Our Kids

My turn to apologize about not posting! I’ve been… lazy. Yep, I admit it.

Anyhow… echoing Mystique’s comments… the girls are just doing great. They’re very animated and very, very talkative now. I love just listening to them as they yammer on about whatever’s on their mind. I’m pretty sure they’re both scheming against me, comparing notes on how to get us to do stuff for them, etc… I swear one time I heard Piper tell Lela the password to our checking account, so I’m keeping an eye on that.

Both of the girls have added to their list of “things we can help daddy with” and it’s pretty cute. They’re still helping me out with the dishes most mornings, so that’s nice. I think I’ve mentioned before how Piper used to get my shoes for me in the morning and now it’s getting even better. She’ll actually try to let met use her finger to slip my heel into the shoe with, and she’ll try to tie my shoelaces for me! It’s so funny to watch… she sits down in front of my shoe, picks up both laces and just waves her hands around with them for a little bit. I say “thank you” and actually tie them but she looks so happy to have helped. Loyal Lela is always standing by learning, so I’m pretty sure she’ll be helping with with my laces pretty soon.

Last night the girls were eating at the counter when I got home… we were all having bean burritos and corn on the cob. The girls love eating corn on the cob… almost as much as I enjoy seeing them sign corn (make the motion of eating corn). Lela managed to get some corn on her nose, so Piper said something in Chinese to her (that’s what it sounded like to me) and reached over and plucked the piece of corn off her nose. Cute.

I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but… since I leave the girls 5 days/week, I get a bunch of loving when I get home. The girls seem genuinely excited to see me, plus I get those little hugs and kisses in the morning when I leave. I feel bad because Mystique doesn’t get that, but that’s because she’s with the girls all of the time.

Anyhow (I stink at telling stories, if you hadn’t noticed)… last night Mystique went to our neighbor’s hip-hop class which meant she left around 6:35pm or so. That’s before the girls went to bed, and I tell ya… they did not like that at all! Both of the girls started to cry, saying “momMEEE”, “momMEEEE”, staring at the front door, looking out the window. They really missed Mystique! I almost video-taped it just to show Mystique that yes, indeed, the girls feel the same way, if not more, towards her. When she leaves, they no like.

It took all of my daddy abilities to get them back to normal. That means I bribed them with milk and TV. Surprisingly, Lela calmed down first and it took a lot of coaxing to get Piper away from the front door. We watched Signing Time and Thomas the Train for a bit, brushed our teeth, and shuffled off to bed. It’s so nice that they’re back to normal about going to bed… we had a couple weeks where they were not happy about it whatsoever, but we got through that and now they’re little angels. Daddy-time was topped off by a sweet “nite nite” as I closed the door to their room and they fell fast asleep without a peep.

Well we all know which one we would choose…..the pancakes. So all of you who know me personally know I go to great lengths to make sure the girls eat a whole foods plant based diet. They are very good eaters and I am proud of them. They eat brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli like it is going out of style, beans, brown rice, tofu and anything else that a lot of kids turn their nose up at. And just so you don’t think I am crazy they do eat cookies on occasion, tortilla chips, crackers and other typical toddler fare.

This weekend we went out to breakfast, something we have been doing more of late and a favorite pasttime of Jason and I. We were regulars at Main Street Over Easy in Bozeman. I ate many a hearty breakfast there pregnant with the girls, yummy! Anyhoo, being the good example setter that I struggle to be I ordered the vegetarian lentil soup for breakfast and Jason got his usual pancakes (which usually isn’t a challenge). Well both the girls wanted to sit on Daddy’s side of the table which ended up being closest to the pancakes. Darn it all if they did not eat every bit of those pancakes and turn their nose up at the soup until the pancakes were all gone. Then the soup became the most delicious thing on earth.

I thought it was a good lesson to all men and women out there that struggle with their weight. Here are two little angels that are used to eating only fruits and vegetables with the occasional sweet but even so they were compelled to eat as many pancakes as their daddy would allow BEFORE they went on to the soup. It is interesting how our taste buds are trained to go for the carbo rich, sweet stuff. Many folks say that is because of our anti starvation genes that we needed back in the day but we don’t need now. Anyhoo, they ate the pancakes, they ate the soup, they played in the play area and all was right with the world…..except Jason was a little hungry:)

Sorry for the long quiet period.  I dunno why it happened, the holidays, a cold and all that jazz.  I haven’t really been into blogging lately and I don’t know why that is either.  Anyway, here I am with new content:)

The girls are doing great.  They are really developing their own twin language which doesn’t help anyone else understand them but they seem to get the gist of what the other is saying.  If you watch them closely then you can tell what one is saying to the other.  There is a lot of pointing going on in the conversation so that helps figure out what they are talking about.  They can just sit and jabber away at each other, they pause for the other to talk and just keep on chatting away.  They are still working on their verbal skills and can say a few more words but don’t really seem motivated to say much.  They learn the names of people they like, toys they like and things they like to do.

They have really good memories too.  Here is a good example that happened this weekend.  Lela wanted to go to the park and swing and was very adamant about it.  We told her that we would have to go after her nap, she was still mad but went down for her nap.  As soon as I walked in to get her from said nap she signed and said swing swing swing.  So of course we packed up and went to the park to swing.  Their language comprehension is very good.  You can tell them that something is upside down and they know exactly what you mean.  I am sure the language will come on gangbusters when they are ready.

Something interesting that is happening is that their personalities are starting to emerge.  Likes and dislikes are coming out and they are very different.  At the same time they seem to be getting more and more dependent on the other being right by them.  So while one likes to slide and the other likes to swing, they will do the activity their sister wants to do and then go and do their own.  They don’t like being out of sight of each other, they are very sensitive to what the other wants/needs.  Now Piper still wants most of the things that Lela has and Lela gives them to her 85% of the time, but Piper is the first to bring Lela something such as a book, cracker, cup or whatever she thinks that Lela needs.  If you give Piper a cracker you have to give her two so that she can take one to Lela.  When one sits in her carseat she points to the other seat and says her sisters name, wanting her in that seat asap.  It is very very sweet.

The other thing that has happened is that they will go into the backyard alone and play for a bit.  I can leave the door open and do the dishes in the kitchen where I can see them the whole time and they will come in and out.  That is a big step for us because they have always needed to be right near me even to play.  They are still very leary of strangers and most other children but they are getting a little more curious.  I can’t complain because they don’t run from me in public places, they don’t say no and generally listen to what I am saying.  I feel blessed everyday to have such good little girls.

So here is what has been going on around  here.  Lela still hates the bath….sigh but Piper is still loving the bath.  Last night she laid on her tummy in the bath and started kicking away and even put her face under the water (she did not like that too much but was okay with it).  Then Lela, who stands at the tub and watches Piper play, got on the floor and started swimming on the floor like Piper was doing in the tub.  Silly girls!

They are really into copying each other right now and me.  They like to help daddy get dressed by getting all his things together bringing him his socks and shoes.  And now they must give a kiss and a hug before he goes and then finally a wave and a bye bye.  You can tell that they are our children because they like a routine!  I have been a little loosy goosy about when they go down for their naps and I don’t think they appreciate it.

Okay so can you tell that the girls are getting more and more active?  Well the lackluster posts and the long distance between posts probably gave you a clue.  I do have about 1 hour to myself during the day and I SHOULD spend that cleaning but somehow the hour zips right on by and here I sit with no new posts and a dirty house, LOL!

Now that the girls are more active we seem to be picking up germs from about any place we go.  My first thought is to hole us back up into our own little world and keep all the germs away but then I think of all the fun folks that we have met and all the good times that the girls are having.  So back out into the wide wooly world we go and we got a cold.  Not a big one but an annoying one.  The one great thing about the girls is that I get the cold too and most of the time that is the only way I know that they either have or are going to get it.  They are REALLY good sick babies.  Really different in how their bodies process the same germ but really good.  Piper is like me and gets really congested (which is why we steer clear of dairy) and Lela feels puny and gets cranky but barely has a runny nose.

We went to the zoo on Veteran’s day with Corbin and Noa and had a blast.  It is so much fun to see what it will be like when the girls are older.  Corbin and Noa are very active and expressive and fun to be around.  The girls really like them too, Piper tries to do everything that Noa does and Corbin is a super help with the girls.  See the world isn’t so scary afterall….

My turn for a story! Last week I was leaving for work in the morning. Usually that goes over ok… the girls understand that daddy needs to go to work and as I’m walking out I hear a cute chorus of ‘bye bye’. This time, though, Piper came toddling over (toddlers toddle, right?) and grabbed my legs. I was afraid this was one of the times where she didn’t want me to leave and wouldn’t let go. It was a nice surprise when she just gave me a good 3 second squeeze, then let go and went about her business. It was a goodbye hug!

This morning reminded me of that because it happened again as I was leaving. This time Piper and Lela were sitting in their chairs (attached to the counter) as I was prepping to leave. I gave the girls their goodbye kiss, but as I started to walk away Piper held out her arms and started squirming in her seat. I leaned in and she gave me a quick hug, then let go and went back to her toast. I think Mystique said “aww, you gave daddy a hug!” at which point Lela gave the sign for love, so I leaned in and she gave me a hug today too. I left to my usual chorus of bye bye’s.

So today as usual we had breakfast. For breakfast we had a big bowl of oatmeal, iron fortified cereal and raisins. The girls ate until they were stuffed. BUT….after breakfast Lela wanted some bread. Normally I toast it and put some soy butter on it but since they had just finished eating I figured she was not really hungry and would not eat it anyway so I just gave her a piece from the fridge. She stood there a sec, looked at me and then started walking to the cabinet. She opened the cabinet and dropped her bread in the toaster and looked at me. It was sooo funny. The toaster was not plugged in but I keep it in a lower cabinet. There was no way she was eating that bread if it wasn’t toasted and buttered! LOL! So of course Piper ran over and insisted she have some toasted bread too. In fact, we all had toasted bread and we all were very, very happy!

It is November already and that means that the holidays and the girls SECOND birthday are right around the corner. I better get my bones in gear for the holiday season and some serious birthday partying:)

The girls went trick or treating as you can see over at the flickr site. They were a bit timid at first but Piper was drawn in by her curiousity to see what was going on up at the big doors and what was inside. They finally got up the nerve to go up to the person and take what was being offered only to run back and give it to me. Lela got into the swing of running from house to house but did not catch on to the stop here and get candy. Several times we were chasing her down the street with her pig ears flopping all over as she ran and ran and ran. Maybe she will be a runner like her mom. Piper of course wanted to go where the big kids were going but only if I went with her. We were out with our friend Erin and her two girls Corbin (10) and Noa (7). After about an hour they were kaput and we headed back to the house where a smiling daddy was handing out Halloween toys to the kids in lieu of candy. We went nextdoor to Erin’s and watched her girls count out their candy deciding what they would sell back to their mom while Jason and Russ talked surround sound. All in all a very unspooky and fun Halloween adventure. The girls stayed up until 8 and are still recovering from that little bit of sleep deprivation.

Lela is becoming more and more the mimic lately and can say all kinds of things. We are working on our colors and some days Piper knows them quite well. We can pick out our own colored playdoh and most days the color of our toothbrushes. We are starting to work on the backyard so that we have a fun place to play off some of their energy and hope to have that finished up by Thanksgiving (phase one). That is about all we are up to here in sunny AZ.