Learning how to look after the boys

Missy cracks me up. I'm afraid she's far more maternal than I am already.

She prepares meals with the boys looking over her shoulder.







Then it's time for dinner.








A little cleanup












She's so helpful.

Life with Twins

Life with twins is about lots of sharing.







What's mine is yours.







Each one would give the shirt off their back for the other.







As long as she can get the shirt back again eventually.







Maybe both shirts.

The Clean and Jerk

Missy has always insisted on lifting everything in her path.







She gave the watermelon a run for its money.







The agony of defeat.

J Frog Starts Communicating

This past month J Frog has made great strides in his communication skills. I think it was the sign for "sheep" that finally solidified the "signing = communication" concept for him. Daddy was reading a book to him with a sheep in it and after a few minutes he got it. Once he got that sign he started trying out more. The sign for sheep seems to have been his Tipping Point.

The other day I arrived home from work and Marian said that he had a new sign. "Stuck" was our sign for "do you need help?" and he was really making an effort to use it. He had a new game where he pushed his dump truck until he hit a while and would announce "da!" and then put his hand to his chest or neck. You can see the sign in the first photo. The second shows him hitting the wall and the third shows both. I followed him around for 10-15 minutes playing the game over and over again. He was so excited to be communicating that the game never got old. Since then he's picked up "fish," "monkey," "trash," "dog," and a few others I can't think of. He still does a lot of yelling, but at least he can give us a little direction now.

What's gonna work? Teamwork!

Why do we unload the shoe rack every day?







Because the smell of coffee is intoxicating? Because it drives Mommy crazy?






Because climbing is so much fun.

Wow, is it July already?

I have tons of new photos to post of the kids, but I'm on the wrong machine. *sigh*

In the meantime, someone posted this link on my Mother of Twins list and I thought it was interesting. LR is pretty content to be naked especially now that the warm weather is finally here.

When Do They Need a Fig Leaf?

I don't mind his aversion to clothes. He doesn't insist on picking them out every day or agonize in front of the mirror about which shorts go best with his airplane shirt. I suppose I might have felt like a hypocrite if I criticized after having to undress from the waist up every time I had to nurse the babies.

Language Development

J Frog has now had 4 weeks of Early Intervention and we're seeing definite improvement. He's chewing well, but still has a little trouble pacing himself. He stuffs too much food in his mouth and then gags or spits it all back out. He also tends to pocket it in his cheeks if it's something a little tougher to chew. He figures he'll get back to it later. As far as gross motor skills go, he's still crawling, but this week he's finally decided that he really wants to walk, so we're spending every available moment walking him around the house. He's gotten more demanding too, so he'll scream to let you know that he'd like to walk now. When we used to do this with LR, we broke our backs because he was only 10 months old. J Frog is 16.5 months old and much taller, so it's not quite as bad this time around. I expect he'll be walking by 18 months.

Both J Frog and Missy are improving their communication skills. Missy signs "more," "water," "yay!" "monkey," "TV," "Blue's Clues," "finished," "fish," and recently I've seen her try to improvise signs. She'll point to something and shake her hands, trying to communicate whatever it is. J Frog signs "more," "finished," and "yay!" Missy also says a number of things. Her vocabulary includes "Daddy," "Mommy," "Elmo," (from Blue's Clues) "notebook," "apple," and "bubble." Yesterday I pointed to a picture of me with Hudson and said to Missy, "Mommy. That's me." Then I put my hand flat on my chest and repeated, "me." Missy then put her hand flat on J Frog's chest and said, "me!" I guess it's confusing for twins.

LR, on the other hand, is working on communicating with his words and not his hands. When he's mad he tends to hit, kick, or stomp. We even had a biting episode last week. The good news is he's still absolutely in love with his best friend R. The two of them can't stand to be separated. Here they are in the hammock, kicking, wiggling, and laughing. Thank goodness they are in the same class again next year!

Trip to Florida

When we found our we were having twins, we swore it would be years before we would travel again. Of course, when Daddy's grandmother passed away we decided it was worth the hassle and loaded up 2 parents, our au pair, LR, and the babies and flew to Tampa for the service. Since we were going to throw off everyone's schedule, we booked a couple of extra days to get some visiting time in with Gigi and her family.

The flight down was everything we had worried about and more. The screaming, skipped naps, and J Frog barfing all over himself and Daddy. Did I think to pack a change of clothes for each kid? Seriously, that's parenting 101 stuff. So, J Frog ended up in his jacket and diaper for the duration. LR was pretty awesome and easy to entertain, but the babies were exhausted beyond belief and Missy screamed for all but the last 3 minutes of the hour drive from the airport to Gigi's house. Then she fell asleep.

I took about a zillion (ok, 400) photos while we were down there and the task of marking them, exporting them, and posting them was daunting which is one of the reasons it has taken me so long. Suffice it to say that despite the circumstances, we had a wonderful time. We heard lots of wonderful stories about Gram and got a chance to visit with Pop. LR got some time with his second cousins and they were amazing with him considering that they're 4 and 6 years older than he.

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.