Imaginary Friends and Family

Avery's imaginary world is very prolific. She has a daddy, a brother and today when I heard them talking about these people Emerson said something about a baby in the tummy. I asked, "who has a baby in their tummy?" Avery said, "My daddy."
"Oh really?"
"Yep. Him is pregnate."

This pretend family lives in a house with stairs that Avery likes to climb. While in CA, our last night was spent with Julie's "Uncle Fuzzy's" house. When we got there there was a cat on the front porch that the girls saw for about 10 seconds. We never saw the cat again. Uncle Fuzzy's house was a two story house. The girls played on the stairs the. entire. time. we were there.

When we were leaving CA I asked the girls what they were going to miss the most in CA? Avery's answer IN THIS ORDER was:
The Stairs
The Cat and
Papa...

Yes...she has her priorities right on the money.

When in doubt...play

We went to the grocery store today. The girls wanted to walk. I made a deal with them that if they listened to me and stayed with me they could walk. If not they had to get in the cart and ride. Didn't even get through produce before I had to ask Avery to get into the cart. She refused. I tried to physically put her in. NOPE not unless I wanted to beat her. Tried to reason with her. NOPE she started screaming at me and throwing herself onto the floor. I tried time out. She could have cared less and just kept getting out of it. So I thought I would just wait her out. I told her we were not moving till she got into the cart. We were there about 15 minutes and she was happy to stay right where we were. Then I thought...'what else could I do...playful? Well, we have pretended to be out running alligators more then once....'

"Hey girls!!! I see some alligators up ahead. You guys better get in the cart so we can get by them."

Wishing I would have thought of that about 15 minutes prior...

In the cart they both went...willingly, and happily.

California Vaca Take II

We took our semi-annual vacation to California to visit the LGs grandfather and other friends and family there. This time I booked our flight out of Orlando (on purpose)

The flights this time were not nearly as bad. Only had one bad (short) flight were Avery was a pain in the butt. I highly recommend having a layover if you are taking a really long flight with toddlers cause they need the change in scenery and the stretching of the legs. We flew into Long Beach and stayed in Anaheim the first 2 nights and went to Disneyland. We had a blast!

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After Disney we went to the same place we stayed 2 yrs ago in Thousand Oaks. We got to go Grandpa and Nan Lisa's house. The girls loved Nan's bird garden and helped her feed them. They also loved the dogs and I could tell they missed their puppies cause they told every stranger they met about their pooping puppy and how she poops in their room (despite the fact that Leni has not pooped in the house in quite some time...not counting the accidents she had while we were away, of course) The other thing they told every single person they were near was how old they are. The amuzing part of this is that they told people they were every age from 4 to 16 and would try to hold up the appropriate number of fingers for the age. One would say, "I Avery, I 4 yrs old." and then Emerson would say, "I Emerson, I 10." Cracked us up every. single. time. Imagine how many people they talked to in the 4 different airports we were in!?!

We also got to visit the ranch where Nan's horse is kept. I got to visit Rowen again...

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We also got to visit Papa's work and the park team at the city of Malibu build, Legacy Park. It was really really cool!

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We went to one of Papa's good friends house for dinner and swimming. They had two girls one was going into 1st grade and the other was going into 3rd grade (I think) The LGs had a WONDERFUL time playing with them and they all put on a princess fashion show for us. Lovely family and a great time!

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Strange Love

The first few times I took the girls to the aquarium we did not go up to the very top level, cause they were so little I did not want to take them up the stairs.

On the first visit to the 3rd floor the girls got their first look at the mermaid. The first thing they did was jump on her lap and start fondling her. Avery did her "boob whisperer" move. It's something she would do to me on occasion and I had never seen her do it to anyone else. I assumed it was because I was the only one who ever nursed her. "Boob Whispering" consisted of her running her hand about a quarter of an inch above the boob like she was massaging it or acquiring a signal from another world and she would whisper, "abbba dabba daaaaba...." with her eye almost closed like she in a trance of some sort. Well, she did this to the mermaid the first time she met her.

Today we went to the aquarium to meet another twin mom. The girls had a fabulous time petting the stingrays. We enjoyed watching the otters play. Both the girls got bit by a duck. We played in the sand box and in the water splash pad. Then our friends left. I told the girls we needed to leave too. They did not want to leave so I said, "How about we go up and say hi to the mermaid for 10 minutes then we will leave?" They were like YEAH!

It has been quite a while since we have been to the aquarium...the love for the mermaid has not died!

Petting the stingrays

The duck that bit BOTH the girls.
Why? Cause they both tried to pet it. They then told me to pet it!

The mermaid that has captured the girls hearts...

Avery took her love a step too far...

Dental BFFs? Um, no.

Thursday was the girls 3rd EVER dentist appointment. The last 2 appointments I have had to go back with them (see post "Avey Does" ) I was not very good this go round at giving them ample notification of this visit. I was meaning to tell them a few days in advance and play "dentist" to get them used to the idea and to hopefully get them to go back by themselves so they could actually get their teeth cleaned. When I have to go back with them they only get an exam no cleaning.

Thursday morning came faster then I expected and when Avery asked, "What we do-inn today, Mama?" I said, "Oh!?! Today we have a dentist appointment." Avery immediately protested with her usual whine/cry, "Noooooo, I don't want to go to the dentist......" "sorry that's what we are going to do, but then we are going to get lunch at McDonald's and head to the zoo with your friend Kenzie!" This did not warm her up so I dropped it and continued to get us all ready. Periodically (like every 30 minutes or so) we would have THAT SAME conversation almost verbatim except sometimes Emerson would join in and try to convince Avery that it would be fine...Thank you Emerson! Oh and the other variation was Avery would ask if, "you go back with us. Right, Mama?" And I would say, "yes, I will go back with you if you need me to."

We finally arrive at the dentist's office and the girls are excited to play in the VW Bug in the waiting room. Yes the dentist's office has an actual VW Bug in the waiting room. While I am sitting there letting them play I have an epiphany: wonder if Avery will go back by her self if I ask the staff to not touch her without permission.... "Hey Avery. If you go back by your self you get lots of cool stuff. Stickers, coins to get a prize, coupons for free apple dippers at McDonald's, new toothbrush. If you want I can ask the staff to ask you for permission before touching you?" Avery says, "Ok." A few seconds later the door opens and the lady says,
"Avery and Emerson?"
I ask the lady if she can ask all the staff to ask Avery permission before touching her? Emerson too, but especially Avery.
"oh no problem. We always explain and then do."
"No, that's not good enough. You need to explain, then ASK 'can I____' and then wait for a yes, then DO."
"oh, ok. Yes. I will make sure I am the one who works with Avery so that happens."
And they headed in with her like they've done it all their lives.

Every time the door opened I was expecting to hear, "Avery and Emerson's mom?" but I didn't then this lady pokes her head out the window where you sign in and says, "Emerson and Avery are doing so good they want to get their growth and development Xrays. Is that ok?" um, yeah! Sure....who are these kids?

The staff said they did great and as long as you asked Avery she always said yes. They also said that the Dentist for got to ask once and Avery promptly schooled him on his error.

As I was leaving I over heard a tech talking about one of them. She said that one of the other techs was keeping Avery company while they were waiting for the xrays to finish. She was chatting with Avery and said, "so we are best friends now right?" and Avery replied, "ummmm, maybe tomorrow." Ouch!

"Water Party"

The other day while Julie and I were getting ready I can hear the girls in the kitchen. As I walk toward them Emerson see me and comes running at me excitedly and tells me, "we having a water party, Mama!"

The girls have a long standing love of water as shown in this post.

Wanna know what a water party is? I was kind of worried as I could hear the fridge water running. As I rounded the corner trying to keep a happy face for Emerson cause I knew whatever I found I needed to not have a negative reaction.

A "water party" consists of taking any and all vessels capable of holding said water out of the dishwasher. Filling them about half way up with water from the door of the fridge. Then lining them up on the counter "Signs" style.

In this photo I think Emerson was counting them for me....she can only reliably count to like 13 so I'm pretty sure she was not able to count them...

When you run out of vessels in the dishwasher you then move on to the Tupperware out of the cabinet and when you run out of room on the counter you put the vessels on the floor...like this:

Pride 2011

Julie works for New York Life here in Tampa and this year NYL wanted to participate in the St Pete pride parade. It is the biggest one in the state of Florida. I actually took the girls to it two years ago (Julie was working) with a friend of mine from Orlando. The girls had a good time and there were about 15-20 protesters. I thought that wasn't too bad for Florida. I was pleasantly surprised to see only like four!

So this year the girls, Julie and I (and some of her coworkers) were IN THE parade! It was a load of fun. We all "bedazzled" the jeep and Julie drove it. The girls had a great time throwing candy out (at) to the crowd. At one point Emerson was walking and she was going upto any kid on the parade route and gave them candy. If there happened to be a mud puddle on the way to the child ALL THE BETTER!

When Julie told me we were going to be in the parade my first question was, "Do the girls need to be in car seats?" Julie thought they needed to be in them I thought otherwise. I mean the vehicle would not be going faster then 2 miles an hour! Turned out I was right...but I was wishing I had those darn things at the end!

At the end of the parade they make the people who are walking go one way and the cars go another. I was walking (along with all the other NYL people and Julie and the girls were in the Jeep. Thankfully I managed to follow behind the Julie and hop into the Jeep. The route was kind of twisty and turny do it was not a straight shot back to the staging area and it was a long route. To make matters worse Avery and Emerson were DONE with the parade by the end. So now Julie is not knowing which way to go, I am trying to tell her which way to go. Avery is crying that she wants to go home. I tell her we are going to go home and she cries that we cant get home this way....she was tired and hungry! Poor baby!

Didn't Want to Watch

I had had no interest in the Royal Wedding as a matter of fact I was actually annoyed by the attention it was getting....till last night. Julie was watching a show that was recounting the wedding of Princess Diana. I had had no interest in THAT wedding either. If I knew then what I know now I would have been glued to the screen!

A few days ago I walked into the bedroom and Avery was retelling the Revolutionary War: "He was bad. He trying to take our stuff, our candy, our Toy Story guys..." She was speaking of King George. Julie had been trying to explain the Revolutionary War to her.

This morning Avery came into our bed like she does every morning and asked to watch one of her shows. When I turned on the TV, I'm sure you know what was on, right? Yes, THE wedding was happening. Julie told Avery that that was a real live princess and she was marrying her prince. Julie then proceeded to tell Avery, who was VERY interested, who everyone else was. "he is the Queen." Avery, "the evil queen?" "No. Just the queen. That's Camilla, she is the wicked stepmother." I said something about the Abby, and Avery said, "No that is a castle!"

As I sat there and watched I thought it would be really cool to take the girls to England so they could see real castles. If nothing else I think the wedding will help the Brittish tourism. I found myself glued to the screen waiting for THE KISS. This is sooo not me!

The absolutely funniest thing I have seen this morning was a lesbian friend of mine posted a little conversation she and her partner had watching the wedding:
C-"I wish I could have worn that at my wedding."
L-"You would have worn a dress?"
C-"Not that. What HE'S wearing."

Strange Play Places

My license expired and I tried to renew it online but for some reason I was not able to. The thing is I THOUGHT I had renewed it (my birthday is in March. We are at the end of April here) and I kept waiting for it to come in the mail. I finally looked into it and discovered that I could not in fact renew it online and I was waiting for a license to come in that was never going to arrive.

Unfortunately I had to make the dreaded trip to the DMV. I made an appointment, in the hopes that that would lessen my suffering. I also knew I would have the girls with me. The appointment was not for a few days so i thought I would stop by a DMV and just get it done. I get in there with the girls to find out that not only is the wait 1 and a half hours but I needed to have with me my birth certificate (short form is fine), social security card and two bills showing I live where I live. Oy Vey! Not having these documents I decide to wait for my appointment and chance it with my expired license.

So we get to the DMV on the correct day and at the correct time (despite going to the wrong one on the other side of town that was closed!) and the people of the DMV make the People of Walmart look like socialites. A lady with a really big wig leans over and is telling Emerson how pretty she is and Emerson starts crying and hiding her face. This did not bode well for our stay. I gave them a snack that they proceeded to drop and tried to pick up to eat. "NOOOOOO!!! give it here, it is now garbage!" I think I used an entire thing of wipes while there.

They started a game of walking along the wall (in front of ALL the people sitting and waiting) with their backs against it. They each went two times then were like, "mama, your turn!" Yep, I walked up, as if on stage, and walked along the wall to the end and back. They then called my number, THANK GOD!

As I am taking care of my business the girls start playing a game of "3 little pigs" with the blue back drop for picture taking. In the middle of getting my license renewed by the slowest clerk ever, Emerson announces she has to go to the bathroom. We take care of that then back to business for me and play for them. Now they have moved to an empty desk and are playing with a little stuffed patriotic bear. Emerson is putting it in her shirt announcing she has a "baby in her belly" then pulling it out the bottom of the shirt. Then they moved to the computers you take the drivers test with. They start touching the screen until the one Emerson is playing with has an error screen on it. Ok, time to leave!!!! "Nooooo!!!! 5 more minutes Mama!?!" "2 more minutes, and you cant play with the computers. " "ok"

Today we met some friends at a REALLY cool park right near the Glazer Children's Museum. We loved the Glazer Museum when we went last week! The first thing we notice are the love bugs. It is love bug season here in Florida. Emerson starts screaming, wailing and trying to climb me. I tried to reason with her. I tried to distract her. None of these things work. When there was a swarm of Love Bugs near her she would scream/wail/climb. Avery was ok with them but I could see she was starting to get a little freaked out too. I talked them into going over to the water area cause I was sure there would be less near the water.

I was right and Avery had a pretty good time for about 30 minutes. Emerson was not that into it and continued to ask to go home. I finally gave in and left with them.

While at the water area a group of older kids showed up and there was a girl who looked to be about 10. She was doing the exact same thing as Emerson. I told Emerson it was ok for her to be acting like this now but I hope she will not still be having this reaction when she is that age. When we left the girl had locked herself in a bathroom and was still crying and sceaming.

On the way home I stopped at Home Depot to get a few things. We went to the garden part to get some more vegetables for the girls garden. While in the garden area one of them says they have to go to the bathroom. We trekked all. the. way. to the other side of HD to use the potty. Then back to the garden center. About 2 minutes pass and Avery announces that she has to poop. So, back to the bathroom we went. We then went to another part of the store. As I was standing in aisle waiting for an associate to come and get some shelving for me the girls started playing with the carpets that hang. They were playing hide and seek. You could totally see their feet. It was very cute. The employee finished getting me my shelving so I tell the girls we are ready to leave and they yell, "nooooo! 5 minutes!?!" "Ok, 1 minute then we have to go." The employee and I stand there and watch them play for another minute and we leave.

Here you can see Emerson in her misery at the park:

Avery enjoying the water

Mermaid Man

We decided to go to the beach on Saturday. Now the girls think that where ever we go on the weekend we have to take Mom's Jeep. That would be fine except there is virtually NO storage in it and I feel like moving car-seats has become a part time job. Time to buy 2 more car seats!

So we packed as much as we could into the Jeep. It looked like a clown car with beach chairs flowing out over the sides.

While there the kids that were next to us started to do a project.
The boy laid down and the girls (pre-teenish) started putting wet sand on him. they then asked us if we had any buckets they could use. We did so we gave them to them. They asked the LGs if they wanted to help them. They were making the boy into a mermaid.

It was the girls idea to add the "bling" on the tail...

Have you seen the photos people have of their feet on the beach with the sand and the water? I was trying to get one of those. I don't think I succeeded...

Avery saw me taking the pictures of my feet and asked me what I was doing. I told her and she said take one of mine! And this is how she posed:
LOVE IT!


Having a snack...


After the beach we headed over to Rick's On the River for lunch...


The girls made a friend:

Caterpillar Circle

I signed the girls up for Caterpillar Circle at the place that they take gymnastics It is basically like a moms morning out pre-pre-school. One day a week they go there, do a craft or two, have a snack and they get an additional hour of gymnastics a week. SCORE!

Last Thursday was their first day at CC. When they got up Avery, like she does every morning, asked, "What we doing today?" I told her about CC and she started crying saying she did not want to go. I thought, "great this is going to end very badly." I told them we were not going to talk about it anymore till we got there then we could decide if we really did not want to go.

So we get there and the teacher (who is the first teacher that Avery let touch her in gymnastics) was sitting on the bench outside with a few other kids. Avery and Emerson ran over to her and were like , "Bye mommy!" I asked them for a hug and they each gave me one. The teacher then marched them all over to the other building and they did not even look back.

When I got back into my car I was watching them trot across the lawn looking so self confident and sure. I started crying. I was seeing them grow up right there. It made me sad and happy all at the same time.

When I went to pick them up they asked if they could come back the next day. They obviously had a great time.

Now for some fun...kind of...

The other night Avery said they wanted to color with markers. I told them they could go ahead and get the markers and paper out of the craft closet. It was after dinner and before bathtime so when Avery asked if they could draw on each other I said, "sure. Just take off your clothes so they dont get stains." These girls dont miss an opportunity to get naked so they ripped their clothes off and ran into the living room with the markers and one thing I did not know they had... these two big ink pads from a Melissa and Doug stamp set.

I was working on the computer so I was not paying attention to them. A few minutes pass. I decide to check on them....this is what I found:

Julie says she looks like a gay Braveheart


I had to put underwear on her to take the pictures.

Thankfully it IS washable so...

Garage Door Rides

Today the girls did not take a nap so I thought we would take a walk to a neighbors house. I opened the door to the garage, pushed the button to the garage door and walked back into the kitchen to get something. The girls went into the garage when I opened the door cause they knew we were going to leave. We leave through the garage every. single. day.

As I was headed back toward the garage I heard Avery crying and Emerson calling to me to come. As I walked into the garage I saw Emerson first. She was standing just outside the garage looking up at the garage door (that was all the way up!). I followed her line of vision to see Avery hanging from the garage door crying. My first thought was "what the heck do I do?" I thought about pushing the button to get the door down again, and dismissed that as dumb cause the minute the door started moving she would most likely fall to the concrete below. Then I realized, "HEY! I can reach her!" Then I thought, "should I grab the camera?" I realized that if she fell while I was getting the camera I would feel like the WORST mommy ever. So I ran over and plucked her off the ceiling.

She grabbed me and cried and showed me her hands. They looked fine, but hurt from holding her entire body weight in the air via a piece of metal.

The minute she was safe I started laughing. I couldn't help it. I tried to joke with her about it, but she did not think it was funny. I was calling her spider-kid. She was less then amused. So I apologized and told her I was sorry she had such a scary thing happen to her, and I was glad she was ok. It must have been pretty scary for her cause she usually can see the humor in anything. Lets see if she can laugh about it tomorrow!

You know I always knew garage doors were dangerous coming down, but never thought I needed to warn the girls about them going up...

Spring Break

I scheduled us a vacation through Priceline, not usually an issue, cause we know what area we like to stay in. This time though I added in Clearwater as an option. Had a total meltdown and booked for the wrong dates. Have you ever made a mistake with Priceline? When you call the recorded voice tells you about 1000Xs that you cannot get a refund for errors made etc. They did right though and refunded when I re-booked for the correct dates.

A few weeks later we finally realized it was at the same resort we had stayed at in Clearwater last August. Julie was less then pleased. She did not like that the resort is not ON the beach. The other issue we had last vacation was that the girls were NOT happy to be away from home and wanted NOTHING to do with the beach. We dragged them to the beach one of the days last vacation and it was the most miserable hour EVER! This fact stayed the same this vacation but everything else was different. Same hotel, but we ALL had a great time, even Julie! We did realize later though that the problem last vacation was that Julie brought Julie with us on vacation.

We opted to just go with it and not go to the beach. Instead we went to little beach (Cypress Point) when we got home. The girls were old enough to hang out in Lisa's Club house, the kids area where they do crafts and activities. They made tie dye shirts, stayed for a pizza party so mommies could go out to dinner, and made a bag full of crafts at Lisa's clubhouse.

The girls had a great time playing in the pool. One of their favorite activities was what they named the "Silly Game". Why? Cause Julie kept saying to them, "This is a silly game." So they asked her repeatedly to play the Silly Game with them. It consisted of them jumping into the pool, Julie catching them, Julie pushing them toward the steps, they get out and jump into the pool. Rinse. Repeat.

We also enjoyed "cocktail hour" the girls loved watching the bartenders make drinks. They got to sample some of the fun frozen drinks (virgin of course!)

Here are some of the photos from our vacation:

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Forced Cuddling and Other Stuff

So they like to cuddle before going to sleep. Not a problem. Totally understandable. Most times I like to cuddle with them as well. Some nights however...I'm just tired, I have a head ache and want them to go to sleep and let me leave without rubbing their face (Avery) or their back (Emerson).

So one night when I was sooooo very tired and just needed some alone time. I was in the midst of forced cuddle time and Emerson said, "Rub my back." I obliged for a few minutes but I was tired and said, "Can we just cuddle?" and she rolled over onto her back and I rapped my arm around her and relaxed for the first time in about 12 hours....Then she did it...she pulled up the front of her shirt so I could rub her stomach...and she did it so obvious yet slyly.

We are planning a vacation, short vacation, to the beach. The other day we had some time to kill so I thought I would treat the girls to their first pedicure. They puffy heart loved it!

I let them pick out the colors they wanted. Avery chose orange of course, it is her favorite color after all. Emerson chose blue. Why? Not sure, but it looks so much better then I thought it would! The lady doing their nails did Emerson's first and put a little flower on her big toe. When she was getting ready to do Avery's Avery kept saying she wanted a "shark" I kept making her repeat it and repeat it till Avery finally said, "You know, hop hop hop." While making her hand go hop like a frog. She was asking for a frog. She got a flower cause the flower was free. Maybe next time I will see if they can draw a frog.

We had a twin friends party last weekend. Petting zoo and pony rides and beer...who could ask for more?

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Now for some entertaining thing that have happened lately.

• Today Emerson said she had to go "tee tee" she went in the bathroom came out with no pants or panties on. This is not an unusual thing in this house. They do that all the time. She then asked me to lift her up to get something out of the high pantry. I picked her up and had her sitting on my chest. She decided she did not want anything and I put her down. A few seconds latter I was smelling poop. I asked her if she pooped and she said yes. So I told her to head to the bathroom so I could wipe her. We get in there and she has poop smeared up her back. I clean her up and am commenting on how poorly she wiped and that she needs to let me know next time so I can help her all while I'm preparing to wash her and my hands. I look into the mirror and see a thick skid mark on my sweater, my favorite sweater...
• We took the car to get an oil change at Midas. They have a keurig machine there and the girls LOVE the hot chocolate so good times at Midas, but on this day they also had biscottis! WOW who could ask for more? I gave them each a biscotti and found out it was going to take an hour for them to just get my car in. I really needed to get this done before vacation so I figured we would also walk over to Office Depot while we waited. As we were walking into the parking lot Avery had one bite of her biscotti left. I grabbed Avery's hand and she went to grab her sisters hand (they know we all have to be holding SOMEones hand in parking lots. Well she couldn't grab her sister hand with the piece of biscotti in her hand so she handed it to her sister. He sister took it and pooped it into her mouth and started to chew and Avery started to yell. Emerson pulled it out of her mouth and put it in her sisters hand with out ever letting go of her sisters hand. Then Avery popped it into her mouth and ate it.
• The other night Michelle one of our favorite babysitters watched the girls and had to put them to bed so that Julie and I had a much needed date night. She later told me that Emerson was very calm and relaxed for bed, but Avery was crying and upset. They were laying in bed and Avery was crying. Emerson reached over and held Avery's hand and Avery calmed down started sucking her fingers and they both fell a sleep.
  

I am constantly amazed at how well they get along, how much they love each other. They really genuinely like each other. I have never had to worry about one of them hitting the other one. I mean there has been the occasional sitting on her sister cause she wanted to sleep in the hole, but for the most part they never fight and always play well together. Is it an identical thing or am I just lucky?

Little Artists

I have to share (and chronicle) some of the girls artistic accomplishments.

Avery makes some of the prettiest finger paintings I have ever seen:

This one is my favorite!

At the Y on Wednesday they colored with crayons and brought the papers home. I noticed that Avery had attempted to stay inside the lines. I was very impressed.

The other day Avery was drawing at her easel and I asked her if she was drawing a person. She said, "yes, here is the body..." Me, "cool. are you going to give it eyes?" She said yes and proceeded to give it 8 as I counted them out. Then she gave it 2 arms, 6 legs, curly hair (at which point I said, "oh, curly hair just like mom." Then she said, "and a hat like mom. This is mom." I'm sure you can see the resemblance!

Then Emerson wanted to draw me. She narrated what she was doing, "head, eye, eye patch..." I have since seen her do this numerous times and each and every time the person she was drawing gets an eye patch. Every time the eye patch consists of a her scribbling over the eye she just drew. Let's not discuss the lower half of my body in this picture... facebook friends have taken care of that!

The other day they asked me if I would play with them. I said sure and they said they wanted me to build a butterfly with their tinker toys...luckily there is one on the side of the bin so I used it as an example. I'm rather proud obviously...I took a picture and am now sharing it with you!

Escalator Issues

Thought I would take them to the mall play area to burn off some energy cause it is rainy and yucky out. I usually park in the parking garage of Nordstroms', but on the lower level. The lower level is where the play area is. Today the lower level of the garage was packed (probably due to the rain...) I parked on the 2nd level.

When we got into Nordstroms we came face to face with the escalators. The girls and I have managed escalators before so I asked them if they wanted to take them down. They both said yes. Avery stepped on before I could think. So then Emerson and I are both at the top watching Avery go. I kind of panicked thinking I did not want Avery to be alone at the bottom. I hop on and and Emerson does not hop on with me. Now I'm headed down and Emerson is stuck at the top. She starts crying. I turn around and try to run up the escalator that is headed down. I can't do it. I had to have looked like a cartoon character getting no where. This very nice lady with a toddler and a stroller asks me if she can help Emerson on. I say, "YES, please!!! thank YOU!!!" Emerson immediate jumps away from the lady like she is the devil. The only option I had was to ride down, then ride up and retrieve Emerson all with Avery in tow as well. It was rather amusing. Thankfully this set of escalators were side by side. SO GLAD I cannot even imagine having to run to the other side of the store to catch the up one and then running to the down one again.

Needless to say We all took the elevator once I had Emerson. The nice lady that had offered to help stood there with Emerson while I made my way back to her. Apparently it was a memorable experience for others as well. About an hour and a half later we were headed through Nordstroms and this guy commented that Emerson wants nothing to do with the escalator now!

To add insult to injury as we past through the lingerie section Emerson ran up to the most slutty, loud nighty and yelled, "I like this ONE!!!" Praying her tastes change before puberty.

Gasparilla 2010

Just realized I had not blogged our annual Gasparilla parade experience!

This year it was COLD!!!! The good thing though was I went out the day before and found us a place to park that was not 35 miles away... I only exaggerate slightly. We only had to walk .07 miles to the parade and we got there nice and early so we were right up front. The kids had a great time. Poor Graham fell asleep right before the parade actually started and managed to sleep through the entire parade. He did have a great time though before the parade...except when I made him cry! Mean Patty... Sorry Graham, I love you.

"Gasparilla 2011"

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To keep warm Pam and Katy came up with a fun little shtick that the kids LOVED!!!

Sleeping

Do you remember back when Avery was scaling her crib and I would play "where did she end up?" Kind of had a week like that last week.

She insisted she was not sleepy at nap-time. Clearly she was not....

Here is the original July 2009...

Then the other morning when I got up here is where I found her.

She apparently was on her way to our room, which happens most nights between 3am and 4am... If I remind them they are not to come to our room till the sun comes up they don't. Unfortunately if it was JUST one of them I would be able to sleep with her in my bed, but because they both usually end up coming in they flank me and I feel claustrophobic and cant sleep restfully. Well, this night she did not quite make it... not sure what happened cause she was obviously walking, she had to open her door and our room is only 3 feet from where she is laying. She even has her blanket.


Here is her sleeping with Julie last weekend. I love how they both have the same position going on here.

Avery's Very Very Bad Day

ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was rather funny how things kept happening to her today. I like to think it was karma cause she has been a hand full the last few days.

I took them to the Y today so I could do a spin class. On a side note, I really think this spin instructor is a sadist. She could possibly be evil... anyway, When they are in the Y daycare sometimes they get to go to basketball court and "exercise". The Exercise consists of playing tag, or running back and forth from one wall to the other. Well, when I went to get them the first thing Avery does is start kvetching about not getting to go to the basketball court. I hear about this for what seemed like forever. She was very upset that she missed the teacher's call out to go to the court.

Then we meet a friend at a restaurant that I WAS boycotting because they were giving funds to an anti-marriage equality organization, but they have since said they will no longer do that...the fact that they did this in the first place SHOULD keep me away but, I really needed to talk to my friend so we needed a play area and I have not given this company any of my money in sooooo long that I figure it's a wash. During the play time Avery came to me and was saying something about "baby pee pee pants" and I could not figure out what the heck she was talking about, but I could hear some of the other kids yelling this and giggling. Then we are on our way home and Avery tells me the kids were calling her this. (BTW, as I type this I am stifling back a giggle!) I did feel bad though. I mean who wants their kid to be made fun of???? Not me....most days... I did manage to make her laugh about it later though. I was getting ready to do some couch cuddle time with them and Avery was getting situated and I said, "here comes miss baby pee pee pants." and she laughed, really really hard. It became our running joke for the rest of the night.

The final bad thing that happened to little Avery today was caused by her love of fruit. It does not matter what kind of fruit, they both LOVE it! I actually have to cut them off each day when I have fruit in the house. Well, I found Avery sitting on the toilet this evening and she tells me that she has poop in her pants. Sure enough there was poop on her undies. (Enough that I had to dunk them in the toilet to clean it off)I asked her what happened and she said she farted and pooped. oops...

Boundaries

Sometimes I'm a really slow learner... It has taken way to long for me to figure out how to get Avery to willingly go into her gymnastics class.

Last semester I did everything I knew to do to get her to go in. I tried EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. Emerson would run into class like it was the funnest thing in the world. She loved it. Every week I kept thinking Avery would see how much fun her sister was having and want to join in. Nope. This class is the 3 yr old class where they go in and the parents wait outside. Every week Emerson would run in and Avery would say she did not want to go and she would wait outside with me. For a while there I thought it was that she just wanted some alone time. Nope.

This semester started a few weeks ago and the first class neither of them wanted to go in. I thought I was gonna go bananas. Then the following week Emerson was back to going in happily and Avery was back to refusing to go. Last week I even resorted to just putting her into the class and walking away. About half way into the class I looked in and she was still lying in the same place still upset. BAD MOMMY!!! I felt horrible. The only reason I even tried this is that she had went into the YMCA play area so willingly and had not cried.

Last Thursday she was watching a Sesame Street and there were gymnast doing flips and cool stuff. Avery yelled, "I wanna do that!" I said, "well honey, to do that you have to actually go into gymnastics class." Then they had a birthday party Saturday that was at the Y and they did gymnastics. When we all went into the gymnastics area she was happily with the class then she ran over and sat by me. I reminded her of the gymnasts on TV and she ran back to the circle to participate. After the party I took them to Target to buy leotards for class. As I was talking to them about the leotards and gymnastics I asked Avery if she would go into class this coming week and she said, "Yes." Cut to today....

I tell them what we are doing today, "going to gymnastics." and immediately Avery tells me she doesn't want to go. I get out the leotards and get them dressed and she is still telling me she doesn't want to go. We get there and she tells me she wants to stay outside with me. Suddenly it dawns on me, "Avery, if I tell the teachers not to touch you without your permission will you go into class?" "YES!" She ran in like a flash never looking back. I grabbed a teacher and reminded her that Avery does not like to be touched, so please ask her before touching her.

The teachers were AWESOME! One of them said she kept telling Avery, "Don't touch me!!! Don't you touch me" and Avery would laugh.

I know she just needs to feel like she trusts you before you can touch her. I don't think it's that much to ask. How would you like it if someone picked you up and moved you without saying a word?

I started really noticing this when we were going to the toddler transitional gymnastics classes. It is a little more structured then the tot/mom gymnastics, but mom is still there to help. Whenever the instructor would tell Avery what to do and then try to spot her Avery would say, "NO, I do it." Then if she needed help she would say, "NO, Mama help me." and I would spot her. Then one day at this same class I was on the other side of the room and Avery had picked up a toy the teacher wanted to put up. Instead of taking the toy from Avery she picked Avery up and carried her across the room to put the toy away. Avery FREAKED she was crying and I could see she was VERY upset, and it had nothing to do with the toy she was carrying. I was trying to tell the teacher that Avery was freaking out about her holding her not the toy, but I was across the room and she was not paying attention. After she put Avery down she ran to me and was in desperate need of recovery. I had to hold her for what seemed like forever for her to feel ok again.

So why did I not put the two together before? She assumed that if I was not going to be in there the teachers were going to grab at her willy nilly....

Yes, she will eventually need to be touched by the gym couches if she is going to learn to do any of the gymnastics, but they can at least ask first!

Public Urination

As for potty learning...Emerson was the last to learn and the easiest. She (and Avery) can hold it for what feels like EVER. Like crazy bladder control for 3 yr olds! Emerson has been reluctant to go to the bathroom in public lately. And when I say bathroom I mean pee not poop. She hasn't had an accident in forever. The only accidents she had were the ones when she first started learning...until last Friday.

While we were out I saw her holding her self. I asked her if she needed to pee and she said no. We were out all morning and I did not ask her to use the bathroom before we left (my bad). I needed to make a quick stop at the grocery. I opted to let them walk instead of the double cart, only needed a few things. Saw her holding herself repeatedly. She asked to ride in the cart and I obliged. As we were walking down the condiment isle Avery stopped dead in her tracks and got this strange look on her face. I asked her if she needed to use the restroom. "Yes, I gotta poop!" Off to the bathroom we went. I asked Emerson if she needed to pee (again!) she said no (again!). I left her in the cart right outside the restroom(asking the closest cashier to keep an eye on her. The bathrooms are right in front of the register area) and took Avery in. Got Avery settled on the potty and checked on Emerson. Avery finished and we washed up. When I got back to Emerson she asked to walk. As I lifted her out of the cart I saw condensation on the seat. Yep, she had an accident. I did not have a change of pants in my bag only panties so she had to finish our shopping trip with a wet bottom. Then when we got to the car I changed her into dry undies for the ride home.

That same night was parents night out at the YMCA. We dropped them off at 7pm and picked them up at 9. Guess who had a wet bottom when we picked them up. On the ride home I inquired about if the sitters at the Y asked them if they needed to use the potty. Both Avery and Emerson said they had been asked and Avery said, "I go pee."
Me, "Emerson, did they ask you if you needed to go pee?"
"Yeaherm." (her weird way of saying yes)
"Did you use the potty?"
"No."
"Did you pee in your pants?"
"Yeaherm."

I was really kind of freaking out. Not sure what to do. Finally I did a little search online and found some suggestions that might work.

I was going to visit EVERY POSSIBLE RESTROOM when we were out and about to breed familiarity. There was one thing I read and didn't even pay attention really, but then in the spur of the moment I tried yesterday cause I knew she had to go. I did not think that the reason she was not going was the massive opening of the toilet. I thought it was noise and unfamiliar surroundings.

We were at Borders, it's becoming our regular Tuesday stop after gymnastics, and I saw E holding herself. I asked her if she had to pee and she of course said, "no." I said, "well, I have to so come on everyone lets go to the potty!" We went into the bathroom and I went first. After pulling up my pants I sat back down on the toilet really far back with my legs spread, and said, "OK, who wants to sit with mommy to go pee pee?" Avery was like, HECK YEAH! so she went first and Emerson was giggling at this sight of us together on the toilet. Then Emerson said, "my turn, my turn!" So I pulled her pants down and sat her between my legs. She went (giggling the whole time) and I told her how proud I was of her. I think she would have tried it if she did not have her twin there for her to laugh at but it sure did help lighten the situation and make her less nervous.

Today when leaving the YMCA I saw Emerson holding herself. Asked her if she wanted to sit on my lap and use the potty, and she said, "Yeaherm!"

Then when we were home she asked if we could do it "again!" as she pointed to the toilet in her bathroom. I told her that we "only do that when we are out. That will be our special way to go pee pee in a public restroom. OK?" "Yeaherm!"

Family Time

We celebrated New Years eve a few times this year. First I took the girls to the zoo and celebrated at noon with their friend Graham and one of his mommies Katy.

This trip to the zoo was special, because for the first time the girls were old enough and tall enough to ride the banana ride. They loved it! I thought they might be scared cause I could not ride with them, but I was wrong. They had a great time. They're getting so big. Sniff, sniff.

At Noon the there was a count down with noise makers and cheering. Julie and I did this celebration 2 yrs ago with the girls look at the difference 2 years makes!

Avery two years ago:

Yes, she is in the bottom of Graham's stroller...

Then we rung in the New Year again at 8pm with the kids the LGs, Graham and Cameron. The all loved drinking their cider and playing with their noise makers. The next morning Avery came in the kitchen and asked me for more "cheers" she wanted more cider.

When the actual New Year rolled around we were all sound asleep. Such is life with kids. We like it like that though.

Graham and the girls have something very special in common. They share the same donor sperm. So in essence they are brother and sisters.

The way we found this out was kind of odd. I met Katy through a group she had started on meetup.com for gay and lesbian parents in the Tampa area. We got together for a few play dates. I liked her and she invited Julie, the girls and I to her house for a cook-out and swimming. We were all in the pool and chatting about random stuff. I said something about "donor 2610" and both Katy and Pam went pale. Katy said, "wait where did you get the donor for the girls?" I for some reason was thinking it was California. Katy said something to the fact that they used Fairfax. Suddenly it clicked, "NO, it was Fairfax that we used." Again it looked as if both Katy and Pam had been smacked with a brick. Katy, "and you just made up that number too right? Was it really 2610?" Me, "Yeah...why???" "That's who we used..." needless to say we all have a special bond now. We are family. We may not look like Ozzy and Harriet but who does?

"Avey does"

Today was an interesting day. First I took the girls to the chiropractor. Usually all three of us get an adjustment. Almost every time without fail Emerson jumps at the chance to go first for the adjustment. Today however, when Dr Alexa said, "who wants to go first?" Emerson quickly said, "Avey does." And amazingly, Avery did go first and did great.

Oh almost forgot about us actually leaving the house! As we are driving out the drive Avery yells, "Mama! You no put Leni in bathroom!" "That's ok Avery she is in her house during the day now and only stays in her bathroom at night." Then we get down the street a little ways and Avery grabs at her head and exclaims, "MA!! You no do my hair!" "That's ok Avery (as Im giggling) I have your hair in a knot so I dont have to do it today." She looks concerned. I say, "Dont worry, you look cute."

After Chiro I had to take them to the dentist.~JOY~
This was only their second exam ever, and I think I may have done a bad thing. I keep telling the girls when they ask, "why?" to the "we have to brush our teeth." if they do not brush they will get cavities and will have to have dental work done that hurts. So every time I said we were going to the dentist today they would both start cry/whining they didn't want to it was gonna hurt...uhg! So we get there and they refuse to go back by themselves so cleaning is off the agenda. Just a check-up for today. Dr comes into the room the girls are playing with the stuffed animals and pretending the doctor does not exist. He is really great with kids and tries to engage them, but their were not buying what he was wanting to sell. The pretending he does not exist continued.

Finally he says it's time to do the exams and who wants to sit on mommy's lap first. Emerson quick as a bunny says, "Avey does." and shockingly Avery goes first and does an amazing job. No crying, no whining, and complete cooperation. She is finished and it's time for the other one... The doc and I are working all angles to get her on my lap. Offering stickers, showing her the instruments, showing her the tooth brush she gets, Im telling her about how I plan to take them to lunch as soon as we are done...nothing. If she ignores us (her back is literally to us the whole time) we will go away or forget about her. Right? Finally out of desperation I say, "Emerson, if you do not do this willingly I am going to have to physically restrain you." She looks up and excitedly says, "I want you to physiky restain me!" I dont think she knows what this means, based on that response! So I finally just picked her up and put her on my lap. Finally we did get her done with very few tears and no blood shed.