Little Darlings

The little darlings are enjoying a great summer in spite of all the rain! We have been taking them out after dinner since they go to bed a little later these days (part age, part we are on summer vacation). There have been many trips to the Marble Slab, an ice cream place that we love. The girls' favourite is cotton candy (because it's pink, they had no problem with strawberry when they were out of cotton candy). Maddie loves it with sprinkles and Emma loves it with marshmallows, which she calls little pillows. She likes to find them as they are hidden in the ice cream. When she does find one she calls it her treasure, and then eats it. We also go to the park if it's not raining (those of you in the area know that it has been a wet and cold July). They are expert climbers now and I am comfortable not being right behind them while they climb the various aparatus'. Emma still loves the swing and often congratulates me when I push her high like dad (but she still requests dad to push as he is "stronger.") Maddie hates the swing but insists on going in it sometimes. She is ok but you can't push her, she just sort of sits in it. The other day she said "ok mama, you push me but not bigger like Emma." I pushed her maybe an inch and she said "dats enough, no bigger."! They both like to run around the perimeter on the stones and say they are doing their exercises like mama (note: I do not do aforementioned exercises, I stopped running around stones at 30. lol I do run though and they watch me do exercise dvd's that is how they learned what exercises are)!

Bedtime is one big stall fest. We have an agreement that I read 2 books and I tell them 2 princess stories. They always request Sleeping Beauty and I am very animated when I tell it. I fall to the floor when Sleeping Beauty brings her finger etc and now Emma has orchestrated that John be Prince Philip, and he has to kiss me. So he gets on top of me (at least he is getting some action) and then Emma and Maddie climb on him. Yes, good times. After the princess stories, John reads a book and I read a book. I used to read both but one night John offered to read. The girls were not used to seeing him read and after he finished the story Emma said "good job dad, you did it!" I guess they thought he was illiterate up until that point! After that we finally get them tucked in and then we have to count the stones (stickers on their wall) then another kiss and another hug. The whole process takes about a half hour. So much for plopping them into bed when they were babies! I like this much more though! The odd time they get up in the night to pee, but they can do this by themselves (I will stand there with them, but they get on the potty themselves, wipe themselves and get off the potty etc).

They come into our room in the morning usually around 7. John and I actually admitted that we love this and look forward to seeing their little heads pop up at the bed. They are very good about waiting until 8 (mummy doesn't get up before 8 in the summer). So they will watch tv or they will cuddle with us. Maddie will say "mummy, it too early?" and I will say yes it is and Emma will say "it not 8 yet?" and I will say "no, not yet" and then they are quite for another few minutes. Emma is still such a cuddler. Maddie asks us to cuddle with her but then when we go to do it she doesn't really want it. The odd time she will. She does like to be close by holding my hand and she will often put my arm over her.

Last night we had a big scare. At 5 Emma called me to go pee (which is weird as she will usually come into our room). I went in and when I went to put her on the potty she started wailing and convulsing. We were on our way to the emergency room when John realized it was her neck and indeed she had pulled a neck muscle. I gave her some tylenol and we all piled into our big bed (Maddie was up too and very worried about her sister). Emma went back to sleep until about 8:30. Actually, everyone went back to sleep except for me as I lay there making sure Emma was still breathing. When she woke up she said she felt better, but when she went to get up you could see she was still in pain. I called Telehealth on the advice of my dad, and they told me how to help her. She is much better now thank goodness!

It was my dad's birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday again dad) and the girls were super excited about it (they even said today "it grandpa's happy birthday? We have cake?"). They went into daycare yesterday squealing that is was their grandpa's happy birthday. Emma said "I love grandpa, I miss him." I said we would soon be going to Ottawa to help celebrate grandpa's happy birthday and we will see grandma to. They were super excited about that and Maddie said "we see grandpa and grandma? dat so great!"

When we buy the girls things (which we try not to do that often, we want them to appreciate things not expect them) Maddie is so grateful and cute. I bought them shoes the other day, cute sandals with flowers on them. They needed new sandals for the summer (although with this weather I should have bought them another set of rubber rain boots). When I gave the girls their shoes Maddie said "oh my goodness mummy, you got these for me? I love dem, I love dem so much, dey my favourite! Thank you mummy, thank you!"

As for this stage and phase of their life I really can't complain about much. They are wonderful sweet kids and people have commented a few times on how polite they are (thanks Auntie Julie). They have their moments of course, but that is usually when they have gone without a nap. Emma is very reasonable but can be demanding about doing everything herself and seeing what is going on (as in when I am cooking, she wants to stir, pour, crack the egg etc). I let her do as much as I can, but there are some things she can't do for safety reasons. That's usually when she will have a small and short fit. Maddie is pretty easygoing these days. When she doesn't get her way she still throws her soother (got to get them off these soon) and sometimes she will let out these noises of discontent (I can't even begin to describe it, it's almost like a short scream or something). They are very obedient when we go out to the mall. They listen and they don't run too far ahead. If they do John and I yell "red light" and they stop right away until we catch up. It helps as well that we tell them in advance what they can and can't have. So we will tell them "you can choose one treat, popcorn or ice cream. Deal?" for example. Or we tell them "we are going to the mall but just to walk around, no one is buying anything. Deal?" And they respond deal. So when we get there and they start asking, I usually just need to say "remember the deal?" They are still easily distracted by things, so if they don't accept this (and they usually do thankfully) we bring them over to the elevator or escalator which they love, and all is forgotten!

They are growing up so fast. A friend of mine saw a recent picture of Emma and she said "oh my goodness, she is all little girl, no baby or toddler in her anymore." My response? WAH! sob, sob, sob. Time to have another. KIDDING! I love them at this age because that is who they are.