the joy of two two year olds.

It's October, and in 2 months my babies will be three, I call them babies because that's what we called each of the girls...until the new baby came and usurped the title. There will be no more usurpers so the twins are doomed to be babies, for a long time, maybe until they are taller than me. OR maybe not, as I think of that book "I'll love you forever" which is alternatingly sweet and creepy, maybe its time to use their other nicknames more often, here is a brief list of nicknames I use on a regular basis;

chickens, ducks, piglets, puppies, monkeys,
twins, twinners, twinnies, hooligans, the Wonder Twins

And if you are concerned that we don't encourage them to develop their own identities
AJ is AKA Little man, Buddy, Captain Destructo, The Boy, and Superboy.
Amalia goes by Big Girl, Screamin Meemie, and Muppet.

And of course if I am flustered I call any child by any other childs name several times before landing on the correct moniker.

Honestly its a little silly that I stressed so much over giving them their actual names since I end up calling them something else so often, but I digress, the point of this post was not supposed to be names, but state of life.

I love two year olds, I know they are supposed to be terrible, but personally I have always found 2 preferable to 3, at 3 they talk back in full sentances and logic, 2 year olds are so silly that its easier to forgive their tantrums and angers.

Examples?
Ok, so in the car when the kids start to fight, I say "Lets play I spy!" No matter how mad she was, Amalia immediately perks up and says "Ok, you turn mommy" and she is a good guesser, rapid fire questions that come so fast Nina often complains she didn't get a chance to guess. Amalia gets to the answer, it helps that things easily seen from the car window are often repeated "Is is a sign? is it a car? is it a tree?" And she has a decent sense of color, she can guess appropriately green means a tree, plant, bush, etc. red a stop light, truck, flower etc.. And then it is her turn, and this is how it goes
"I pye my  little eye somefing red" (or whatever color)
We ask a litiny of questions, car? truck? house? wall? flower? and so on, till she decides we have guessed enough and gives us a clue
"It's somefing red on a ground"
Ella makes a rookie mistake and starts to guess "is it a flower?" "Is it a red bush?" "is it a red curb?"
I have learned the correct thing to say is this..."Is it something Red on the ground?"
"Yes Mom you winned!"

They are twins, and AJ has learned his sisters approach to the game, but has less patience for our flawed logic, he wants to say  this
"I pye my little eye a red truck"
we are then allowed to guess two incorrect items and must follow it with the exact wording he gave us, "Is it a red truck?" to diverge from the script is to invite his wrath "No mom talk it eye spy" translated as "you are doing it wrong."

I remember Liana at this age would always "spy" something that was at home, often in her closet, thus infuriating Ella who at age 4 was already a stickler for rules and not amused that she couldn't actually spy the object in question, thankfully she is now a wise almost 10 year old and is now my biggest ally in keeping the wonder twins content in their versions of the game, this is especially nice as Nina is at the stickler age.

Another great 2 year old joy is jokes, AJ has mastered a few Knock knock jokes, or rather has memorized which ones will gets him a laugh, I taught him
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Police
Police who?
please open the door.

he created his own answer
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Police
Police who?
Please eat cookies!
I am pretty sure his is better, but if he would change it to "donuts" he would really be in business.

Amalia reverts to logic and her favorite themes
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Princess?
Princess who?
Princess live in a castle......(crickets chirping in the silence) Stand Up Comedy is not her forte... at least not yet, watch out Honey Boo Boo (Just kidding, I promise you that I will not enter any of my kids in a pageant, even though more than one has asked to do it).

With or without good timing, they are still fairly hilarious, when I am pushing them in the stroller on my quest to be healthier and I am nearing the top of the hill, panting and out of breath, I often hear them singing "keep trying, keep trying, don't give up, never give up"

It makes me laugh, and pass out, fortunately my body keeps the stroller from rolling down the hill, and when I come to I feel better, good enough to get up and keep trying some more.
Love me some 2 year olds.

Confession

Pinterest and Facebook have been sucking up my internet time. I have been consuming internet content without producing any of my own fodder.
Well I think that is about to change.

Some random thoughts to get me started,
We had a fun and busy summer.
School has been in session for 2+ months, and Nina Started school this year
the twins are generally Hilarious, lots of raw material there for the mining
We have tried some interesting recipes and had interesting responses to my quest to be healthier
I am exercising with a goal to be thinner, or at least  reduce the damage the twins hath wrought, is there any way to post my "before shot" without grossing all 13 of my readers out?
I may not have 13 readers anymore, it has  been 7 months since I last posted anything

The kids are going insane behind me right now, maybe that is the reason I don't blog much anymore

hopefully more posts soon

The Difference between Boys and Girls

Since the twins were born, people often ask me if I notice a difference between boys and girls.  I notice that there are differences between each of my children and similarities with all my children, but yes, I have noticed a few striking differences between AJ and all my girls.

1. None of my daughters have ever been able to throw overhand before the age of 4 or 5. A.J. has been lobbing overhand pitches since about 9 months old.

2. Place a baby doll on the floor in front of any of my girls and that doll will immediately be rocked, dressed, sung to and possibly breast-fed. A.J. will use said baby as a nunchuck (sp?) though he will say "sorry baby" if he happens to drop the doll, he is after all a very sweet boy.

3.All my girls are moody girls who hold on to their sadness with a vengeance, and when injured they may point to said injury and cry until I kiss it better for weeks, even when the band-aid, scab and scar have all disappeared.  A.J. lost a fingernail completely and all he said was "Owie?"

and finally (for today anyway)


4. The twins brought me "presents" from the garden today, a fistful of flowers and two rotten tomatoes,
can you guess which gift came from which twin?

 

Did you guess right?

Another year older!

We have reached it, the end of our holiday season and finally the end of our birthdays. Since I haven't been able to muster up individual entries I am trying a different way of reporting on them all, lets start with

NEW AGE
Nina - 4, excited to be in dance class and preschool
Jannah - 37, happy to be in love with my younger man
A.J. and Amalia - 2 terrible and terrific.
Liana - 7, 1st Grade is great, Dance classes are fabulous and looking forward to starting piano lessons
Ella - 9, enjoying 3rd grade practicing for a spelling bee, enjoying dance classes with the big girls, zooming through her piano lessons, reveling in going to her activity days at church.
Eddie - still younger than Jannah in everything but years, working hard and working out.

PARTY THEME,
Nina - "Surprise Party with Butterflies"
Jannah - "sit back and enjoy what Eddie planned for me"
A.J. and Amalia - "Potluck and cupcakes for Nursery"
Liana - "Animals"
Ella - "Design of many kinds"
Eddie - "Went to Work day so I could go to a gun show later that month"


CAKE
Nina - funfetti cupcakes with frosting and fondant butterflies
Jannah - who needs cake when you have Indian food at a restaurant with a handsome man and no small children?
A.J. and Amalia - Mini funfetti cupcakes with melting chocolate "icing" caps so yummy but not so messy!
Liana - Funfetti cupcakes  with melting chocolate icing and sixlets on top.
Ella - chocolate cupcakes for school, chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes for guests to design at the party,  funfetti tiered cake covered in marshmallow fondant to blow out candles on.
Eddie - Fruit plate at restaurant on dinner break at work.






FAVORITE PRESENT
Nina - Baby Alive
Jannah - a desperately needed haircut and night out with my handsome sugar daddy.
A.J. - Thomas the Train "Shake-N-Go"
Amalia - Fisher-Price Cash Register
Liana - Disney Animators collection Belle doll
Ella -Harumika Mannequin (fashion design dress dummy)
Eddie - A new New Balance wardrobe