Our Kids

Lest you think our farts smell like roses here I will give you the skinny on the girls interpersonal relationship. You have all seen the smoochie pictures on the flickr site. I just want you to know that most of the smooching goes on after mommy says, no poking in the eye, kisses only, then the kisses come.

The girls are in a very clingy mommy state (and yes I know I should be grateful and relish every moment) which makes it difficult to get much done (and yes I know the dirty dishes will be there tomorrow and their youth will be gone). So most days I abandon all my domestic duties to sit on the floor and play with the girls. The only thing is that lately one wants to do what the other wants to do, one wants to have what the other wants to have and one in particular is very good at pulling hair, poking someone in the eye, and scratching at a moments notice. The hair pulling, poking and scratching is coming from sweet Lela. Now Piper went through this phase a bit ago so it is not like she is totally innocent.

So here is a typical scenario, mom comes in to play with girls because Lela is crying and following her around while she is trying to do the dishes from breakfast, Lela sits on moms lap and gets a book, then Piper who was playing well all by herself gets up and shoves Lela to get on mom’s lap and give mom a big doe eyed hug. Meanwhile Lela has gotten up and gotten into position to pull Piper back by the hair, grab her cheeks and pinch as hard as she can, then mom struggles to move Lela away and console Piper who is now screaming at the top of her lungs and Lela joins in with her cries of protest for being moved away. Now that is just one scenario and I know it seems like it would be easy to stop if you are sitting right there but it happens so fast. But amidst the toy stealing, shoving and screaming there is a TON of laughing, kissing, rolling, jumping and dancing that goes on everyday.

Today we went to the zoo. I have been trying to come up with things for us to do during the long days since we are working on a new nap schedule. If we keep busy and active then we are okay but if we stick around the house we have two very cranky babies on our (really my) hands. So after naptime today we packed up and went to the zoo. It was fun to walk around and see all the animals. Since it is like Africa here in the summer many of the animals are quietly resting under trees but we did see some giraffe and that was pretty exciting for the girls. They know a ton of animal signs so they got pretty excited.

I pushed them around while they munched on a carrott and they were pleased as punch. After an hour or so we headed to the children’s play area and got into the creek. They had fun swishing around after they got over their initial trepidation. Check out the pics on our flickr site. After swishing in the water we had a snack and headed for home. All in all a very enjoyable day for me and the girlies.

We survived another day in glorious fashion as usual. The girls are getting more and more active and quite chatty. They are starting to chat to one another, hold hands, and be pals. Today on our morning walk they were riding along in the stroller holding hands and chatting, it was so cute. Then we went to the park and rode on the swings, crawled around in the bark and even talked to some ducks who were wading in some water. Then we came back to the house and played in our play room. The girls are getting the hang of oversized puzzles, pushing around their stroller without tiping it or falling, playing with their electronic keyboards and other things that require fine motor skills. They sign all the time but are not really talking yet.

The afternoon was as fun as the morning with a trip to Lowe’s to see some trees and flowers and return our steamer (we don’t like it) and then to Sprouts to buy some spinach. Then we came home and fixed a smoothie with spinach and oranges (I know it sounds icky but it is delish and they love it). Then we played in our sand box, ran around the house, had dinner and a bath, brushed our teeth and went to bed. Ahhh….sweet slumber, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Well that is what we have been up to lately. Today we went to the park and there was a pretty steep hill (steep enough that they fell down a lot) but the girls were both determined to climb it. Surprisingly the generally more clumsy Lela walked right up with no trouble leaving her determined older sister to struggle up the hill after her. Now I thought they were quite cute climbing up but the thought of them both trying to walk down was a bit frightful, so I took turns running up and getting one and running them down so I could run up and get the other one. They did a really good job and managed to get pretty dirty in the process.

Lela has stopped walking around the house looking for Rupert, she says dog a lot less too. I continue to miss him on a daily basis. I just found out that another friend lost their dog to cancer this month and I hope that AJ and Rupert are frolicking away over there in neverland.

We are moving down to one nap per day which is good. So far they are doing okay. I tried this last week but it met with a mighty protest from both chicks. This week we are napping from about 11 to 1 and going to bed by 6PM very sleepy. I think this will be good for them and for me and I think they are ready. Piper has been waking with a dry diaper too so I better start reading up on some potty training books (yikes, already).

Today was a very sad day. We found out that our beloved golden Rupert had terminal cancer. Just Monday he was out with us walking like he always does, playing with us in the park and standing by our side. I wanted to write a post so that you guys can remember what a great dog he was to you both.

He was furry and you both liked to pet him, he was cuddly and you both liked to cuddle him, sometimes he was grumpy and that made Lela cry. He would let you pull his hair, step on his tail and hold his leash when we walked. He loved you both a lot and would plant big wet sloppy kisses on your cheeks, foreheads or any other part of you that happened by his mouth. Sometimes he would knock you down when he got excited but you never really got upset, he would push you aside to get out the door before you but he never meant any harm. You both loved to call him using sign language and you both even would point your fingers at him and say “GET”. You had learned to shove him aside when he was in your way and he did not mind at all. You both had also learned to throw any food you did not want in his direction and he would eat it for you and never tattle.

He was the best dog and he loved you both and you both loved him. Today he died and went to doggie heaven to be with his friends and we are all very sad.

Mornings are always fun in the bustling Haslup house… Mystique and I will roll out of bed usually around the time the girls wake up, grab some milk and head on over to the girls’ wing. There we’ll get some good cuddle time from the girls after we change their diapers.

Then we’ll head back to our bedroom so Mystique and I can get ready. This morning I was done getting ready before Mystique so I said “Let’s go play!” to the girls. That really fired up Lela. She squeeked, turned right around and started waddling to our bedroom door. Every few steps she would just squeal in delight, and keep heading for their playroom. Once she got to the room she was all smiles, found her favorite toy and fired it up. Cutest thing ever.

Piper, on the other hand, handled it differently. The minute I said “Let’s go play” she stopped in her tracks, turned right to me and stuck up her arms and did her “pick me up” grunt. I, of course, complied, so we walked to the playroom together.

Playing is always a good time with the girls. Lela enjoys bringing things to you… books, toys, balls, etc… whatever catches her eye. If she likes it, she’ll bring it to you. Most of the time it’s a book, so I’ll start reading it to her. She really only likes to turn the pages, so I’ll usually only get a few words out per page which makes for an awfully confusing story. The girls don’t seem to mind.

When the book happens to be a picture book of animals, Piper is on top of things and pretty much signing each page correctly. Sometimes she’ll call a goat a cow, but that’s alright, she’s close enough. I love it when she does ‘fish’… it was my favorite sign until I saw her do ‘baby’ the other day. Mystique said that yesterday Piper actually signed a sort-of sentence… she saw Tess or Buster sleeping in the backyard and actually put together the ‘dog’ and ’sleep’ signs. Pretty cool.

The best part of all the signing is that we’ve got both the girls saying “get!” and pointing their fingers at Rupert, our golden retriever. He’s really enjoying things these days .

Piper’s hair is actually getting long around the ears and it was laying down over her ears but has now decided to curl up right above her ears on either side. It is still thin and blond so it is hard to detect in photos but I will try to get a shot of it. Lela is feeling more and more comfortable on her feet and has even added a few dance moves to her steps. She can bob up and down when Elmo is doing the E-L-M-O and swing her arms from right to left as she does the sign for baby.

All in all they girls are doing fantastic. Lela is trying to say more words as she signs while Piper prefers to sign away without saying much. We went to the park today and played on the swings. For the first time I let them down and they walked around in the mulch until Piper found some leftover candies and tried to eat one. I guess I can be thankful it was not poo!

Well Piper and especially Lela are saying Hi on a regular basis. Of course it comes along with the cutest grin and waving of the hand. They never do it when people pass them only when they are long gone. Everyone smiles and says hi to them. They are walking really well now and we often spend time walking around the backyard eating rocks. They are both more active than ever but not really a handful. They are very good babies.

Lela has a couple more teeth budding through which is great. She has been such a trooper eating all the food I make with those three little teeth. Now she will be chomping away like her big sis.

The girls can identify their eyes, nose, ears and mouth and Mommies eyes, ear, nose, mouth and earrings. They are still signing away and have added giraffe and some other odd signs to their repertoire. You can’t tell them what to sign they sign what they want. We are adding please and thank you to the menu and it gets done every once in a while.