A Day of Lasts

Last Thursday was a big day. 

In the morning we marked the girls’ last swim lesson.  We did a total of two sessions…twenty lessons in all…and I had to work not to tear up bidding farewell to Ms. Jeanie.

Over the past two months, I’ve seen the girls transform…from kids who didn’t want to get their faces wet this time last year…to kids who were beyond excited to retrieve rings off the bottom of the pool!

I don’t know how much there was to do with the girls’ age – 4 ½ this summer, versus 3 ½ last summer – versus the perfect-for-us approach of Ms. Jeanie.  She was fun and inviting, but firm.  She would let the girls experiment and have a good time in the water, but she also let them feel the consequences of their actions.  “If you don’t keep your belly up and your head back (when floating), you’ll sink!”

The girls truly thrived in the pool this summer.  By the last lesson, they could swim almost across the pool!  And most importantly, they loved it.  I am so very grateful to Ms. Jeanie, who set them up for a lifetime of fun in the water.  I’m already looking forward to seeing her again next summer.

And then Thursday afternoon was our last tumbling class.

Outside of swimming lessons, which I would put in an entirely different category, the girls had never participated in any kind of class / activity.  Since they did so well in the preschool setting, I thought they would be fine…but when the first class started and I saw they were by far the youngest, I began to worry it wouldn’t be a great fit.

All the other kids had taken tumbling before, but our girls didn’t know a forward roll from a cartwheel…much less how to do one.  I was really pleased, though.  With the exception of stretches and warm-ups, the girls got a lot of one-on-one attention from the instructors. 

What surprised me, and SO warmed my heart, too, was how much help they got from the older girls.  I worried that the older kiddos (the average age was probably seven or eight) would get frustrated having to “share” the floor with my girls.  I couldn’t always hear the dialogue, but everything I saw was just the opposite.  The older kiddos helped direct A&B on where to go, and they encouraged them all along the way.

The girls LOVED tumbling…and they LOVED the welcome waves across the parking lot, and the hugs from the older kids at the end of class.

Thursday was bittersweet, for sure.  Our girlies are growing up…learning…and doing new things.  It’s such a blessing to watch, and kinda hard to see one chapter close.

Of course we’re looking forward to the next chapters, of which I know there will be many!

Super Stuff!!!

1)      As we were waiting to turn left on a busy highway, B remarked, “They need a traffic light here.  I will get Granddaddy to help me design one.”  HA!  I love that she was thinking of solutions…and that she thinks her granddaddy (an architect) can design anything.

2)      Thursday was our last tumbling class for the summer.  When we got out of the car, a couple of little girls called out to A&B, waving.  After class, another couple came up to give them hugs.  It was so sweet to see their new little friends – older girls who have taken them under their wings.

3)      Miss Jennifer was our first baby sitter, playing with the girls once a week from just after their second birthday until they turned three.  We hadn’t seen her in almost a year – save from running into her here and there in town – and she came over to visit this past week.  The girls were SO excited to learn she was coming.  It took them a few minutes to warm back up to her, but they were so sweet showing her the things she’d missed (new toys and new tricks) over the past year.  And I couldn’t help but appreciate how blessed we are to have had some really wonderful people in the girls’ lives.

4)      We met a friend at Lost River Cave, intending to play on the outdoor playground.  It was closed that morning, though, so we took a short hike to the butterfly conservatory.  This was my first time to “hike” with the girls by myself, and they did a great job.  And it was so very sweet to see the girls and Baby V.

5)      On Sunday night, the weather was absolutely perfect.  We made an impromptu trip to the park, where we played and played, and then enjoyed a pizza picnic.  We chose the park that’s within walking distance to the pizza place, and Daddy picked up a pie, which we enjoyed with our bottled water and bananas.  Just a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have been comfortable “winging” a meal like this…but it’s so very nice to be able to do it now!

6)      While we were at The Farm this weekend, and then again at the park, Baby A wanted to race.  I can still beat her, but I really have to put in the effort!  I cannot believe how fast my little speedster is getting!

7)      Over breakfast at The Farm on Saturday morning, B held up a piece of her melon for me to see.  “Look, Mommy!  It’s a rhombus!”  Hee hee!

8)      The girls were cackling at each other one morning over the pronunciation of the word “warmer” [in the context of a bottle warmer, I think].  One of them, B, I think, kept saying “wormer”…and A kept correcting her.  They were cracking each other – and me! – up for a solid ten minutes.

9)      Daddy accidentally dropped A's baby doll one morning, and she came running to me: "Mommy! I don't think Daddy knows how to be respectful of my baby!"

10)   Baby A, in particular, has been using the words “actually” and “in fact” quite proficiently lately.  It’s so funny in her scrappy little baby voice…and she is totally serious about it.

11)   Baby A was telling me this morning, “When I grow up, I will have a newborn baby…not a pretend baby…but a real one.  And I will have two babies at once, just like you did.  And I will have a swing and a bouncy seat.”  B chimed in, “I will just have one baby, but I will have a swing and a bouncy seat, too.”  [I guess baby gear is top of mind for all future mamas, huh?]

12)  I complimented A on a block tower she built, telling her it was perfectly symmetrical.  Do you know what that means, I asked her?  "It means it's the same on both sides!" I consider the girls to have a pretty big vocabulary, but I love when they can actually define a word back to me...pretty cool!!!

LOVE These Bags!!!

Do you remember seeing the aprons my friend Charlene made the girls for their birthday???

This was taken EARLY on the morning of their birthday...hence the look on A's face!

The girls LOVE to be in the kitchen with me, and we use their aprons all the time.  Here's a recent action shot, when the girls and I were making sugar cookies.

A few weeks ago, Miss Charlene sent the girls another of her creations, these adorable drawstring bags.

I knotted the strings in front of the girls' shoulders so they would fit like backpacks.  Un-knotted, the drawstrings are long enough that I can wear the bags, too.

The girls think they CANNOT go to tumbling without their own water bottle in their own bag.  And I can hardly stand the cuteness.  :)  :)

I just wanted to share this sweet picture, in the spirit of what's working for us these days.

Charlene -- a fellow twin-mama -- blogs at Adventures-in-Mommy-Land, where she features all sorts of awesome crafts.  She has a link to her Etsy site, Sew Charlene, on her blog.  She has some of the most adorable aprons -- for kids and adults -- along with these great bags.

Thank you, Charlene, for some of our favorite -- and most adorable! -- add-ons.

Super Stuff Catch-up

I’ve only done it a handful of times, but I just KICK MYSELF when I miss one of my weekly highlight posts.  Ugh!!!  Thank goodness I’ve been keeping some notes, though, so for the past couple of weeks…here ‘goes!

1)      The girls were such good helpers making banana bread!  They mashed the bananas for me, measured and added the ingredients, and stirred in the nuts.  I melted the butter and greased and floured the pans, but they did the majority of the work!

2)      One night at bedtime, Baby A asked B to read the night-night story.  B happily obliged.  She picked a book she knows backwards and forwards, “Vicki the Vet”.  While that’s not a traditional bedtime story in our house, I LOVED seeing B “read”…and I LOVED that Baby A asked her to do it.

3)      The next night, Baby A wanted to “read”.  She needed a little more prompting on the book she chose, but I was SO proud that she wanted to try, and I was SO proud that B sat back and let A have the floor.

4)      We met some new friends at the bouncy house a couple of weeks ago.  I loved seeing my friend C’s girls together with mine, and it was extra-nice to be able to all go out to lunch.

5)      As I was taking the girls to the zoo a few weeks ago, Baby A asked how much longer until we got off the interstate (which seems to be her question of choice).  I told her we had about 15 minutes left, and she said, “15…5-5-5!”  Wow!!!

6)      For their preschool closing ceremony, I put B in a yellow dress, and A in a white dress with blue plaid and yellow trim.  The girls were ecstatic when Daddy came down with a navy plaid shirt with a tiny yellow stripe in it.  Baby A noticed it first, “Daddy!  Your shirt matches my dress!”

7)      One day in the car, Baby A said, out of the blue, “I have the sweetest Daddy in the whole wide world and I love him.”

8)      The girls have long said they want to be vets.  They started working through the details together one day – of their own accord – and here’s what they came up with…Baby A said she would be a vet in the morning and a Mommy in the afternoon…and then B said she would be a Mommy in the morning and the vet in the afternoon…and some days they could switch up.  B said, “If you can’t find me, you can go to A, and if you can’t find A, you can come to me.”  I think it sounds like an awesome set-up!

9)      Since the girls declared that “helping Mommy in the kitchen” was their favorite part of Christmas this past year, I’ve been trying to get them more involved in cooking.  One day they helped me make juvec (which I describe as Hungarian jambalaya).  I taught them to pull the stems from the mushrooms, and they did a fantastic job!  They added all the ingredients and helped me stir the pot.  They were such good helpers!

10)   On Memorial Day, I had my heart set on grilling, and then making S’mores for dessert…what would be the girls’ first introduction.  We had a malfunction with the grill, so we had to do our burgers indoors.  The girls didn’t get the full experience of roasting marshmallows over the grill…but they were enthralled watching the marshmallows expand in the microwave.  And of course they LOVED the ooey-gooey-chocolatey mess!

11)   For their upcoming tumbling class, the girls will need leotards.  They were SO excited to shop for them a couple of weeks ago.  Even more exciting, I learned, though, was finding “exercise shorts” to wear over their leotards.  I hadn’t thought about how often they see their daddy and me in Umbros or Adidas shorts, and they were ecstatic to find shorts like Mommy and Daddy’s!

12)   One day the girls were sitting at the table, coloring.  I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to them “yes, ma’am”-ing each other.  Hee hee!

13)   We were working on a little thank-you project for the girls’ preschool teachers, involving all their classmates.  One of my friends got a kick out of hearing my girls ask straight away, “Mommy, is this washable ink?”  I was reminded of that when I heard the girls playing in the bathtub, “Would you like some hand sanitizer?”  “Yes, thank you!  Would you?”  Hahaha!

14)   And then, a few days later, I asked B to tell me a story…"Once upon a time, Lily [her doll] wanted to change the garbage." And then what happened? "She changed it." [pause] "But she had these little gloves on her hands to keep them from getting dirty." I hope I'm not creating two little [germophobic] monsters!!!

15)   The girls have been pretty focused on my food lately.  Once, out of the blue, Baby A turned to me at supper and said, “I love this, Mommy,” as serious as she could be.  HA!

16)   I overheard Baby B, correcting her sister: "No, Sissy...it's 'I WAS', not 'I were'. You can say, "IF I were a ladybug, I would have black spots,' but otherwise, you say, 'I was.'"

17)   And Baby B again… "Mommy I just wrote it on my calendar. I'm going to behave well today." Learning early, what gets measured, gets done!

18)   Baby A proclaimed one day, in a fit of giggles, "Mommy, I'm as smart as a door!”  I have always heard what they say about doorknobs…but I guess doors themselves are pretty smart.  Who knew???

19)   Baby B’s wisdom…"Unfortunately, mosquitoes are very smart, and they know I am a sweet baby girl."

20)   Baby B’s recap of a shopping trip…”And since we had only a few things today, we went through the self-checkout, because it was much more expeditious than the regular checkout."  I love the commentary...and the vocabulary!

21)   And I could hardly contain myself when the girls were playing with their kitchen and their stuffed animals.  I overheard, "Look, Chicks! Scrambled eggs!!!" and all I could think was, “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?”!!!

Hoping to get back on track...SOON!  I don't want to miss a moment with my sweet baby girls!!!

Embarking on Uncharted Territory!

I finally made the decision.  We are embarking on uncharted territory this summer…I signed the girls up for a tumbling class!

The girls’ first introduction to “structure” was preschool this year.  They’ve done so well with that, loving every minute of it.  But outside of swimming lessons last summer (which seems to fall into a different category), we have yet to participate in any organized sports.

The girls love to be outside, to run and jump and play.  They love to kick the soccer ball, too…but only for a few minutes.  I know that many sports programs start as young as three, but it just hasn’t felt like the right time for us yet.

I have a few friends whose kiddos have done tumbling, and the idea of channeling the girls’ energy into something physical, maybe helping them become more physically aware of themselves, has appeal to me.

Our friends K&K take gymnastics at a gym on our side of town, and I know they love it.  I checked out the other facilities in our city, but their gym had the most appeal to me.  I stopped by to talk to them earlier in the week, and then I asked the girls if they’d like to do some tumbling this summer.

The term “tumbling” didn’t otherwise have much meaning to them, I don’t imagine, but their eyes lit up, just the same.  We went on Thursday afternoon to turn in their registration paperwork.  They got to check out the gym, and they got to meet one of their teachers.

The teacher was between dance classes, so she got down a padded mat for the girls to see.  She offered to help them with a somersault, but they were a little nervous about that.  Since we got home, though, they’ve been asking me to somersault every chance they get.  HA!

The girls will need to wear a leotard (over which I confirmed they can wear shorts) for class.  We went shopping yesterday and found two pink leotards.  Nearby there were some “yoga shorts”, which looked perfect to me.  The girls each picked out a pair, but we continued to look around.  When we spied some knit “running shorts” (solid with white trim), they were IN LOVE.  They ran to put back the yoga shorts and pick colors for their exercise shorts.

The girls tried on their leotards last night, along with their shorts.  They giggled getting into the leotards, and Baby A kept referring to it as a “onesie”.  HA!  They’ve talked a lot about their shorts, too.  “Mommy, when I’m not in tumbling class, I can wear those shorts for exercising, or jogging, right?”  It just tickles me that they’re so giddy about having “exercise shorts” like Mommy and Daddy (as if their other knit shorts aren’t fit for exercising).

I may be a bit nervous at this endeavor (although I know everything will be fine, and I’m excited I’ll be able to stay and watch their classes)…but the girls are BEYOND thrilled!!!  They can hardly wait for the first week of June!  Cute pictures to come!