feed the kitty

We've been playing games for a while now. Mostly after dinner when everyone is home. It can get pretty hilarious playing Hi Ho Cherry-O, Cootie, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land...

As of late our favorite is a game called Feed the Kitty. It's basically a dice game with the object being the last one with mice in your possession.

Now, you know if you've every played a game with Rob, he can get very serious and competitive. However, it's sort of hard to be serious or competitive about Feed the Kitty, but after what we witnessed at last night's game, Little Bird is going to be just like her Dad.

Little Pie is her typical dramatic self while playing this game. She has SO MUCH FUN and gets EXCITED about every roll she has. She loves to make observations about the results of each person's turn (you rolled the same as me!). She doesn't care if she has to give up a mouse or if she gets to add more to her pile. She just LOVES to play.

She is serious about dealing out the mice though. Each of us starts with 5. And it's hilarious to watch each of them roll the dice; they both grip the dice tight in their fists, shake their fists, and then splash them into the box top. I love how they think they are "shaking" the dice!

 But when Little Bird lost her last mouse and was out of the game, she threw a fit. A big fit. A terrible fit. A "I'm glad we are not in public where other people can see this" fit. Yikes. I was shocked. I couldn't believe she was reacting this way. We don't really emphasize winning when we play games (wait, I take that back I don't emphasize winning [cough, cough, Rob]). We waited until she calmed down and then we talked about how we play games to have fun, not to win. We talked about how we could play again and continued to emphasize that we were playing to have fun. (Actually Little Pie's crazy game enthusiasm helped with this). When we finished the game we shook hands and said good game, it was fun.

For our second game, it was down to the two competitors in the family.

This time Little Bird graciously "lost" to Daddy, but I think I see some serious chess games in their future.

tidbits

Hmmm...I did it again. I haven't taken pictures this week and I haven't written a post this week. What's going on? I must be in my usual winter slump. Oh well. I'll probably return to better posts soon.

In the meantime, here's a few things that have been going on around here.

• Little Pie continues to be making progress on the potty. We have concluded that she prefers to do her business in her potty chair, in her room, after lunch, during quiet time. This is sort of gross, but I'm just happy that we have gone 3 days without an accident. She also has new motivation: when she completes her chart of 10 poops in the potty, she can get a guitar and microphone and play them just like the Fresh Beat Band. She is SO excited about this!
• Speaking of Fresh Beat Band, the girls still insist on listening to the three songs when we are in the car. Little Pie claimed that "Rockstar" was her favorite while Little Bird said "Friend Like You" is hers. I chose "Here We Go" (which truly is my favorite). While we were out running errands yesterday, Little Pie asked what Daddy's favorite song was. I said we should ask him when we got home, but Little Bird suddenly became concerned because there are only 3 Fresh Beat Band songs and 4 of us. Could Daddy have a favorite since all the songs have already been claimed? I reassured her that it would be OK if two people had the same favorite and when Rob chose "Friend Like You", she was THRILLED to share the song with him and giggled so adorably. I thought it fairly amazing that she came to the conclusion that all the songs had been claimed by the three of us. I think she'll be a math whiz. :)
• So since the girls are three years old that means we are basically in the "Why?" phase of life. Little Bird is the QUEEN of asking "why?". I wish I could capture the seriousness in her tone of voice when she asks "why?" because it is just so darn serious and you know that she is just soaking up your answers. I'm trying really hard to not say "because" to her questions even though some of her "why?" questions are just so out there. She just doesn't stop asking "why?" and I think it's because she's just not satisfied with our explanations sometimes. So when some of her questions get too philosophical or too complicated, I sometimes answer "because God decided ....". For example, I took her to the bathroom at a restaurant last week after Rob had returned from using the facilities. She asked if Daddy had used the bathroom we were in and I said no, he used the boys' room. She said why. I said because he's a boy. She said why. I said because that's the way he was born. She said why. I said because God decided he should be a boy. She was satisfied with that answer. But now she wonders if that is the final answer to every set of questions. For example, we were driving home and she asked why we were turning onto a particular street. I said because our house is this way. But instead of asking why, she said, our house is this way because Jesus wanted it to be here. Ha! 
• We took the girls to Granite City last night for dinner. We were all super hungry and since the restaurant is notorious for it's long wait, we went to eat at 4:30! It's actually great to eat that early because we were able to still benefit from the end of their happy hour special and we didn't have to wait for a table! Also, it was nice to dine with other families with small children as well as some sweet seniors. One such senior lady came over to our table after she and her husband were finished and told us that our girls were "too cute to be real" and that they were so well behaved "you could bring them to the White House"!!
• And a shout out to Rob for taking the girls to church today while I got to have a lovely brunch with my besties. Good job Daddy!

weekly wrap up

Oops. I haven't posted in a while. It's not that nothing exciting is going on here, I just haven't written it down yet. I may have to start a "weekly wrap up" post to ensure I get everything I want to written down.

I haven't taken too many pictures and I'm sort of upset about that. But now that we have returned to our regularly scheduled winter (highs in the single digits, people!), we spend most of our time inside where it's hard to get good lighting and thus, good shots. I need to practice more though because this will be our life for the next couple of months.

Here's the wrap up:


Sunday: Now that the girls have started swimming lessons, they want to swim all the time. The four of us had a BLAST at the pool. Both girls are so much more adventurous than they were last year. In fact, while helping Little Bird "swim" in the deep end, she told me to let go of her because she wanted to do it herself. I did for a moment and when she resurfaced, she said, "mom, you help me just a little bit". Both girls jumped in off the edge about 253 times, Rob and I "raced" with them on our backs and Little Bird made 4 trips to the potty. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Monday: Little Pie is IN LOVE with the Fresh Beat Band. I finally downloaded three of their songs and she insists on playing them all.the.time. We have daily dance parties and I sing them in my sleep because I've heard them 3529 times during the day. I can't turn the car off until the songs are over. On Monday she asked if I would take her to see the Fresh Beat Band (they are in fact coming to St. Paul on March 1). I completely broke her heart when I told her we will be in Arizona when they come here. It felt like I was looking at her 13 year old self and I just told her she couldn't see the equivalent of the New Kids on the Block.

Tuesday: Most Tuesdays we go watch Taylor's basketball games. Little Pie continues to be scared of the buzzer. She is just a bundle of nerves and holds her tummy in anticipation of the sudden noise of the buzzer. On this particular Tuesday, Uncle Chuck bought the girls a bag of popcorn which helped Little Pie distract herself from that darn buzzer. After most of the popcorn was consumed, Little Pie took a spot on Terbear's lap and Little Bird a spot on mine. Until she realized there was nobody to sit on Chuck's lap. She promptly got off mine and went over to sit on his and talk his ear off for the next 10 minutes. The girls are really starting to "get" the game although they think Taylor scores every time the ball goes in on their end. They are even starting to yell "rebound!" and "defense!" appropriately. And when the game is over, Little Pie cannot leave the gym until she gives Taylor a high five.

Wednesday: We have been making a little bit of progress in terms of Little Pie using the toilet for all outputs. I've come to realize that she has a difficult time relaxing when it's time to go, even with her daily dose of Miralax. So I set up her own private "poop station". I thought about where she is most relaxed - in her room, with her music on, her bunny in hand and her thumb in her mouth. So if I was able to catch her before an accident occurred, I calmly brought her to her room, sat her on her potty, turned on her music and left the room. I told her she could yell as loud as she wanted when she completed her duty. (ha ha duty/dooty!). And to my surprise, it worked!!!!!!!! Of course, I can't get my hopes up because she still won't do it every time, but she is trying and getting some results. And on Wednesday, to my even greater surprise, she used the toilet at H&M's house!! (however, we took about 8 trips there to get the job done, but nonetheless we had success!). After I just typed this, as the girls are playing dollhouse next to me, Little Pie just had an accident. sigh. 

Thursday: We had tickets to see Llama Llama Red Pajama at Stages Theater. Our plan was to meet Nana for a little lunch and head to the show afterwards. The girls were excited because they love the Llama Llama books and they remembered how much fun we had seeing the Peef show. Unfortunately Little Bird woke up feeling terrible. She had a fever and vomited once. I called Nana and our plan was to have her come stay with Little Bird while I took Little Pie to the show (of course you can only exchange tickets 24 hours in advance). Little Bird was so sad. She tried to convince me and herself that she could go to the show too, but it just wasn't going to work. She stayed back and chatted Nana's ear off until she just became so exhausted. Little Pie loved the show and was excited to "meet" the cast afterwards. While Little Bird was so disappointed she missed the show, she is excited to see Giggle Giggle Quack in March.

Friday: I'm sick. Little Bird is better and the two girls have been playing really well, while I try and take it easy. We had to cancel our plans to go to Skyzone with H&M AGAIN. But it's only 9 degrees outside and I'm sort of OK with not having to bundle up to go anywhere. In fact, the girls are all bundled up in their new, totally rad leg warmers that Nana made for them. I'm so excited about these! In fact, Little Bird totally loves them and wanted to wear them over her jammies last night. Nana made them two pair, but I couldn't convince them put on the other ones for a picture because according to Little Bird, "these match my outfit perfectly."

And that was our week!

more please!

We are getting too spoiled with this weather. I could really be happy if this is the "worst" that winter could get. Unfortunately, I am assuming Tuesday was our last day to enjoy this unusual phenomenon and we will likely see our normal highs in the teens very soon.

While we wait for January in Minnesota to return to "normal", we will keep on scooting until...

...we get distracted with collecting rocks.

 (I guess parking in the middle of the parking lot is allowed if you ride a scooter)

...or until we fall and get a fat lip.

 (Like this girl needs her bottom lip to get any bigger. Good thing there was some snow left.)

...or until we get so hungry we must go home immediately for a snack.

...or our clean, dry driveway beckons us to get out the sidewalk chalk and practice writing our name.

...or until it's time to "build" a snowman.

 (Little Pie's snowman is really good, but she was so disappointed that it was smaller than mine.)

 (Speaking of small, Little Bird is the tiniest writer. Look at this miniscule snowman!)

While it has been so fun to play outside like it's March, we know this isn't going to last. It's OK though because these two are dying to play in the snow and we haven't even been sledding yet! Winter in MN isn't too bad...if it just wouldn't last so long.

because we can

In Minnesota, when it's sunny, 45 degrees, and windless in January, you hurry up and play outside. Especially when there is no snow or ice to worry about.

And in the case of girls who got new scooters for Christmas, you scoot around the neighborhood until legs become too tired to scoot anymore.

Some girls are so anxious to get going, they can hardly pose for pictures.

(We're not complaining, but it will be nice to not have to wear hats under helmets.)

Let's take a look at form, shall we? Someone has some natural ability while someone else looks too much like her mother.

It wouldn't be play time with Daddy unless there was a little bit of competition. On your mark, get set, GO!

Then there are some who want to win so bad they can't wait until GO! (Leaving the rule follower at the start).

Sometimes there are Boo Boos.

But then we get right back on with determination.

And then we head home. Together.

red balloons

Now that the holidays are over, we are back into the swing of things. We've been busy with our usual schedule and making plans for special outings with friends.

Unfortunately, illness is getting in the way.

You know how kids can just suddenly become sick? Well, that's what happened today and it was a big disappointment.

While last night before bed, Little Pie was showing some signs of coming down with the cold Little Bird had late last week, she woke up chipper and ran around like her usual self. We packed up into the car and drove to Grand Ave in St. Paul to check out the story time at The Red Balloon Bookshop.  Ms. E and her mama met us there. 

Wish I could have captured a picture of all three looking at the camera. I was standing on a sheet of melting ice so I had to be quick.

 I LOVE Grand Ave and I was SO excited to go. We haven't taken the girls there often, so I was excited to enjoy a (45 degree!) day perusing the bookstore, listening to story time, having lunch with friends, and walking around Grand taking in the sights of my twenties (yikes I'm old!). 

Ahhh...Grand Ave.

Wait where's lunch?

But Little Pie had other plans. While she seemed perfectly fine at the story time (dancing and clapping and following along with the excellent story leader), she suddenly became ill when we sat down to eat our lunch at Bread and Chocolate. She was so miserable but what could we do? I scarfed down my lunch and impolitely urged Little Bird to do the same. It wasn't the leisurely and fun lunch I had imagined. We quickly packed up our stuff to head out and all three girls cried with disappointment.

I'll admit. I wanted to cry too. 

I guess it just means that we'll have to try this outing again. And soon.

individual play time

Today seemed like a perfect day to begin implementing the Individual Play Time strategy I have been planning. 

After our reading time, I told the girls that now it was time to head to their rooms to play. By themselves. "Why?" they both asked. I replied (in a very exciting tone) that it might be fun to see what it's like to play with toys in their rooms. 

I mentioned that their owls would turn green when IPT (I really said play time) was over and that they could come out of their rooms if they chose. 

After an hour (and it was a glorious hour!), I heard Little Bird open her door and tell me that her owl was green. I was in the middle of something that I really wanted to finish so I just replied "great! did you have fun?". I didn't get a response but just heard her go back to playing in her room.

I started to become curious that I hadn't heard Little Pie yet. It's not like her to not scream at the top of her lungs that her owl had turned green. I sneaked upstairs to try and get a glimpse of what was going on.

Little Bird was BUSY.

But Little Pie's door was closed and when I quietly opened it, I found this:

A nap!?!?! I LOVE my new IPT idea!

Skol Vikings!

To celebrate the New Year, the girls got to go to their first Vikings game. Some friends had tickets in a suite so we thought that would be a good opportunity for a fun family outing.

The girls had no idea what they were in for and we weren't sure how Little Pie would handle the outrageous noise in the Metrodome. we told them that the Vikings were playing the Bears and they were really disappointed when they didn't see a bear on the field!

Little Pie was nervous at first but then a little girl that was also there with her family offered to share her crayons and paper and she relaxed quite a bit.

It was fun for us to catch up with friends we don't get to see often.

We left before the game was over so that we could manage our ridiculously long trek back to the car without the ridiculous crowd. My biceps hurt so bad from carrying one of the girls. We must have walked around half the Dome and then 6 blocks to the car.

It was a blast! We knew the girls were worn out because both fell asleep on the car on the way home!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

at the start of 2012

Last year, I did a post that summarized where we were at the beginning of the year as well as some goals for 2011. I think I'll try it again this year!

The Basics
The girls sleep about 12-13 hours at night
 

Little Bird hasn't napped in well over a year, and Little Pie gave up her nap this past summer

Little Pie started getting up really early, so we purchased each girl an OK to Wake owl that successfully keeps them in bed until 7AM.

Both girls sleep in toddler beds

Little Bird sleeps with New Frog, Little Pie with New Bunny, Old Bunny, Cozy Bunny, Violet and usually a random other "guy"

They continue to be picky eaters...waffles for breakfast, mac n cheese for lunch, pasta for dinner

Little Bird is day time potty trained. Since she drinks SO much I think it will be awhile before she is night timed trained.

Little Pie is day time trained when it comes to peeing in the toilet. She still refuses to poop in the toilet. We had a one day "Poop Training Boot Camp" in which she did successfully produce an output, but the next day she was back to refusing. We are beyond frustrated.

Both wear 3T clothes. 

Little Bird wears a size 9 shoe (although we did have to send a new pair of Teva sandals from Uncle Drew back in exchange for a 10!), Little Pie wears a size 8 or 9.

Talking

There is no silence in this house. Period.

I love listening to the conversations the girls have with each other.

I love it when Little Bird says "eitherwise" instead of "otherwise". I just can't correct her.

Little Bird has a quiet voice, Little Pie a LOUD one.

Little Pie sings songs all day. She always seems to have a song stuck in her head.

Movement

Both girls walk, run, "hike" and jump and most recently ride scooters.

Both girls can walk up stairs without holding on to anything. Little Pie still prefers to slide down stairs on her butt as fast as she can.

Little Bird uses the bathroom completely by herself, not even using a stool or a potty seat. Little Pie needs help with everything (see frustration above).
 

They still hate riding in their stroller. I think we used the double stroller twice last year.

Gymnastics has really improved their coordination. Little Bird wants NO assistance from me or her teacher during class. She climbs to the top of the climbing wall all by herself and dislikes it when I have my hands near her *just in case*. (I can't even reach her when she is at the top, that's how high she climbs!).

The girls are all over the place at the park, wanting to try everything on the equipment. They are VERY good about not trying something that I've told them is for "big kids". Usually they point at fire poles, etc. and say "that is for when I'm 4 or 5".
 

Little Bird can get herself completely dressed and only requires a little "adjustment" from me when she is done. Little Pie has no interest in trying to get dressed on her own.

I can't believe how amazing it is that the girls can get their coats and boots ON by themselves. It makes getting ready to go a little bit faster.

Fun and Play

The girls love to play with each other. They generally get along well. While I still break up lots of fights, I think that they cooperate quite well.

They are always curious about what their friends are up to when we are not with them. Many times they will ask to go over to someone's house and are disappointed when it's not part of our plan for the day.

They still like to color and I'm sure they would like to paint if I could wake up one day with a HUGE amount of patience. Little Pie can write her name really well (the little 'e' is sometimes undecipherable). She also colors more specifically, choosing certain colors for certain objects. Little Bird is trying to write her name too, but her name is longer and has more circular letters which can be tough. She is starting to get a pretty good 'S'. I think it might be hard for me to help her though, because I'm fairly certain she will be left handed.

The girls have the most hysterical imaginations. They really like to play with their old and new dollhouses. They also like to take all of their babies with them into their tent and try to get them to sleep (those silly babies really dislike sleep). They also pile their babies on the ottoman and pretend to drive them all over town (they go to Target a lot). 

The girls LOVE to play games. We have about 10 games that they have received for either their birthday or Christmas and we typically end up playing one after dinner.

Little Pie has been dying to play in the snow, but so far we haven't been able to (unbelievably!).

Things to look forward to in 2012:

Little Pie will be completely potty trained in the next couple of months. She.Will.Do.It. (oh please!)

Swimming Lessons start January 3. I hope this helps to make this summer at the pool/swim pond a bit easier.

Arizona! We will be going again at the end of February for 10 days. Can't wait!

Summer. Enough said.

Getting the girls full size beds probably towards the end of the summer. Their toddler beds are already getting kind of snug for them!

The girls will start preschool in the fall. I cannot believe it! They are so ready so I can't wait for them to have that experience.

Taking amazing pictures with my new camera! Hopefully the blog will look nicer!

Independent play time. As I said before, the girls play really well together, but I can sense there are some times where they could benefit from some time to themselves. Plus it's good to be able to be by yourself. Starting in the next couple of days, I'm going to implement some individual play time in their separate rooms. I think Little Bird will be good at and Little Pie will struggle at first.

Along with this play time in their rooms, I'm going to start moving all toys off of our main level so that it turns back into an "adult" space. Toys will be confined to the basement play room or the girls' rooms.

More one-on-one time (and two-on-one time). There are so many benefits in having a twin, but there comes a time when any person wants to be recognized for themselves. The girls are always referred to as "the twins" or "the girls" and since they share almost everything, they are starting to identify themselves as a pair. I want them to know that they are each individually special and that it is OK (and even wonderful) to be different from their sister. I'd like to start having more experiences where Rob and I each take a girl and do something separate. I'd also like to even try to have both of us take one girl and do something special with her. I think this could be pretty interesting.   

I think this year will be pretty exciting! I'm hoping that as the girls get more mature and independent, I can start thinking of what I want to do. While I can't imagine not having spent the last three years at home with the girls, I'm starting to get a little restless and wanting something else. While I don't yet know what that something is, I'm looking forward to it!