Our Kids

I don’t understand it but I am not complaining.  This morning we woke up at 630AM just like every day, had a sip of milk, got dressed, ate some granola with raisins and headed for the mall (now we don’t head to the mall every day).  Mom had grand ideas of coffee and muffins from Paradise bakery while we sat and watched the girls play.  Turns out it worked out just as Mom had planned (me being Mom).  Jason and I were able to sit and watch the girls run around the play area delighted as can be.  We had it all to ourselves which I can’t believe, where are all the parents, don’t they know how much fun this can be, especially when we have it all to ourselves.

There was much squealing with delight from Piper and lots of running, climbing and sliding from Lela.  It was so awesome to see them so happy and able to run to their hearts content.  At about 9ish another family showed up and the girls promptly signed that they were ready to go.  So off we went to Macy’s to get daddy some much needed new shirts.  Then back home and to nap they went.  So far a really really good day.

As Mystique has eluded to, the girls are starting to recognize diaper times. It’s really a plus and a minus… it’s yet another sign that our girls are growing up, which is sometimes sad. But it’s also a nice teaser for a life without diapers.

Anyhow, the fun part is when Piper immediately lets you know she needs a diaper. That’s what happened this morning after our normal routine of diapers and the dishwasher. I just heard from our bedroom, “well, go tell daddy”, then out came Piper signing “diaper” over and over. She then proceeded to lead me to her room and the diaper change commenced. I’m not even sure she was done. It was f-r-e-s-h FRESH. I mean really, give it a few minutes to bake! I’m pretty sure Mystique has been the victim of this more than a few times, but that first time is always an eye-opener.

The girls are getting more and more talkative… just like favorite signs, I have favorite words that they say. I like ‘socks’, since I think they’re really close at saying it the way older folks do. I melt when they say “da” or “dada” as they hand me stuff from the dishwasher. I never thought I’d actually look forward to emptying the dishwasher every day. Some other good words: “watermelon”, “dog”, and no!” Oh yeah, and when they “sing” it’s also great. I have some of that on tape, just need to get around to making a movie suitable for uploading.

That’s all from me. The girls had a follow-up doctor appointment today to make sure there weren’t any lingering ear infections, plus get another couple of shots. I actually mised that appointment (terrible father), in my place were the tag team of grammy and grampy. I hear it went well… lots of screaming and crying. Even some from the girls (ba dum dum! Thank you, I’ll be here all weekend).

Grandma Kathie said it rained in the desert, we all looked the other way when Grampa Jack had new gutters put all around his house…..well they were right.

Last night we had a doosy of a monsoon.  It rained so much that the neighbors pool is still draining into our yard because their yard is flooded.  The park near our house is a lake!  The water is up about 2-3 feet around the whole thing.  It is CRAZY!  So needless to say I look a bit like Tina Turner today with my hair in full form.  It is cute to see all the curly locks on the girls now that their hair is getting longer.  Lela’s is more ringlets and Pipers is more large curls.  Both have fine hair like me so we will see, as long as they don’t have hair like Daddy I don’t care what it looks like (ask me again in two years when I have to comb it).

We are taking a little break today.  I was so happy to have found that mommy group that I might have overdone it.  I am just not the mommy group kind of person.  I like it every once in a while but these people get together 4-5 times per week, I mean come on do you really like each other that much?  So I am passing on the rest of the activities for the week and instead I will “chat” with all my virtual friends here that can’t even chat back.  LOL!  Sad state of affairs I am afraid.  Okay well I am off to do some exciting task, like clean the floors.

We are coming into our own out here in the desert.  It is only Tuesday and we have had a jam packed week of fun in just two short days.  We have found that the mall toddler area is totally empty at 8AM in the morning.  The girls love to go there and have it all to themselves.

Another spot we visited this week was called Kidstown.  It is an indoor town built kid sized with a garage, doctors office, grocery store etc.  Each house is fully stocked with items relevant to that house.  Outside of the house are cars to drive around, a police car, fire truck….you get the picture.  So we went there to meet our stroller strides mommy group, they close the place on Monday’s and play groups can “rent” it out.  There were only 8 or so mommies there so it was ultra friendly for Piper and Lela with a small number of children.  They had fun.  Lela had some tense moments when other kids would come near her but it was good for her to be around others.

Today’s adventure was a trip to Espee Park.  This park is right near our house and it is fantastic.  It has toddler and kindergarten sized play equipment, several covered picnic areas, baseball fields, a nice “bath” house and a splash pad.  Splash pads are zero water parks where the water drains off every 15 min and fresh tap water is sprayed about.  The girls really enjoyed themselves, Piper especially.  We played, we spent some time on the swings, we climbed, we splashed and we ate watermelon.  All in all good fun.  It was a hot day but breezy and a little overcast.

Maybe all the fun we are having this week will be enough to make Friday’s doctors appt easier (I doubt it).  We are definitely in an anti doctor phase.

More about the distress in a minute.

The girls and I have been going to this exercise group called Stroller Strides.  We love it, we go in the early morning and workout.  It is quite fun and refreshing and the girls seem to get a kick out of the whole thing.  There are babies and toddlers and we all get a workout.  We met another mom who is feeding a plant based diet like I am so that is cool.  Its nice that the girls get to interact with other kids and that I am challenged in my workout and don’t have to make too much small talk:)  LOL!  Anyway, as we were doing our stoller squats we went around and said what we did for fun this weekend.  Hmmmmm…..I could not remember what I did at all this weekend!  I know we did stuff but it was all a blank.  Need to play soduku or whatever it is called to up the brain power I think.  Goo goo gaa gaa da da…..

Anyway, we got home and played some and then had a bite to eat.  After that I figured they would be ready for a nap since it was 1130.  I guess Lela was but at 1245 I went in and got Piper who had been quietly (sometimes very quietly) playing in her crib.  I figured she was not going to sleep and I did not want  her to wake Lela.  Lela woke up early this AM at 530 (but did not join us until 630) so she was beat.  After I picked up Piper we sat down and she promptly fell asleep in my arms.  So I put her in our bed and she is still there now at 216PM.  But Lela woke up at 145PM and has been in some distress ever since.  I have had to take her to see Piper several times and show her that she is asleep.  I think this is one of the first times that they have been away from each other since I don’t know when.  They are always on the same schedule.  It is an interesting situation for Lela to be in and I am not sure she likes it.

Something you don’t think of too often but I guess it would be distressing to be away from someone you have been with your whole existence.  What adventures will this twist bring us in the future I wonder.

EDIT: Grammy and Grampy Haslup gave them chips first (it was their idea before it was someone elses) but they were afraid the girls would choke. I obviously have no such fear as I let them put them in their mouths:)

Jason read on some blog that poker chips provided endless entertainment for toddlers. Since we have tons of poker chips, the heavy duty Vegas kind, I pulled them out for some endless entertainment. The blog in question said that their toddler played for over an hour with the chips, since mine play with things for about 5 min. I was game. Anyhoo, it did provide Lela about 20 min of good fun, with mommy not alone. As for Piper she was less interested in the chips than she was at closing herself in the office with the lights off. Since that seemed like her thing for now I moved closer to the door so I could open it if she got upset. I decided to push a poker chip under the door to her and that resulted in squeals of laughter, so I pushed another and another. Each chip was followed with laughter from behind the door. Then little fingers stuck out from under the door and gave me back the chips. By now Lela was interested and came over to look under the door at Piper which caused her to go into giggle fits. We went back and forth with the chips over and over resulting in two very amused toddlers. Lela even went into the office a few times but the dark office wasn’t much fun for her and she quickly returned to the light. Ahhh…….poker chips.

Where did Daddy’s hair go? I like how the book that you can buy with that one on Amazon is about crazy hair and has a girl with a very large curly mane on it. Sounds like the perfect books for our family since mommy has crazy hair, Lela has crazy hair and Piper has crazy hair (when she gets out of the bath). So apropos (I watched a spelling bee today, hence the large word).

The girls are doing great, finally back from the land of unmentionable horrors that we visited last week. I chatted with a dear friend who has a son a little younger than the girls and she too has made several visits to the land of unmentionable horrors during this nap transition thingie. We are trying to have two naps per day this week and so far the afternoon’s have been alone time in our cribs versus naps but it seems to work out okay. They spend about an hour downtime in their cribs chattering away and then turn in early around 6PM. They slept until 630AM this morning so that was a good nights rest. Other than the sleep thing I think all is normal around here. They are eating good, playing well, trying to talk, walking, running and being downright adorable:)

I wonder if the girls are just being a bit cranky because of the one big question that’s in their head… maybe it’s just so frustrating not knowing the answer. The question? Where Did Daddy’s Hair Go?

Thanks to Uncle JJ for forwarding that to me. I’m sure there’s a companion book, “Where Did Uncle JJ’s Hair Go?”, and if there isn’t, I’ll write it. By the way, I’m playing around with Amazon links so the link above is actually one from our Amazon Associate account which means if anyone buys that book from that click, we get a few pennies. Full disclosure!

Wow, the girls have been a lot of… fun lately. Yep. Fun. Little sweeties, though… last night I got home from work and Lela actually signed “daddy play please.” That’s three words (signs) in a row. Cutest thing ever. I broke down and started sobbing like a fool at which point Piper signed, “Daddy be a man.” Smart little cookies.

Kudos to Mystique, though… she’s been weathering the storm of uncertainty every day. Sometimes being a parent is the most humbling experience ever. Just when you think you’ve got things under control, your little ones throw you a curve ball and you’re back to square one. I love it.