Practice Makes Perfect

Next week George and Clara will start "school."  Really they are going to Mother's Day Out at the church where Grammy Quinn is a teacher for two days a week.  ("What will I ever do with myself for 10 childless hours per week?" she asks with a smile.)  We went to the cutest store in our town called Personalize It and got all the needed supplies...a nap mat, lunch box, and back pack.  George and Clara are in love with these new "toys" and frequently ask me if they can wear their "bap pak."  The other day I got them all geared up and they were goofing off in the house.  Then they just started walking around the house in a straight line.  Is this behavior innate? Little school kids.  Practice makes perfect!

 The gear

It makes me think that one day not too far off we will be doing this waiting for the bus to take us to real school...sniff.

Come on Clara!

All smiles!

Being goofy!

Mommy's Little Ducklings

Cupcake Making Fun

The twins enjoyed watching Mommy make cupcakes for a dinner with friends.  They were interested in helping until they were each given a beater coated with chocolate cupcake batter.  They were smitten!  Then they tried the beater covered in icing and loved that even more.  Growing up my brother and I used to stalk my Mom while she was baking.  There are a million photos of Jay and I licking the beaters after my Mom created a cake.  I wish I had a picture from back in the day I could share.  Maybe I will steal one from my parents and post it.  Ah, I digress...Finally the twins got to taste the finished product complete with a cold glass of milk.  Nothing better then that! 

Kindermusik Creature Camp

Every Wednesday morning this summer, George, Clara, and I would enter the world of music and animal exploration.  We would dance, sing, play musical instruments, listen to stories, make crafts, eat fun snacks, and play with new friends.  This camp was wonderful for the twins.  It was amazing to see their transformation over the 10 weeks.  From not really participating or following the teacher's directions to figuring out the structure of the class and loving every second of participating in it.  Their gross motor skills improved so much with all the fun movement activities.  It also made me more aware of their love for music and movement.  It also prompted me to try more crafts at home with them.  It was such a great experience and I know they loved it!  I look forward to next summer and what other adventures it may bring!

Sweet Faces

Fun slide!

About a month ago, I posted about this awesome ball pit that we got George and Clara from Walmart.  It was so fun to watch them play in it.  They even enjoyed it after Clara bit a hole in the side causing it to deflate every few hours.  Oops! Daddy patched it up and hopefully it will hold air the next time we blow it up.  For now it is in the closet all folded up because Grammy Quinn snagged us this awesome new slide...

One of her co-workers had it in their classroom and no longer wanted it.  She offered it to my Mom and we snatched it up.  George and Clara love it!  When it gets a little cooler outside, then it will live in the backyard.  For now it is yet another great way to burn off the never-ending toddler energy in the air conditioning!

Looks like Maggot and Dolly love the new slide too!  Fun for everyone! :)

The Maggot

All of our family and most good friends have met Maggot.  It is by far George's favorite thing in the entire world.  The Maggot may even top Mom and Dad.  This Maggot joined our family on Christmas Day 2009 compliments of Aunt Christina and Uncle Sayed.  It was a very thoughtful gift...two soft organic stuffed toys called Monsieur Tse-Tse...one for each of the twins.  In true little brother fashion, John had to make fun of his sister saying, "So you got our kids Maggots?"  You see the tsetse fly starts off as a maggot and this little stuffed toy sure looked like a Maggot.  Here is a look at Monsier Tse-Tse from the website where he is sold. Reminiscent of a Maggot, right?

Maggot lived in our stuffed animal basket until George was about 6 months old.  The school of thought is that this is the "safe" age to give the infant a "lovey" of some sort in the crib at night.  Many friends were adamant it helped their kiddos drift back to sleep on their own if they woke up in the middle of the night.  More sleep? I'm in!  So I dug through our stuffed animal basket looking for something that was soft without little buttons or eyes he could choke on and came upon Maggot.  Soft, no little pieces, and a bonus...made from organic materials...bingo!  So Maggot ended up in George's crib that night.  Clara ended up with a soft pink dolly.

 Here is Maggot in the early days in the back left corner of the crib with a sleeping George.

George was smitten!  Every time George went to sleep we would hand him his new friend and say, "Here is your Maggot."  He would smile so big, reach for Maggot, and settle down in his crib.  Fast forward 15 months and George still loves Maggot.  He chews his antennae, walks around with Maggot hanging from his mouth, and cuddles him every single nap time and bed time.  Maggot is loved, loved, loved!

 Here George is sleeping in a rather unusual position with Maggot under him.

You can see Maggot peeking out from under his belly by his hand.

I have no problem with George having a lovey.  In fact, it is kind of sweet.  My only regret...why didn't we call him Fred?  We sure get some strange looks from people who are over and haven't met Maggot when we turn to Georgey and say, "Find Maggot.  It's time for bed!"  Maybe I can start calling him Fred now....

 George today when I went to get him after nap. He is saying, "Here's Maggot!"

A very very loved Maggot.

21 Months!

Talking! Talking! Talking!  Their speech keeps growing and growing.  It is so fun to see their excitement when they say a new word.  It is unbelievable how many words they have added to their vocabulary this month.  Some new words include: Bailey, puppy, happy, radio, dump truck, digger, turtle, Hippo, book, up, bubble, Jay (more like Uncle Gee!), teeth, bath, yum yum, baby, bye bye, tick tock, jump, hat, hot, pool, milk and the list goes on.  I bet tomorrow they will add three more words!  It's amazing!

They are both becoming very strong willed little individuals with their most favorite word being, "No!" They want to explore on their own, read on their own, and play on their own.  There are many days that Mommy gets pushed out of the room and gets the door closed in her face so the two monkeys can play alone.  They are both going up and down the stairs independently and I will even let them stay upstairs by themselves for a few minutes to play before I head up there to supervise.  At first I was a little sad that I am not as needed anymore, but it really is a testament to their growth into little people. They are also both able to follow two step directions now.  For example I asked George to pick up the napkin and put it in the trash.  He did it right away with a smile on his face.  Clara can do the same.  Such good listeners...most of the time. :)

George is a professional jumper these days.  He acquired this skill during his summer kindermusik creature camp and now he loves to jump.  George can definitely get some space between him and the floor.  He is also working on his throwing arm.  George can throw pretty far but his aim is still off which means if you come over you better have quick reflexes! Right now he loves any type of ball play.

Clara is becoming more and more social (if that is possible).  We go to a lot of play dates with our KAMOM group and many times there are new people there.  Clara goes over to them and says, "Up" so they will pick her up.  Once they have her in their arms, she gives them that trademark smile with those big honey colored eyes and the new person (usually a Mommy who is trying to keep an eye on her own kiddos) doesn't want to put her down.  We have to watch out for this one!  Clara, the helper, has also turned into Mommy's right hand man.  If I ask her to "help" me with anything, she runs over eager to lend a hand.  It is very sweet to watch because she is proud of herself when she completes whatever task I've asked her to do.  This is also a great way for Mommy to distract her from something she shouldn't be doing.

Some of my favorite things this month include Clara and George feeding their loveys Dolly and Maggot (yes his lovey is named Maggot...I will write a post about this later) yogurt melts at breakfast in the morning complete with the "Num-num-num" as they put the food to the lovey's mouth.  Sweet!  Recently Clara wanted to call Daddy while he was at work.  She wanted to hold my phone while he was on the speaker.  When I dial John, his picture pops up on the screen of the phone.  While they were "talking," Clara put the phone down on the table, put her hands out, and said, "Daddy up!"  Apparently she wanted Daddy to pick her up through the phone.  Silly girl! One day Clara was throwing a typical toddler fit in our foyer.  George and I were waiting her out on the stairs.  I turned to George and asked, "Should I go get her?" His response, "No." I asked, "Should I leave her down there?" His response, "Yes."  Smart little man!

Stuffed Animal Wrestling Match

Yesterday morning Mommy decided to dump all of the stuffed animals into Clara's crib and put the little monkeys in there too.  They thought Mommy was nuts and then the wrestling match started which ended with lots and lots of laughter.  Mommy's favorite thing!

Meeting Elyse!

George and Clara met their cousin Elyse for the first time on Saturday.  We have been showing the twins photos of their baby cousin.  They would yell, "Eys! Eys!"  Before we got to Aunt Christina and Uncle Sayed's house, we talked about being gentle with baby Elyse.  They just kept saying, "Eys! Eys!"  They were very excited to meet her!

George was very good with little Miss Elyse.  He wasn't as interested in her until she was crying.  As soon as she started crying, George would become very concerned.  He would whine, point at her, and had a very worried expression on his face.  Our little sensitive guy was concerned about his baby cousin!

 

Clara was the exact opposite of her brother...surprise surprise.  She was very interested in Elyse.  She always seemed to be right next to her.  Clara wanted to pat her, touch her hair, fix her blanket, and rock her.  At one point, Clara put out her arms as if to say, "I'll hold her now."  Clara loves her little cousin Elyse!

On Sunday the whole family went to Grandma and Grandpa H's house for dinner.  It was great to be all together.  The first of many family gatherings.  Welcome to the family Elyse!  We are so glad you are here!