Painting the Tub Green

Ryan and Lucie could spend hours in the tub, and sometimes do! Lately on days when we stay indoors (rainy day, runny noses, etc.), I've been filling up the tub for a good chunk of playtime. Because the majority of R & L's baths are squeezed in a short window between dinner and bedtime, it's nice to have an open period of time just to let them play in the water. I don't even try too hard to get them clean, as evidenced by today's bath where they came out a tinge greener than when we started. Obviously, the bath paints were a hit.

Another thing Lucie and Ryan love to do in the bath is play with their "icebuggas!" (Ryan-speak). I got this tip from another twins mom. At the end of each bath, R & L choose a small bath toy for their iceberg. We fill a plastic cup with water, put in the toy and place it in the freezer. (You would not believe how much debate goes on in our house about the optimal way to freeze a bath toy in the exact center of a plastic cup - it's harder than it seems!) Then at the beginning of each bath, everyone gets to watch their bath toy appear as the iceberg floats and melts in the warm bath water. Though I haven't tried it yet, you can also add food coloring before freezing to make the iceberg really stand out. I guess I figure R & L's bath water is colorful enough as it is right now.

A Potty with a View

We've been having a lot of fun with art projects lately. With a fridge full of "Happy Birthday Daddy!" creations (everything is made for Daddy), we had to find another gallery. Why not the bathroom? I thought it might increase interest in the potties, and it seems to have worked. Well, at least for this morning...

When it comes to art, Lucie can color, paint, glue or draw for hours on end. Ryan is more of a quick burst artist, coming in for a period of intense work, and then buzzing off to do something else. During a recent book making project, Lucie took her time selecting images to cut out from a magazine while Ryan ran around with his play drill "fixing" the table and rolling up and down the glue sticks. Ryan enjoyed working the stapler so much he made five books in the time it took his sister to color in her first page.

The same goes for their approaches to music. Ryan loves working the CD player so we usually only hear half a song before he decides it's time for the next. I bought them a few books on CD including Caps for Sale,a favorite at Gigi and Papa's. (My Dad has read it to them so many times I can almost hear his voice when we read it!) Lucie is happy looking at the pictures while listening to the story. Unfortunately for her, that doesn't happen often as her brother is eager to declare it time for the next story when we've only made it through page one of the first. The only way we've been able to hear the whole story of the peddler and monkeys is when our little DJ is strapped in his high chair enjoying dinner. Otherwise the CD player is too big of a temptation.

Again, it's hard to say if these differences are a boy/girl thing, genetic predisposition (Ryan definitely seems to have the engineer's mentality of his two grandfathers, father and uncle) or simply unique personalities. It's fun to watch though, and certainly good for them to be exposed to each other's styles.

Holiday Cards and Crushes

As the Christmas cards came in this December, Ryan and Lucie were excited to add them to the wall of photos by their highchairs. I started doing this last year as something fun for R & L to look at during meals. (And I'm embarrassed to admit, it's also a cover-up for the food stains on our walls - yuck.) Ryan and Lucie became so attached to some of our 2006 cards, that they stayed up well into last year. Owen's card, a particular favorite, was so well loved that it didn't come down until his 2007 one arrived.

Now that Lucie and Ryan are talking, the cards are a great dinner time conversation starter (not that you need much of one with 2 year olds). They love to yell out, "Count babies, mommy!" And we'll count and name all the cards with babies. Then it's "Count boys, mommy!" And we'll count and name all the boys. Next, "Count girls, mommy!" or "Count doggies!" Often it even goes as far as "Count oceans!" or "Count leaves!" or Ryan's favorite, "Count Sybille!"

Ryan has come to adore our Stroller Strides instructor, Sybille. He gushes every time we see her at class. When she gave us a holiday card, it became one of his prize possessions. Unlike the other cards, it moves around a lot as he finds a new spot for it with each meal. Sometimes he even puts it on Lucie's high chair if it means it's easier for him to see. When I told Sybille about my son's crush on her, she gave him a big hug and carried him into the play yard. I loved the smile on his face that night as he told Chris the whole story. Chris and I joke that we're learning Ryan's "type" - blond, Swiss and able to effortlessly sprint up a hill pushing a stroller. Now that's some very good taste for a 2 year old!

Aggle, Flaggle, Klabble No More

We continue to be amazed by the things that come out of our kids' mouths. They went from simple words and phrases ("Daddy, up!") to entire sentences and expressions of emotion, all in the matter of a few months. I feel like I've gone from taking care of babies, to spending my days with two expressive little people, telling me what they think, how they feel and what they want. The transformation is really incredible.

Lucie has taken off speaking in full sentences and correctly using tricky words. Her latest is the word "actually". When asked what she wanted to eat this morning she first requested yogurt, and then corrected herself with "Actually, I like waffles." I was speechless — how did she learn that one? Well, actually, I shouldn't appear so stunned since she hears that word coming from her sometimes indecisive mother's mouth many times a day. But the fact that she used it correctly and didn't try it out in the wrong context first was what really made me gawk.

As if I need more reason to believe she's listening closely, here are some other recent quotes:
"I need to organize my shirt drawer!" (when putting away clean clothes)
"Ryan, I have a question for you!" (a question never followed, but you could tell she wanted to know something from Ryan)
"I'm thinking about it." (when asked what foods she likes).

My very favorite quote of the week is when she declared, "I love this part!" when the dinosaurs started singing on Elmo's World.

Ryan has a ton to say as well. Sometimes his pronunciation is a little different, but we usually figure it out after a few minutes of explanation. One of my favorite Ryan quotes is "Knuffle, Mommy" &mdash his personal attempt at "I love you, Mommy". This came from a well-read book, Knuffle Bunny, about a baby who goes from gibberish (aggle! flaggle!) to speaking words when her dad leaves her beloved bunny at the laundromat. Ryan seemed to catch on that "knuffle" sounded like "love you" (maybe the reason why the bunny was named that in the book?) Thanks to Ryan-speak, now all four of us say "Knuffle!" to each other at nighttime instead of the usual "I love you". It's the best way to end the day.

One of the Gang

As always, Ryan, Lucie and Tate had a great time together during our recent trip. With each visit, their play and interaction increases, this time more noticeably than ever before. Now that Tate is walking, eating finger foods, napping once a day, and interested in Uncle Andrew's old toys and Elmo's World, the three cousins practically acted like triplets. I loved it.

Tate wanted to do everything his cousins did, and Lucie and Ryan wanted to do everything Tate did. At one point R & L were crawling around on the floor saying, "I'm a baby!" as if to remind Tate how much he had grown since the last time we saw him. Tate was very aware of his cousins too, wanting to sit at the table with them instead of the highchair, take a bath with them, and sleep in the same room. Hopefully he didn't come to regret the sleeping in the same room part — his cousins have been making bedtime routine a bit of a challenge recently.

Ryan (and Lucie sometimes) has been testing us with seemingly endless requests for one more story, one more drink of water, one more song, one more anything to keep us from closing the door and saying goodnight. Tate was a great sport about this, and would calmly endure all of cousin Ryan's cries for "Mo Wata! Mo Wata! Mo Wata!". Each time I came in the room to calm Ryan down with a sip of water, Tate would sit up in his crib and smile at me. It was a sweet smile, with a sleepy twinkle in his eye, as if he was taking notes on Ryan's bedtime stalling tactics to try out on his own parents some day. Sorry Rach and Jason!

Now that we've been home for some time, Tate is still on Ryan and Lucie's mind. Each time they see an airplane in the sky, they yell out, "Tate! Tate!" When I commented that a sweater was getting too small for Lucie, she replied, "Give it to Taters!" In Ryan and Lucie's minds, all airplanes and outgrown clothes (even pink and purple striped sweaters?) lead to their much missed cousin Tate.

Raise Your Glasses...

as we toast the New Year! We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays as much as Lucie and Ryan.

After an extended trip to see family, we're back and will be posting about our adventures in the coming days.