The Twins These Days

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I keep meaning to include the twins more in recent posts, but John Paul and Cecilia always seem to be doing something funnier or more interesting...  Here's what I want to remember right now about both of them:

Eating snow - we brought in a few bowls so that they wouldn't feel deprived because ain't no way I was taking them out in that...
Elizabeth is by far the clingiest child I've ever had.  I used to think I really WANTED one of those children who would just sit in his or her mom's lap while I chased John Paul and/or Cecilia around trying to keep them from destroying all the things.  But Elizabeth IS that kid who wants to sit in my lap all the time (mostly she wants to nurse), but she also wants to go destroy all the things and climb all the things and fall off all the things...

Despite the clinginess, she really does have some amazingly endearing traits - she absolutely knows how to make any of us smile instantly with that scrunchy-nose megawatt grin.  You'd never guess she still only has 4 teeth, because I swear it looks like about a million when she's smiling at us!



She and Mary Claire both have their own individual dance styles, and it makes me laugh SO hard to see Elizabeth dance.  Mary Claire does a pretty typical stand-and-sway that most babies develop, with the occasional bounce move.  She always looks very serious while she does it.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, likes to run in place, gradually getting her feet farther and farther apart until she's almost doing the splits.  Then she starts walking backwards (feet in normal position), and starts spinning in circles veeeeeery slowly.  When she knows she has your attention, she bellyflops to the floor and, arms and legs thrust out behind her, starts doing something resembling "The Worm" - it's maybe the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in my life.



Mary Claire talks. so. much.  About EVERYTHING.  You can tell what a good mom I am from some of her new vocabulary acquisitions:

"Nina" (Angelina Ballerina, whose books and tv shows she is OBSESSED WITH)
"Pitty" (pretty, which applies to hats, hair, bows, etc.)
"Pee-bee" (TV)
"Fee-bee" (Phoebe from The Magic School Bus)
"Wa-wee-gee" (Luigi, because John Paul found the 1989 Super Mario Bros TV show on Netflix today)
"Hopper" (Grasshopper, at least she learned it from a book and not TV!)
"Book"
"Weed-it" (read it, when she gives me a book)

And my absolute favorite is her latest phrase, "Oh no!"


Seriously, does that inflection not make you want to die of cuteness overload?

Cecilia was very proud of her new purple polka dot shirt and came up to Mary Claire saying, "Do you see my new shirt?  Do you wike it?"  To which Mary Claire responded, "Shuht.  Pitty!" (shirt, pretty) and started poking the polka dots.  Seriously, cutest ever.

Elizabeth's still holding pretty steady in the vocabulary department - much more on the normal curve than crazy Mary Claire!  Ball, Dada, bear, please, up, etc.  She was really excited to learn the word "Hair" and is always grabbing at her few lonely strands saying, "Hay!  Hay!"  "Please" is the most important, because she gets pretty much anything she wants when she points and says please!  This is important, because even though Mary Claire can say please, she refuses.  She'll just whine and then start crying if you suggest she say it.  Every once in a while if it's her idea, she'll say please, but mostly not.



They both seem to be dead-set on subsisting only on breastmilk until they move out.  Seriously.  Actually, they'll eat snow, too.  So that's something.  



But no, they must be eating SOME amount of solid foods because my period's back...  However, it seems as though I am once again spending every waking hour nursing them, only now instead of the good old "nurse the sleeping newborns on the ginormous nursing pillow while reading a book" it's more like "nurse the 20-pound toddlers while trying to keep them from poking each other in the eyes/whacking each other in the face/pulling each other's hair/picking each other's noses/bashing their heads together..."

And don't even get me STARTED with what happens when one of them happens to pull off while nursing...  Immediately the other thinks, "OH!  THAT SIDE'S FREE!" and she GOES for it, at which point the twin sitting on that side is cut off and probably sobbing, so I have to try to lift her OVER the baby who is now no longer sitting next to me, but straddling me, so that SHE can get the other side, which is now free.  Rinse.  Repeat.


Snow and breastmilk.  That's it.  Mary Claire likes to very calmly drop every. single. piece of food on her tray onto the floor, because John Paul laughs and picks it up for her.  Sigh.

I won't detail our sleep crises except to say that they don't sleep.  'Nuf said.

22 comments:

  1. Elsa doesn't sleep either. And, she also apparently wants to subsist on breastmilk and snow. She does like snow, especially dirty snow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh yes, ALL the kids always try to eat the dirty snow off of our shoes, their shoes, the sidewalk, etc...

      Delete
  2. I really need a video of that dancing. A lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're scaring me.

      For some reason I thought when the twins were infants that church was only going to get better from there. Last Sunday as my wrists were going numb from bouncing a 14 lb 4 month old in each arm while my husband kept order in the pew, I realized that no, I am delusional and it is going to get worse and worse. What am I going to do when they are both crawling? Beginning to walk? Oh dear. I see why you go to Mass separately.

      Delete
    2. I think it's close to manageable now, it just depends on the day... Luckily our 8:30 mass has no music so it's VERY short, which is one reason the big kids do so much better now. I think we're going to try to start phasing back in to going to mass as a family - sometimes you just have to get through that season of life, you know?

      Delete
  4. One day, my Rosie started pointing at the table and saying something that sounded like a mix between balls and bottle. So I got up, picked up the bottle, and asked if that was what she wanted. She shook her head, pointed more emphatically, and said it again. After a few more tries, I picked her up so she could show me what she meant, and she grabbed at Nate's laptop and said, very clearly, "BUS." She frickin' loves her some MSB. Not gonna lie, Ms. Frizzle has gotten me a shower by myself a few times...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Amazing! Seriously, it's one show that I don't even feel a LITTLE bit bad about them watching because all they do is learn learn learn!

      Delete
  5. Thank you for a much needed laugh; I can only imagine the craziness that most ensue as they try and switch sides mid-feeding.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I want to see the girls dancing now. :)

    I loved this update, Rosie! I'm always amazed at how much you have on your plate and yet no complaints from you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hah, the times I really want to complain I make sure I can't vent on facebook or my blog because I aaalways feel better soon and writing about the awful awful awful never helps!

      Delete
  7. I love the hair thing. Andrea's new discovery is belly buttons (I think it took him longer to find them because of his feeding tube). He is constantly trying to lift people's shirts up to poke their "buh-tun". Thankfully his older brothers love indulging him so that I don't have to all that often!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no idea why auto correct assumes my son's name is Andrea and not Andrew!

      Delete
    2. Too cute!!! John Paul and Cecilia will always oblige with the bellybutton obsession, too :P I don't think the twins have even SEEN my bellybutton in quite a long time!

      Delete
  8. I can commiserate! My twins are sleeping horribly too right now. I'm going to put it down to teething and this unbearable heat we're having right now (in Brazil). I have given up nursing both at the same time because they do all the things you mentioned and have the attention span of a fish...

    ReplyDelete
  9. You should definitely try to catch that dancing on video. I totally want to see!
    My youngest is a cling - on and I find it suu upper hard to deal with. I've been trying to tell her "no" more often now that she's a toddler, but she is so stinkin' bossy!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a fun post! I'm so very happy that you're still nursing the twins! I just weaned Olivia and I miss it like crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh man, and I thought nursing my hefty 6 month old twins was hard! They like to scratch each other's faces and otherwise torture the other and (sob) I miss those long blissful reading sessions! Nursing has become more about managing the circus...

    They are so so cute, Rosie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your boys weigh about as much as my girls! It's a lot harder when they're big EARLY, I think, because it's not as easy to juggle that weight when they're not as mobile... Despite the acrobatics, they have calmed down a little bit over the past couple of weeks - now I can sometimes catch up on blog reading or instagram while they take advantage of the free bar I provide every morning and afternoon :P

      Delete

I *love* reading your kind comments and will always try my best to reply right here in the comment box so we can keep the conversation going! If you have a blog of your own, please do link to it so I can visit back :)

CopyRight © | Theme Designed By Hello Manhattan