What? It's 2011? Where did the time go?

Howdy,
I am not even going to try to backblog (I made that up...but I think it should be a real word!) 2011.  I am, however, going to try & capture the very exciting month of March (and the BIRTHDAY month).  SO much happened......

Two and a half...for the record

So I am sitting here trying to remember all the things that I should record about Kiss and Cookie at 2 1/2 years old and I am amazed at what incredible little people they are. Amazed and awed!

On September 13, 2010 Kiss and Cookie hit the 2.5 year mark and here are a few of the milestones:

Miss Kiss:
On Septmember 12th, Miss Kiss anounced that she was going to use the potty. She was potty trained by her 2 1/2 year birthday (yes, the very next day). On the 13th we went out for a special Mommy & Kiss trip to Target to pick out her own "big girl pants" (Dora & Hello Kitty) and some big girl night time/nap time pants (pull ups - again Dora). Since the 12th she has had only two accidents - both of which were really do to adult error (the signs were there but she was a little reluctant to ask anyone but Mommy to go to the potty). She still is using a pull-up for nap and bedtime, although I think very soon the naptime pull-up will dissapear. Yippee for Miss Kiss!
(Funny side note: The other morning she woke up and after going potty requested a diaper. I said that she was a big girl now and didn't need a diaper. She said she would like to be a baby for just a little bit. Ok! After wearing the diaper for about an hour, she siad she was ready to be a big girl! That kid is priceless).
Kiss as 2.5years is wearing a size 7 shoe and is in 24 months and 2T clothes (weighs 30lbs).  She still feels 10lbs lighter than Cookie and remains a little monkey - clinging on and feeling much lighter than her actual weight.  She loves pink sparkly shoes and her pink sunglasses.  She is uber attached to her night night and hasn't become particular about clothes yet.

A few fun names they have for items:
Sharp = Knife
Chokeable= any small item (as in "Cookie let go of that, it's my chokeable!!!)
Poopy Truck=Garbage truck (thanks Daddy!)
Night night= Kiss' one and only very special blanket
Up high/nobody gets it= this is a favorite of Cookies. Refers to any object that was being fought over. He will swipe something from Kiss and when she cries, run and put it "up high"!

Both Kiss & Cookie know their colors, letters and most shapes. Numbers are still in the works. They can count & decipher 1-3 or 4, but don't yet recognize the symbols (ie. The number 5 is often confused with 9). I think is probably because we do more reading than counting...
Cookie is not in the least little bit interested in potty training! He is however, very interested in Thomas the train, throwing (anything), jumping, dancing and somersaults! He is in a phase where he wants to wear the same shirt all week - as in never take it off! His favorite is, of course, Thomas the Train!!
School has been great for his language development. Although he doesn't say much at school (other than to boss the other kids around), he is talking up a storm at home.
Seems both my kids are pretty big rule followers and Kiss is quite orderly as well (she will begin clean up before the activity is even over!!).
Showering with foam (shaving or foaming colored kid soap) is a very favorite activity.  This is where they make b-day cakes and can play for a very long time without trying to kill one another.  I love showers too, although not so much with them - they are water hogs!  Another favorite is swinging - esp. Miss Kiss.  She loves to swing and can now get on the swing and swing all by herself (although she still likes to have mommy & daddy push her - up high!!).  
They both have their own rooms these days but Cookie still prefers to sleep with Miss Kiss or Mommy & Daddy.  Currently Kiss & Cookie are not only sharing a room, but a bed!.  Think the grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - one on each end!  It's pretty cute!  and they are mostly sleeping through the night (mostly...sometimes....occasionally.....). Twilight Turtle/LadyBug have made "darkness" less scary and bedtime is going pretty smoothly.
Cookie at 2.5years is wearing a size 8 shoe and is mostly in 2T clothes (weighs about 32lbs).  He is solid and still feels like a sack of potatoes!  He loves his green crocs and sunglasses! 

Both are more picky where food is concerned than they have been in the past and Miss Kiss is continuing to display a real sweet tooth!  Chocolate remains a favorite food, as does ice cream!  Master Cookie has decided that he now likes chocolate too, although he still prefers a fruit flavor (even though he requests chocolate bc sister is having it!).  Chocolate milk tops the list for both of them.....
That's what new and happening at two and a half. They are happy and healthy and getting bigger each day!

I love this child!!

Dear Mr. Cookie,
Sometimes I just glance over and catch a glimpse if your blond hair and awesome smile and my heart opens and rejoices over what an awesome Gift from the Universe you are. I love the way you shout "good morning" at the dawn (often literally) each day. How you tell everyone "Happy Birthday" (Frosty the snowman style), how you love that binky & Thomas the Train shirt, how you crinkle your eyes when you smile, how you shuffle your feet when you laugh, how silly and laid back you are.



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I want a pony!

Kiss, Cookie & I went to a great festival last weekend. We got to play games, ride the train and even ride the ponies!!


Cookie wasn't at all sure about going....he was very nervous even with Mommy along for the ride, but at the end of the first ride he didn't want to get off!!


Kiss was a natural!! She rode all by herself and insisted that we ride again and again!! She loved it and has been talking about riding every day since!


Is a pony in our future?? Well we DO live in Texas after all....




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Let's dance!

As you know, Cookie loves to dancey dance and so do I! So we recently enrolled the entire family in a "mommy & me" dance class at Center Stage Dance in Bryan. The studio is great and caters to both girls and boys (something a little hard to find here in TX).
Here are a few pictures from our first day. Kiss & Cookie were a little reluctant to get down and shake their stuff... But they had a good time and think that after a few more times will really get into it.
Scarf dance!



A workout for the mommys too!


Fun for the whole family!


Kiss & Daddy curtsy to Ms. Diana. We had a great time!


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Kiss' first hair cut.....given

So now that the kids are in school I've been reading up on all the things a 2 1/2 year old should be doing. Apparently one of those things is the ability to use scissors!
Hmmm. So papa bear thought playdoh scissors would be appropriate. He was right! But me, I thought they should get some real metal (blunt tip) scissors. And so they did.

This is very nearly the first thing Miss Kiss did:



Just in case you can't see the fine technique....



Yup! She gave her doll a haircut!

Seriously, she had those scissors for all of 5 minutes. Cookie was freaking out because he couldn't get them to "work", I turn around to help him and - bam! First haircut -given!!
Talent, shear (pun intended) talent!!
I suppose it runs in the family. This post is for you Aunt A. Next your in town you'll have to give her some pointers (and fix the dolls hair!).
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School Days

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 was the VERY first day of school for Kiss and Cookie.  Yes, there will be many, many more "First" days, but this will always be the FIRST, first day.  I can be a bit sentimental like that, and in this case was!  It was a great first day.  It was filled with growth and love and new friendships. It was exactly what a First Day should be.

It was also filled with tears and crying, from Kiss, from Cookie and from Mommy.

Here are some highlights!
The kids are attending Christ United Methodist School For Little People (SFLP) on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.  They are in separate classrooms!!  Kiss has Ms. Sylvia & Cookie has Ms. Whitney.  I really love the school and their teachers.  This is a GREAT place.  The SFLP is about 1/2 mile from our house so we also know a lot of the kids that attend.  This is very nice for Mommy since I have 2 classrooms to get to know and 22 kids to remember!  We are the only set of multiples that have "split" but Cookie has a set of triplets in his room (we know them from Kindermusik & gymnastics).

Daddy & Cookie at SFLP Open House

Miss Kiss had a good first day.
There was excitement on the way to class, but then a few tears when Daddy said goodbye.

Monkey (Kiss) & Frog (Cookie) backpacks courtesy of fairy godparents

The report was that there were a few more tears as the day went on (lot's of "new" kids and some younger two's as well in her class) and she was more than ready when I arrived to pick her up 4 hours later.

Go home!

When we got home she went straight to her night-night (blanket) and told her all about her day!  Ms. Sylvia, a BOY named Jake (not just a dog name - interesting) and that she was home just like she had promised!!  It was seriously priceless!

Night-night, school was so fun!

Day two was rough!  She knew what was going on and wanted little part of it, but when I went to pick her up she was too busy helping clean up to want to go home!!  Yippee. Back home to see night-night and fill her in on the day.  She did tell night-night that it was "pretty fun, uh, huh"!


Day Three.  No tears at drop off, ate most of her lunch, finished an art project and had a grand day.  Ms. Sylvia said she was a super helper and also soothed Cookie on the playground.  When we left she said "More Church, More Church!!" (we also go to church as CU so she still associates it more with church than school).  This was music to my ears!  Now we just need to get her to nap after school and we will be in business.

A GREAT first week of school for Miss Kiss!!

Master Cookie was not quite as on board with school as Kiss and not so eager to even get out of the car!  He didn't start crying until I walked into the classroom where he had to be peeled off me like a barnacle and proceeded to carry on like a Howler Monkey!  It was lots of tears for me and Cookie as I said goodbye and beat a hasty retreat.  I had gotten the sage advice "like a bandaid".
Ms. Whitney called around 10am to say that, although he still had a death grip on the backpack & lunchbox, he was no longer crying.  He & Kiss share outside playtime and once he saw her was much calmer!  We said NO! to blankets & paci's at school so his "comforts" from home are the lunchbox, backpack and ,of course, his sister!  He couldn't wait to get out of there when I went to pick him up, but said it was "Ok". (His classroom has mostly older twos and many kids that attended the toddler room last year - Kiss & Cookie were too young to attend last year, they are middle two's as they turn 2 1/2 in Sept.)

Ready or not, here I come!!

Day Two.  Howler Monkey from the time we walked in the door.  Screaming in the hallway and refusing to move.  Once in classroom resumed death grip on backpack & lunchbox.  I left streaming tears and sick to my stomach.....

Ms. Whitney called around 10am to say that he was chill.  That he and Kiss said howdy on the playground, switched sunglasses and were then off to do their own thing.  He had relinquished his grip on backpack & lunchbox and was doing pretty well. When I went to pick him up he wanted to stay and play with the wooden blocks.  Smile!!!!

Day Three.  A few tears, but there was no real drama behind them this time.  We all knew that he was going to have a fun day.  He was willing to give up the backpack but the lunchbox was still a must have.  At pick up he was good to go.  Waved goodbye and was all smiles.

SFLP rocks!  Kiss & Cookie Rock!  Pre pre-school Rocks!!  I'm exhausted.....

Exhausted and ready to be back home!

As for Mommy.  It has been a long week.  In addition to starting school we began a new bedtime routine.  At 30 months I had hit my limit of 4 hour bedtimes.  I just can't rub backs for two hours - so we started the dreaded "sleep training".  It has been hard but tonight they both feel asleep after just a little fussing and no full on screaming (they are clearly exhausted - note above, me too!).  On top of all that I am pretty sick and my Fall allergies are in full swing.  Bummer.  All that aside, it was another great week in Mommyhood!

This latest "first" was awesome.  I am always awed by the great blessing that  have in Kiss & Cookie and the amazing responsibility that I have to them.  It can be hard for me to let go.  Each "first" is also a last and only for me.  I treasure these moments beyond measure and they are bittersweet.  My babies have left the "Bubble".  They are being influenced by kids that I haven't handpicked, teachers that I haven't done full personal history checks on, activities that I didn't personally select.  They will make new friends and have new experiences that I will not be directly involved in.  This is exactly what I want and yet it is HARD to acknowledge that they are not babies anymore.  It is days and moments like these that re enforce the biggest lesson parenthood has taught me.
This is the only moment of its kind.  Cherish it, love it, hold it -oh so briefly - in your heart, and then wish it goodbye as you prepare to embrace the next moment.

Goodbye my babies.

Hello my pre-schoolers!