Monday, July 27, 2009

A Little Bit On Margaret's Nose

We know, we know. We haven't updated this blog in quite a while.

What did you miss? Well, there was a birthday in there, and now our precious little Twinskis move into the third year of their lives. And we have to move that much faster (and think that much quicker) in order to keep up with them.

Speaking of moving, they are no longer content to be confined to the small sleeping spaces afforded by their baby cribs. They can now shimmy up and down the walls and up and over the sides at will. In order to contain our little Birdgirls of Alcatraz in the hopes of eliminating our tiny late night visitors to our bedroom, we had to install crib tents. Now, our girls don't so much get put to bed as they are locked in captivity for their sleeping ritual. Strangely, though it breaks mommy and daddy's heart to zip that door closed for the night, they seem to derive a bizarre joy out of having their own little mesh fortress in which to jump, flip, and sing their way to dreamland. Night after night, we are responsible for establishing "Camp Twinski" so to speak.

Speaking of speaking, the girls are doing it....endlessly. Even when they don't have an audience and are speaking in glutteral growls and lyrical tweets instead of actually forming coherent words and phrases, as if they are channeling some tribal shaman of the infant world. It is hard to keep track of these things, as the list seems to increase exponentially each week, but we estimate them to be up to around 75 words or so. Notably, they can identify all of the most important individuals in their lives: Dora, Diego, Boots, Ming-Ming, Tuck, Pets, Elmo, Ernie, Bert, "Bee Bee" (Big Bird), and "Cookie." Oh, and Margaret has adopted her own nickname for herself, and now refers to herself as "Mimi." I suppose among the potential contenders of Margie, Maggie, Marge, Meg, Peg, Mags, Megs, Gar, Argar, Teragram, and Queen Lothar of the Snake People, "Mimi" is not so bad. You'll have to ask Kate just where she came up with the Queen Lothar thing.

Speaking of Mimi, she has a new habit of losing her nose. Well, not so much losing it as having it stolen off of her face. By Daddy. About 3-4 times a day.

You see, what happens is when one desperately needs to grab her attention away from the Nog channel on DirecTV, you can place your hand on her face and "grab her nose." Daddy will grab it, and show it to her (the old "thumb in between the the closed fist fingers" bit), at which point a very concerned look will fall over Margaret's face, and she says, "Nose...take, Dada!" Now, if Daddy really wants to get her aggravated, he takes her nose and puts it in his mouth, prompting Mimi furrow her brow and exclaim, "Eat...Nose, Dada!?!" Daddy is sure to swish it around in his mouth for the added effect, which always prompts a giggle from Mimi, no matter how dire a situation her nose finds itself at that moment. After a few seconds, Daddy spits the nose out into his hand, shows it to Mimi one more time, and puts it back on her face just as it was. Mimi takes this final trick in stride, giving a plaintive "Thanks!" and going on her merry way.

When Daddy first tried that trick, he was sure that she would not get it. But it is amazing how self-aware they are. Daddy even had her diving beneath the bubbles in the bathtub tonight looking for her nose before it went down the drain. Oh, the precious innocence of a child and their desire to keep all their appendages in place!

Must wrap up this long-overdue tale of Twinski travails. There is no good excuse for our lack of blogging of late, except to say that the Terrible Twos are actually the Terrible "Fours" when you have twins, and that equals much time and energy away from the other things in life. Blogging is one of the first activities subjugated by the Twincesses reign over our family kingdom. We are just fiefs plowing the fields in our daughters' lives, hoping and praying that our benevolent dictators continue their relatively peaceful rule, and perhaps, maybe, hopefully, get some good nights rests occasionally.

Monday, January 5, 2009

18-month Update / Looking back on 2008

Hello and Happy New Year! Anna and Margaret turned 18 months old on December 29. For those of you keeping track, that was about 2 weeks ago, which shows just how behind I am on everything lately.  Though it's a lame excuse to make up for the poor blogging - raising 2 eighteen month olds seems equivalent to running a cage-free zoo of wild monkeys. The girls are all over the place and into everything. The other day, they left the kitchen for just a minute, and when I walked down the hallway to find them, out of the corner of my eye I catch them standing on top of the dining room table, flashing me mischievous smiles as if to say, "I know we're not supposed to be doing this, and that's why it's so much fun!"

I think my exhaustion in taking care of them stems from the fact that the girls have always been incredibly physical. They're coordinated and agile for their age, as was pointed out to me by an instructor at a "Parents and Tots" YMCA gymnastics class I took them to last weekend - during which they leaped, kicked, twirled, ran, tumbled, and jumped their hearts out, often running circles around the 2 and 3 year olds in the class (and subsequently took a 3 hour nap, much to my delight). They can jump, walk backwards, twirl in circles for minutes at a time, climb up and jump off of high surfaces, and manage to maintain their balance when I almost always expect a tumble. Some photographic evidence of their zaniness:


They're constantly requesting to sit on the kitchen counter (which their sucker of a mom gave in to one too many times, and now they fully expect to sit up there every day)


So much climbing!! No horizontal surface has been spared of their climbing


And then one particular lady thinks it's downright hilarious to take off her diaper and make a run for it, giggling with glee while her mother attempts to chase her down


The ride-on toys still give them endless amusement and so we take advantage of warmer winter days to take a ride on the deck


The girls have recently developed an obsession with clothing choices, with hats being the most common request ("Hat! Hat!" while furiously pointing to their heads)

While they seem to take life at full speed, the one area in which they seem to hesitant to jump in with both feet is talking. I've had some friends reassure me that there just are some kids who are "talkers," while some are "doers," and our children tend to be of the latter. While they do use about 10 words on a daily basis, they largely rely on baby sign language and furious pointing to get their point across. As a parent, you worry about everything - and I discussed my concerns about their seemingly delayed verbal skills with the girls' pediatrician, who thankfully reassured me that they are average, there doesn't seem to be cause for concern, and they'll be talking in no time. I imagine one day I'll look back at this post and laugh- and long for the days when they weren't talking my ear off. ;)

Speaking of pediatricians...here are their 18 month stats!:

Anna
Height: 32 inches (59%)
Weight: 24 lbs 3 oz (48%)

Margaret
Height: 32 inches (59%)
Weight: 22 lbs 2 oz (18%)

And since we've entered a new year - here's a quick "Twinskis Year in Review," in photos!:

January: Playtime (and perhaps the last month that they could be contained to one area)


February: Learning to crawl

March: First Easter spent at the beach in Sarasota, FL


April: Sharing a swing at the park

May: Exhibiting their love for mom and dad's laptop

June: our little girls turn ONE!


July: Uncooperative and goofy for mom during an attempted photo shoot on the front porch

August: Cooling off on a hot summer day by running through a reflection pool in front of Nashville's courthouse

September: A photo shoot with our friend and favorite photographer Kim

October: A fantastic trip to Nana and Grandpa's place in Sarasota, Florida

November: Running an errand with Mom and Dad and enjoying a ride in the cart


December: Finding joy in feeding each other snacks




I wish you all a joyous start to the New Year! Joey and I are looking forward to another year of constant love and laughter that these 2 little gals bring into our lives.