Intrepid Murmurings

Emma dancing to Bob Marley (yes, she chose to do this over cupcake eating!),

Elsie with blue frosting, Delia with pink.  

Last night I got three hours of sleep, thanks to a combo of a late night (my fault), insomnia (rare for me) and a sick feverish kid flopping around beside me (as usual she was thrilled to be with us but Could. Not. Sleep. in our bed and eagerly went back to hers eventually).  The day could have gone really poorly due to the circumstances, but it was actually pretty great.  Emma went to school full day (a rare treat) and had a fabulous time. Delia is the sick one today, and she was really dragging but rallied off and on, especially around dinnertime and right after (dancing a bunch too) thanks to fever meds.  

I know, cupcakes are not the best food for sick kids, but we don't always follow the rules around here! Thanks to my cousin Sarah for the delicious fancy cupcakes (and sorry TT for missing your birthday playdate!).  Oddly, my kids decided dancing was more fun than cupcake eating, so they mostly just had a bit of the frosting and are saving the rest for tomorrow! 

This was technically taken after they were in the oven, actually, though check out the biscuit recipe here.  Whenever I start cooking and the girls notice they start pushing chairs over to "help", and it often does NOT work at all, with three of them trying to get in on the action and me with no counter left to squeeze into! I might have to start taking Hobo Mama's approach of cooking on the floor, because the "counter wars" can be brutal around here!  

In any case, Elsie (in pink) and Delia (in blue) were having fun here and look so grown up to me in these pictures!  Yipes, where'd my little babies go?  At least they're little enough to still love playing "peek a boo" behind the chairs...

Today Elsie and Delia had their first creative movement class -- something they have been watching Emma do for a few months now, and desperately wanting to try themselves.  We had a bit of a rocky start as there was a scheduling snafu resulting in the first week being cancelled, and then having to miss last week due to illness.  But today, we finally made it!  They were soooooooo excited!  Delia especially was grinning from ear to ear the whole time and kept saying "I'm so 'cited!"  

For West Seattlites, our class is through Gildenfire Dance, and is close to South Seattle Community College.  The girls know Teacher Jenna pretty well, at least from afar, since she was Emma's preschool teacher last year!  Delia LOVED hanging out with Jenna and wanted to sit next to her whenever she could.  Ha ha!  This class was mostly toddlers under 3, with a fair bit of parent participation (we could choose if we wanted to participate or not), at least for corralling and encouraging purposes.  I actually stepped back and watched a fair bit (which E & D are used to me doing at Emma's class), and Delia was fine with that, though Elsie kept coming over wanting to be with me. 

Sadly, my little camera takes horrible pictures in this room, which has kind of crappy lighting, so these photos are not great.  Next week I am going to try to bring my "real" camera, and/or the video camera, because it is just too cute to see these kids doing this stuff together!    

Delia in tie dye, Elsie in rainbow shirt 

Okay, so today was a looooong day with one sick kid (Elsie, feverish, but on the mend) and all three home all day. I am realizing that those days that Emma does not have school can be Oh So Exhausting, mostly because I often save sanity saving errands & outings for the days when we are already heading out for school anyway, and plan on getting more done on the "home days", which does not always work out, with three kids pent up indoors a fair bit of the time. Gotta get my work done more efficiently so we can go do fun stuff out there in the world, instead!

Unrelated to any of that, here are some random shots from the past month(s) that I have been wanting to share but haven't, yet.  No time like the present (thank you NoBloPoMo)! 

Flubber swim party

And we'll end with a little twin gem taken in August. OMG, I love it! And also can't believe how much their language & pronunciation has changed, only 2.5 months later! 

Today, Elsie started freaking out at the lunch table.  She was clawing at her nose,  which on closer inspection revealed a pea lodged in each nostril.  She could not breathe through her nose or get them out.  I told her to blow and she did, and the problem was solved, hopefully to not be repeated anytime soon.  While trying to hide my laughter, I told scary stories about children needing ER visits to get things like this out of noses, and noted that your mouth was the only orifice that she can put things into.  I know this is a common toddler activity, and I am actually surprised I made it through almost 4.5 years of parenting before this actually happened.  This is the child who still puts EveryFreakingThing into her mouth, so not really a shocker that she ended up trying this.  

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Last week, as you might have seen in my twitter feed, both Elsie and Delia made an escape out the front door, down the steps, through the (open? closed? I am not sure?) front gate, down the driveway, ACROSS THE STREET (at 5pm on a weeknight) and down to our mailboxes.  I, guiltily, was futzing around on Facebook, Lonnie was upstairs playing with Emma.  I knew Elsie and Delia had left the living room where they were playing, but assumed they had gone up with Lonnie and Emma.  Lonnie looked out our bedroom window at some point and saw them wandering down the street, with our neighbor trying to corral them.  Both had no shoes on and were wearing (or rather, trailing) silk fabric scarves for their "coats". We ran out to get them.  "We were checking the mail" of them said, "We held hands!".  

We have now reinstated the carabeener that is our makeshift gate lock (the latch on our gate is easily reachable by them).  They had never, ever given any indication of doing this before, and we had totally gotten lazy about it.  Whoops!

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Its definitely fascinating to watch the bond that E & D share grow and deepen.  They are best friends, clearly, and have so much fun together.  Lately, they have been getting into these silly laughing fits where they just crack each other up, with uproarious laughter, for 5-10 minutes at a time.  Sometimes its just something goofy they are taking turns doing, or copying each other, sometimes, I have no idea what is going on between them.  It happens daily, often multiple times a day.  Here is a video I shot from a little more than a month ago.  It had been going on for awhile before I started recording. Coincidentally, involving peas as well!

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday posts at Hobo Mama and A Lot of Loves! 

I've been meaning to post about this, but also wanting to wait and see how it went before reporting to the world.  It's been more than a week since Elsie and Delia transitioned into BIG KID BEDS, at age 27 months, and all is going well!  Though I guess the term "big kid bed" might be stretching it -- Elsie has a toddler bed with her crib mattress, and Delia is still sleeping on the floor with her crib mattress (her bed is coming soon!).  

When we returned home from visiting my parents a week and a half ago, Lonnie had a surprise for Elsie.  He had cut apart her crib (which we had already disassembled and didn't want to sell since it was recalled) and turned it into a cute little bed.  She was thrilled!  This was a surprise for me, as well.  Ha ha (gulp).  I was very happy with our gate bed solution, personally, but I knew this was coming, sooner rather than later.  Elsie had climbed over the gate on her first day without the crib (see below -- never at bedtimes though!), and Delia was climbing out of the Pack and Play occasionally at my parents place.  For the most part, they liked the comfort & enclosure of the gates/cribs though, so they didn't do it often.    

How Delia managed to push her bed over there is beyond me!

Elsie the escape artist (she'd asked to be in there to play)


Elsie's new Big Kid Bed (same shirt, a different day) 

The bed is so darn cute, with its itty bittyness, and all!  And free is a very good price!  Another post is coming soon with more specifics of how Lonnie did it....

Delia's crib was not the same style and could not be crafted into toddler bed in this way.  She was (understandably) a bit distraught when she realized she still had a "gate bed" and Elsie had a big kid bed with no gate (having the gate around it felt really unsafe, at that point).  We took Delia's gate away too, and Lonnie took her shopping the next day to get wood to build her a bed from scratch.  It is almost done --  here is it in progress, more pictures tomorrow or Tuesday when we get it set after the finish dries!

Delia's bed in progress

After all I've read (and heard about first person) about the horrors of transitioning room-sharing multiples out of cribs (pretty much all of them across the board were NOT GOOD, with hours of chaos at bedtimes and lost sleep, etc etc etc.  Yipes!) I was definitely hesitant about all this.  Lonnie, on the other hand, always thought it would go fine (so now he's in a bit of a gloating phase, ha ha).  While it's still too early to proclaim total success, I do think we have been both lucky and well-prepared for this. Here are some of the things we did or set in place before the transition that probably helped:  

• Having a very (VERY) regular bedtime (7-7:30), and sticking to it (and our routine, including shades and white noise/"sleeping music" & nursing) always.  I can literally count on one hand (probably less, actually) the number of times they've gone to bed later than 8 in the past year or so.  I know we are lucky, though it did take a lot of work and perseverance at first.  We are therefore not flexible about evening activities, which means missing out on a lot of stuff sometimes, but for us, it's so very worth it!

• Using a Good Nite Lite.  This is a light with an internal clock timer that you can set for bedtime and "wake up time".   It's supposed to plug right into a wall outlet but we have it in an extension cord that is propped on top of a dresser (so the light is facing out, cord down the back, fitted with one of these if your kids mess with cords). When it's time for sleep, it lights up blue, with a moon.  When it's the approved wake up time, it switches to a yellow sun.  While it's certainly not foolproof (it is only a glorified nightlight, after all!), it has helped us a lot, especially if we "talk it up".  I think having this solidly in place for 6 months now made them not question it during the bed transition. 

• For months leading up to this, I have been talking it up with them about what "kids need to know how to do" in order to have Big Kid Beds.  Now that we are here, I've summed it up into three rules 1) You MUST ask before getting in to play your sisters bed during the day (they are very protective of their beds, Delia in particular -- as it is one of their only private spaces) 2) DO NOT EVER WAKE YOUR SISTER if she is sleeping, and 3) DO NOT get out of bed when "the moon is on".

• It is also very true that we have just been lucky!  Elsie and Delia are pretty mellow, easy-going kids,  even though they feel like hooligans compared to their big sis sometimes.  While they have had challenges with waking up in the night and early (early!) mornings, bedtime has been easy for quite awhile -- they just don't have the challenges that many kids have with separating and winding down for sleep at this time.  They are also really good at language -- both receptive and communicating themselves, so they "get it" and can repeat back to us what the expectations are

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday posts over at A Lot of Loves and Hobo Mama.   

We don't usually do matchy matchy around here much, especially not all three, as Emma has Very Particular opinions about what she wears.  But this was too tempting.  Emma already had and wore this outfit, and when I saw it come up on sale again I grabbed two more for the little ones.  Note individual choices for leg and footwear.  Delia loves her "Docky Boots" (Doc Martens) and I do too.  

In all photos, Delia on left, Emma in center, Elsie on right 

There is something about twins...and I have been seeing it more and more lately!  They just have such a connection, an acceptance of each other, a familiarity... 

I have read about the "twin mystique" -- the romanticizing of twins that occurs in our society, which affects how people treat them and creates so much pressure for them to be close, to be similar, to deny their individuality for the sake of "the twinship" -- and it is very possible I am reading into it, buying into the glamourous "mystery" of twins.  I think thats so easy to do, especially as a non-twin (and an only child!).  

I do think different-aged siblings can also have a similarly close connection -- when you are around someone so much, share a room, share activities, share clothes, share a childhood, this just happens, I am sure.  I do see similarly touching moments between Emma and Elsie or Emma and Delia, just not as often, and there is something different --  they are not on a level playing field, there is a power or knowledge or maturity imbalance that just changes things, however slightly.  With Elsie and Delia, they are the same age, have most of the same abilities, very similar interests, and a closeness that comes from doing so much together, in step with each other, due to constant proximity, if nothing else.  

Lately, they have been mentioning the other when they are apart, and it is obvious they are thinking of each other.  They are not like some twins I have heard of, who cry or mope when separated -- not at all!  They do certainly notice, though, and are sometimes pretty excited to be doing something by themselves!  I believe strongly in spending time with them individually, taking them out for one-on-one time, and it hasn't been happening as often as I'd like.  As they get older, I hope they will insist on this, and I will try to as well.  But we will also cherish the together times, and I look forward to seeing what happens as they grow.   

Playing in the fort at Emma's school

On our hike, Elsie called Delia back to point out and discuss these tree roots coming out of the ground. They examined and talked about them together for a long time.

 If you have twins (or are a twin!), what do you think about the "twin mystique"?  Are your twins close, and do they seem to share a special connection?

This post is part of the Mom's 30-Minute Blog Challenge over at Steady Mom.  A concept I wish I could stick to more often!  

One thing about having more than one child, is that it gives you a perspective on how truly different kids can be.  When you just have one, its really really hard sometimes to truely understand that all kids do not act and respond to things the way that yours does.  At least I had trouble with that at times!  Even though intellectually (and experientially as a teacher!) I knew it was true.  

Take my girls.  Emma (the oldest) has always been super cautious.  She was a mama's girl for a loooong time, hesitant about strangers and new situations. Very slow to warm up.  A very picky (cautious) eater.  And physically, always always careful, nervous, and slow to take on a challenge. A lot of times, this worked great for me, especially her being a fairly careful toddler when I had two newborns to lug around as well.  Thank goodness!  

Elsie and Delia, not so much!  They are so different than Emma (though similar to each other), especially with regards to the physical stuff.  Even though they took longer to actually crawl and walk than Emma did, from the start they have been climbers, leapers, adventurers, and daredevils -- both of them!  Delia perhaps a bit moreso (hence the two chipped teeth on one occasion, and fat lip and stiches on another...) but really both of them are pretty equal with this.  Last spring, a few months before they turned one (and many before they started walking!),  Delia --and later Elsie-- started walking up our little slide.  I can't believe that video is only from a year ago!  Since then they've mastered all sorts of way bigger slides, and are now working on climbing much larger things, ladders, hanging on bars, swinging, dangling and jumping...

The thing is, even though they are very physical and adventurous, I don't worry (too much) about them falling or getting hurt, at least in places and with equipment they know well (like our backyard).  I feel like they've figured out what gravity does, and are careful enough to not do something stupid.  Perhaps naive of me, but its worth it to me to give them space and not follow them around.  So lately, we've been letting all three girls out to play in the backyard by themselves.   Revolutionary!

A few days ago they were out there in a brief sunny moment, in between all the rain we've been having.  When I first looked out they were playing around on the swings (pushing each other sometimes, oh so cute!).  In a few minutes I looked out again and saw BOTH Elsie and Delia almost to the top of the high climbing wall, one right behind the other.  The one that Emma only mastered in the last few months!  By the time I was out there they were both up, so here's a few shots of Elsie trying it again by herself... 

Yep, thats Delia again, going up the big slide this time!  What a difference (or maybe not) a year makes!  

Ahhhh....I love long weekends and the after-party "clean house" phenomenon.  After the past two weeks of birthdays and parties, it is so nice to be done!!!  We have been chillin' all day, the kids playing well together (um, for the most part) and enjoying their new toys, while I've even been able to get to some organizing projects that have been desperately weighing down on me (redoing closets, especially Elsie and Delias, which was almost to the point of unusability do to a number of factors).  Oh, the joys of purging, moving, and creating new storage space! Its already so much better!  (Yes, I am that old, that I am working on stuff like this on the weekend AND actually enjoying it.  Ha!). 

Its Folklife weekend here in Seattle, and if we were not desperately needing downtime after the birthday stuff I'd totally be there, though.  Next year!  I think the kids will be old enough to enjoy it (in a short, child-sized doses, anyway).   

Elsie and Delia's party yesterday went great!  A few kids over, but not too many, and lots of adults, which comes in handy!  It was supposed to be outside but the weather here is LAME, so we stayed in and still managed to do some fun activities --  it was billed as a "Messy Party" so we did some sensory projects like homemade flubber (recipe coming soon in a future post!) and shaving cream fingerpainting, which the kids enjoyed.  Elsie played with the flubber FOR EVER!  

I don't have any pictures of the early part of the party since I was so busy, but here are some from the cake on.  I made two Oreo ice cream cakes, one dairy-free (for Lonnie) and one not.  They were both awesome and pretty easy!  Didn't take any pretty closeups of them, but here it is on the table and going down... 

Elsie's method works great too, though less civilized...

Delia very intent on her new Magna Doodle

Delia & Auntie Em writing 

All in all the girls had tons of fun.  Elsie and Delia loved the attention and were so pleased that it was "MY birthday" instead of Emma's (or Bunny Bun Buns, or Suzie's the doll's -- there's been a lot of birthday play going on here, very directed by the big sister).  

 
Elsie (purple) & Delia (yellow), 4 days old (sorry for the lack of pictures taken on your actual birthday, and the following days. We were SOOOOO busy!) Here's a link to their birth story.  

Delia is ONE!  Hooray!

 
Elsie is ONE, yahoo!

Happy SECOND birthday, Delia Grace!  We love you!  

 
You are TWO Elsie Olivia!  We love you!