Changes

We really should move more often. Each of our moves with Lucie and Ryan has left behind some undesirable habits and brought about some wonderful new ones.

When R & L were six months old, we moved from a one bedroom to a two bedroom place. At long last, we had our room back and could brush our teeth with the lights on without fear of waking up a baby. And, much to our delight, Ryan and Lucie went from waking several times at night to sleeping from 7pm to 7am. We couldn't help but wonder -- what took us so long?

With this recent move, something totally unexpected has happened. Ryan and Lucie's naps have returned. There's been no "jumping game", no stuffed animal throwing, no yelling back and forth at each other, and no pulling off their diapers, dancing around in their cribs and yelling out to me, "Mommy, we nudie-roodie!!" (The "nudie-roodie" thing is actually super cute. It's so hard to get mad at them.) We've only been in our new place for seven days, but each one of these days, they've curled up in bed at nap time, not to be heard from for another hour or two. I guess all the new surroundings to explore have wiped these guys out. I don't have any high expectations for it to last much longer, but I do hope this exhausting newness gives us at least a few more weeks of consistent napping.

Another welcome change is that it's a lot easier for them to help in the kitchen. Our counters are just the right height for both my helpers to stand on a stool and measure, pour and mix. They especially love helping to make waffles and stand guard over the waffle maker waiting eagerly for the light to switch to indicate it's done. When the light displays its green ready sign, Ryan will shout out, "It's GEEN, Mommy! GEEEEENNNN!"

So, now that they're doing all this big kid stuff, it's high time to move onto the potty training. We only have one obstacle, and it's a major one. I have 8 pairs of underwear for each of them, but no washer and dryer. Until our new appliances arrive later this week, the underwear are staying in the packages. Potty training twins with no washer or dryer sounds like one change we're not ready to make.