Our Kids

Well Landis has started to laugh out loud. It is the cutest thing, mostly she does it when she is being tickled but it is definitely a laugh. Just this last week she has become really alert and is always looking around at everything. She enjoys watching her sisters and anything that moves, except for Otto she doesn’t seem to interested in him yet. She is beginning to enjoy toys, her exersaucer, her jumpy swing and her play mat, all things she had no interest in until now. She still loves to nurse but is a really good baby, happy go lucky, good sleeper and very good about being worn in a baby carrier and going everywhere. We are blessed again with a happy baby.

Yep — we get a lot of funny questions from our two three year-olds. That’s one of my favorites.

The girls and I were reading a book with flaps about farms… Lela would open a flap, then Piper, etc… In this case, Lela’s happened to be a picture of eggs. You’re supposed to guess where the item in question came from. When she opened up the flap she asked, “Is that chicken pooping an egg?” “What?” I asked, thinking I hadn’t heard her correctly. “Is that chicken pooping an egg?” So I looked at it, then I asked, “Did you ask if the chicken is *pooping* an egg?”

“Yep.”

I kind of laughed and just said, “no, not really… but it looks like it, huh?” And she laughed and said “yeah.”

Hah! I just love talking to the girls. I get home after work, get my happy-greeting where the girls come running up to me for a big hug, and then I just start peppering them with questions. What did you do today? Did you help mommy today? Did you play with friends? How was your nap?

A lot of times I get quick one word answers but what I love the best is the way those answers come out. Piper has a few different versions of being affirmative… one is the real short and quick, “yep.” My favorite is the frustrated-sounding “Yes!” It sounds like she’s frustrated with you, but I don’t think she really is. Of course, one of Mystique’s favorites is “Yessy!” The girls love adding a ‘y’ at the end of their words and I think sometimes it drives Mystique nuts

Lela’s answer are just as funny… she’ll have really quiet “Yeah” responses, but my ultimate favorite response is her growly “yyyeeeahh” that seems like it’s coming straight from the back of her throat. Her eyebrows get into the mix, too, making a mini-frowny face all as a response to a simple question.

Landis’ responses are still a bit reserved, but she’s working on it. I get some great happy smiles that speak volumes.

Piper has gotten really good at talking on the phone. It is soo cute but I generally don’t get to talk to her on the phone because she is always with me. When Jason calls at the end of the day to announce his impending arrival I just hand the phone to the girls. We are an all cell family so his picture comes up on the phone when he calls and the funny thing about that is when his picture shows up they think that he can see them. This mistake is probably due to the fact that we chat via the mac with video to the grandparents. So when he asks what mommy is doing they say, “she is doing this” and then they do what I was doing, today it was rubbing my eyes. So Piper is there rubbing her eyes saying, “she is doing this.”

Today while she was talking to Jason she found a little stick on the ground and she held it up to the phone and said, “hey daddy, look what I found, do you see it?” When he said he could not see it she told me to make his picture appear again, so I did, and then she showed it to his picture and said, “do you see it now.” It was so funny. It is amazing what they know and comprehend and what they don’t know and can’t comprehend. Not that I expect her to understand the way a phone works but it is so cute to see her mind working on things.

Since we are an all cell family their idea of the phone is really different, they don’t know what to make of a land line, or pizza with cheese, or ice cream made from milk, that there is more than just dark chocolate, that real hot dogs are made from pigs and not tofu, that not everyone eats tofu, that people eat cows or the many other things that they don’t know that they don’t know. Wow are these girls going to be confused (or enlightened depending on how you look at it), LOL!

The other day we were at story time at the library and the sweetest thing happened. The girls are generally loving and you can see them holding hands, hugging and being kind to each other most days. This day they were sitting as close as peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich (which is the norm) and Piper decided to lay her head in Lela’s lap. That was cute. Then Lela started to stroke her hair and Piper continued to lay there until story time was over. It was a very sweet moment and I was getting all the jealous stares from other moms.

When we were in Bozeman and just pregnant with the twins we had a waitress that was a twin. She said that her mother never told her or her twin who was older to avoid any “I am older” sibling fights. I asked her if it worked and she said not really because she always took the older sister role anyway and when they were in their twenties their mother finally told them and she was actually the older twin. I thought it was interesting but never entertained the thought of doing that with our twins. Lately I have noticed that Piper naturally takes on the “older” sister role even though she is only older by two minutes. Who knows what goes on in the womb with jockeying for position to be first out and all that BUT Piper is the older sister and acts like it. She dotes on Landis, she takes care of Lela, she is very helpful and takes on all the older sibling tasks and to dos. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the future but I think she knows she is the oldest.

I don’t think I have much to report, I certainly don’t have anything new but thought I would post anyway. We are all finally well. This morning Landis expelled the final bit of mucus for her (I hope) and the girls are doing great. I think Jason is even finally well, he was the last in the fam to get it. I am jogging again in the morning after a week break and my lungs feel better so I think we kicked this to the curb after a very long month.

We are taking a break from getting out and about today, we might run to Whole Foods for a couple essentials but other than that we are playing it cool. Whenever I have these play it cool days I remember that I wanted to do an activity list for days like today. The girls have plenty to do but I often sit there like a lump on a log when they ask me what they can do. If I just made a list we could go down the list and be busy all day indoors if need be. I must do this…..someday.

Landis is busy being her cute little self. She is really trying to sit up lately. You will find her in her carseat or bouncy chair with her head lifted as if she is really struggling to sit up. She is not rolling over and is totally not interested in tummy time but she is doing super. Well she is calling me so I better jet.

All the girls’ names hold a place dear to our heart. Piper’s middle name came from Mystique’s grandmother, Ruth Strength. She passed away last night after blessing this earth with 90+ years of life.

I was honored to have known Granny Ruth for the past eight years. It’s a small amount of time compared to everyone else that knew her, but I truly feel grateful to know her. She is a grand example of a good person. A wonderful personality and a quick wit that rivals Mystique’s. I was always amazed at how quickly she had an answer for everything that was thrown at her.

Two memories stick out in my mind that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The first is just a random lunch with her when Mystique and I still lived in Austin. I don’t know how it came about, but I guess Granny had stayed with us for a few days in Austin and we were heading back to San Antonio to take her home. We stopped at Red Lobster. I learned that Granny always got popcorn shrimp and fries with a coke. Mystique and I sat with Granny and we just peppered her with questions about her life. What it was like growing up, her family, etc… I absolutely loved hearing about her life and I hope she enjoyed telling us about it.

The second memory is when Mystique and I had our celebratory trip to Paso Robles with our family after our wedding in 2001. Norman, Peggy, Ruth, Jack, and Kathie all came out to the wine country and we spent a few days together. One night we had a fantastic dinner hosted by a chef, each dish paired with a wine from the area. I sat across from Ruth and she had the best time ever. She even sampled each of the wines; I think because she knew Mystique and I enjoyed wine and she was just enjoying it with us. We walked back from the restaurant and I was lucky enough to walk arm-in-arm with Ruth.

Those are just two of my many memories. I love the fact that just saying Piper’s full name will evoke those memories and more.