Summer Fun!

Well I've been quite the slacker.

We've had a busy few weeks, filled with fun things like camping at Devils Lake (ok, maybe that wasn't quite as fun as we had hoped, especially since daddy thought it was ok to let them play with the campfire. But we won't go there), a weekend trip "up north" (as we say in WI) with some friends, a day trip to Bay Beach Amusement Park, and another day trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Busy Busy Busy!! But lots of fun before the school year starts!

Here are a few photos....
What camping is all about - swimming
building sandcastles -


and eating s'mores-

My daughter is fearless when it comes to water.
















Enjoying some rides at the amusement park.

Ride On!

Oh. My. God.
He did it. On his first try when we got to the park. He didn't fall once at all! And he even knows how to brake slowly and stop without falling.

GO AIDAN!!!!!!!!!

Getting Girly!

Norah asked me to paint her toes and fingernails today! This is huge. I think I've asked her if I could do this every week for a year now and she's shrieked in horror. So for her to ask for it....wow!

Growing Up...

Aidan is growing up so fast and learning so much from school. Especially recently, it seems like he's really picking up on things. He's starting to spell some words on his own and be able to write them without asking how they are spelled, like zoo, mommy, daddy, flower, and some of the easier (to spell) months of the year. Granted, its pretty much rote memorization and its not like he's phonetically figuring out words, but still...its so much more than what he was doing two months ago, which was nothing.

His drawings are really impressive (to me, at least), as well. He's starting to add so much detail and they're becoming much more refined. So very cool.

Here are two recent ones....

A drawing of a sunflower, tulips, and daisies growing in soil.




















The May calendar


Norah and Elliott. What can I say about them. They will turn me grey, if that is even possible. When I take them to their little kids' club and pick them up later, I am always told that Norah is the one who bosses Elliott around, who takes his toys away, and who is quite mean to him. However, at home, its a whole different story. He provokes her, he teases her, and he does whatever he can to make her mad. And he knows what will make her mad. And when I tell him to stop, he flashes me this cute little smile. He is going to be trouble. I hate to peg him this early, but I can feel it. He's going to be a handful as he gets older.
As much as they fight, they love each other to death.

Long time, no update

Potty training is in full force here. Its certainly not fun, but I guess they can't be in diapers forever. Norah's actually doing fabulous on the pee front. She is managing to stay dry all day. Its just the poop issues we have to worry about. And poop issues she has. Holy cow. We need to break her of her holding it in behavior. It involves multiple laxitives, enemas, and visits to the children's hospital gastroenterology clinic. Good times.
Elliott is doing pretty good, too. He did pee himself today and just kept playing...never came in to tell me. I will chalk that up to being busy. I hope.

Aidan will be out of school after 6/15. I am kind of scared of what the summer holds. He tends to be, um, sassy, bossy, naughty, etc, when bored. So its up to me to keep him busy, but still have a fun summer. He'll be in a summer playground thing every M-W for 2 hours in the morning, all summer long. He's got t-ball at night. And he's taking 2 1-day zoo classes and a 1 day gymnastics camp. Norah is in dance (night) and is in the gymnastics camp, as well. And Elliott is also in the gym camp, and is doing swim lessons at night. Between all of that and playgroups, the park, and pools, and a few summer festivals, I hope we'll have fun.

Speaking of festivals, last weekend, we walked down to a small festival. En route, I looked down and saw that Norah and Elliott were holding hands between the strollers. How sweet is that?

he says the cutest things

we were in the car and the song, 'personal jesus' was on the radio and elliott said to me, "oooh, mom, i really like this song."

later on (same car ride), he said, "my eyes keep falling down." tee heee

Picasso in Training

Norah loves to color. She will spend a large chunk of her day coloring. However, the past two days, she's decided to try out her crayons and markers on other mediums....wood, vinyl, cotton. It hasn't gone over very well in this house. Yet, it hasn't stopped her from doing it again.
Her butt has been seeing a lot of the time out chair lately.

Misc Babble

Elliott pooped on the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was Saturday night and he did it unprompted. Of course, he hasn't done it again since then, but I hope its a start of something. He really wants to wear his Lightning McQueen and Spidey underpants, so we'll see.

When I ask Norah if she wants to poop on the potty too, she answers with a, "not meeee." as if she's telling me she doesn't want butter on her toast or waffles for breakfast.

Right now, Norah's really into identifying boys/girls and the whole brother-sister relationship. She often tells me, "2 girls, mommy. 1, 2", pointing to herself and me. And then, "3 boys. 2 brothers. 1, 2." Sometimes she'll tell me I am her sister, but usually she says she's a little sister and a little girl. Very cute.

My little character

The other night when I was tucking Norah into bed, she said that she wanted to sleep in Ellie's room. I told her no, she needed to sleep in her own bed. She said, "I want my little bed." I was stumped for a minute and asked, "huh? your little bed?" She said, "yeah. My white bed." I said, "You mean your crib? You haven't had a crib in a long time!" Norah said, "Yeah, my crib. I want my white crib." I told her that she was a big girl and needed to sleep in her big girl bed. She told me that no, she was too little and her bed was too big.
Such a character.
I said, "good night, Norah. Sleep tight."
She said, "No. I a princess."
Ok. "Goodnight princess. Sweet dreams."
"No sweet dreams!"
Whatever, girl.

Musings of a 5 year old

Aidan: Mommy - where does the easter bunny live?

Me: I don't know. Where do you think he lives?

Aidan: I think he lives in California, where its warm. Easter bunnies like it where its warm.

Me: oh really.

Aidan: Yes. And I think he flys Midwest to get here.

Ain't that the brutal truth.

We had just finished eating lunch and Aidan rubbed his belly and said, "oh mommy, I ate so much and now I have a fat belly like Grampa John. He's got a big belly. But you don't have a fat belly and daddy doesn't have a fat belly. Grampa John has a fat belly because he likes to drink a lot of beer! And Gramma T* has a fat belly, too, because she likes to eat a lot!"

Funny at Five

I was diligently knitting my first ever baby blanket (SnB's Big Bad Baby Blanket) when, 6 rows into it, I realized I made a huge mistake and the only way I could fix it was to frog the whole damn thing. How disheartening. I've restarted it, but I am taking a break for an hour to rest my poor wrists.

So anyway....there are just a few things that I want to note about Aidan at age 5.

This is the first Lego car that Aidan built all by himself. He's gone through building all the cars in the book with us, but today, he sat down and went step-by-step through the instructions and built this. We were shocked. WOW! That's just amazing to me.

He's been saying some funny things lately. He's fixated at three-oh-oh being his snacktime. So recently, when we were talking about him going to school next year for full days and not getting home until 3:30, he said, "But I will miss my snack at 3-0-0! That's no good!" And today when we were out running errands, he said, "mommy, is this going to take a long time? Because I don't want to miss three-oh-oh."
That cracks me up.

Later on, we were at the grocery store and we rounded a corner and the meat counter came into view. He loudly exclaimed, "look mommy -- NASTY!" , pointing at the meat. The lady standing there started cracking up.

And finally, since he's always fixated on his birthday, we were once again discussing it today. He said, "when am I going to stop having birthdays?" I told him never...that you have birthdays forever. He said (with a very irritated tone in his voice), "but I don't want to have them forever. I will get sick of them!" To which I said, "but everyone has birthdays every year. Even Nana and Papa still have birthdays. You have birthdays for as long as you are alive. Until you die." He looked at me and then said, "WHY DID YOU SAY I AM GOING TO DIE!? DON'T SAY THAT!"
Geez Louise.

She's going to be one of those freaky cat ladies...

I just cannot get her to play with dolls, no matter how hard I try!

5 year stats and musings

Aidan's Stats at 5 Years:

44"
42.5#

So he's a tad taller than average, but not much, and of average weight.
He's finally outgrowing his size 4 pants and is moving into size 5, but they're still quite large on him because he's got no fat on his body. He's sporting the baggy look.

The pediatrician was highly impressed that he can whip out a 300 piece puzzle in about an hour or so. Heck, I am impressed because I could never do that.
She also mentioned that some boys don't night train until age 9. AGE 9?!?! Oh man. That just sucks.

We got him a Razor scooter for his birthday and he's gotten really good at it, just practicing in the house. He's very very eager for the snow to melt so he can go outside and take it for a spin and show off some of his "tricks" he's been practicing.

He's been diligently working on building Lincoln Log structures, but we HAVE to use the directions. He's finally gotten one of them down on his own...no help! When he's gotten frustrated and I told him to use his imagination to just build something, he got angry with me and said, "no! I don't want to use my imagination. I'll use it when I am 8 years old."
8's the magic age. He claims he'll do a lot of stuff when he turns 8. I wonder why he picked that number and if he'll change his mind?

5 year old artwork

Aidan's people have progressed over the years, but they're still very square. I wonder why? He's gotten very detailed - adding fingers, teeth, ears, and even pupils.



His teacher recently started a unit on space, which has really interested Aidan. So we've done some things at home, as well, like make a solar system mobile for his room.
After we did that, he drew this:

Saturn is in the top right corner - yellow w/ a green ring around it.
The solid yellow one is Neptune.
Sun is obviously the big orange one.
Next to the sun is earth: the brown and blue one.
The big purple and green one is Jupiter.
The tiny purple one is Pluto.

He missed a few, but I am very impressed with what he got.

5 Years Old?!?!

Aidan Thomas at age 5

I asked Aidan these questions, and here are his answers
Favorite Food: pepperoni pizza

Favorite Show: Wow! Wow! Wubbzy

Favorite Movie: Flushed Away

Favorite Stuffed Dude: Aidan Tiger

Favorite Game: Hullabaloo

Favorite thing to play at home: puzzles and do art projects

Favorite Book: 5 Little Monkeys Wash the Car

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Center (at school) to play in: art

Favorite thing to play outside: winter: snow fights ; summer: swim

Favorite Sport to play: baseball

What do you want to be when you grow up: A Pirate or a Train Engineer

Potty Progress

I really had no plans to tackle the potty thing w/ the twins until spring or summer, but Elliott is doing really well. Over the past 4 days, he's done better each day. He's gone several times a day, and each time he's sat on it, he's produced. Today, he asked to sit on it twice and produced! And its only 9:30 am! Of course, I am using a mini MnM as a reward, which is kinda against my philosophy, but if it works, I guess that's ok.

Norah decided she didn't want to have a repeat performance after her first hurrah, but then after seeing Elliott get all these props, she's produced twice in the last 12 hours. So maybe the pressure is getting to her, as well.

Now if we could just tackle the poop. Ugh.

of jingles and tinkles....

The other day we were at Target and I was in the toilet paper aisle and naturally, the twins were chattering away, making noise. That's when I tuned in and picked up what Elliott was singing.... "da da da...Charmin! da da da...Charmin!" (ok, so its "cha cha cha". close enough!) I said, "were you singing about the toilet paper?" and he pointed to the Charmin on the shelf and said, "yeah" and then repeated himself. I don't know if I should be a proud mama or if I should be embarassed for clearly allowing him to watch too much TV.

And the big news...........


NORAH PEED ON THE POTTY!!!!!!!! She sat on it on her own free will and she produced! For the first time ever!! Please let this be the door that was opened. Please?

Eidetic Memory...or.....?

Aidan can, at times, amaze the crap out of me.
For instance, in December, with some adult help, he completed a 550 piece puzzle over the course of several days. If that wasn't impressive enough, he got out that same puzzle this weekend and over 48 hours, did the puzzle himself. With no help whatsoever.
Ok. That's 550 pieces. I am 33 and I have issues doing puzzles that large. To me, that is just amazing. But Aidan....once he does something like that once, its like he stores it in his brain and can whip it out again and again, quick as ever.

The other day he said to me, "mommy, how come Norah took that little baby kitty that I got from Old McDonalds when I went there with Grandma ****?" I said, "you mean that little grey one that she calls baby kitty?" and he said, "yeah. I got that when I went there before Norah was borned."
I just about had to pick my jaw up off the floor.
Aidan was only 20 months old when the twins were born. And he remembers details like that??!?! Damn.

So then why can't he learn his alphabet? He has had no issue memorizing it. But recognizing it out of context is another story. And why does he have the patience to do a 550 piece puzzle, but he doesn't pay attention at soccer? And his teacher wonders about if he's 'all there' at times?

I just signed off on the final piece of paper, so it shouldn't be long before we have an appointment for his evaluation w/ the school district to see if he may have some sort of learning issue.

Cats Dance? Really?

Without fail, every day the clock radio is playing tunes in my room. Today I asked Norah why she feels the need to turn it on all the time. She looked at me with this look that said, "well duh." and said, "cuz. the kitty. quinny need music. she need to dance!"

Oh. Silly me. Why didn't I think of that.

Two Times the Fun

She's a unique little girl.

She's sweet and spunky

She's cute and gentle and girly

She's a tomboy with a twist

I turned in applications for preschool for her and Elliott recently. I was worried about them being ready, but I am not too worried about Norah anymore. For the past 3 weeks, we've had library storytime and she's done fabulous. She listens, follows along with the songs that have dance and motion and fingerplays, and sits.

Now we have to work on this one :)

He's all boy, all the time.

Dental Hygiene: How NOT to do it

Yesterday, I was flossing my teeth and I caught Elliott staring at me intently. I tossed the floss in the trash when I was done and went in the kitchen to start lunch. I looked over in the bathroom because I heard some commotion and that's when I saw it.....Elliott had dug my used floss out of the trash and was attempting to floss his teeth. EW EW EW!!!!

Such Motivation!

Today Aidan said to me, "Mom, when I am a grown up, I don't think I want to work. I think I want to be like you and play all day. Work is not fun, is it? But if I change my mind, then I think I'll be a fireman. Or Thomas the Train." Ooookay then.
I didn't know that I played all day, either. Is that what this is called?

Now What?

Little girls need to come with hair instructions. I've always wanted my girl to have long hair, just like I did as a little girl (before my mom let me get that wretched shag cut and then permed it back in the 80's). However, I don't remember it being this hard to manage! I should have figured as much, given that I cut my hair off every time it gets long.
But here we are...she's finally got it long enough so that I can put it in pig tails, a pony, braids, or even a french braid. And she doesn't want it cut. She'll even sit for me, if the mood is right. But 80% of the time, it looks like a scraggly mess. So do I go against the wishes of a 3 year old (does she really care?) and get a nice, chin length bob? Or do I just go with the flow and hope that once winter is over, it looks better? But then we enter popscicle season. Oh joy.

Surprising us every day

Aidan dug out this 550 piece puzzle and wanted to do it. Surprisingly, he did most of it himself, with the help of daddy and his uncle Ry, sorting pieces for him. Actually, Uncle Ry did some of it when Aidan went to bed one night and Aid got pissed off and took it apart and commented that adults weren't supposed to do that!!

So after this masterpiece was completed, we figured it was time to step things up. We bought him his first 200 piece puzzle. Crap. That was Tuesday. He had that thing completed in no time and has done it about 8 times since then! Maybe we need 250 pcs? A More difficult design?



And then there are my little Twinadoes. They surprised the hell out of me. They had their first dentist appt. this week and they handled it beautifully!!!!

That's Me!!!

The other day, we were watching the holiday episode of Handy Manny for the 3,267th time this week and one of the characters was talking to Manny about Hanukkah and what a menorah was. Norah perked up and said, "a Norah? a Norah! That's me! That's me, mommy! A Norah!"

Imaginations are a wild thing

Well who knew?
Elliott wanted his black froggie, but I was tucking him in bed. I asked where it was, and he replied, "in the cave." I said, "where's the cave?" and he said, "down 'dere." Because I wouldn't allow him out of bed, I never did figure out where "down 'dere" was.

A few days later, I called "NAPTIME!" to Norah and Elliott. I went upstairs and Elliott was nowhere to be found. I asked Norah where her brother was and she said, "Ellie in da cave."

Ok. Now I was perplexed. So I called him and out he came from under the bed.

THE CAVE! Silly me! Duh!

who said TV is bad for kids?

Today at lunch, Aidan said, "mommy, did you know that christmas is about being together and helping others?" Chris and I looked at each other and I said to Aidan, "wow. Very good Aidan. It sure is. Where did you learn that?", thinking he'd say that he learned it in school. Nope.

"I learned it from the Wonder Pets, Mommy!"

Ode to Napolean Dynamite

Yesterday, I hauled my non-morning self to Kohl's early in the morning to get the twinadoes some winter boots so that they would stop looking so sullen and would be able to play in the snow, like they had been dying to for the past 24 hours.
Much to my dismay and attempts to convince them how cool the other boots were, they picked the princess boots and the spiderman boots, both with flashing lights. Tackiness in its finest! (if you know me, you know how much I hate character wear on my kids, unless its PJs)
But alas, it made them happy. So off we went with the boots.
And I don't think they've taken them off since.
Their cousin Sara babysat for them last night, and when we got home, we were informed that yes, they were in bed with their boots on. When I went to take Norah's off, she woke up and groggily said, "no! da princess boots. da princess boots on." I've got to think that it can't be comfy?

I thought I was being a good mom by not letting my kids watch crap like Spongebob, Calilou, and Rugrats (no offense to moms who do, I just think its sassy and too potty-like for us), but low and behold, Aidan managed to memorize some lines from Shrek II. Guess I really need to screen and watch what we say!!!

Aidan: "mommy, whose your one true love?"
Me: "wha? Where'd you learn that?"
A: "Shrek II. Shrek is Princess Fiona's true love."
Me: "oh. That would be daddy and you, peanie and belly."
A: "Mommy, do I have thick, curly locks?"
Me: "well, you have thick locks, but they're not curly."
A:" Do I have a cute button nose and tight, ample buttocks?"
Me: " WHAT? Tight WHAT?"
A: "buttocks. You know, like on your butt."
Me: "nice. Maybe you should take a break from watching Shrek II so much."

All About Me

I did it! I made my first hat!!!! And I have two people who I really need to thank - Lynn, for being patient with me last week at Stitch n Bitch, when I was all f*d up and she set me straight, and Sheila, for showing me the video on the mattress stitch. Now hopefully Ryan will wear it and the matching scarf :)

She's a character, that's for sure!

Tonight, I was tucking her into bed, and I said, "goodnight, Princess." and she said, "I not princess, I Peanie." and was giggling hysterically. So I said, "goodnight, Peanie." And she said, "no, I a kitty." and added her purr and meow noises. I tell ya, this girl is 100% obsessed with cats. She's going to be like Angela on The Office who has the cat 'Hang in There' poster hanging up, along with all other cute cat paraphanalia. She'll be that freaky cat lady. Oh dear Pete, I hope not!! The other day, she was walking around, strumming her guitar, singing, "meow meow meow! meow meow meow!" Next thing you know, she'lll be singing "Smelly Cat", a la Phoebe Bouffay.

Oh yeah....you can just call her "fragile" Frankie Murman (of Seinfeld). He's the character who, when upset, runs into the woods and digs a hole and sits in it. Like Frankie, Norah, when upset, runs under a table and hides and cries.

I've got some chock-o-lot in my pock-o-lot

Yesterday when we were at Michaels, I tried to sneak a candy bar into my purchases to help curb my chocolate craving. Unfortunately, Aidan saw me. I got off the hook by telling him he had halloween candy left at home and could have some after lunch.

So we're in the car, driving home, and he says, "hey! what's that smell?"
I said,"what smell? I don't smell anything."
He said, "I do. It smells like chocolate."
Meanwhile I am stuffing little pieces of Take 5 into my piehole.
Still in denial, I say, "Nope. I don't smell it."
Aidan said "Yes, I do. I smell delicious chocolate. "

All About Aidan

All boy.



Seriously?
Is this something in their genes?
I mean, WTF?!

If anyone is reading this and even *thinks* for a moment that my boy is going to be gay because he is feeding a doll, I will kick your ass. He is merely practicing his parenting skills early on. He will be a great daddy someday. Boys can play with dolls.









Friday morning we had our conference w/ Aidan's teacher. We got his report card on Thursday and were pretty pleased with it...it was what I thought it would be, for the most part. No surprises. So we went over that, then we went through an assessment she gives all the kids in Oct and in Mar. We got to see a cutting sample that she has them do in Oct/Mar and then also his "me" book....he draws a picture of himself and writes his name every month. He even narrarates it.
Overall, he's doing great...socially, he's thriving. He doesn't have favorite friends and can play with boys or girls and seems well liked by all the kids. He chooses his 'center' during center time by his interests instead of by the kids who are playing there, which is awesome. He's recognizing his numbers. Basically, doing everything he should be. The only issues we have is that he can't seem to answer more abstract questions. Like if she dumps a box of blocks out and says, "how many blocks are there, Aidan?" he'll just look at them and look up and smile. Since preschool, we've had some issues w/ Aidan following directions. Its like you have to restate what you're asking, sometimes showing him what you want him to do. After seeing this show up on the eval in several different areas, we all decided that he should be evaluated by the speech therapist for a possible processing issue. He certainly doesn't have issues expressing, but it would be on the receptive end. Oh well...better to nip in the bud....we can figure this out and how to deal with it. Frankly, I think he's just like his mama....half off in la-la-land 50% of the time.

And now I leave you with the words of a wise man...

Giddiyup!

November is Prematurity Awareness Month

">

November is Prematurity Awareness Month.

Please....
Give Hope...
Watch Miracles Happen.

Every year, nearly 500,000 infants are born prematurely. That's roughly comparable to the population of Cleveland.

Preterm delivery can happen to any pregnant woman. And its happening more and more often. And in nearly half the cases, no one knows why.

The March of Dimes is taking on this devastating problem, to find out what causes it and how it can be stopped.
( from www.marchofdimes.com)


All three of mine were wanting out earlier than they were supposed to. Thanks to drugs and some wonderful doctors, Aidan stayed in. The twins managed to hang in there for 4.5 more weeks due to the same amazing doctors, awful meds, and a really uncomfortable hospital bed. They arrived on October 26th, at 30.5 weeks gestation, weighing 3lb 4ozs each.


Call your US Representative today and urge immediate action on the PREEMIE ACT.

BANDING TOGETHER! Purchase a virtual band in honor or in memory of a child who was born prematurely. Your donation will go toward life-saving research.

Good Luck, Baby Sean

We'll be thinking about you tomorrow, Baby Sean.

xoxox

aidan and the twinadoes

Ode to MOMS Club® International

Just in case anyone random out there is reading this, I would like to say this to MOMS Club_{® International}

Name Recognition

Norah drew this beautiful picture (a blue seal, or so she said) and Aidan asked me how to spell her name and I spelled it out for him. He wrote it!!!!! I am so stinkin' proud of him. He seems to be able to write out most of his letters with minimal help. KINDERGARTEN ROCKS!




Target.
God love the place. I guess we go there too much, because my kids know where it is ("Tah-get dat way!"), point out every Target we see, and every time we run out of something, I get the comment, "got to go to Tah-get and buy some more."

The Twinadoes at Turbo Three

Stats:
Norah
Height 37.5" (60%)
Weight 29.5# (36%)
BMI 18%

Elliott
Height 36" (15%)
Weight 28.5# (15%)
BMI 32%

Healthy as larks, declared Dr. Dorothy!
Elliott is having a hard time with his 3rd year of life (he needs a lifetime supply of cheese to go with his whine), but its all normal.
Potty learning? Fuhgeddaboutit. They want nothing to do with it and I have no desire to push it. Buying diapers sucks ass, but its certainly convienent. Hell, I am still dealing with changing Aidan's sheets several times a week because he is "too tired to get up and go pee pee." Nice. NOT an acceptable excuse, bud.
But I digress. We'll hang onto the dipes for a bit.

And we'll hope that the whining winds down a tad.

Birthday kiss, denied!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!

The kids had a great time trick or treating this past Saturday. Surprisingly, it was my first ToT I've spent with them (bedrest-vacation-vacation), so I've never seen just how nuts the neighborhood gets. People and libations everywhere!
Norah and Elliott got much further than I thought they would. At first, I wasn't sure they'd make it, because they were trying to go into people's houses and were dejecting certain types of candy given to them, demanding other kinds in the bowl instead. They would also sneak a handful while the treater was sticking a treat in their pumpkin. Little stinkers!
Aidan and Taylor took off running and were gone till they could get no more in their buckets. You could say they had a good time.

Lance Armstrong Jr she is not...

Houston - we've achieved biking! WOO!

Now we just need to work on the breaks....

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

left to their own devices, take II

This morning when i got home from my run, I spotted some lollypop wrappers. I asked Aidan about them and he said, "I just gave some to Peanie and Belly when daddy was in the shower."
Thanks, bud. Awesome way to start the day. Kickstart my morning by feeding your brother and sister and yourself a dose of sugar.

Maybe it was the sugar that caused them to do it? Maybe not. But an hour later, Norah and Elliott were caught red handed by Aidan, who came running and tattling to me. They were filling up the upstairs bathroom sink and it was about to runneth over. By the time I sprinted up there, Elliott had gotten the hell outta dodge and Norah was hiding in the shower.

Inheriting daddy's sweet tooth

They're into everything these days. Just yesterday, I was downstairs changing the laundry and came back up to the dining room to find that Norah and Elliott had pulled Elliott's chair over to the buffet and climbed up and gotten their hands into the thing of jellybeans.

Additionally, I was gone yesterday and daddy was outside putting the storm windows on the house and came in to discover that the kids had found the suckers that I use to bribe them. He figured Aidan ate at least 3 and Norah and Elliott 2 each. Yikes.

This morning, I was in the shower and it was way too quiet. I came out and found Norah and Elliott digging in my purse, hastily shoving their hands in their mouths. Apparently they found the open bag of PB M&Ms that were in there.

Left to their own devices, they sure can get into stuff.

Too much of a good thing

Milk party, anyone?

They crack me up. This was a much more enjoyable thing to see than to hear one of their hourly rounds of,:
Norah: "don't talk-a me!"
Elliott: "i weeeell talk-a you!"
followed by a shove to elliott from norah.

Sibling love.

Growing Up

Oh how I was so not ready for this. I hate potty humor. Hate it. I didn't think it would enter our house this early. Yet here it is, live and in the flesh, streaming loudly from my son's animated mouth. So *this* is what he's learning at school? How to substitute the words "poop" , "butt", "testicle" and "pee" into songs, rhymes, and sentences so that he (thinks he) sounds funny? This is truly something I can live without.

On the flip side, it seems like he's old enough to start using as slave labor. Is that a bad thing? He's enjoying it, really, he is. He loved talking about how only boys can paint and how boys are strong and how he needed to help paint his sister's room. While I was happy to see him excited to roll up his sleeves and pitch in, I am not quite sure how to handle the 'boy' comment. That ain't gonna fly in this household.

Out of the mouthes of babes

"Mommy, out of mouf! Yucky! Dat not food!" , said Norah to mommy when I had a chip clip in my mouth b/c my hands were full with busying myself getting her snack.

"Mommy, I just can't believe that the twins are going to be three! Can you?", said Aidan to mommy as he was going pee last night, 9/29.

They sure can crack me up sometimes.

Artist in Residence

Aidan has really blossomed when it comes to his drawing abilities. It just amazes me with the things he's been drawing lately. They're so cool!
Take for instance these two recent doodles. The first is Cinderella's carriage with a horse pulling it, and sun and clouds in the sky. The second is him riding his bike.
WOW.

Reality Bites

This morning, the kids were watching 'Little Einsteins' before school when it was interrupted by an Amber Alert. Immediately, all 3 freaked out, screaming and whining that something was wrong and that mommy needed to fix it and that they wanted their show back. I explained to Aidan that this was an emergency message alert because a little kid was stolen from their parents and needed to be found. This message was very important, because it let grown-ups know that they needed to watch out for this bad person who took the kid and if we see the kid, we need to call the police. He thought about it for awhile, and then came the barrage of questions: why would someone steal a kid? what makes people bad? what do we say when we call the police? do you call 9-1-1? what was this little kid doing? was he being naughty - is that why? ....and so on.

Later on, after school, Aidan was playing in the playroom with his pirate ship and Little People pirates. I was cleaning up lunch in the kitchen and overheard him acting out his own scene where a child (a parrot) was taken by a pirate and the other pirate was calling 9-1-1 to get the police to come and take away the 'bad guy' pirate. Wow. It gave me an icky feeling that he had to learn that so young :(

Swiper, No Swiping!

Dearest Norah,
One would assume that given that Dora the Explorer is one of your favorite shows, and that you love to say, "fiper, no fipin'" and that, on occasion, you've even accused your brother Elliott of swiping and yelled at him for it, that you would not partake in any swiping of your own. But alas, I guess that is certainly not the case.
This past Friday night, while at the Fun Fair with your daddy and brothers, you apparently wanted this little purple ball that was a door prize. When you were denied said ball, you got angry and tried again and he denied you again and a tantrum ensued. Later on, your daddy found you with the hot goods in your hand.
One could go so far as saying that you are a very persistant little girl.
But gee....maybe you should think about taking a lesson from Dora and Swiper?

Blah Blah Blah...(a big fat update)

This past Friday, Aidan started a 5 week stint of library time that goes for 30 minutes without mommy in the room. Because it goes from 1:30-2:00 (aka, naptime), two of the moms from his classroom are alternating picking him up and taking him with their daughters. When we first talked about it, he wanted to sign up for the library time. But then, as the day approached, he got quite nervous about it. He did NOT want to go without mommy.
Friday came, and I was actually gone that afternoon, but Chris said that once he came home, he was so happy and excited about it! The mom that took him had gotten him a video from the library, as well. He said, "I want to go again!" Hooray!! He's growing up!

Tonight is Parent's Night in his classroom and he chose to take his daddy (only one parent can attend, due to the classroom size). This afternoon, he's clearly excited about it, talking about how he's going to get to play with daddy in all the centers, as well as eat a snack with daddy. They're actually doing a mock-day (cramming their 2.5 hr day into 45 mins). So this will be really neat.

School is still going super well. Aidan's taken great interest in writing. Every day, he likes to get out a pencil and paper and practice his writing. We need to branch out from writing his name, though, as that is all he's writing as of now. I also notice that his drawings are maturing. He's adding 'blue sky' to his outdoor drawings and paintings and his people are becoming more round and more complex. He's also starting to copy things he sees. Like yesterday I drew an apple and a pumpkin for him to cut out, and then he drew and apple and apumpkin and did a pretty damn good job at it. Very cool.

In Norah and Elliott news, I am still amazed at how well they've done with the room split. We thought for sure that Norah would have a hard time, but nope. Not at all. When they wake up, they do ask for each other, but that's about it. Last night, Norah took some time going to sleep and it sounded like she was having a private party in her room. She was singing the A-B-C's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle, and having a conversation with herself. But not once did she get out of bed.

As much as they love each other, they love love love to fight with each other. Ugh. Today we got home after walking Aidan to school and I told them to go up to the front porch while I put the stroller in the backyard. Norah turned around and for no apparent reason, clocked Elliott in the bean with Skarloey. Elliott started bawling and I went to soothe him and turned to tell Norah to sit her little butt down when Elliott turned and charged Norah, pushing her down to the ground. I actually had to turn and giggle, because its rare that Ellie defends himself. :) Granted, he's taken to doing it more often, but he still whines and cries and runs to me more often than not.

My Littlest Shitbird

Elliott. You are such a little stinker. You have that smile that you flash that anyone can take a look at and just immediately know that you're up to something. Its also a smile that makes anyone forgive you for the trouble that you get into and the shit that you've done.

Take for instance the past two evenings and today at naptime. You're now in your big boy bed, in the new bedroom with Aidan, preferring the top bunk over the bottom (hey...whatever works!). You're so stealth. We thought that you were sleeping, but an hour later, a small noise will give it away and we'll go upstairs to discover you wide awake, playing. In the case of nighttime, both times it was with the light on and Aidan was sound alseep just inches away. And Norah was sound asleep down the hall in her big girl bed, as well.
You know you're not supposed to do it. Every day, you get into bed and say, "I stay in bed. I don't get up...dat vewy naw-nee." Yet, you still do it. Aye.

Today you tried bringing a dead worm into the house. Now that is just gross. You and your sister are just loving all the worms, dead and alive, around here lately from all the recent rains. I guess I wasn't paying attention when you picked this dead crusty up and tried bringing it in. I saw something foreign in your hand and asked you to leave the stick outside. You threw the worm out the door and dropped it in front of my feet. EW! Gross! Boys. Yuck.

Kids are so cruel!

This morning we were at school, playing on the playground as usual, as we waited for the bell to ring. Aidan, Norah, and Elliott decided they wanted to go down the 'firepole' thing and there were some older kids there.... I am not certain how old they were....maybe senior kindergarten, maybe 1st grade? Anyway, Aidan went down the pole by himself and was so proud of himself and then the twins needed my assistance and these two boys had the nerve to make fun of my kids! They said, "look at him! he can't do it right" and snickered. And when the twins did it, they said, "they can't even do it alone!" ha ha ha ha. The mama lion in me wanted to lash out and punch them in the face for making fun of my kids. But I took a deep breath and said, "hey - they're little. Don't make fun of them - that isn't nice!" and then I took my kids and walked over to another play area, mumbling under my breath, "you little f*ckers."

The Toy Store

Earlier this week, Aidan called me into the playroom, saying, "mommy, come see what I made!", with utter pride in his voice. I went in to find this.

My initial reaction was to gasp, but then I giggled. He said, "Its a toy store, mommy! What do you want to buy?" He was just so proud of himself. Never mind he emptied off 2 shelves worth of toys. Aye. Creativity, right?

Proud Moments

Sometimes my babies can make me proud and make me laugh. Like last week, when we had to run into Old Navy to get their older brother a jacket and I realized that I forgot the stroller. I explained to them that I forgot the stroller and that they needed to stay by mommy and not run away and listen to me. If they were good, they'd get a popscicle when we got home. Low and behold, they actually listened. At one point, I looked back and there was Elliott, dancing like a little white boy, to the music Old Navy was playing. He cracked me up.
Of course, they got the popscicle when we got home.



And then there are times like this....when they go from smile to tantrum in under 2.3 seconds. I haven't figured out how to curb that one yet.

My babies are growing up!!!!

My twinadoes had their first day away from mommy yesterday. Like Aidan's first day of Kindergarten, it was bittersweet.

In our town, we've got a sort of drop-in preschool type deal that we've got a membership to. Yesterday I decided to utilize it for the first time. After dropping off Aidan at school, I made sure they had room for the dynamic duo, and then hauled them on over. Once we were in the door, they immediately took off to play. I signed them in, handed over their stuff, and left to go enjoy some quality 'me' time.

2.5 hours later, I went to pick them up. I was assured that Norah cried a little when she realized I left and she went to hide in a tunnel. They sent Elliott over to hug her, and not 30 seconds later, the two of them were giggling and happy as larks!! When they saw me, I asked if they had fun, and Norah emphatically said, "YES, Mommy!" :)

That was their first time away from me, out of the house. They've been in kid care at the gym, but I am there. They've had babysitters, but they're at our house. So this was a big step for my little babies. One step closer to preschool. Its just so surreal, because it honestly seems like just yesterday they were these teeny tiny little things that were so fragile. And now, well, they are not. They're healthy, vivacious, typical little toddlers who are about to turn 3 next month!!!!!!

I need some cheese to go with all this whine, please

My boy Elliott sure loves to whine. This boy whines about anything and everything. And he doesn't need to be tired to whine. He whines if he needs a napkin. He whines if he wants a toy. He whines if he wants a snack or beverage. He whines if there is a fuzz or hair on his hand. One would speculate that it would be so much easier to instead say, "milk please!" or "napkin please!" or even, "mommy, get the hair off me!" I mean, sometimes it takes me a good 5 minutes to figure out what he's whining for. I am wondering if he secretly enjoys whining. Hrm.

Mindless Musings of a Tired Mama

As I was laying in bed with my sick Ellie this morning, Aidan was in the playroom, playing. Or so I thought. When I got up, I found that most of what had been on the shelves was now in a pile in the middle of the playroom floor. I commented on the mess and Aidan looked up at me and said, "Its not a mess, mommy. I made an accident scene."
Oh...so that is what they're calling it these days.

Bedtime with Miss Norah was a total success last night! I couldn't be more happy!!! She actually slept until 8:30 am today, which is completely unheard of! Definately her mama's girl....loves sleeping in!
I hope this is a sign of things to come. How nice would that be?
Of course, I am sure Elliott will be a total pill to go from crib to bed. Isn't that how it works?

Elliott came down with some odd virus last night....fever, shivers, puking. Yuck. This morning, he was eating a popscicle and looked at me and said, "mommy, I shaking." And yup...poor baby was totally shaking. :( So pathetic. When he talked to his grandma on the phone, he made sure he mentioned that he puked in mommy's bed and that he just ate a green popscicle. Whether or not she understood him, is another story.

They all keep me on my toes. I wonder if there will ever be a day of boredom?

one giant step for a little girl!!

Tonight after books were read, I went to put Norah in her crib and she said, "no! I go big girl bed, mommy!" I explained to her that if I put her in her big girl bed, she had to stay in there and if she got up, she'd go in her crib. Well low and behold....Miss Princess went right to sleep!!!!

Holy shit!

We've made it through the week!

Morning #2... yeah....that didn't go quite as smoothly. He was equally excited to go to school, however, I neglected to tell him that I would not be allowed to go into the classroom with him and would be saying my goodbye on the playground. Oh yeah...that went over as well as ketchup on a white shirt. The teacher ended up dragging him and another equally distressed boy by the hands into the school.
Apparently he wasn't scarred by it. When I picked him up, he was all smiles again.

Morning #3 was fabulous. Aidan got in line, gave me hugs and kisses, and waved goodbye with a big smile. Crud - I almost cried. He's officially a big boy now.

Funny thing, though. Every day when I pick him up and ask about his day, the first thing he tells me about is the snack they had. Odd kid.

Tomorrow is the end of the school week. Wow. That flew by. And already we're being bombarded with PTA stuff, fundraising crap, book orders, etc. Its a whole new world....

Off to school...

What a bittersweet day it was. In some ways, I feel like I've been looking forward to this day for 3 years now. And in other ways, it feels like this day has snuck up on me too quickly. Where has my baby gone? It seriously seems like just yesterday that Aidan was this little stubborn bundle in my arms, making his "eh eh" noises and thrashing his head around. This is the little dude who slept with us for years on end because he didn't want to leave our sides. This is the little man who cried when I took him to preschool every morning, and chased me down the hallway, unless his teacher was holding him.

Boy have times changed.


Aidan was so excited for his first day of kindergarten. He practically ran to school. Watching him walk to his classroom in his class line....wow. That is my 4.5 year old. He hung up his backpack and went and sat down on the carpet with the rest of the kids. I hugged and kissed him and he didn't shed a single tear. I left.

I can't believe it. I really can't!!
When we picked him up later, he said he had a fun day. He talked about the popcorn snack, about the book they read (something about animals and underwear), and said that they played. We let him pick where he wanted to go to lunch as a treat, as well (even though daddy tried to sway him to mexican. Aidan had his mind made up! )

Tomorrow: day 2. I still can't believe it.
Oh well....at least he still crawls into our bed in the morning to snuggle. I still have that. :)

Her mommy's daughter; his daddy's son...

We set up Miss Norah's big girl bed this weekend. Once the cool new bedding was on it, I called Norah in to show it to her and her reaction? "No, dat not Norah bed. DAT [pointing to her crib] Norah bed!" Uh oh.
Yep - she's her mama's girl. She's strong willed, stubborn, and feisty. She is *not* a morning person. She wakes up and needs time to acclimate herself to the world before she comes out of her crib. If you go get her prematurely, hell hath no fury like Norah.
Norah loves her fruit and could likely live on fruit and the occasionally piece of chocolate. She shuns all meat.
Her mama's girl? You betcha!

And Aidan....he may look like his mama and her family, but he's his daddy's boy through and through. He's a morning person...up early, in a good mood, and ready to play. He loooooves carbs. If I gave him a warm baguette loaf, I would venture to guess he'd eat the whole thing. And watch out! If this boy naps, there is nothing more ornery than Aidan (or his father) when they wake up. Its best to stay at bay for a good 30 minutes post-nap. They are real grumpalumpaguses.

All About Elliott

At the dinner table yesterday, Elliott was studying the school bus cookie he was eating, prior to taking each bite. He's very serious about about his sweets like this. He does not eff around when it comes to eating things like ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, and popscicles. Every bite must be studied and examined before sinking the chompers in.
Anyway, as I was saying, he was eating said cookie daddy brought home for him and he said, "where'd da wheels go?" we both said we didn't know and he looked at and said, "in my tummy!" and laughed.

Today, I was asking the kids about their impending trip to the zoo with their daddy. We were talking about what animals they were going to see. When we got to the penguins, Norah said that they "waddle waddle" and Elliott exclaimed, "they bite me!" I said, "no they don't, you goofball!" and he emphatically declared, "yes, vey do!"

Oh - he is on a kick. Everyone bites him right now. ( *insert a big rolling eye face* )