Memorable Moments

John's birthday was yesterday, and try as I might, the girls wouldn't say happy birthday on demand (and why should they)! But today, Emma actually sang "happy birthday" to him. Add that to her calling him John yesterday and you have some pretty memorable momments! I am always amazed at what they learn at daycare. They had a birthday party last week (one of the other kids turned 3) and they all sang happy birthday together. I love how much they learn and Julie, who takes care of them is amazing. She actually told me today that she would like a younger child to take care of as well as the girls next year, because she thinks it will help them learn to share, and to have a younger person to look after. Especially Madison, because she is very maternal and she loves to take care of her dolls. She is very gently with babies - she touches the top of their heads with such care and she will put their soosies (soothers) in if they need it. One of the other kids will be in school full time, so she has an opening, and she is looking for someone that will benefit my girls the most. She truly loves them (don't we all)!

What I am struggling with these days is getting them into their carseats. They have both discovered the van has a little hook that pulls out above their windows, you know the one that we would hang our dry cleaning from. So before they will go in their carseats, they say "I reach it. I reach it." This means they pull it out and push it in. Sometimes the old "ok girls, two times and then sit down" warning works. Other times, I am practically sitting on them to get them in their seats while they scream! Madison's tantrums are fierce these days, just fierce. Emma is a much better sport about it and you can usually make her laugh before the tantrum takes off. Knowing it's only a phase makes it a bit easier.

After dinner tonight John and the girls were playing in the Princess castle. I was cleaning up in the kitchen and all of a sudden I heard this booming voice saying "SIT DOWN NOW!" I figured someone was talking to John and then I heard it again. I looked up and there was Emma, standing a few feet away staring at me, pointing to the Princess castle and yelling "SIT DOWN NOW MUM!" Maddie chimed right in saying "Mummy, SIT DOWN!" They definately know what they want! I finished what I was doing and climed into the Princess castle. I tickled them as they giggled, they showed me their babies (their dolls) and Emma said "hug baby, baby cute." So I hugged the baby and Madison tickled Emma and Emma tickled Maddie. I had a whole bunch of things that I had to get done, but nothing would take me from that moment with them. They are growing up so fast and I need to hang on to these special times with them and enjoy every second.

Daddy's Girl/The Twin Phenomenon

What I constantly find amazing about having twins, is how often their personalities switch. People always ask me who the "good" one is and who the "troublemaker" is and to be honest, that answer can change by the minute. Some of you know that in Emma's first few months she was quite colicky and needed a lot of attention. Madison was very laid back and independent from an early age. I spent a lot of time soothing Emma, leaving Maddie time to bond with John. It seems like Emma just gravitated towards me and Madison to John. These days, while Emma is still very cuddly and affectionate towards me, her and John are new best buds. They are always laughing together, playing, they lay on the floor today just talking. Emma hears the garage door opening and she squeals "daddy home" and runs to the door where she is standing waiting for him as soon as he opens it. Maddie, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with him and sometimes runs the other way when he goes near her. He is taking it in stride, and he knows it is just a phase, but I know it breaks his heart. I try to reassure him that it will change on a dime again, after all, girls adore their dads (I adore mine)!

Another thing people who have twins always tell me is that they have their own language. I am just starting to witness this as well. The two of them will be playing together and when I stop to listen, they are having a full blown conversation with each other. Most of the words I can't make out (and these days, I do know what they are saying 98% of the time, so this must be the twin language they are making up). Emma will say something, then pause, and Madison responds, and then back and forth for quite some time. It is an actual conversation and I find it fascinating to listen to and watch them interact. They may hit, fight, push and scream at each other one minute, but the next they are playing happily together: best friends forever.

It's Not Easy Being Green...or red, or orange, or anything but Blue!

Well some of you may already know about the big bottle connundrum. We had to switch to BPA-free bottles for the health of our beloved girls. Emma did not like the change, Maddie was fine with the switch. We got Emma some different bottles, that are similar to her old ones that she will use until we get the Born-Free glass bottles. Anyway, the BPA-free ones that Maddie uses are all different colours. Right away she took to the blue bottle. We have 3 blue out of 9 bottles. I tried to give Mads a different colour, but she stared at me and said "no, want boo baba" (I want the blue bottle). Ok fine. So, this morning, when we gave them their bottles, Emma pushed the bottle away and said "don't want orange, want boo." To which I replied "well Emma, that isn't orange, that is green. Do you want the green one?" "No, want boo baba." Of course, because milk tastes different n the blue bottle than any other. After switching to the blue bottle, she drank all of her milk. When I dropped them off at daycare, Maddie ran in and then ran right back when she realized she forgot to give me a kiss goodbye. Emma said "bye mum, have a good weekend."! Don't I wish, but it's only Wednesday! Julie, their daycare provider says that Emma is talking like a 3-year-old! She does have a pretty extensive vocabulary at this age and boy does she like to talk (just like her mummy)!

When John came home I went upstairs to change out of my work clothes and all I could hear was a high-pitched scream of "MINE" followed by John's voice saying "Madison, give it back to your sister, no hitting," Yeesh, those two can fight. Minutes later they were hugging each other and giving each other a kiss. Madison has definately been exerting herself and wanting more independence. She has had a couple of ridiculous tantrums, the likes of which John and I have never seen from her before. Sure, she had tantrums, but not like these ones. It's really hard not to laugh because she gets so mad. We ignore her and eventually she calms down. Oddly enough, Emma just sort of stares at her. I think she is a little scared herself!

Dinner tonight was supposed to be burritos. I asked the girls if they want a special sandwich for dinner and Madison said "no want sammich, want noodle." So we had noodles. At least she is eating! After that they at an entire container of raspberries (which they called strawberries). Then they played for a bit. At 6:30 Madison grabbed her books, and Emma put a pillow down on the floor and lay down. I asked if they were ready for night-night and they didn't say no, so off to bed they went. Now I am off to make sure the blue bottles are ready for tomorrow.

Family Weekend

It's been a great weekend so far (and it's a long one thanks to Family Day)! Grandma and Grandpa are here (otherwise known as gamma and gampa). The girls took to them right away as soon as they walked through the door. Normally it takes them longer to warm up to them, despite us showing them pictures and talking up the visit. Maddie has been especially attached to my dad, which was really nice. When he went to have a shower this morning, she threw a fit on the floor because "gampa gone!" I tried to explain that he would be right back, but she wasn't hearing it. She flailed around kicking the wall and screaming.

Later that afternoon, we all had fun dancing in the kitchen. The girls love music and they love to dance. Then they played tickle with grandma, grandpa and the Happy Feet penguins. They girls sqealed and laughed as dad and Anna pretended to be tickled by the penguins.

We had Kaitlyn, Jenn and Jeff over for dinner, and all three girls were playing a jumping game on the princess bed which dad was actively participating in. He would try to leave the room and all three of them would yell "come, gampa, jump!" There was no escaping the call of three toddlers. They can be pretty convincing! By 9:30 grandma and grandpa, especially, were exhausted after a fun day with the girlies!

Ice (cream) capades!

The girls love their ice cream (they take after their dad here). John likes to give them a treat once in awhile and let them have mini ice cream cones. The deal is, they have to be sitting in their booster seats (with trays) to minimize the mess. So, tonight after dinner, the girls were set up in their chairs, happily eating ice cream cones. John and I were able to clean up after dinner and do a few chores. After a few minutes, John goes over to see what they are doing, and below is the conversation he and Emma had:

John: "Emma, are you finished your ice cream cone?"

Emma: "No."

John: "Well then where is it?"

Emma: "I throwed it there".

John: "You throwed it where"?

Emma (in a slightly exasperated dad-don't-you-know-already tone): "Down there" (pointing to the floor).

John looks down to see the ice cream cone top-side down on the hardwood floor.

John: "Why did you throw it on the floor"?

Emma : "'cause".

John: 'Cause why?

Emma (again with the exasperated tone): "cause I don't want it".

Fair enough! He then cleans her up and takes her out of her seat. On to Madison and here is that conversation:

John: "Madison, are you finished your ice cream"?

Madison stares at him and shakes her head.

John: "Then you need to eat it or it will melt. Here, the ice cream part is near the bottom of the cone".

Madison starts to smack herself in the head, which is sometimes what she does before a tantrum.

John: "Madison, you do not hit yourself." So Madison takes her ice cream cone and whacks John on the side of the head with it! That got her in time out, because as John told her "we do not hit people or ourselves with ice cream."

Fair enough!

Like Mother Like Daughters

Today was a great day with the girls. It started at 7:00 and we came downstairs for our bottles. After bottles we hung out on the couch and Emma still seemed like she hadn't quite woken up. She lay on the couch, on her tummy, with her hands tucked under her (straight down under her body). Those of you who know me, know this is how I sleep. Madison also picked up one of my habits. She sleeps with the rubber part of her cloth book right on her face. I sleep, I mean, I slept (wink wink) with my stuffed dog's ear on my face. Must be in the genes. Emma was particularly cuddly today. At one point she didn't want me to put her down for even a second, and I said "who's a silly goose, is Emma a silly goose?" and she said "no, Emma no goosey. Maddie goosey." Maddie just grinned! We headed to Toys R Us to pick up some new BPA-free bottles. One of the employees who was helping us said "bye honey" as we left the section and Emma replied "bye honey!" What a social gal. Madison had her toy phone with her, and she talks to "gampa" on it all the time. She had a bit of a fit as we were leaving the store, because I put her hood up (it was snowing) and she said "no hood, gampa, gampa." She couldn't put the phone to her ear when her hood was on, so she got her hair wet while we walked to the car, but at least she could talk to "gampa." If only she would talk to Grandpa when she is using a real phone. Instead she just stares at the phone and giggles. While we were out, John's friend called, and he asked Emma to say hi. She said "Hi gampa." The girls seem to associate the phone with my dad. We went to a different mall, where they could walk around and burn off some energy. We don't put them in strollers anymore, unless we are going to be long. We like to let them walk. Our only rule is they have to hold onto our hands. So I was holding Maddie's hand, and Emma was holding John's hand. We started to walk, and then we noticed that the girls weren't moving yet. We looked down and realized that they were holding each other's hands too. So, we walked as a family hand in hand around the mall. John and I kept looking at each other saying "that's the cutest thing we have ever seen." And it wasn't forced. Sometimes we will say "give Emma a hug, or give Maddie a kiss, you love your sister." It seems today they didn't need telling, they happily held hands almost the entire time. I say almost, because when they were rolling around on the floor of the Bay because we wouldn't let them touch the soap dispensers, they were NOT holding hands. They were too busy flinging their jackets off while flailing around in the middle of the aisle. Once they were back on track, things were great. We got in the van and Maddie said "mummy, shopping, fun." Yep, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Snow Day Part 2

As you Ontarians know, we got hit with a foot of snow last night. That's the second "bad" snow storm in less than a week. I foolishly bought into the news media and their hype, and I stayed home. They kept going on about staying home if you have to, and how nasty the drive in was etc etc. Turns out, it took a little more time, but it wasn't that bad. I should have gone in. Dealing with 29 10-year-olds is a heck of a lot easier than dealing with Emma and Madison, when they are having a "moment"! Today started at 7:00 a.m when I heard Emma yell "no, stop." Madison responded by bursting into tears. Not sure what was going on in there and I can't fathom what Emma wanted to stop. I brought them downstairs and explained that we would be staying home today. They seemed happy about that. We had bottles and I changed them with only minor incident (keep reading what happens when I try and put on Emma's shirt). John and I worked out a good system, as Emma can be a real handful when she doesn't want to be changed. It often takes two of us to get the job done. So now, we lie them on the mat and prop them up with a pillow, and they feed themselves their bottles, while we change them. It works like a charm. By the time they are finished their bottles, they have clean diapers, their clothes are on and they are ready to go. Things went smoothly until around 7:30, when they started to fight over every toy in sight (starting with their coupe car). We had hitting, hair pulling, kicking, pushing and soother throwing (this one is the funniest, especially when they yank the other person's soother out of their mouths and throw it across the room). Of course we are trying to teach them about sharing, and they know what it means, they just don't like to do it. We take turns with the toys, which usually means while one person plays, the other one is throwing a tantrum, and then they switch. I have read that kids don't really start to share until age 3-4, so we have a ways to go. Madison then had the tantrum of all tantrums when John left to shovel the snow. She either didn't want him to go, or she wanted to go with him. We still aren't sure. Things have calmed down significantly and they are now colouring in their Miss Piggy colouring book. Emma seems tired, so I just asked her if she wants an early nap. Her response? "No, don't want it." That was also her response this morning when I tried to put on her red shirt (for Chinese New Year) so she is running around in jeans and topless. I know how to pick my battles.