Fun day at the water park

I must have been feeling brave today because I took the girls to the splash park by myself. Yes, by myself. For those of you who don't know what a splash park is, it is a regular park with climbing equipment, slides, swings etc and then in another section of the park are water spouts that spray out in the summer for kids (and parents) to cool off in. John and I took the girls yesterday and had a blast, and since I was home with them today, I figured it'd be fun to do again. Let me just say it was a LOT of work! I drove to the park and then I took Emma out of her carseat and changed her into her Little Swimmers diapers (more on those in a minute) and into her swimsuit. I then slathered sunscreen on her as she proceeded to play with every button and gadget in the front seat of the car (more on that later). I stuck her by my foot (she has to hold onto my leg so I know she is there) and did the same with Maddie. Changed her out of her clothes, into her diapers, into her swimsuit, sunscreen etc. We walked over and neither one wanted anything to do with the water part of it. Ok fine, so of course Emma wanted to swing and Maddie wanted to climb and slide. I pushed Emma (not as high as John does it, she told me daddy does it higher - argh) and then I would run over in between pushes to check on Maddie. Maddie was about to go down the slide when she said "uh oh mummy, pee pee." Sure enough I saw the pee trickle down her leg and down the slide. I'm thinking "what the heck is the point of these diapers?" when I found out later from John, that the Little Swimmers are made to catch poo only, not pee. Makes sense since if they caught liquid, the diapers would balloon when the kids got in the water. Lesson learned. I run over to Emma for her push and she says "why I wet?" Yep, the twins were peeing at the same time, so Emma had pee running down her leg and on the swing. I said "let's go in the splash park girls" and off we went to "wash" off the pee pee. Madison spent most of the time beside a 4-month-old cocker spaniel, petting it and giggling and Emma was quite brave running through the water. She would even stand over the hole and then it would spray right up at her at different intervals and she would run squealing and laughing towards me. After the water part they went back to the climbing part and Emma made friends with a couple of 7-year-olds. They had set up a fake ice cream shop and said that no one else was allowed except the babies (meaning Emma and Madison) because they don't understand anything they are saying. I chuckled to myself but left it to watch and see what would happen. So the older girls would say "what do you want, chocolate chip, vanilla or maple ice cream" and the look on her face was priceless when Emma said "I want chocolate chip!" It was actually really fun to watch the girls play pretend with these older kids. They were really into it and they knew it was pretend. When it was time to leave Maddie decided she didn't want to and she ran to the climber, climbed right to the top and smartly positioned herself in a spot where she knew I couldn't get to her. Now at this point Emma is crashing, so I am carrying her, a backpack full of stuff, wet towels, juice and two sets of sandals (not sure how I managed to carry all of this) and I said to Maddie "we are leaving now, if you don't come we will not go to the park again." She gave me the death stare that she has been giving me lately and then she started to gather spit in her mouth, another thing she does when starting a tantrum. Finally she blinks her eyes over and over really quickly, almost like she is hoping if she does this I will be gone when she opens her eyes. I ended up having to grab her off and over my shoulder, but by the time we got to the car she was over it. I turned the car on to the blast of the radio (I told you Emma was playing in the front) and the wipers going. Sigh. We finally made it home and they napped for over 2 hours!

When they got up from their nap we played some games and Emma decided that she would be a kitty cat. She crawled around on all fours meowing, and asking Maddie and I to pet her. She even wanted a bowl to drink her kitty cat "milk" out of. Hilarious. Maddie just laughed at her and then she decided she would be a dog. So I had a meowing Emma and a barking Maddie, as if my house wasn't loud enough! Good times!

I guess kids are resilient...

We had a great day at the zoo today. Maddie and Emma loved all the animals and ran around for over 2 hours. They saw an elephant go "pee pee" and it looked like a shower! Maddie laughed at that and at the "monkeys" (as she called them) and their funny "coloured bum bums!" We got home and I was carrying Emma into the house through the garage. She wanted to push the garage door opener, and she started sticking her foot out at it. I told her she can push it with her hand, as she always does. She dove right out of my arms and fell onto the step head first. John was holding Maddie but he managed to sort of break her fall, as did I as I tried to stick my foot out so she would hit that and not the wooden step. Anyway, she was obviously hurt but not bleeding. I was shaking and thinking about calling 911, but when we got inside she was ok, if a little shaken. She said "I hurt, I fell down stairs." I said "please don't jump out of mummy's arms like that again, ok?" and she said "ok mama, don't like hurt." When I brought her up later for bed, she was clutching onto me for dear life. She was fine after the fall, but we were both shaken up. Madison was very loving, and came over to see if Emma was ok.

Yesterday we went to get groceries. John took Maddie in a cart and I took Emma. There was an older gentleman in one of the aisles and Emma said "I Emma, what's your name?" and he came over to her and shook her hand and said "Hi Emma, I'm Grampy." She said "no, you not my gampa" and started to laugh. He said "That's right, I'm not your grandpa but I am someone's grandpa" and she said (a little louder) "you not my gampa!" It was very funny and cute.

Our Trip to Wonderland!

Today we went to Wonderland with Frank and Sandy. The girls had a blast! They kept calling the roller coaster's choo-choo trains and they wanted to go on the trains. When the roller coaster went down the hill and everyone wa screaming the girls would say "wow!" and get very excited! It was all we could do to get them to the kiddie place as they kept wanting to go on every ride we walked past (none of which they could go on). We finally got to the kid zone and they went on the swans, the train and the carousel. They loved them and they were very good waiting in line. We didn't bring the stroller (it was in the van though just in case) as they like to walk everywhere these days. But Emma wanted me to hold her for a lot of the day because I think she was overwhelmed by the crowds. She is funny that way - sometimes she is great with big crowds and other times she sticks very close to me. On the way home they were both completely zonked but they had a great day.

Sibling Rivalry, field trips and popcorn!

This morning as I was bringing the girls downstairs after they woke up, Emma put her hand against Maddie's face and said "no, don't like Maddie. My mummy." I said "you love Maddie, she is your twin sister, you just don't want to share mummy." She sort of grumbled but I know she understood. Julie took the girls on a "field trip" today. They took the bus and the subway. Julie said the girls were the best behaved kids she has ever had on one of these trips. They loved the bus and subway and they talked to everyone. One man said "hi there" and Emma said "Hi, I Emma." He asked "are you going to school?" and she said "no, I on school BUS." Cute. The bus driver honked for them and stuck his head out the window to wave bye as they got off. They clutched their transfers and Madison did not want to get off the bus. Julie said it was a great trip.

Las night we had corn on the cob at dinner. We gave them half a cob each. I started to cut the corn off the cob for them and Emma said "no mama, want big corn." She did really well biting it off the cob. Madison needed hers cut, her mouth is a bit smaller, and she kept calling it popcorn! She said "yummy popcorn, more popcorn mama?" Too funny!

We are supposed to go to Wonderland tomorrow for a special Hewlett-Packard sponsored event (cheaper tickets) but it's supposed to rain (thunder and lightning) so we may have to do something indoors. I am looking forward to being finished school (one more week and then I do my happy dance) so I can spend a great summer with my two favourite little girls!

Maddie peed in the potty! Yay Yay Yay!

Hello everyone, it has been very busy at our house. I have been working on report cards, my course and well, just being a mum. Monday Julie told me that Madison peed in the potty! Julie potty trains the girls. She just recently started and at first Emma seemed more receptive. Madison doesn't like wearing underwear, she prefers her diaper, so we all assumed she wouldn't be the first to go in the toilet. On Monday she said "Julie, I go pee pee." Julie said "do you need to go or did you already go?" Maddie said "I need go." So she put her on the potty and nothing happened. She said Maddie just sat and grinned at her. Then all of a sudden Maddie said "Auntie Joolie, it coming, it coming!" She was apparently very excited about the fact that her pee pee was coming out, and she did it! Yay Maddie! I asked her today if she was excited to go to Auntie Julie's tomorrow (we were home today) so she can use the potty and she grinned at me and said "yes!" I said "do you like using the potty like a big girl?" and she said "yes, Maddie big girl, go potty!" So cute! My girlies are growing up!

We went to the petting zoo on the weekend for Father's Day, and without being prompted Emma said "I go feed the llama carrots?" She was pointing to the donkey, but there are llamas at this zoo and I was amazed she remembered. I pointed out the actual llama, who had a baby llama beside her. I explained that the mummy was sitting with her baby llama and Emma said "so cute, like my mummy with me, baby Emma." Yes, that's exactly it!

Mummy, don't quit your day job!

Emma has become a talking machine. Yesterday we were playing with the neighbours dog and Emma and Madison were able to pet him. We then went in for dinner (John was inside getting it ready) and John asked them what they had done outside. Emma said "I touch doggie, he tickled my hand like baby duckies. No bite." Wow. We were duly impressed! This morning we passed a motorcycle and she said "look everybody, bicycle, just like daddy's!" Today, after bottles, I was putting toothpaste on their toothbrushes. I like to sing the Raffi toothbrush song, you know, the one that goes "when you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to one and you want to have a little fun, you brush your teeth, ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch etc." I was singing away and Emma said "Mummy, stop singing about teef, ok?" Fine, I won't quite my day job to become the next Canadian Idol!

Madison is a lot more chatty as well. Today at daycare she said "I like chicken but no rice." She is also really showing her independence! On the way home from daycare they get a snack to tide them over until dinner. I gave her two crackers which she loves. After she said "more cracker pease." I said "no, no more snacks, we are having dinner soon." She spent the next 20 minutes (the entire car ride home) yelling "more cracker NOW!" I ignored her and eventually she stopped, but boy was it annoying!

What a mouthful!

Those who have been around Emma may have first-hand experience in how chatty she can be. She is quite a talker, and at 2 her doctor said she has the vocabulary of an almost 3-year-old. As I was looking through my baby book last week, I read that at 14-months, my vocabulary list was pretty extensive as well, so she gets her gabbiness from moi! So John and I have been pretty impressed when lately she has said "mummy, what are you doing?" when I am out of her line of vision. Imagine our total surprise when today she said "I want sit down on couch now please." Holly Hannah! John looked at me and said "did you hear that?" I closed my mouth that was hanging on the floor and said "yeah, did we hear right?" She asked again, so yes, we heard right. That is by far the longest sentence she has ever said. And not only does she say long sentences, but she speaks so clearly too. Maddie is catching up with her vocabulary. She cuts off the first letter of every word. If you ask her what her name is she says "Addison." When she is calling Matt, Sue's boyfriend, she says "At." She can pronounce "m's" as she says Mummy clearly, but sometimes she decides to leave off that first letter. Her speech is a lot more choppy than Emma's, but she is starting to get more of a flow.

Today was their last day at the daycare in my school. Julie is back so they will be going there on Monday. After school I took the girls upstairs to my friend Barb's classroom. She teaches grade 2 and she has baby chicks in her room that hatched just yesterday. The girls ran over to the chicks and said "duckies! Dey cute!" They pet them and then Maddie wanted to hold one. She loves animals and she is so gentle, so she held her two hands out together and Barb put the chick in her hand. She giggled and said "tickles." Emma wanted to hold one as well and she said the same thing. They were so gentle and so interested in the little chicks it was very cute. We got some pictures of them so I will try and post them once I figure out how to do that! Barb also has caterpillars in a terrarium in her room and the girls waved and said hi to the caterpillar. When John got home they told him that they held the baby duckies on own! lol If the weather is nice we will take them to the petting zoo this weekend. They love it there!