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!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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...

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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!