Our Kids

Well in the other notes category, sorry it is taking me so long to get my act together on the computer front. I mean losing your computer (due to uncontrolled mechanical malfunction) is like losing your wallet. I had to remember (or ask Jason to remember) all my password. I felt totally disconnected and although my computer is not repaired, my technologically savvy DH has set me up with his Portege laptop. I kind of feel like an old lady since the screen is so small but that is what you want in most laptops. Okay now on to the real post……..

I have said it before but having the girls is making me the person I always wanted to be. One of the things I have always meant to do but have not is to reduce my carbon footprint. So along those lines we are doing lots of things, one of them being composting. We eat a ton of fruits and vegetables so we have a lot to compost. The girls watch me cut up our scraps and put them in a big bucket with a lid in the house and then when we go outside to play we dump it in our big compost pile.

The other day we were sitting on the porch eating a banana.  Piper got done with her banana and stood up and starting walking away with her peel. So I followed her and she walked around the corner and went to the big compost bin, lifted the lid and dumped in her banana peel. Then she ran off to swing. It was just second nature for her, I was pretty jazzed about how easily they can incorporate things into their lives from such a young age. Sigh…..my little angels are growing up:)

Quick note to let everyone know that while we’d really like to update our flickr site with more photos of the girls, we’re currently unable to due to a power supply issue with our iMac.  I’ll try to get us back up and running this weekend.

Three day weekend means a post to kids from jason!

Had a fun day yesterday with the girls. We spent most of the morning in the car but it was for a good cause: we got to see Mystique run her second marathon! Unfortunately due to my horrible time-planning skills, we didn’t get to see her cross the finish line, but thanks to the wonders of GPS we know she did

The girls and I did manage to get to see Mystique running around mile 9… we met up with my parents and brother and literally three minutes after we got the girls out of the car and walked a half a block to where the runners were, Mystique ran up and gave the girls a quick hug, said hello, and continued running. How’s that for timing?

The rest of my day wasn’t quite as smooth as I got stuck in marathon traffic on the way back home and on the way to the finish line. I was quite happy with driving 26.2 miles rather than running it, though… Leave it to Mystique to get around town the hard way!

The girls, of course, we’re little angels… no complaints, and they we’re just the cutest things all bundled up in their stroller. One runner thought they were so cute that she stopped where we were standing and gave Piper some beads that she was wearing around her neck saying “aren’t you two the cutest?” Pretty sweet.

Anyhow, we’re all very proud of Mystique… after her first marathon (5 years ago, I believe) she said she’d never run another one. She shaved off a good 50 minutes from that first time with this marathon, so I’ve got high hopes for 2012 But really, congratulations honey, you’ve now done twice what so many people wish they could do. It’s quite an accomplishment.

Seems like just since the girls turned two, a little more than two weeks ago, they changed by leaps and bounds. They are definitley not babies anymore. As I type they are playing together, outside, alone! Can you believe it? It helps that they have a kick butt playset but they also are very interested in exploring and talking to one another. They can say the entire alphabet repeating after me, Piper can say spell her name and is trying as hard as she can to do it in sign language, the both can count to five repeating after me. Piper can use tons of words and is really working on sentences, she goes to town talking and signing but I can’t keep up or break the code. They know colors the following colors by sight red, blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, orange and white. They can pick up those colors if you ask them for the red chalk or the pink shoes.
Their sleeping patterns have changed a bit but they are taking a longer daytime nap, getting up later and going down later. All in all not a bad shift. They can also open and close doors, pick out their own clothes and many, many more fun things. They are eating tons of food so they might be growing again. I am so proud of them and amazed at what they can do and what they have learned.

I also have to mention that by the time I finished this post they had had a typical sister spat, had come back inside and were on to the next activity.  Their attention span is still short (10 min versus the 5 min we have had) but they working on it.

Last night we put the girls to bed around their new normal time of 7:30pm or so. They went down pretty well once they got all situation. That means they had all the proper gear: a “baby” to cuddle with (usually their new stuffed kittycat), a blanket, and tonight their new sunglasses that Mystique got for them today. Lela was content with just holding her cool, heart-shaped pink sunglasses, but Piper wanted to actually wear her green ones. I tried to put them on the side of her bed, but she pitched what I recognized to be a “i won’t sleep unless…” fit, so she won and down she went wearing her glasses.

About five minutes later we heard some rumblings, so I decided to check it out. Lela had dropped her glasses, so I picked them up and gave them back to her. Whenever we go back in for the first time, we always say something to the effect of “this is the last time I’m coming in” since we want them to know we’re not falling for any shenanigans. Either they understand that or their not trying to pull tricks on us, because it’s rare that we hear that sort of rumbling again during the night.

But of course, about 45 minutes later, we heard a soft “daddy, daddy, daddy” call from the girls’ bedroom. Now, I realize that I had previously told them I won’t be coming back, but… we’re both softies at heart and when Mystique and I both heard the sweet little plea, I had to go back in.

So in I went… Lela was standing in her crib, arms on the rail looking down at the floor. Right as I came in she said (in her cutest voice ever which is a whisper), “daddy!” and she pointed to her glasses that had fallen again. I picked them up and gave them to her and she immediately laid down and snuggled a bit as I put her blanket back on. Then she whispered, “mommy”, and I said “mommy loves you.” Right then Piper chimed in with a non-whisper: “mommy!”. I looked over at Piper and she had rolled on to her back, had her blanket clutched to her belly (with her legs sticking out)… and had her glass still on her face. It looked so funny… I gave Piper a little pat and said, “mommy loves you too.” Then I said goodnight and closed the door.

So those following the potty saga know that Lela has been trained for almost 4 months and goes all night (12 hours) without accident. She still occasionally has an accident but those are very few. Piper started to “help” Lela with wiping and flushing and that was okay for a while. Then Piper did not want to wait for Lela to finish so she would push her up wipe her and flush while Lela was on the toilet. Now you are wondering where I was all this time I am sure, well Lela likes to sit and read so sometimes I let her sit on the potty and read and when she is done she calls for me. That gave Piper the perfect opportunity to get in all the fun stuff while I was not looking.

So Lela started to yell all done (while I was sitting there) if Piper even came into the bathroom. Piper had managed to scare Lela to death that she would be flushed away like yesterday’s broccoli. So Piper was banned from the bathroom during Lela’s potty time.

Now Piper is not one to be put aside and surely is not one to let her fun times be taken away, she is very much the life of the party kind of gal. Anyhoo, her little mind got to work and she decided that if she sat on the big girl potty she could wipe and flush all she wanted. So now she asks to sit on the potty and she is pleased as punch with herself. She gives herself ample time by reading or chattering away, then she wipes and flushes. Then she asks for her diaper and she pees in it. LOL!

Apparently there is a disconnect between why we sit on the potty and why we wear a diaper. But she is making progress and today I think she told me she was “ready” but I did not know for what. She said “ready” then grabbed her diaper. I checked to see if it was wet and it wasn’t, I asked her if she had to pee pee and she did not respond but 5 minutes later she had pooped. So I think she knows the sensation. I have been letting her run around without a diaper and when she has to pee she clamps her legs together and says diaper. Then I take her to the potty and she sits and laughs and talks and holds it until she gets her diaper.

Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps……

We had our two year old well check and things went as well as they could. The girls are doing super in both growth and development. They are not behind due to their prematurity so that is reassuring. Lela was 35.5 inches and 90% in height and 25.5 lbs and 25% in weight and Piper was 34.5 inches and 90% in height and 25 lbs and 25% in weight. So they are long and lean and they get that from their plant based diet and their dad. Lela is built just like Jason, long legged and lean. Piper is built more like me but I am above average height so I suspect she will be too.

They did get two shots and those that know me know that I am not all keen on all the shots. But the pediatrician was very supportive of our vegan diet, gave me sound nutritional advice and listened to me about the shots so I was more inclined to take her recommendation. I really liked our new ped and hope we can stay with her for quite some time.

Seems like we picked up some pinkeye over the holidays. Possibly from my niece’s daycare but where doesn’t really matter. The doctor called in for some drops which I am certain Lela is going to love having put in her eyes for 5 days but easy peasy. The girls don’t care much for the doctor, Lela most of all. That should make the cardiologist visit at the end of the month a real good time! LOL. No one said having the cutest girls in the world would be easy and it is never dull.

Well I have managed not to post for far too long and now so many things have happened I don’t even know where to start.

We had a wonderful Christmas with all our close family and a few close friends. We had a meatfree vegan feast here at the Haslup house and there was so much food it was crazy. The neighbors brought over some ham so there was a taste of meat for those who had a craving but surprisingly most just chowed down on all the food and went back for seconds and thirds. Everyone cleared out around December 29th and we have all been working to get back onto and into some sort of routine.

The girls really cleaned up at Christmas and we have managed to put aside all the baby toys and move onto the more active playthings like their new cars for indoors, their new bigwheels for outdoors, their new indoor kitchen complete with kitchen and grill set up, their new and totally awesome playset, dress up kit, barbies, my little pony, TJ Beary Tales, Vtech laptop and so much more I can hardly mention it all. Needless to say if presents are a sign of love then these girls are loved from here to the North Pole and back multiple times. Thanks for everything!

Lately we have been doing a lot of playing outside on our playset. The girls are also more interested in drawing and can make lots of good squiggles. Piper can spell her name back to you and count to 5 after you count. Both the girls act like they are singing their A, B, Cs. Piper has picked up her k’s and d’s so she can enunciate much better. She is really starting to talk but is keeping it light with one word commands or two word sentences like Help Me. Its more like hepme hepme hepme hepme as fast as she can until you adequately help her:)

Piper has also started biting (again). This time she has serious chompers and the other day she did not want to let go of Lela’s arm until I pryed her mouth off. Since I was right there I was able to get an ice pack on Lela’s arm which I really think helped with damage control. Lela was pretty upset but after I explained things to Piper and how I did not like it and biting was bad she was pretty upset too. Then I think we all wanted to cry! So it is true, it does hurt the parent more than it hurts them sometimes, LOL!