Santa Coming!

On Friday we went to see Santa.  We decided not to brave long lines and pay for an expensive picture just to see Santa this year.  I kind of expected that Emily wouldn't want to see on his lap and it was going to be iffy with Sam.  Our bank has a Santa, with a real beard, that sits next to a beautiful tree and hands out candy canes.  You can take your own pictures and every year we've gone, this is the third year, there hasn't been anyone in front of us.  This sounded like a perfect solution.

Paul and I rushed home from school in order to make it to the bank before 5 o'clock.  On the way we talked about seeing Santa and sitting on his lap.  I tried, again, to get them to say what they wanted for Christmas.  Still mum on that topic.  They seemed pretty excited to go see Santa.

Once we got there we walked inside.  They immediately saw Santa but they were really cautious.  Emily really didn't want anything to do with him at first.  She didn't even want me to put her down.  We put Sam on Santa's lap and he sat there, without smiling.  We took a couple of pictures then tried to persuade Emily to at least stand next to him.  She didn't want to.  So instead of pushing the issue I just stood next to Santa with her.  It helped that Santa gave her a candy cane so she had to get a little closer.  We stood and chatted with Santa for a little bit until another family arrived.  We said "Thank you, Santa" for the candy canes and went in line to deposit some money. 

From the line Sam and Emily said thank you to Santa at least 10 times.  Silly kids.  Emily even sneaked in a wave or two.  Overall it was a great success!

Tragedy

I didn't go to work today.  I went shopping with my mom.  I had a wonderful day thinking about Christmas and trying to find gifts that would bring joy to the recipient.  We made it home, dragging, to my babies and Meg.  Meg then asked, "Did you hear about the school today?"  I got a lump in my throat.  My thoughts immediately went to my class.  Today we had our first lockdown drill... at 9:45.  Luckily it wasn't my school.

As Meg went on to relay the event to me I could only think of what would that be like.  How could this happen in an elementary school?  I can't even imagine how that could happen.  As a teacher I wonder if I could have stayed calm and thought clearly to lead my class to safety.  Then I started to worry about my kids.  Did they hear about what happened?  Would their parents be able to calm their fears?  Fears that usually surface during a lockdown drill?  Fears that we normally explain with the small chance that something like this would ever happen, but it did today.  Fears that we can't calm with details about exactly how we would react if someone were to show up in our building.  Fears that all of those kids in that building will have for a long time, if not forever.

I think about the kindergartners in our building.  They are innocent.  They believe in Santa.  They believe in the Elf on the Shelf.  They draw pictures that have to be interpreted and stories that need a subtitle.  They need help opening their milk and putting on their coats.  They shouldn't have to worry about or see their classmates killed.  They should not see their nightmares in real life.

Do I think we need to outlaw guns?  No.  Do I think teachers should carry guns?  Definitely not.  Do I think that we, as a society, need to do something different?  Yes, but I can't say what that is.  I do believe that the people behind this mass shootings are hurting.  They may need mental health help that isn't covered by insurance or that isn't detected or properly treated.  They may have experienced trauma that they weren't able to work through.  Maybe they have not felt needed, loved or supported.  Again I think of the 20 little-ish people in my room every day.  It is my job to make sure those kids have what they need.  If they don't get it at home, it is my job as a teacher to make sure they are loved, supported and heard.  It is my job to make sure they receive the help they need.  And it is my job to be their protector.

What I love about you today...Emily version

Twelve Things I Love About You on 12/12/12:
1.  "Carry You"  When you want to be held or carried you ask, "Carry you."  You rarely want to walk on your own when we are out running errands.  Normally I carry you and Sam walks.  I've heard you telling your babies carry you.

2.  You new found love of jumping.  Lately you have been jumping and jumping and jumping.  I don't know how it started but you love to hold on to something and just jump.  Both your feet leave the ground so it really is a true jump.  The bad part is that you don't always jump in safe places.  You like to jump on the couch and on my legs.  (I have to remember this when I find unexplainable bruises on my legs.)

3.  Elmo.  You have developed a deep love of Elmo.  (Right as the puppeteer is in all kinds of trouble.)  I think it all started when you watched Sesame Street for two straight days when you had croup around Halloween.  You now carry around Elmo and sit on the couch and request to watch Elmo. 

4.  Color You.  You have started to love to color.  You also will request to color by saying something that sounds like color you.  We have been tracing your hand so you like to try to trace your hand on your own.  The other day this resulted in pen marks all over your arm.

5.  Your love of books.  You love to look through books and to "read".  Sam likes to look at books too but not as much as you.  You can spend almost 30 minutes looking through books.  Your favorites are:  Carl, If you Give a Pig a Party ("pig party"), the free Clifford books from Chick-fil-a, and any of the baby hide and seek books.  We routinely make it through a whole book before bed too.  You and Sam love the book You Can Do It Sam!

6.  Your "mommy" skills.  Lately you have really been interested in your babies, and Elmo.  You try to feed them breakfast, your give them milk, you push them in the stroller, you give them kisses and you talk to them.  Too cute.

7.  Your vocabulary.  You really didn't start talking until 2 months ago.  Then one day the words starting coming.  You don't have nearly as many words as Sam but you're getting there.

8.  Cleaning.  Aside from a day of rebellion, you are an amazing cleaner.  You usually happily pick up whatever you were playing with and put it back in the correct spot.  On occasion you aren't ready to be done playing with something and then you throw a little fit before you help clean.  Your brother even has found a way to not pick up, he just waits for you to do it.  You also like to clean off the table with a wipe and also clean off your face.

9.  You love of Pinterest.  You LOVE to sit in my lap and look at all the pictures on Pinterest on my Kindle.  You also like to look at any of the pictures on Facebook.  You like to point out the babies and any other words that you know.

10.  Your music requests.  You like to request "Baby" or "ever, ever, ever" when I have the Kindle out.  You love to hold the Kindle and sing to your favorite songs.

11.  Your running foot steps.  You love to run and are usually in a hear.  There is nothing like a pitter patter of little running feet in the house.

12.  Cheese!  You are still up for the millions of pictures that I take and you happily say cheese before you smile.  You do request to see the picture after I'm done though.

What I love about you today...Sam version

Twelve Things I love about you on 12/12/12:

1.  The crib full of stuff that you sleep with every night.  They include:

• two different doggies
• stuffed Pooh
• two Taggies blankies (That look like this)
• two other small blankies
• one blankie that was for your sister but she didn't like it

The pile of your blankies you take to bed every night.

2.  The fact that you know when you are missing something from your crib and request it.


3.  Your enthusiasm for holiday decorations.  We put up the Christmas treethe other night.  The lights are on but we haven't put up the ornaments yet.  You were so excited to see the tree this morning and all of the other decorations.  You definitely liked the singing stuffed animals.  You played with Rudolph on his sleigh and the singing bear all day.  The poor bear has seen better days and I had to take the batteries out because you kept coming to me because he was "broken".  You pushed them in the stroller, fed them food from the kitchen and showed them your cars.  Then you tried to take Rudolph to bed. 

4.  Your usually great appetite.  You normally eat pretty much anything.  You try new things and seem to even enjoy vegetables!  You loved edemame at Papa's and Nana's the other night.

5.  Your persistence with juice.  While you were sick a few weeks ago we were giving you watered down Gatorade.  Since then you try to request juice whenever you are thirsty, even though you only get water.  I gave you orange juice a couple of weeks ago for breakfast and you drank all yours quickly then helped Emily finish her's too. 

6.  Your snuggles.  You are becoming harder to keep still these days but I can still get some early morning or just after nap snuggles out of you.  Some nights after dad puts you into bed I come in to say goodnight and you request snuggles.  It is hard to say no.  You lay your head on my shoulder and kind of babble about what was important about today.  I try to comment on the words I recognize.

7.  Your eagerness to explore.  We went for a hike the other day, on the FIRST OF DECEMBER!  It was warm enough for no coats.  You didn't "hike" much because you were too interested in the rocks on the path.  I pointed out the prairie dogs too and you made sure your cousin Colton knew where they were.  This afternoon your dad was trying to put up Christmas lights and Emily and I were looking at animal pictures on Pinterest.  You were playing with the Mickey Mouse phone but then snuck out the garage to find dad.  Unfortunately you fell down the stairs.  You just wanted to go outside and help with the lights.  Lately it is hard for you to stay in the cart at the store.  You just want "out" or "down" so you can touch and feel all of the fun stuff that is everywhere.

8.  Your emerging mischievous side.  Lately you have been testing limits.  You want to really know what you can't do.  I'm having to really watch you with the Christmas decorations.  You have moved the angels from the alcove and ornaments from the tree.  You also knocked down the small tree upstairs, I'm pretty sure because you were trying to get a better look.

9.  Your helpfulness.  You want to help.  Tonight I was putting away clothes and I was trying to find tasks that you could do.  You wanted to do something to help.  We tried putting hangers into clothes, but that is hard work.  You brought me all the clothes to hang up in your closet, even though some of them were Emily's.  You did a great job hanging up Emily's clothes since you can reach.  Every night when I start talking about making dinner you start dragging in chairs so you can stand next to the counter to "help."

10.  Your concern for others.  Lately you have been reminding everyone to be careful.  You are mostly concerned about Emily.  Meg says that you remind Jack, Meg's dad, to be careful too.  She says you take great care of him.

11.  Your expanding vocabularly.  It seems like you're learning 10 new words a day some days.  You talk about "mama's plate" and all kinds of other two word combinations.  You mimic almost everything I say.  Tonight it was "noise truck" for noisey truck.  Over Thanksgiving you learned about praying.  Now when we eat at Papa and Nana's house you grab our hands and then exclaim, "Ameen."  It is pretty stinking cute.

12.  You love of music.  You still love to play your drum and now whenever I play "Little Drummer Boy" you go find your drum to play along.  You often sway or dance to the music you hear.

Today

What I want to remember about today:

1. Little Emily slept in our room last night.  I was nervous to have her so far away and being sick without a monitor on.  I wanted to be there if she had a coughing fit, cried after she coughed or woke up and needed comforting.  I thought she'd be up around 4 am when her last round of ibprophen wore off but she didn't wake up until I had to move the pack-n-play so I could get some socks.
2. Emily wanted to eat this morning!  Hooray.  Who cares if she just ate Jello and a few bites of a banana.  (I'm pretty sure all she ate today was: the Jello, banana, a cookie, a smoothie pouch, some grapes, a couple of OtterPops, and two mini packages of M&Ms.)
3. How great our babysitter Meg is.  She offered to watch the kids today even though E is sick.  The kids LOVE her.
4. A text from Meg today that reads, "Sam decided he wants to go on the potty today so he has a pair of pull-ups on and runs to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Ha!"  When I got home and went to the bathroom he came in and he wanted his diaper and pants off so he could sit on the potty.  Silly Boy!
5. After texting Meg back and forth I got nervous about how Emily was acting and not eating or drinking, when I went down to talk to the school nurse the first thing my principal asked was if I needed to leave.  This was after my teaching partner asked me if I needed to do something and he'd watch the kids.  It is great to have such a supportive and understanding workplace.
6. Pride for my 5th graders.  They have been really working hard on a region project where they are working in groups of 3 or 4 to make an iMovie.  They have done an AMAZING job.  I had my doubts but they proved me wrong.  They worked great in groups and were able to make great videos.  We might need to work on the content but they did a good job.  So proud of them!
7. Being able to go out with friends for a drink (of Diet Coke tonight) and good conversation.  I sure miss my old co-workers.
8. A smiley boy opening the door to the garage door saying, "Mama!"  What a great greeting.
9. Snuggles with my sick little girl.  I love that she wanted to be held when I got home.  I also love that Sam was able to get his socks and find one shoe and bring them to me while I held his sister.  It is amazing how much they understand these days.
10. That the first thing Sam said when he got home from the football game with his dad was LuLu?  I love that he thinks about his sister when she isn't around.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved pumpkins.  Paul is at a Bob Dylan concert with a friend so I called Papa and Nana for some extra help.  I sat Sam and Emily in their chairs so that they could help with the digging out of pumpkin insides.  I thought they might like the slimy-ness.  Well I was wrong. 

Neither Sam nor Emily wanted to put their hand inside the pumpkin.  They both did, however, "help" with a spoon.  Sam was mainly searching for seeds while Emily just went through the motions.  Sam proclaimed that he was all done just minutes into the who process but we got him to stay put. 

They both got to do a little bit of drawing on the pumpkins which they liked.  And they seemed pretty interested in the faces we carved. 

Once I found a light Sam wanted it to be dark so we could look at the pumpkins.  I'm pretty sure he'll be talking about them all day tomorrow. 

Punkeys

This past weekend we planned on going to get pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  We had been there already when they opened for the season but we were ill prepared and didn't have any cash.  It was also a zoo so we just planned on going back.  We thought about going Saturday night but Paul got back late from the state cross country meet, the kids slept until almost 5 pm, and we were headed to a friend's house. 

Sunday morning I got up, fed the kids and waited for Dada to get up.  He did about 9 and then we headed to Starbucks.  We were out of coffee syrup and the kids needed a snack so I somehow convinced Paul to stop on our way.

Once we got to Osborn Farm we grabbed a wagon, well once we got Sam away from the big pumpkins he was trying to lift.  We put the kids in the wagon but that didn't last long and we headed in the wrong direction.

We were redirected and ditched the wagon and started on our walk to the patch.  Sam was side-tracked by the pond and Paul had to make sure he didn't run down and get right in.  We had to stop by the hay bale and check out those pumpkins and then redirect Sam again so he didn't end up next to the tractors.  It took us awhile but we made it to the patch.

Emily immediately found some dirt to play in.  You'd think the girl never got outside.  We started walking through the patch which was pretty sparse.  Preschools and kindergartens had been through and found a lot of the good stuff.  I helped Emily find a gourd and she soon had two to carry around.  Sam on the other hand was busy picking himself up off the ground.  The plowed field was difficult to navigate.  He didn't seem to mind though and he just walked and talked about the punkeys.  He'd find something, carry it for a very short time and throw it to the ground.  (Paul found a couple of caterpillars and showed the kids.  Sam promptly tried to pick one up and nearly killed it.)

We finally found the small pumpkin area and picked out a couple of pumpkins.  I think Sam would have wandered around all day out there.  Emily also was pretty happy.  Between her goards and the dirt she was entertained.  Sam, of course, had some fun in the dirt too.  It was too bad that it ended up in his eye.  Poor kid had mud mascara for a little bit. 

Overall it was a great trip.  Next time we might reconsider the decision to leave the wheelbarrow behind.

Time Out

Since you turned 18 months we have been trying timeout to help with Emily and her hitting.  When she gets mad or frustrated she just reaches out and whacks someone or anything that is nearby.  Unfortunately it is usually Sam.  Sam is so easy going to he rarely reacts anymore, unless she happens to have something in her hand when she hits.  I hate that Sam cowers when she raises her hand and that he so easily gives up what he has to her.  She still sometimes hits me but that is becoming less frequent. 

When we first started timeouts I had to physically hold her in the chair.  She wouldn't stay and would try to squirm away.  Now she sits in the timeout chair and talks to herself.  From what I gather it sounds like she is telling the story about what happened and why she is there.  Most of the time there is a lot of babble and then a "no, no".  (I really should get it on video... it is pretty cute even though she is in trouble.)

I'm not sure timeout is really working.  I know she needs to learn other ways to get rid of her frustration and since she is not REALLY verbal, like Sam, she doesn't really have the words yet.  I know the timeouts are designed to help her regulate her emotions and to calm herself down.  I like that it also makes it so she doesn't get what she wants when she is hitting Sam.  I also know that this is likely a stage and she will grow out of it.  I sure hope it is a stage...

We have tried redirection.  We have tried telling her no and redirection, but she can be very difficult to redirect once she has her mind on something. 

We have definitely moved to the parenting stage and it is hard to know if what you are doing is "right".

Swimming Lessons Day 1

Today we started swimming lessons.  I finally decided yesterday that we should try it.  I was hoping for Saturday lessons but the pool with the warm water doesn't have Saturday lessons.

Everyone in our house is feeling a little under the weather.  Sam has a runny nose, Paul is stuffy, I have a sore throat and Emily is just mad so something isn't right with her either.  So the events leading up to arriving at the pool involve a lot of Emily crying.  But we made it with time to spare.

Once we got to the pool the kids were ready to get in.  The Mountain View swimming pool has a slide that is a big frog.  Sam was super excited and was ready to go down right away but we needed to do the first day of lessons talk.  Our class was called and we met our teacher, Courtney.

We were able to get right into the pool.  I'm so glad we are taking lessons there where the water is warm. It felt like a nice warm bath.  Sam got to slide down the slide to get in and he was pretty happy about it.  Then we played with toys for a little bit.  Sam sat in my lap for most of the play time and played with the rings and then started throwing all the balls.  Silly boy... He was throwing them away from us and then saying, "Bye, bye."  Emily was playing with the rings for awhile and then found the watering cans.  Lately in the bath she has been loving to dump the watering cans over her head.  So she was trying but was getting more water on the poor little girl behind her.  The other little boy in class was "blowing bubbles so Emily decided she should too. She mostly just dipped her face in.We sang The Wheels on the Bus and did fun water movements with it. 

Then we headed over to where the adults could stand, phew.  We did some jumping in from the side.  Sam actually starting "jumping" in on his own.  It was more of a walk in.  Emily was just too excited to jump on her own.  I would do the countdown and she would squeal.  I love that she gets so excited.  Courtney came over and had Emily jump for her.  She also had her practice climbing out.  She did the same for Sam too. 

Then we got balls and practiced our arms while we "swam" after them.  Sam's throwing was all over.  He was doing a great job of kicking his feet towards the ball and he did some arm movement.  Emily used her arms if you showed her or reminded her to use them.  Sam wasn't so interested in letting Courtney hold him while he threw the ball.

Then we practiced our back floats.  Emily really has never allowed me to have her float on her back.  If I'm lucky I would get half a second with her head on my shoulder.  She did amazing tonight.  She just laid back and looked up at the ceiling, which had balls stuck in it.  Courtney came by and said that she was running her hands through her hair as she was laying on her back.  Too funny.  I even was able to just hold her head and almost let go of her back before she got nervous and wanted to sit up.  Emily wasn't so interested in floating on her back with Dad.  She just cried.  Sam did great too.  I have, at one point in time, been able to get him to float on his back while I just held his head.  He too was interested in the ball in the ceiling.  After we were done floating he wanted to put his ears under.  So he was practicing his breathing position.  Ha ha!

It was time for a little more playing so Sam went down the slide a bunch more times.  Emily tried it but wasn't a fan.  The slide has a not so slick spot about 6 inches from the top and Sam would finally start to go and then get stuck and he would have to scootch (not sure if that is a word) down until the slick spot again.  It was pretty cute.

We tried to beat the big kids into the locker room.  Emily is not a fan of the shower.  She did quietly sit in the corner with her towels on and watched the big kids while I got dressed. 

I'm so glad we decided to do lessons.  I really just want the kids to stay in the water.  I know that without having to pay we are unlikely to make it to the pool much this fall and winter.  They both love the water and I want it to stay that way.

And now some unrelated pictures... (The downfall of having twins is that you never have a photographer.  I was a little jealous of the two dads who were taking pictures of their little ones.  That combined with my broken lens means no pictures for us.)

How do you play with cars?  While sitting in a plastic tub of course.

Trying out Emily's headband until someone schedules a haircut for me.

A Case of the Mondays

It isn't Monday yet but I already know that I'll have a case of the Mondays. The end of the weekend is hard for me. Some weeks are easier than others. This weekend was pretty quiet but it was good. The hardest weeks are when we have weekends like this past weekend. I got to spend good quality time with Sam and Emily. We didn't really have anything planned for Saturday or Sunday, we didn't have too many errands to run and our house is FINALLY to a point where we don't have to work on it every free moment. I spend most of my time today sitting on the floor with a baby toddler (or two) in my lap or at least within a few inches. We read books, we played with cars, we made things out of blocks and then we did it all over again. There wasn't much fighting (except when I left the room for too long) and everyone was pretty happy. Emily even ate the chicken we had for dinner. Overall it was a success. These are the days I imagined when I thought about being a mom. Quiet, peaceful days full of reading, playing and little people walking in between my legs.

**Of course I am choosing to block out the 10 minutes yesterday when I went upstairs to change and when I came back down, Paul , who I thought was watching the kids, didn't know where they were and we found them in the study playing with my camera. Needless to say I now need a new lens.

18 months

Everytime I think about writing this I get overwhelmed.  So I'm going to attempt to just bullet information so I can have it recorded.  We'll see how I do.

Emily

• You are all personality.  You are quite the entertainer and you LOVE attention.  For sure you are more outgoing than your brother.
• With your larger than life personality comes huge tantrums.  Your arched back and flailing arms are now accompanied by, "No, no, no."  Your normal triggers are:
• someone helping you when you don't want it.  This usually happens during dinner and food normally ends up being flung or thrown on the floor.
• diaper changes.
• when something is taken from you.  Mostly I have to take my phone and wallet from you and you really would like to keep them.
• You take care of your brother.  You often bring him his blankets or his pacifier.  Often you even put his pacifier in his mouth for him. 
• You love babies.  You have three that you carry around and push in the stroller.  You also love babies that we see and you like to look at pictures of babies on the Internet too.  (Babies are any kids to you.  It doesn't matter if they are 3 months or 9 years old.  We are working on girl and boy.)
• You love the stairs.  You have become very fast and I can't sneak up and down the stairs anymore.  You make it up before I get back down.  You often prefer to be carried down the stairs though.  Mostly in the morning.
• You're very attached to your blanket.  It is a good thing I found a back up.  You still fall asleep with your blanket under your nose.  Every morning you insist on taking ALL the blankets from your crib downstairs with you.
• You love to dance... mostly to Daddy's music and you still clap at the end of every song. 
• You still are a picky eater.  You'd prefer to eat pastries and sweets.  You really don't like meat unless it is a hot dog.  You love beans & cheese, avocados, cheese, pretty much all fruits, yogurt, tomatoes, graham crackers
• You like to make noise with your feet.  You do a little dance that looks like you are tap dancing.
• You love my purse and would prefer if I left it open so you could play with my wallet too.  You normally are satisfied with pulling it around on the floor.  You also really like to play with my sunglasses.  I have given you a headband to wear and you like to try to put it on but you don't leave it in your hair.
• Maddy barking at the three little dogs next door really scares you.  A few nights ago you started screaming bloody murder and shaking when she headed in that direction.
• You are slowly beginning to talk more and more.  Your favorite word is Papa but you add extra emphasis on the second Pa so it sounds like you are looking for him.  You also do great animal sounds.  Some of the words you know:
• Many animal noises (Baa, Moo, Woof, Meow, Neigh, Cock-a-doodle-doo (with the rooster sign)
• Papa, Nana, Mama
• Milk, Banana
• Ball
• Shoe and Hat
• Baby
• Truck, Car, Bike, Boat, Choo Choo
• You're not so sure about the beach but once you got used to the sand you loved to play in it.  You never really loved the water but it was pretty cold.
• You have started having laughing fits.  It is so funny to see you belly laugh at the silliest things.  Usually it is something that your brother is doing.  Tonight you both were cracking up about Sam walking around in his bath towel. 
• You have finally caught up and surpassed your brother when it comes to teeth.  Since June you have gotten in all 4 of your molars and your two front teeth.

Sam

• You have become quite the chatterbox in the last month or so.  You really have been working on your words.  You do a lot of pointing and waiting for someone to say what you are pointing to.  On our road trip you worked on learning the names of all things with wheels.  We have the book 101 First Words: Things That Go and you LOVE it.  I think you "read" that book almost everyday.  You love to point out trucks, cars, lawn mowers, choo choos, bikes and boats where ever we go. 
• You recently have learned the word up, but you use it for down also.  When you are done with dinner you ask for up.  Which really means you want down.  (You did start saying down last week and now you use down when you really mean up.)
• Some other words you know:
• WuWu = LuLu, what we have been calling Emily
• Many animal noises (Baa, Moo, Woof, Bawk (chicken), Meow, ArfArf (seal), Neigh, Cock-a-doodle-doo (with the rooster sign)
• Papa, Nana, Mama, Dada, Sadie
• Milk, Banana
• Ball and sometimes basketball and football
• Kitty and Fish
• Up and Down
• Shoe and Hat
• Baby
• Truck, Car, Bike, Boat, Choo Choo
• You've been working on spoon, bump and tonight.. noodle
• Lately you have really started to whine when you want something.  You still rarely cry but you fake cry (no tears) when you are mad.  Your sister is known to want everything you have and when she takes something that is yours you stomp your feet and say, "No, no, no."
• You really like kitties and they seem to like you too.  We ran into a couple of cats while on our trip and you were very excited to see them both.  Meg also has a cat, named Kitty, and by the pictures she sends me you like her a lot too.
• You LOVE your cars and anything with wheels.  You line them up and drive them all over.  You make car noises whenever you see wheels.  You have been known to push around the pink doll stroller while making vroom, vroom noises.
• You are still more reserved than your sister and take a little bit longer to warm up to people.  We can usually count on an enthusiastic "bye" whenever we leave though.  You even say bye to everything when you go to bed.
• You are still a great eater and eat pretty much anything we give to you. 
• You love to push carts and your strollers and you are very focused on pushing. You also like brooms and lint rollers.
• You continue to be the early riser.  The other morning I could hear you in your room saying, "WuWu, WuWu."  I think you were trying to wake up your sister. 
• You LOVED the beach and we had to be really careful to watch you so you didn't just run all the way in and fall down. 
• You really started hugging in the last month or two.  It is so cute to see you hug your sister.  Most of the time we ask you to do it but sometimes you do it on your own. 
• You just got your first molar a couple of weeks ago.  It is the top right molar and it really gave you a hard time.  It was the first tooth we could tell was coming in because of the way you acted.
• You still LOVE to go outside and race to get out before the door closes. 

We are starting to see more and more interaction between the two of you.  You are beginning to play together rather than just next to each other.  You LOVE to chase each other and sometimes you run around pushing strollers together.  You are starting to make each other laugh more and you seem to like it when the other is laughing.  Most of the time Sam is doing something that makes Emily laugh.  I can see a ton of trouble that the two of you will get into together, but right now there is nothing better than the sound of the two of you cracking each other up filling the house.

I can't believe that you two are closer to two years old than one.  In the last month you have really become toddlers.  I see very little of my little babies anymore.  I still get snuggles and quick hugs but it is hard to keep you still.  I love to watch you figure things out and become your own little people. 

4th of July

Today was one of my most favorite 4ths of July since I've been an adult.  (I wistfully remember my childhood 4ths and I don't think they will ever be topped... but we will see.)

We started out the morning with the kids sleeping in until 8 am!  This normally would be awesome but it made us a little bit rushed to get to the parade.  Loveland doesn't have a parade but a "cousin's" wife was riding in the Fredrick, or is it Firestone, parade so we headed on down.  The kids were decked out in their patriotic gear and we had good seats in the shade.  Perfect.

Then... the parade started and it got even better!  They LOVED the parade.  I think Sam waved and said hi to every passing float.  He often replied, "Ut oh" when the candy was thrown at his feet.  He held tightly to two pieces of candy and a "little cup" the whole parade.  Emily stood with dad and waved her flag the whole time.  It was a great time.  Next time we need a sign that says... we really don't need the candy. 

After the parade we went and saw the horses.  Emily has been into horses for the last month or so.  I think it is because of the rocking horse Papa and Nana have at their house.  She was pretty excited to be able to be so close and to touch them.  Sam was just fine with looking but he didn't need or want to touch it.  It started to get really hot and the stroller wheels were covered in prickles... yuck, so we headed towards the food. 

Papa and Nana found some food but I was still undecided about eating so we set out to wander.  Not 15 feet into our wandering I ran into an old college friend.  We even lived together for at least one year.  I knew she lived in the area but it didn't register that we might see her.  She has a 4 1/2 year old and a little guy that looks close to Sam and Emily's age.  She is a teacher too.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get her up to date phone number or e-mail... darn it. 

Anyway Papa and Nana found some space in the shade and Sam and Emily had a little snack and I decided to get something to eat.  The lines were long where I would have liked to eat and I wasn't sure they'd take plastic so I settled on a veggie burger.  (It wasn't great.)  The kids ate and then we headed back to the car. 

There was a kids area where they had a huge bubble blower set up.  It was solar powered with is neat.  The kids, and Paul, spent some time trying to catch bubbles.  Emily caught one and then stuck her fingers in her mouth.  Now she knows bubbles taste gross. 

We finally reached the car and before we even were out of town the kids were asleep.  Once we got home I went to sleep too.

Once we all woke up it was time to head to the Smith's house for the evening.  The Smith's have the BEST backyard for entertaining little people.  They have a swing set, a sand box, a little playhouse, a pond and a bird bath.  I'm pretty sure Sam touched all of them.  The kids played and played and got filthy.  We enjoyed the adult company.  It is amazing the change in our group of friends over the last couple of years.  It wasn't too long ago that our get togethers were adult only and now there are kids every where.

More watermelon.

Yes, caught, in the birdbath

Water

I grew up swimming.  Mom and Dad put me into swimming lessons when I was 6 months old. I started swimming on a year round club team when I was 8 and didn't stop until I was 18. I love the water. As I have gotten older I have begun to realize how very important it was for me growing up. The mindless laps were my meditation time. I never thought I needed alone time until I no longer had 2-4 hours a day of silence in a pool. My team was my family. Middle school was really rough for me. I know it is for a lot of girls but I often think that swimming really saved me. I belonged there, it built my confidence, and I fit in. I was more than happy to go to 5:30 am practices before school and then practice after school too. My friends were there, even when I felt like I didn't have any at school. I was the only middle schooler practicing with the high school boys team, and that builds confidence. (It didn't help "the boy" was on the team too.) Swimmers aren't really known for being the "popular" crowd. It is hard to be cool and attend all the social things when you have practice Friday night and Saturday morning. Not to mention 3 day meets out of town. It gave me excuses to not drink and do all those things that high schoolers do. I might not have been strong enough to say no on my own but it gave me a great excuse. It helped that my swimmer friends weren't into that either. So the water has always been a comfort to me.

Paul on the other hand struggles in the water. I tried to help him learn to swim and a couple of summers ago he finally was able to jump into the deep end. Granted I had to be there, just in case but I was proud that he had overcome his fear. My sister-in-law and her husband also live on a lake so our visits to them include boating and water sports.  Paul is able to enjoy all of that with a little liquid courage and a life jacket.

So saying all this before Sam and Emily were born Paul and I would talk about what sports the kids would play. No soccer, baseball, or gymnastics... maybe basketball and volleyball. All that being said if they want to play, we will let them. Well when they were still in the NICU, S often had As and Bs. This is part of the reason he was there for nearly 8 weeks. It took awhile for the doctors to find out it was all being caused by reflux. We always joked that Sam was just working on holding his breath because he is going to be a swimmer. As Sam has gotten older it seems as though he and I come from the same pool. (Ha ha...) My boy LOVES the water and I love that.

On Father's Day we had a picnic by a river and after throwing many rocks we got in. Now this is mountain stream water so it isn't warm but Sam threw a giant fit when we tried to take him out. He was in seventh heaven sitting and splashing in the water and grabbing rocks from the bottom to throw.

Little E is pretty happy here too but she wasn't about to sit in the water.  That and she kept falling down which made her very MAD.

He has always loved the pool. He tries to blow bubble but really just licks the water. He loves to splash. The first time we went swimming his dad even took him under a waterfall. His sister on the other hand screamed the whole time she was in the water.

A couple of days ago we were watching some older kids and we thought it would be fun to get the plastic kids pool out. Well, Paul decided to get the sprinkler first. It was still mid-morning and not too warm and I wasn't sure I wanted the kids wet yet. Well, once the water was on S and the dog were in it. In minutes Sam was dripping wet. He happily played in the sprinkler and then in the pool until it was time to get out. He was the only one, out of the 4, who actually sat down in the water. Last time we played in the little pool he spent the whole time laughing hysterically at our dog, who loves to "catch" splashes. Those two will have YEARS of fun in the water together.

Notice the very dry little girl next to him. She eventually got in but she wasn't so sure about the sprinkler.

I'm excited for the years to come of spending time in the water. I hope that as the kids get bigger and learn to swim that they still find joy in getting wet. I hope they are never fearful, but cautious and careful around the water. Most of all I hope they find a little slice of the comfort and calm in the water that I found growing up. If Sam (or Emily) decides to be a swimmer I will do my best to get him to early morning practices and sit through DAYS of meets to watch him swim for a total of 5 minutes because I know how important time in the water can be. If he just wants to play in it that is fine with me too.

I dip, You dip, We dip

Your Papa is helping you discover dips. We got you to try salsa a couple of weeks ago and since then you've been wanting to dip your food in whatever is around.

Thursday you had a blackbean burger from SmashBurger, but you weren't interested in eating it. I gave you ketchup and you dipped away, but not eating any of the food, just the ketchup. I gave you a pickle and you mostly used that to eat your ketchup. On Friday we went out to dinner and Papa was giving you his fries and letting you dip them in ranch. Saturday morning you were still hungry after breakfast so I was giving you Frosted Mini Wheats, which you were having a hard time eating with your lack of front teeth. I gave you a small bowl of milk and you happily dipped your Mini Wheats and were able to eat them.

 Last night you were drinking your water and standing in the plastic swimming pool and you were dipping your cup into the water then taking drinks. Such a silly girl.

First Class

Today was the first day of gymnastics class for Sam and Emily.  Since I'm a part-time stay at home mom for the summer I wanted the kids to experience classes during the summer since I can't make it work during the school year.  I debated about classes but the only real options were swimming or gymnastics.  (We had to fudge a little bit about Sam and Emily's age to get in.)  Swimming was eliminated because we thought I could take them instead of taking a class.  So... gymnastics it was. 

Neither Paul nor I are gymnastically inclined.  Other words - we aren't flexible, we aren't overly strong, and we are above average in height.  So this may be the only chance the kids get to pretend to be gymnasts.  I remember my mom telling me a story about my short lived gymnastics career.  It involved a mention of how tall I was at about age 4 and that I should just give it up.  (Is that right mom?)  I have never been able to do a cartwheel or a handstand.

We rushed around with dinner to get to the rec center on time.  And we arrived just as they were opening the doors to the gym.  It seemed like all the other kids and parents knew just what to do.  We went in and sat in a circle.  It was pretty obvious that Sam and Emily were just about the youngest ones in the class.  There is one other little boy is pretty close to their age. 

We did a short warm-up.  Or we pretended to and then we were off to do obstacle type activities.  They involved jumping, forward rolls, jumping, hanging on bars, walking on balance beams, rolling and crawling over or through objects.  Paul and I tried to decide where to start and we chose the rolling.  They really aren't ready for most of the other stuff. They liked to do the forward rolls with the help of the teacher.  Emily loved the mats.  She would almost lay down and "swim" on them and giggle.  She was in heaven.  Sam on the other hand wasn't as jazzed as little E.  He did do great on the balance beam and I was impressed with his ability to stay on the beam.  Emily just stepped and hoped that you would keep her up. 

With about 5 minutes left in class the teacher got out the parachute.  She asked Emily to help spread it out (since we had done enough rolling for the night and were standing nearby).  I wasn't sure what the kids would do with the parachute.  I thought it might scare E, but it was almost the other way around.  Sam took a while to warm up and just wanted to stay on my lap whereas Paul had to get up a retrieve Emily from the other side of the parachute.  She was all over and giggling while walking on the parachute. 

Although the kids can't quite do all the activities it is still great for them to be in a class with other kids.  They also get to do different activities than we normally do which is beneficial too.  I think they are one step closer to being able to roll down hills after today's class. 

We can't wait for next week!

What we wore to class.   Yes, they are a little bit of a fashion disaster but I'm just teaching them early that you don't have to look spectacular when you go to the gym.  I wasn't sure about socks and shoes, so next time E won't have look as silly.

First Day of Summer

It has been busy around here for the last two or three weeks.  The end of the school year is typically hectic and we had visitors too. 

The last day for students was May 24th.  The last day is always filled with emotions.  In some ways this past year seemed like it would never end and then I still found myself planning for next week.  I was happy to wish my kids good luck next year and at the same time sad to see them go.  But with all that said there is nothing better than summer time.

We started summer right away with Ben and Amanda visiting.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite ready yet.  We had a great day on Friday.  First we started with breakfast at the Silver Grill.  Sam enjoyed wearing Ben's glasses and Emily "ran" down the sidewalk with Aunt Amanda and Nana.

Then after a nap Amanda, Ben, Paul and I headed back up to Fort Collins for some beer tasting.  (Thank you Mom and Dad for the much needed adult only time.)  It had been a while since we had been to New Belgium and they have changed the way they do tasters.  We remember the days when you could have 4 or 5 tasters for free.  Now you have to pay for them. 

Then we headed over to Pateros Creek Brewery where we found a Waffle Food Truck and some tasty beer.  The Waffles were delicious.  I think I'll go back just to eat chicken and waffles.

After that we met up with Papa and Nana and the kids.  The girls went and got their toes done while the boys went to eat cheese fries with the kids.

Sam and Emily enjoyed playing on the sculptures while they were waiting for us to be done.

What a busy day... I'm so glad that I didn't have to work.  :-)

A Visit with the Horse... um I mean Great Dane

My teaching partner got a Great Dane named Denali not too long ago.  We have already met it once and the kids seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he can put his head on Emily's lap while she is in her car seat in our van.  He came from a family that had a little kid and a baby so he's been around kids before.  He is for sure a gentle giant. 

We went over to visit again last Tuesday.  The weather was nice and Mike's backyard is perfect for little people to run around in.  Mike has two other dogs, Maggie and Molly, and Sam and Emily just wandered around the yard with all of them.  We of course had to hide the slime covered water bowl and had to watch the cement stairs but it was a good time.

At one point in time Paul had to pick up Emily and he did so by one arm.  Denali apparently thought that she was the newest toy and went over to "play" with her.  She ended up not very happy and with dog slobber all over her arm.  To cheer her up Mike showed us Denali's favorite toy... the lawn mower.  Denali attacks the lawn mower like most dogs do the vacuum cleaner.  Emily thought this was HILARIOUS.  She followed Mike around, who was pushing the lawn mower, cracking up.  When he decided that there was enough barking he put the lawn mower back where it belonged.  Well, Denali and Emily still wanted to play.  The two of them stood by the lawn mower, Emily trying to move it and Denali waiting patiently, for at least ten minutes.  Too cute.