Reindeers and Woo-Woo's

I love baby and kids pajamas, especially the footed ones. There's nothing sweeter than a big hug from a warm, cuddly, pajama-clad toddler on the way to bed.

It seems Ryan and Lucie agree. Ever since Chris bought R & L some footed pj's a few weeks ago, they've been crazy for their new bedtime wear.

Lucie's favorite are her reindeer pair, partly because she's learning about Santa and Christmas lately, but mostly because her Dad picked them out for her.

Ryan loves his newest firetruck pajamas, though they weren't easy to find. While he'll tolerate dino or football pj's occasionally, most nights he insists on a pair with a big hook and ladder truck (one of his favorites being the long johns Uncle Greg and Jessica gave him for his birthday). We couldn't find footed woo-woo pj's anywhere in stores - it seemed firetrucks were out and bulldogs, basketballs and reindeer were in this season. At least that was good news for Lucie.

I finally found a firetruck pair online and bought a few. When they arrived yesterday afternoon, they had to go right on. Apparently bedtime is too long to wait for a new pair of woo-woo pj's...

Giving Thanks

With two happy and healthy toddlers, it's almost overwhelming how grateful I feel for all that has been given to us. We are very fortunate to be Ryan and Lucie's parents, on Thanksgiving and the other 364 days of the year.

What were our little ones thankful for this holiday?
* My Aunt Betsy's delicious turkey (Ryan practically ate an entire leg) and fruit loop necklaces
* Woo-woo sweater and socks (if you have to wear dress-up clothes, at least they have firetrucks on them) and patent leather mary jane's
* Hugs and kisses from their idol and cousin, Maggie
* Lots of playtime with cousin Katie's old doll house and Scott's old firetrucks
* Stairs galore to climb up and down, up and down, up and down...

I must admit, there was one other thing I was thankful for this year - more time at the dinner table. While I have very sweet memories of our last holiday at my aunt and uncle's, Thanksgiving 2005, those memories are mostly of Katie's room and my breastfeeding pillow. I was happy to spend more time enjoying family (and second helpings of dinner) this year. It's amazing to think how much has changed in two short years.

Thanks to Betsy and Saul for a wonderful day.

Chatterbox Girl

Seemingly overnight, Lucie has gone from grunts, points and single words to full sentences. Her longest phrase used to be "Daddy...office", and we thought that was pretty exciting. Just this week she's turned into our own little sportscaster, giving us the play-by-play on everything. Watch out, Al Michaels.

Here's a sample from an afternoon with Lucie (all sentences followed with an exclamation point so you can truly appreciate how thrilled she is about talking):

In the stroller — "I'm singing A,B,C,D!"
Playing with Ducky & back-up Ducky — "I'm kissing two duckies!"
At the park — "I climb, I go down, I meet mommy!"
Mixing food in her milk at dinner — "I'm cooking dinner for Ryan! I cook it in the microwave!"

No wonder we're all so tired (in a good way) at the end of the day. It's hard to keep up!

Ryan's talking a lot too, though not quite in full sentences yet. With such a chatty twin, it'll be interesting to see if he gets to this point really quickly, or instead lets his sister do all the talking for him. I've heard that sometimes happens with twins. Language acquisition is such an amazing process to watch - especially with two kids at the same time.

Going with the Flow

Chris and I often joke about who's the "push-over" parent of the day. We tend to flip-flop, alternating between saying "no" or "later" and saying "okay, but only one more time" (a common expression after the 5th request for another reading of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go at bedtime).

While we both know it's important to set rules for Lucie and Ryan, especially when it comes to safety issues, it's tricky knowing when to hold the line and when to give in. I often question myself - is this truly something I shouldn't let my two year olds do? Or, more likely, am I saying no because the request is inconvenient for me or super messy to clean up? It's usually the latter, which sure doesn't seem fair to two curious toddlers.

So, is it really that big of a deal if Lucie wants to eat frozen bacon bits for snack, Ryan wears too-big boots to the park (in 80 degree weather) or they both want to use a popsicle as an ice pack? Nope. Such requests are all an opportunity to explore new textures and tastes, appreciate cousin Maggie's hand-me-downs and come up with hilarious counting games ("1, 2, 3, 4, trade") – why say no to that?

Smoothies Save the Day (yet again)

Trips to the toddler play area at the mall once filled me with a mixture of hopeful anticipation (Ryan and Lucie will have so much fun!) and pure terror (what if they toddle off in different directions?). The toddler-sized slide, ride-on train, and foam flooring are all perfect for active and curious little guys, and certainly much safer than the tall slides and open staircases at some parks. However, once released from the stroller, Ryan would run one way, Lucie would run the other, and I'd end up frantically chasing after both of them in the middle of a very public mall full of strollers and shoppers. Some days I'd come home and wonder, "What was I thinking? That place is not made for one mother and two babies!"

With time, our little excursions have gotten better. I've developed a really good twins mom stance allowing me to watch both toddlers play from a distance, without being right next to either one. It reminds me a bit of zone defense on my junior high basketball team - not that I ever actually played in any games, but I did pay good attention from the bench. Who knew that'd be helpful for motherhood? I've also noticed that Ryan and Lucie tend to stay closer to me and each other now, which is a welcome change from the last 10-12 months or so. With a combination of R & L's maturity and more experience for me, we've been having lots of fun.

That's not to say that I don't have more "What was I thinking?" moments - today I had a big one. Everyone was having a great time riding the train and pushing buttons on the soda machine (their love for that rivals the train) when Ryan started wailing, "Mommy, hold you!" (translation: hold me, mommy) He's coming off a bit of a cold and has been more tired and fussy that his usual self lately. At first, Lucie was fine playing with the soda machine while singing out, "I like push-ing buttons! I like push-ing buttons!" Though once she saw Ryan crying, she started wailing too, desperate to be held.

Next thing I knew I was carrying two arms worth of crying two year olds while trying to push a double stroller - another thing I'm improving on with experience. On the way home, we hit the smoothie stand in hopes of distracting my crying two year olds. Luckily the breakdown was nothing a mango smoothie and a hug from Ducky and Bunny couldn't fix.

Bouncing off the Walls

No, we haven't installed a trampoline in our living room, much to Ryan and Lucie's dismay. (This photo is of fun times with their friend Skyler at buddies Vivian and Grace's 2nd birthday party.) Though if we did have one, R & L would love it, as their new nap past-time is jumping up and down on their crib mattresses - over and over again, sometimes for their entire nap time!

Ryan and Lucie have become quite "active" nappers lately. On many days, as soon as I close the door after tucking them in, I can hear both pop up in their crib and start giggling. Some days the giggling, jumping, and stuffed-animal-throwing goes on for a short period until they quickly succumb to sleep. Other days it goes on and on and on.

Ryan is usually the instigator of nap time fun. If Lucie is quietly settling in to sleep, he'll call out, "Sis? Wake up?" Sometimes she'll happily join him in goofing off, others she'll reply back forcefully, "Rye - lay down!" She takes her role as first born very seriously.

After a week of missed or mediocre naps went by, I started to get nervous. Was this just a phase? Could they really be dropping their one and only nap at age 2? How would I ever survive? All the books I consulted assured me that most kids don't drop their naps until at the earliest 2.5 years old. Phew.

Thankfully, things are getting better and they've been taking more solid naps. An earlier nap time and lots of outdoor activities in the morning definitely help. They're back to the peaceful little sleepers that they used to be - at least for now.

L & R at the Library

We all were pretty excited about our first trip to our new neighborhood library. I was happy to have a new toddler-friendly destination for our morning outings, and Lucie and Ryan couldn't wait to "buzz" their books through the machine like Lola does in Lola at the Library.

What did Lucie and Ryan remember most from our library trip? The book drop by the front door (they thought that was really cool), carrying their selections to the front desk for check out, and handing over my library card, or "money" as they like to call it.

I loved to watch which books they each decided to check out. Lucie went for a few books about babies, Max's Christmas and The Matzah Man: A Passover Story. Evidently, she really liked the holiday book section. Ryan wanted to check out all his favorites from home, including How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? When he saw the copy of Danny and the Dinosaurhe started shouting excitedly, "Grandma! Grandma!" remembering that Grandma Laura likes to read that book to him.

While I don't have any photos from our recent trip, these shots are from story hour at a library close to my parents' home. They had a wonderful program created especially for toddlers – a combination of short books (no more than a sentence or two on each page), rhymes, songs and playtime. We haven't made it to our new library's story hour yet, but hopefully Lucie and Ryan will find it as fun as this one.