Multi-Tasking

Since we don't live very close to our families, the phone has been a major presence in the girls' lives since a very early age.  I first remember the girls actively talking on the phone when they were about 14 months old, when they said their first word outside of "mama" and "dada".

As soon as they uttered the word, "Baby!" -- Baby B first, followed within about 10 minutes by her sister -- I started dialing.

Phone time over the next couple of years consisted mostly of "performances".  The girls would gladly recite the words to a nursery rhyme, or sing a song, or eventually recount the morning's adventures.

It was only over the last year or so that actual conversations began to happen.

These days, as long as the girls are in the mood [ahem], they can be quite the conversationalists.  During the school year, they talk to Daddy during his lunch break.  And we usually chat it up with GG at least once a day.

A couple of days ago, the girls were very consumed with coloring, first thing in the morning.  Since we'd missed our night-night conversation with GG the day prior, I asked if they wanted to call her.  They were very excited to do so...but they didn't want to put down their crayons.

I couldn't resist snapping this picture of B.

She didn't miss a beat in coloring the pig she asked me to draw for her...she reminded me of a busy executive (in her ice cream cone pajamas) working away while tending to the phone.

I guess it's never too early to learn to multi-task!

[DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY from EASY CANVAS PRINTS...through 6/19!!!]

Super Size is Twin Size!

Over the past year, the girls have really gotten into coloring.  They love coloring books and activity books, and we go through lots of drawing and construction paper, too.  Throw in some scissors, tape, and stickers, and at times the girls will occupy themselves for an hour.

One thing that's been a really fun addition to the mix is a couple of gigantic coloring books.  Most recently I found one at the dollar store...score! 

I love that the girls can easily color together, and even I can even join in the mix, too.  I love to see the girls shifting around each other to reach a certain part of the picture, and figuring out their game plan as to who will color what.

It's amazing how good the girls have gotten (most of the time) at coloring within the lines.  It continues to crack me up, though, at the colors they choose.

[And I feel bad enough encouraging them to "color inside the lines"...I just can't bring myself, beyond modeling "proper" colors, to suggest that a cat wouldn't likely have pink eyes.]

The super-size coloring books have added to their color "creativity".  Check out this poor pup!

(Pardon the Margaritaville magnet holding it on the 'fridge...oopsie!)

 Hee-hee!

 These girlies make me smile!

Super Stuff!!!

So thankful for another fab-filled week (even if I am by now running waaaay behind!)!

1)      The girls and I were grocery shopping, and I banged my elbow on a shelf.  “D’oh!!!  Mommy hurt her elbow!”  My sweet Baby A made a beeline around the cart to come kiss my boo-boo.

2)      I have a terrible habit of not fully shutting the pantry door.  My Baby B – multiple times a day – comes by and, without fail, asks, “Mommy, may I close your pantry, please?”  Why yes, you may!

3)      The girls found an acorn cap and asked me what it was.  “It’s the top to an acorn,” I explained.  They immediately decided they must find the bottom to the acorns.  HA!  Thank goodness they weren’t too disappointed not to find any right there.

4)      My Baby B seems to have mastered the art of blowing bubbles!!!  It helped that I bought some “super bubble” solution, I think, but she was so proud of herself…and so was I!

5)      My Baby A and I had a really great session playing with our “Velcro mitts”, as we call them.  She wanted to catch the ball 10 times before we went inside, and she managed that, plus some.  And I’m thankful to report she’s finally throwing up and out much better…many fewer dives required from Mommy!

6)      One afternoon the girls were coloring.  Baby A asked B if she could borrow her red crayon. B said, "Yes, you may have it, as long as you behave."  I think that sounds fair!

7)      The girls were such awesome helpers one morning!  We decided it was “Cooking Show Day”, and they played large roles in making granola (measuring out the ingredients); guacamole (mashing the avocados); tuna salad (cutting eggs with a butter knife and mixing); and stuffed eggs (peeling 8 eggs between them!).  I was so impressed how they stuck with me for two solid hours…helping when I could let them, and watching across the island when I was dicing veggies.

8)      The girls were coloring while I was making lunch.  B came to me with marker all over her hands. "Look, Mommy! I'm a chameleon!"  At least it was a cute and creative excuse for the mess she'd made!

9)      I asked B why she always draws me the shortest of the four of us.  "Don't worry, Mommy...it's just the way God made you."

10)   I overheard the girls one morning, from the living room (where I could not see them):  "Lift my leg and see how high it will go."  I got my hands dried and in there pretty quickly…I knew that could turn south in an instant.  HA!

11)   One day Baby A said, in response to something I’d asked her to do, "...I'm just a tiny, four-year old baby."  Yes, you’ll always be my tiny baby...and that’s a really great try…but that’s not an acceptable excuse.  HA!

12)   And B summed up the start of her day one morning by saying, “It's good to get up in the morning and color."  Literally and figuratively…amen to that!

Super Stuff on a Monday

So very THANKFUL for a truly fantastic Thanksgiving week, full of family and friends and fun!

1)      We made our annual pilgrimage to the zoo on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  (We go to the zoo much more often, but we went last year the day before Thanksgiving, and the zoo was almost deserted…it was great!)  The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time hanging out with our animal friends.  I love the simple pleasures of a trip to the zoo!

2)      On Thanksgiving we worked with the kiddos to make a “Thankful Tree”.  The trunk and branches were traced from their hands, and I had planned for the adults to write what the kiddos were thankful for on leaves.  Baby A insisted on writing her own leaves!  Of course we had to spell everything for her, but she did an amazing job!

3)      We took the girls to the nicest restaurant in town on Friday night.  I was a little nervous, but they did great!  We all enjoyed a delicious meal, and no one pulled the tablecloth to the floor…or set a cloth napkin on fire…or broke any glasses.  Success!!!

4)      Daddy decided to work with the girls on phone manners.  They did pretty well with “This is she,” and “May I take a message, please?”…but the hilarious thing was hearing them try to make the “Brrrriiiing!” of a ringing phone.  B, in particular, had the funniest guttural growl.

5)      The girls were acting very silly before breakfast one day.  Unsatisfied that he wasn’t joining in the acrobatics in the den, B said, “Daddy, you need to do something silly!”

6)      It’s amazing what a box (or two) of new crayons can do for our household.  The girls love to color these days, but when they have nice sharp crayons, they can go at it for hours, it seems!  The girls invited Daddy to join in the fun, and – much to their complete delight – he accepted their offer.  I had to laugh at the colors he chose, but the girls didn’t mind a bit.

7)      The girls do their best hide-and-seek when Daddy is orchestrating the game, but they were trying to play by themselves one morning.  They just can’t resist talking to each other.  B might be searching for A: “Sissy, where are you?”  And A would say, “I’m not supposed to talk now!”

8)      The girls had their first pomegranate this weekend.  B liked it, but A was downright smitten.  She was double-fisting the seeds as quickly as Daddy could clean them.  I think she would have eaten an entire pomegranate if we’d let her!

9)      We were reading in the den one day, and at random, B said to me so sweetly, “Mommy, you made me feel better when you read to me on my blanket when I was sick.”  (I am tearing up just typing that!)

10)   We bought “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” over the weekend.  After we read it through once, B said, “You can read it again and then I’ll try to learn to read it.”  I didn’t realize she made such a concerted effort to memorize books…although she does do a crazy-great job!

11)   Daddy took the girls for a ride on Sunday morning.  They came back for a potty break, and then we were all heading to lunch.  While I was with B in the bathroom, she told me very excitedly, “Mommy, Sissy has a big story to tell you when you get in the car, about her living in a pond!"  Apparently they’d been making up tall tales as they rode.

12)   And so many quotes!!!

B, after lunch out on Wednesday:  “I can feel this going into my intestines.”

A, seeing B doing something she wasn’t supposed to:  “No, Sissy.  Mommy and Daddy would not appreciate that.”

B, seeing A practicing writing B's name:   "You are the sweetest sissy I have ever seen."

A, while working on a puzzle of the United States, planning where she’d like to go:  "I want to start in Louisiana, and then go to New York, and then to Kansas, and then we'll come home to Kentucky. And then we'll go to Washington, and California, and then Nevada. And then we'll figure out what we want to do next."

A, commenting on a broken hanger in my closet: “The hanger lay broken on the floor.”  Her syntax (which I later recognized from a book) cracked me up!!!

[Looking at my list, it’s very clear that Daddy was on vacation for five days, huh?!  We got to spend a lot of great, relaxed family time together.]

...and now I'm so excited to kick off the Christmas season with my baby girls.  I just know this is going to be the best year yet!!!

Super Stuff on Sunday

Very thankful for the little things that add up to make one super-fabulous week!

1)      The girls have been ALL ABOUT coloring this week!  A couple of nights they asked to color while I made supper.  They sat contentedly at the table, working together, for close to an hour one time!  I bought them new boxes of crayons, and they probably colored for about three hours (not consecutively) yesterday.  Wow!!!   And it’s amazing the improvement I’ve seen in them coloring within the lines (at least at times).

2)      Most of the girls’ coloring books have some activity pages.  I’ve coached them through some dot-to-dot exercises before, but it’s been a while.  While I had my attention turned towards B one morning, Baby A did a dot-to-dot completely by herself…counting up to 22!  Baby B did the same – with a tiny bit of help from her sister – a few days later.

3)      I wanted to take the girls to the orchard to buy pumpkins.  We originally hoped to go with M&C, but I finally decided it was Wednesday afternoon – by myself – or bust.  We had such a great time!  I can’t say I got “the perfect picture”, but we still had lots o’ fun.  The highlight of the girls’ day (and maybe their week) was playing with a wagon.   I pulled them quite a bit, and then A was all about pulling B.  B pulled A a little bit, but I think she preferred to let her sissy do the heavy lifting.  They each picked out pie pumpkins for themselves…and then they wanted a tiny one for their furry sister Sasha.

4)      We’ve had a very sweet week, full of friends.  On Wednesday morning we met “Grandma” June for our weekly bagel and milk / coffee treat.  On Thursday afternoon we met Ms. Mary at the park.  The girls were so excited to see her, and to meet her dachshund Max.  They were so proud to walk around the park with him.

5)      And on Friday we had some fun time with our friends M&C.  We’d originally planned a picnic at the park, but the weather had other ideas.  We decided instead to meet at the mall, ride the carousel, and have lunch.  The girls were so thrilled to ride the carousel – a very rare treat – and a trip up and down the escalator sealed the deal.  It was a fantastic morning all the way around, seeing my girlies with M&C…everyone behaving so well and having fun.  I think their mama and I actually had a tiny bit of adult conversation, to boot!

6)      The girls and I spread out early in the week to make Halloween cards for a few friends.  We made all the cards in one sitting, and then set about signing them the next day.  Baby A’s name is half as long as B’s…and she’s been writing her letters (and her name) very proficiently for months now.  She finished in no time, flat.  Poor little B, though, worked and worked and worked and worked.  I give her so much credit for persevering!!!  She eventually signed all the cards.  Baby A signs her name – usually – in a pretty “normal” fashion, the letters roughly the same size, in a line.  B’s letters are still different sizes, and she usually has to go onto a second line to get them all in.  Hopefully the return address will clue in anyone who can’t quite connect all the dots.  :)

7)      I turned on a football game for about 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon.  The girls watched intently with me, but I couldn’t help but laugh at A.  I was narrating every play, and after every play, she’d ask, “Did something just happen, Mommy?”  HA!

8)      The girls weren’t feeling well this morning.  They usually wait quietly until their clock turns green, but a few minutes shy, I heard, “I miss you, Mommy!” from sweet Baby B.  She knows how to tug those heartstrings!

9)      I’ve been able to tell my girls voices / cries / hiccups / sneezes apart since a very early age, with near 100% accuracy.  With them being a little sniffly, though, it’s harder for me to discern who’s who over the monitor.  I had to go into their room a couple of times in response to a, “Mommy!  Wipe my nose, please!”  I’d go in, and I’m sure – even in the dark – I looked uncertain.  B would always point me in the right direction, “Mommy, it’s sissy, not me.”  Bless her soul!

10)   And the quotes of the week…

B, to me early one morning: “Mommy, I can see the veins in your eyes!”

B, talking to herself from the timeout chair: “Being tired is not an excuse for poor behavior!” 

A, playing with her geometric shapes: “I put a trapezoid where a rhombus would go, so now I don't need a triangle.”