Toddler Moments

We have had some monster toddler moments lately…..Yup...the girls have discovered they can have alot of fun being toddlers.....

• like when they breathe on windows and leave their hand and foot prints in the fog...so when you come to my house, there are messy windows at the 3 foot level!. 
• Emmy has also discovered that Sophia will let her marker each of her toes in a different colour while sits and watches. 
• They both have decided that if they want to climb the outside of the staircase, the safest way is to climb one at a time while the other spots (or holds them up by the bum). 
• Gone are the days of putting anything up high.  They seem to have these mini chairs and step stools attached to their backs so they can deploy them when they need to….and to boot, they have put the stool on the chair to gain just enough to get what they want.
• We have also entered the era of picking out our own clothes (esp unddies and socks), deciding which clothing items are whom’s even though they are the same shirt

But they have also started to roll play with their imaginations…..

• like when they play “going to school” They line up 2 chairs, sit on them and pretend that they are driving to school, one is always the driver and the other stands in the hall and waits for the driver to say “time to go to school, get on the bus” 
• They also will pretend to shop together...they get their babies, put them in their shopping carts, pushing them around, mimicking me! “baby just sit down and keep your hands in the cart” “Just a minute mommy need to look at this” “stop foolin around” “there is no potty in the store, so don’t ask” I seriously did not think I said half the stuff they do…but they have had to get it from somewhere! 
• Cover up baby is a fan fav…..Sometimes the baby cries and needs a bum change (watching them pretend to change a diaper is hilarious). I must admit, this one takes a bit longer to roll play and I have been known to suggest” let’s play cover up” to get some peace, but only for about ½ hour…..

There are times I see babies randomly sitting against a wall….to which Sophia tell me that "the baby is on time away for not listening" and she has to sit there until I give her a hug and kiss and she says sorry. 

WOW….they really do listen and notice when I am talking. If I would not have seen it, I would not have believe it.

Then there are the toddlers prefer to party nekkid moments.....In fact, they prefer to do most things nekkid.  You know that toddlers have to take off all their clothes to use the potty...in the middle of the kitchen! 

Never in a million years would you think that you would have to remind them to at least put underwear on to eat dinner.  I seriously cannot believe how often Darcy and I have these converstaions with them.  

Ahh..toddlers have the life and can be awe struck in wonderment!



Cheers
R-ox

Fall Family Fun

In my childhood, my family would attend all the fall fairs they could, taking in the cool crisp breezes as we whizzed around on ride after ride after ride under the bright ball park lights.  Sometimes grandparents or other family friends would attend and we usually spent the entire day walking through buildings full of food vendors, perusing 4-H winning displays, petting hoards of animals and taking in a smash up derby, a horse show or some country singers performance.  I had such fond memories of these trips which usually ended with all of us kids passed out in the back seat for the ride home.

To this day I still enjoy a good ride on the scrambler or the snow express with the screaming music and would like Pookie and Munchie to have the opportunity to experience these too. 

The first event I went to (Darcy was working) was Mighty Machines.  I was so looking forward to seeing the girls get excited about pretending to drive all the trucks, diggers, dozers and tractors, (played it up in my mind pretty good) that when we got there and Sophia tried to walk on air to get back to the car and go home, I started to cry - the disappointment was too overwhelming.  The horn honking was too loud and scared them both.  Emmy did not want to get out of the stroller, let alone climb into a combine.  I walked around for an hour trying to calm their fears and eventually they warmed up to taking their turn driving the garbage truck.  The day ended up being not a total bust and Grandpa enjoyed the rollover demonstration. 

Fun on the surf

Enjoying the Parade, well not Sophia

is that a smile I see?

Going on a turtle hunt

 Apple Fest in Brighton, was where we went next.  We actually were visiting friends (long overdue visit) and while we were there spent a wonderful weekend taking in the local fare.  The Callahan's were perfect hosts and we had so much fun.  The girls played with their girls and for the most part were out of our hair which was a nice change.  The local parade was neat to see but this is where we figured out that Sophia was not going to enjoy anything that she considered loud, and the local parade down main street, with the bands, floats and antique tractors all making noise had her with her fingers in her ears the entire time.  The girls did enjoy partaking in a ducks in the pond game, where they had to pick a duck as it floated by and if they picked a winning duck, they got a prise - their first Carney game.....and they both won stuffed ducks.  How fitting!  the next day, after the adults had enough coffee....we went to the surf and wetlands boardwalk tour.  The girls chased geese up the beach, splashed in the water, getting totally soaked and went on a frog and turtle hunt.  We did see frogs, but no turtles to Emmy's disappointment. 

We packed in a lot on this visit, just the way we roll!

MG is 3

This fiery red headed princess was just that, all fluffy in her tutu as we all headed to church.  It was a funny, cute sight to see all 5 girls in there tutus holding hands in a line walking into church.  After a mini crisis was looked after, Sophia broke out in hives at church and I took her to see Darcy at work to verify - to this day I am still not sure what caused it and it cleared up as the day went on, it was off to the princess tea-party. 

  

MG's birthday has special meaning to us as during her very emotional and unexpected birth, God must have thought we needed some joys in our lives and this is when the twins started their lives.  The are true comrades and friends - best est cousins!

"Can we wear our underwears today mommy?"

Our morning routine has changed a bit in the last month.  Instead of the girls picking out their own diapers....they are picking out their own underwear.  I am happy to say the girls are potty trained!

I am a bit amazed, as this milestone just seemed to happen right under my nose...kinda like one day I was changing 6-8 diapers a day to changing a few sets of clothes to only changing them morning and night.    Now I do need to add that visitors...do not be alarmed if there is a naked toddler be-lining it for the bathroom - as they both strip off all clothes, on the spot when they need to go.  Kinda weird as Darcy and I do not do that.  But as Emmy says - she does not want to have an accident on her shirt.  Valid reason!!?

I had read that when potty training twins, the chances that they both will be potty training at the same time are  well.....slim. Most mom’s of multiples have to go through the process separately with each child, so I was mentally preparing for a long potty training haul.....but we lucked out.  Both of them wanted to sit on the potty at the same time - which sprang a shopping spree one night to get a bunch of potties....I'm sure the check out lady thought I was a neurotic mom who has a potty in every room.  Not quite, but we do have one in the garage and in the back of my truck which have been great "mess-savers" 

Potty training the girls was one of my fears and so far it hasn’t been as bad as I had imagined. I think the key is to just wait until they show that interest enough to stay with it. And, if accidents happen, they happen – I fully expect a few more accidents...unless you are Sophia and just wipe down your pants and pee on the grass, "mommy I have to go, I have to pee on the grass - go away!" something she has done at gramma and grandpa's as well as the neighbours....hum mm must of been on daddy's watch!

It actually warms my heart to see them both go through this milestone together – I never thought going potty would be a mommy-heart warming moment, girls mommy is super proud of you.  So, these days we spend a ton of time in our bathrooms or policing who gets the potty and who gets the potty seat! 

Cheers

R-xo

August Family Vacation

We decided, and thanks to the Ogies! for letting us camp with them, to go on a camping vacation just like we used to in the days before kiddies.  There were lots of campsite of friends, including the typical crew which I was totally thrilled about.  Now I was not that naive to think that it would be just like the good ol' days....but I was not totally prepared for what this 4 day trip was to bring.

We had a great drive to Parry Sound, Killbear Park, set up the site, had dinner and a campfire.  The girls were making adjustments to their new...totally dirty home.  To add a bit more to this trip, we were potty training the girls and they were almost fully trained, so this meant 2 potties propped up against a tree waiting to be used at will...and they were. 

It rained through the night, and as morning was breaking, crash - the lid of the cooler was opened by a raccoon - or so we thought.  About 1/2 hr later I could hear heavy foot prints and heavy breathing.....it was a bear.  The darn thing climbed up the back of our pick-up truck looking to see if he could get in.  When he could not, he moved on to the neighbouring campsite and shook the car until the car alarm went off - waking up a ton of people, but not my husband....he was awake, so he says, but did not move a muscle.  I told him there was a bear on our truck, but he brushed it off until the next morning when the evidence was clear - paw prints on the back of the truck and tunnel cover.

Big group dinner extravaganza!

Daddy n the girls

Campfire snacks

The rest of the trip was not that exciting, but not that relaxing either.  I spent most of my time, with the girls as they explored the outdoors, nursed Fia through her first bee sting, defied afternoon sleep time and were not that keen on the beach.  The one thing they did like was the nightly campfires with their bowls of cheezies!
On our final day we packed everything up and decided to have a beach day.  I like the beach and on this trip so far I had virtually none, so dear hubby went along with the idea and we spent the day at the beach.  It was a great decision - the girls really like it and were not "needy" almost the entire time.  We had a lot of snacks, so that might of helped!     A highlight for me was a wonderful smoked meat dinner at the Sharps's campsite.  They had all the camping toys you could imagine.  Doug smoked the beef the entire day...to perfection!  truly a camping treat!

Over all the trip was a great experience for the girls and a learning experience for their mother and father.  This is not going to detour us from making these types of memories...I will just be better prepared!

Farm girl at heart

"Emmy, where are you going?"  "I am going outside mommy to sit on the wheat"  it took me a minute to figure it out...she was talking about sitting on the giant straw bales in our back yard. 

Last night I took the girls out to the field in our backyard to play with the straw.  Emily loved it, in fact she even picked up the straw, throwing it into the air and then picked up a long piece and put it in her mouth.  We have not been on a farm where she would have seen that, so that kinda made me wonder. 
Sophia just cried and wanted to be held....she heard the tractor reeve up as it was picking up the bales and stacking them on a wagon - from the other side of the field...She cried like a tiger was about to eat her...poor little duckie.   I tried to snap a few pics with her in them, but she was so scared, it was hard to leave her there when she was so upset.

Emily on the other hand loved it.  At one point she thought the bale might move while sitting on it - "common, give me my ride"  she said as she jumped up and down.

When it was time for bed, Sophia could not run fast enough to the deck.  Emily stood in the field looking out over the horizon like she was contemplating what crop to plant in the field.  When she was done we went in the house and off to bed.  Since we are potty training the girls, potty time had to happen before bed.  When I helped her out of her undies....a pile of straw fell on the floor and a bunch was still stuck to her belly.  It was cute as she picked off the straw and then she put one piece in her mouth, just like a farmer.  Sophia was more concerned there was a mess on the floor and "Emmy did it" 

She is a farm girl at heart!

cheers
R-xo

The sucky is gone!

For the past few nights, Emily has drifted off to sleep without that annoying, plastic sucking sound oozing out of her mouth – the sucky is a thing of the past. I told her about a week ago (I flush it mommy) that in a few nights there would be no more sucky, she is a big girl. She hummed and hawed about it and then the other night she told me she was a big girl and did not need a sucky. We immediately took them away and she has not cried about it since. She will ask if she can have one, but we tell her she is a big girl and does not need it. That seems to okay with her.   

Sophia never really took to the sucky, so breaking her of that habit was a breeze. Now if potty training would be that cut and DRY!

I know that the sucky is a comfort item, and I would not have survived this past virus season, I mean winter season without it. But I felt is was time to go. She does have several snuggle blankets, which she carries around and buries her face in laughing. So a comfort item is still there. Sophia has her “fuzzy” blanket which in the heat must be soooo hot.  It is a homemade blanket with ties she plays with while falling asleep. That too comes into our bed in the mornings…some mornings there are so many snuggle blankets and fuzzy blankets we have to fight our way out of bed. Oh well….those are the moments I was waiting for…the snuggles in bed and if a few blankets come along, so be it.

 

Cheers

R-xo