If You're Happy and You Know It, Don't Come to Our House

J Frog has developed a nasty habit of gagging himself when sitting in his high chair. He likes the attention and giggles when we grab his hands to prevent him from throwing up the few small bites of food he manages to swallow. (We've got Early Intervention coming out for the first time this week, so hopefully that will change soon.) So, to keep from acknowledging the game and encouraging him to gag himself, I started singing, "If you're happy and you know it" to get him to clap his hands. He just picked up the skill a few weeks ago while we were in Florida and likes to show it off. The trick works for the most part as long as I catch him early.

To make it more fun for everyone at the table, I like to include the other kids in the song. So the other night I sang, "If you're J Frog and you know it, clap your hands!" That's to get his attention first. Then when I'm sure he's clapping and not gagging, I move on to Missy. "If you're Missy and your know it, clap your hands!" LR always helps me sing, so the next verse is for him. "If you're LR and you know it, stomp your feet." The other night, L-"Spontaneous"-R took the next verse. "If you're Mommy and you know it, say, 'darn it!'" Ah... the mirror that is my oldest child. Thanks, LR. Feeling pretty good about my Mommy skills now. Guess it was a good thing it was just "darn it."

Family Outing to Fresh City

It's actually such a production to go out to eat with the family that I decided to document one outing with photos. That meant another thing to carry with the diaper bag, food bag, toy bag, travel seats, purse, jackets, shoes, and anything else that decided to fall off during the adventure.

We piled into the minivan with Marian and LR in the way back. The babies took their spots in the middle of the van and Daddy charted a course to Fresh City! It was a Friday night at 5pm, so the place was deserted. That worked for us since we needed the one table in the corner that was a circle so that we could attach both the baby seats. It took a good 5 minutes to get settled between getting coats off, picking a seating arrangement that would work best, and putting the travel high chairs on the table.

Getting the food was a trick since someone needed to stay with the kids at the table at all times. The people at Fresh City were very patient with us since we were the only people in the place. Then when the food arrived we realized the table wasn't quite big enough to keep all the food out of reach. It was a free-for-all! Little grabby hands everywhere!

The sun was shining right in our eyes half the time, but it didn't matter since I didn't really want to see the mess we were creating anyway.




Vivian realized the food was gone and tried to climb out of her seat. We have to strap her in now every time. She's a climber just like LR was. We've also put all the dining room chairs inside the superyard, otherwise I kept finding her standing on one looking very proud.

At last, our reward - Coldstone Creamery!

St. Patrick's Day!

We braved Southie to see the beginning of Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade. We were so brave that Daddy was interviewed by a FOX reporter about why he felt safe enough to bring 3 small children to the parade. It was a proud moment. Luckily none of the footage made it to the news that night.

We loved getting out of the house with the whole crew. It was Marian's idea. She was going with her friends and we just tagged along. I always seem to get good pictures of her with JFrog.



LR loved that there were planes going overhead constantly. The only part of the parade that was better, according to him, was the group of people dressed in Star Wars gear. None of our pictures of the parade turned out, but you can just see some of the famous characters being pulled behind the yellow Hummer.








Missy is working on riding on shoulders. J Frog could build a home on Daddy's shoulders and stay there for the duration. Missy is much more content to be down running around, but in the parade crowd she kept getting stepped on, so I had to put her up to get her out of harms way.

Someone in front of us handed LR a flag. He was pretty excited to wave it the whole time. Made for nice pictures too!

Blocking the Sun: Greek-Style

The other day in the car LR found that he was looking right into the setting sun. As we chatted, he combated the glare by tilting his head down, touching his chin to his chest. Then he explained to the rest of us in the car that he could block the sun with his eyebrows. Only Greeks like you and your father, sweetie.

Do Clothes Make the Child?

Missy is finally walking enough of the time that she can wear a dress. So, here she is on her very first day wearing a dress. It makes me wonder about the years ahead when it comes to girls and clothing. LR has been blissfully simple about clothing. I know other kids in his class insist on picking out their clothes and dressing themselves, but LR could really care less. Every once in a while I'll point out a car of plane on his shirt, but otherwise to him they are merely an inconvenience during trips to the bathroom.

Missy, on the other hand, is already showing interest in her clothes. When I showed her the new white sandals with colored flowers I bought her for the summer, she let me put them on, then spun in a circle on her butt with a huge smile on her face, kicking her new shoes as she went. Since it's still way too cold for sandals, she carries them around the house Velcroing and un-Velcroing them. So will she enter a dresses-only phase and then a no-dresses phase shortly thereafter the way I did? I'm kind of hoping for the no-dresses so that she can wear LR's old clothes - very cost effective in this economy. If she goes the princess route I'll have a lot more shopping to do, but I gotta say that girls clothes are very cute. Much more fun than I anticipated.

With the boys I may or may not have to worry about clothes, but it looks like I'll have to deal with some sibling rivalry issues already. LR has always been warmer towards Missy, but he's being pretty mean now to J Frog. He blocks J Frog from getting to toys or places and will readily share things with Missy that he withholds from J Frog. He's very good at feeding both of them evenly though. If I ask him to share a snack with the babies, he will dole out the food fairly. This picture, although a rare moment of brotherly love, I'm sure will become more common as J Frog leaves the baby age and becomes a toddler. He probably won't be walking for at least another month. He's still really unsteady on his feet, but at least he loves to walk while holding our hands now, so that's an improvement. Once he can race around the house with LR, I'm sure their bond will grow stronger.

This Kid Has Got to Learn to Eat

J Frog is an enthusiastic eater if nothing else. I'd say about 80% of the food we give him never makes it to his stomach. Either it's on the floor, in his seat, mashed into his hair, or down his shirt. And it's not just that he drops it. His coordination has actually been improving and he's working on the pinching, as opposed to palming, skill; however, he just doesn't like food that much. When we give him grapes, he shoves them in his mouth, "juices" them, and spits them back out. I don't know if he's ever actually chewed one up. The same goes for clementines. And, god forbid, I put more that one piece of food on his placemat at a time. If he has something in his mouth, he will spit it out just to get the next piece in. So if he has a plate of food, his mouth is like a revolving door with only one opening. Food goes in, food comes out, food goes in, food comes out. It's no wonder he's so skinny. The good news is that he still drinks a ton of milk every day which is how he's making up for it.

That and he's cute as a button.

Look Ma! No hands!

My lovely Aunt L sent an email along that had a bunch of pictures of a young woman who was born with no arms, but has succeeded in being the first person without arms to secure a pilot's license. There were pictures of her participating in sports as a child, putting on makeup as a teen, and driving a car, all with her feet. I always thought that was an amazing feat. Now I think, "hey, that doesn't look so tough." I think it's because the other day I was carrying 2 20 lb babies, one in each arm and reached the bottom of the stairs where we keep a pressure mounted gate. Now, if I put a baby down I would have one baby in my arms and one making a dash back up the stairs in a wobbly, this-could-end-badly kind of way. So, I grasp the railing of the gate between my toes, yank up as hard as I can with my leg, and kick out hoping that the pressure difference when the gate swings out won't be enough to send all 3 of us careening off the steps. As luck would have it, we survived. So I've learned to do things with my feet. I can open a gate, put away toys, kick bathroom doors shut, and gently guide a misbehaving LR to the naughty step on the stairs. The difference is that I get my arms and hands back occasionally.

The only problem is that I sprained my ankle pretty badly while playing touch 7s with my team last Thursday night. So, I'm down to one good limb. On that note, I'm sending out gentle hugs out to my brother SwingDaddy who is tonight recovering from an appendectomy.

Video Clips from Fall 08

Daddy and LR Get Their Game On

Right around Christmas I let LR play a racing game on our old XBox. We bought it about 5 years ago when Papa was going through chemo in order to stay in touch and keep him entertained while he was forced to hang out on the couch. After he recovered we didn't use it very often because LR arrived and pretty much took up all our free time. Then LR hit the car phase. Boy, does he love cars - cars, trucks, trains, planes, any sort of vehicle. Over the holidays I started letting him control his viewing of YouTube videos while I cooked, cleaned, or ate in the kitchen, but as Grandma and I discovered, you're always just a click away from something with XXX in the title on YouTube. I thought, maybe he'd enjoy playing our old Gotham Racing game, so I set him up with a controller and showed him how to play. When Daddy came home and found out he accused me of opening Pandora's box. Possibly...

But I have to say, he's been on a competitive streak anyways as a result of preschool and Daddy. Everything is a race to LR. In this picture they are running to catch up with the stroller because, God forbid, the stroller gets home before they do. LR wants to be first to line up in the classroom, drive his Hotwheels to an imaginary finish line, and get to the top of the stairs at bath time. My favorite is when we're on the road and he tells me to "use the gas" because we're being passed by other cars. The highway is one big race to LR and we're a painfully slow minivan. I do appreciate the cheers from the backseat when I pass someone in the slow lane though.

Daddy has stopped complaining about me letting LR play videogames though since they play StarWars Legos together every night before bed on our new XBox 360. The best part is that LR has played live with cousin Bud and Papa. The only downside is that I'm afraid it's kicking his competitive nature into overdrive. For example, the other day Daddy had this conversation with LR in the bathroom.

LR: I just pooped a lot. I poop more than you.
Daddy: Daddy is bigger than you so he poops a lot too.
LR: No, I poop a super lot.
Daddy: laughing

Ma-Ma... Finally!

Missy finally said "Ma-ma" intentionally this morning. We thought we heard it last night, but I wasn't sure she was directing it at me. This morning while Daddy had the babies downstairs and was letting me get some extra sleep, I distinctly heard Missy at the gate at the bottom of the stairs call for me. It was cute enough to get my sleep-deprived butt out of bed to greet her.

Speaking of cute things that she does... she refuses to wear a bib. She's figured out how to remove both the Velcro version and the over-the-head ones. If I manage to get one on nice and snugly so that she has a hard time getting it off, she'll struggle with it until it's bound around her eyes and then yells. That makes me take it off her, so she's really figured out how to get any version of a bib off. *sigh*

Missy is also walking up a storm. She's finally crossed over into walking the majority of the time instead of crawling. She'll revert every once in a while if she wants to go somewhere really fast or if she's wearing her pjs which make her feet a little slippery on the hardwood floors. She enjoys walking up behind J Frog and giving him a friendly slap on the head. We're currently reviewing the words "gentle" and "no no NO!" She actually reacts with tears to a firm "no," and Daddy and I aren't quite sure what to do since LR could have cared less. It's been a long time since a child has respected us. We're not sure what to do with all this power now.

So, the last picture in this post is of Missy trying to take her shirt off at the table because she thinks it's a bib. Luckily, it was a stretchy shirt, but it took her a little while to give up. I got a couple of cute pictures in the meantime.

1 Year Appointment

J Frog
Length: 50th percentile
Weight: 20th percentile
Head Circumference: 10th percentile (apparently has inherited my tiny noggin - LR and I now have the same hat size.)

Missy
Length: 40th percentile
Weight: 50th percentile
Head Circumference: 70th percentile

All is looking good with the exception of Missy refusing whole milk and formula. She drinks water and then gets a little breast milk each day, but I've almost weaned them, so that won't last long. The doctor said it wasn't a big deal as long as she gets yogurt, which she does every morning, and cheese. No problems there. Another friend who had the same problem with her son said the same thing. So even though the books say 16-24 oz of milk a day, I'm not worried. She's perfectly healthy and eats pretty much everything, so we'll make up for it.

Missy Claps and J Frog Slaps

Missy clapped for the first time today and was pretty proud of herself. She's always had the happy dance where she waves her hands in the air while bouncing up and down, but now she can put her hands together and clap. It's one of those milestones things, so I wanted to mark it. She also likes bowls and playing peek-a-boo with them. It reminded me so much of LR when he was just a little older than they are now. Check out these old pics of him. You'll see the resemblance.

J Frog has started expressing excitement by raising both hands high over his head and slapping them down on the table, floor, a parent's body, or a sibling head. He's just too happy to contain himself and... SLAP-O! It sometimes gets him into trouble with LR - not so much because it makes LR angry. LR just then thinks it's okay to slap back. It's a game, right? His favorite line when I tell him not to push, hit, or kick a baby is, "but (s)he's smiling!"

J Frog has also started to babble more. He's been the strong silent type for a while, allowing Missy to have the floor for the most part, but he's starting to catch up.

Happy 1st Birthday Missy and J Frog

If you are squeamish, don't read this whole episode. It was traumatic at the time, but everyone I tell seems to think it's hysterical and blog worthy, so here ya go. Usually I take a bunch of pictures in order to get a couple of good ones. In this case, it's the progression that's important.

We gave them this ball popper for their birthday which everyone seemed to enjoy.






Then, after a week of illness for everyone, it was party time. (Actually, Daddy had been asleep through dinner, but I was insistent that we celebrate their birthday and that we enjoy the cupcakes Marian had been slaving over all day.)


See! Here she is putting the millionth petal on a bunch of sunflowers with ladybugs on them. They were adorable. Thanks, Marian!


















Here we are singing "Happy Birthday" and everyone looks, indeed, happy.






Note the subtle change in the picture here. Missy looks happier and LR looks a little less happy.






Missy is really excited about her cupcake.







Now she's really excited about J Frog's cupcake. LR doesn't look so excited.






And it's time for the cupcake smash! I've been waiting for this all day. Their first taste of cake... yum!






From behind the lens, I hear Daddy say, "Oh LR..." And the amazing thing was that I hadn't seen it through the lens, but when I looked through the pictures later, look what I found!





And then I got upset because I had to leave taking pictures to clean up vomit for the hundredth time that week. And I questioned aloud whether it was possible to enjoy one major moment - since had also missed LR seeing his bike on Xmas morning since J Frog fell over in another room at that exact moment. And Daddy got upset with me for being upset. So it was a really fun birthday party.

But here we are in the aftermath. A chocolate covered Missy with birthday balloon






A victorious J Frog








A mopping Daddy











And let's not forget that we've survived our first year with twins. Or more importantly, that they've survived. And that they are wonderful. That they've developed into such amazingly different little human beings. J Frog is persistent while Missy is aggressive. He likes to wrestle and cuddle while she's content to be independent and walking! Missy is thick and sturdy while J Frog is long and lanky. They both love to smile with 2 really different mouths - hers like Daddy's Cupid's bow mouth and his like no one's I know. His bottom lip indents in the center when it's slack, but his mouth is beautifully wide when he smiles. Their laughs are as distinct as their cries even if people who visit can't tell them apart. We are looking forward to a year of major milestones reached in majorly different ways.

What a Welcome!

We had 2 really nice weeks with Grandma and Grandad before they left on Jan 8th. Grandad was pretty sick most of the time, but he still helped out all day every day. The kids were spoiled with love and definitely missed them when they left. So did/do I! They managed to stay just a day shy of our new au pair Marian arriving. Wish they could have met her, but really glad they got away when they did. It was just in time!

Our long awaited au pair arrived in NYC on Jan 5th. She spent that week taking quick courses on childcare like "Don't Shake the Baby 101". On Friday Jan 9th she hopped off the bus and we dashed to the car. It was freezing and she's from Colombia which is pretty much hot year-round. She saw snow for the first time on that bus trip from NYC to here. It was overwhelming for her. When we arrived home we had traditional american cuisine: pizza. We were looking forward to a lovely weekend, but 24 hours later we were struck with a nasty strain of the Rotavirus.

I started vomiting in the wee hours on Sat night. Then Daddy joined me on Sunday, J Frog on Monday, LR on Tues. Actually, LR started with a nasty fever, congestion, cough, and 2 ear infections. We showed up at Dr. Nick's door on Thur night and LR promptly vomited all over his doorstep. We got the amoxycilin, but LR couldn't really keep it down anyway. Missy escaped with just the congestion and cough, but I wasn't able to let the babies cry out their naps since it tore up their throats when I put them down. We were an absolute disaster and Marian took care of all of us. Not a great beginning, but she is a great au pair. Looking forward to getting to know her when we're not disgusting.

Time With Grandparents

We were so lucky to have family members available to help us out during our au pair gap. I'm not sure I would have been able to hold onto my contract position if we hadn't had so much support. Oh, and I would have gone bat-shit insane. These kids, while awesome, are ridiculous. The babies need constant attention and LR needs... constant attention. To be fair, LR has really improved in the last few months - he can play by himself for extended periods of time and has picked up some social graces from preschool. One of his favorite new toys is the Tag reader and he will open a book at any time during the day and stay entertained.

I also managed to open Pandora's box, according to Daddy, by allowing LR to play Project Gotham 2 on the XBox. Now LR and Daddy spend each night before bed playing Project Gotham 4 or Star Wars: Lego on the XBox 360. I had no idea he'd be ready for video games, but he loves them. We're looking forward to doing some live gaming with Papa, SwingDaddy, and Bud.






I have no idea why all the pictures in this post are of Missy, but apparently she was more often photographed with a grandparent.





She loves her food!







And eating naked. Not even sure why she has a bib on...