she's demonstrating her skill at identifying her belly button.

When Megan gets determined to do something, that tongue comes out.  My daddy had that same tendency.  Here, she's determined to climb up into mommy's lap in the recliner, but mommy won't put down the camera to help.

Here she's intent on using that spoon.  Even if it is backwards...

She loves being outside, and loves to ready-set-GO!  She often plays keep-away-from-Mommy when mommy wants her to come here.

She has a passion for reading already.  She's even doing well with pointing at items as we count them.

She has an artistic streak to her eating style.  A while back, she balanced toast pieces on end.  The other day, she worked hard to balance a piece of cheese stick on the top of her sippy cup.  She succeeded!

Megan often makes it hard to get good pictures of her.  As soon as she sees the camera, she comes over wanting to see the pictures on the screen.  Every time she sees one of her or Kayla, she identifies it as Kayla, though.  Apparently, she can't distinguish herself from her sister yet in photos.

She's not shy, although she looks it in this shot.  What's really going on here is that she wants to sit on the other side of the chair, and so she's climbing behind Kayla (in pink) to get her to move.  This is just one example of Megan forgetting that she's little, and pushing to get her way.

Megan is quite playful at times.  Of course when she's not she has no problem saying "no!".  Here she's playing a game of peek a boo from behind the chair.  She thinks she's hidden.

She tends to play in her crib for a while before going to bed.  One morning we found all her babies from her bed lined up along the wall, watching her sleep.  (I haven't decided if that one's cute or creepy.)

She brightens every day for me, more than I ever expected.  Life would not be the same if she wasn't with us, an I'm so grateful that she is!  I'm smitten.

She's good at capturing people's hearts.  It's hard to resist a cute little face like this -- who once again, is after the camera!