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