The haircut

I think it's a right of passage for girls to cut their own hair, or to cut their friends' hair. I cut my best friend Jasmine's hair in grade 7, and I think she returned the favour shortly after. I did not, however, expect it to happen so soon in my own daughter's lives! I picked the girls up from daycare the other day. It was an ordinary day until I stepped inside the house and Megan, Zoe's mum (Zoe is the almost-5-year-old who Julie also takes care of when she is not in kindergarten class) said to me "oh, I was hoping to make my escape before you got here." She said it with a smile and I sort of chuckled and asked why, to which she responded "um, well, it seems my daughter decided to give your daughter a haircut." At this point Emma came running around the corner and all I could see was wet hair up in a cute ponytail. "Oh" I said, "she wet it and everything." To which Megan responded "um, that's not water, that's vaseline." Yes, that's right. Zoe cut Emma's bangs and then proceeded to put "goop" in her hair. Her hair was covered in Vaseline. Nice! Her bangs were totally mangled and her hair looked ridiculous, and of course, I thought it was hilarious! John and I took pictures that we will pull out later to fully embarass her, of course! lol Megan was quite worried that I would be upset, but I assured her I wasn't! It's one of those stories that are worth telling and remembering! But I did tell Emma that next time Zoe offers to cut her hair she is to say "no thank you!"

I had to stay at work last night as it was parent-teacher interviews so John picked the girls up from daycare. I really miss them when I don't see them for a long time, so I called them from the school around supper time. John said "girls, there's someone special on the phone for you." Emma got on first and said "hello?" and I said "Hi Emma!" and she let out the cutest squeal of delight and said "are you mummy?" "Yes, I'm mummy. Are you Emma?" "yes, I Emma, I Emma!" Then Maddie got on and she has such a soft voice and I could barely hear her. So I said "Hi Maddie, can you talk louder for me?" and then she yelled "Hi mummy, hi mummy, it's mummy! Daddy, it's mummy on phone" etc etc. So sweet and it's so nice to get such a reaction from them. They were in bed when I got home and it was all I could do to convince myself I shouldn't wake them up to give them big kisses! When I got them this morning they were very excited to see me and I covered them with kisses! After dropping them at daycare when I was about to leave they said "you come here and take us home?" "Yes, I'll pick you up tonight!" I can't wait!

Getting in the holiday spirit

On the weekend we took the girls to the mall to sit with Santa. Maddie didn't want anything to do with him and has since told us many times that she is scared of Santa. Emma was thrilled and excited to go and sit on Santa's knee. When Santa said "and what does Emma want for Christmas?" Emma said "I dunno, what should I get?" and Santa looked at me and said "um, does Emma like Dora? Princesses? Barbies?" to which Emma responded "yes, all of dem." It was so cute. The next day I took Maddie and Emma back to the mall before it opens as I like to give them a chance to run around when it's cold outside, and they open their indoor play gym, which is great. We walked around and the girls noticed that Santa's chair and decorations were still there but no Santa. So I explained that Santa was sleeping at the North Pole. Just before leaving the mall we went to look one last time, and there was another little girl there with her mum. Emma overheard the girl ask where Santa was and Emma replied "he seeping at the North Hole." Yep, the North Hole! So funny, the other mum and I were laughing.

Although Madison is scared of Santa, she loves all of the Christmas decorations she sees. Auntie Julie put hers up and today and when we got to her house she went to every single one to check them out. She loves Frosty and the mini Christmas trees. I am going to get some decorations for our house this week and we will be putting the decorations and the tree up this weekend. I think the girls will really enjoy doing that. Last year they knew that Santa says "ho ho ho" and they sort of got that he brings presents, but this year they really get it. It will make for a great holiday season!

My Princesses

Those of you who know the girls will already know that they are obsessed with Princesses. They have all the princess paraphanelia and then some. They go to daycare in full Princess regalia etc. So they are bound to want to read books about Princesses. We have a few, and Emma loves one in particular as it has a wand that accompanies it and it makes music when you wave the wand over certain pictures. So last night we were reading the book together (Maddie was only somewhat interested at the beginning) and we got to the page where Princess Jasmine is in the cave of wonders looking for the genie. Emma said "I find genie for her. Mama, can I go in der wif her?" So cute! I explained "no Emsy, the book is a pretend story that we read, we can't jump into books we can enjoy reading them and we can think about them but we can't go into the books. Do you understand?" To which she responded "no"! I don't blame her, that's a pretty complicated concept. Although I think she understood it, she just didn't like my answer.

Once a month or so I treat the girls to a small toy at the Superstore when we are finished grocery shopping. I guide their choices so they don't choose inappropriate or super expensive things. When it came time to choose, Emma chose a Princess purse that came with a fake lipstick, brush, comb etc and Maddie chose a ballerina barbie doll. They coveted these toys and Maddie repeated all day "oh, sank u mummy, sank u, I love it, I love it a lot!" I was nervous that they had different toys as I assumed they would fight over things but they didn't. Each played with their own toy quite peacefully. Emma asked a few times for her own barbie doll but when I explained that she chose the Princess stuff she was fine with that. They both wanted to bring their new things to bed but John and I said no and there was a bit of a fuss but not much. We told them they can put it in a safe place of their choice and they can have them first thing in the morning. So they put them on the pillow we use when we change them in the morning. The next day when they saw them they were just as excited. They definately made the right choice in toy!

Halloween was a huge success

The girls had a great first trick-or-treating experience. We practised before, and when it was time for the real thing, they went and knocked on their first door. They shouted trick or treat well before the home owner was anywhere near the door, and when he did open the door, they marched right into the house. It was our next door neighbour and he thought it was pretty funny. So we had another tutorial after that and explained that they should wait until they see someone before yelling trick or treat and that they should wait on the doorstep. They did pretty well for the rest of the night. They caused quite a spectacle at some houses, with the "oh my goodness would you look at these two, I have never seen anything cuter." Much to John's and my delight! One lady even went in to get her mom to take a look at the twins. The neighbourhood really went all out. One house had a smoke machine, most houses had these enormous balloon-type blow-ups of ghosts, spiders and pumpkins. Another house even had a witch and a ghost on a pulley system. Most of the time the girls were fine going up by themselves (well, together) while John, Daniel and I waited at the end of the driveway, but a few times they needed extra support. Emma was quiet afraid of one kid's costume as it had a face mask and she couldn't see that it was just a child (probably around 7-8 judging by height) under it. But neither twin woke up with nightmares that night so all was good. They got a ton of candy. So much that I gave half to Sue and I brought the other half into work for the vultures I mean teachers to enjoy. I didn't want it in the house as I don't want to give into the girls' demands for a treat. I kept a few in the cupboard for their once in awhile treats. The next morning they asked "where candy?" and I explained that Halloween was over so the candy was gone. They accepted this answer (they won't for much longer) and that was that.

Yesterday when I went to pick the girls up from daycare Maddie was still asleep on the couch. I told Emma to go and wake her up gently. I didn't coach her at all, and she was so sweet. She went over to her and took her hand, touched her forehead and very softly whispered "Maddie, time to wake up." When Maddie woke up Emma gave her a big kiss. This is exactly how I wake the girls up (the odd time I have to) so it was cute to see Emma mimic me. Maddie was not so receptive and doesn't like being woken up (who does) so she yelled "leave me alone" and hurt Emma's feelings. Oh well! Julie says that they are quite sweet to each other at daycare but then they can turn on a dime and one is chasing/pushing/screaming at the other seconds later. Ah, the joy of sibling rivalry!