Jan 23, 2009

My Big Boys

These wonderful boys amaze me everyday. We have been pretty much stuck in the house and not attending functions since Ben caught a viral rash.....ugly, but not serious, so no worries. It isn't said to be contagious and no one has caught it as of yet. This is with Ben....when feeling Seb is getting too much attention lifting up his shirt to show his leopard spotted belly. He points out all the "boo boos" and laments his condition so that we can sympathize. Of course, brother being the compassionate dude he is, starts to kiss each and every boo boo. A little gross, but his heart is in the right place. We have enjoyed the quiet time together as a family though. Sometimes it seems like you are going all over the place to visit here and there and you forget that you are missing out on time together. So, we have really just been enjoying each other lately. My parents and my grandmother came for a visit last weekend and of course, the boys were spoiled with homemade waffles and a side of sausage every morning.....not to mention homemade pizza and all the attention two boys could ever get in a four day weekend.

Little by little my mom has been bringing things back that I had left in my old room that I like to think of as free storage. As these things make it back to me and find room in my garage, I am of the opinion that my junk is no longer welcome in its old habitat. This visit was a bunch of my.....well, for normal people it would be Halloween stuff.....for me it was just general room decor. My scream ceiling hangy thingy.....scream mask, scream figurines, a big crypt keeper....I don't know what else. Ahhhhh, memories, right? I was happy to see that the boys may take after me once and for all in my love of all things horror. The boys were quite taken with the Scream stuff......although I didn't let them near my most prized Crypt Keeper.
Very funny that characters in Disney movies can send them hiding behind the couch, but Scream masks are great to play with. They love "ghost". I keep thinking, ha, maybe our Halloweens of Pooh and Tigger are fading fast and a good old fashion movie marathon starring Jaime Lee Curtis will be in order before I know it. After all, mommy and daddy's first date was on Halloween for such a marathon. Even if Daddy has bad taste in movies.
Too bad I only had one mask. Seb so enjoyed running around the house in it and bobbing like a rapper in a video. He hid behind the couch and jumped out with an enthusiastic boo several times....followed by uncontrollable laughter of course. Note to Seb.....it isn't really scary if you do it from the same place over and over again a million times in a row. It doesn't surprise anyone. Of course, we love you so much we can't help but throw up our "surprised arms" and give a scared yelp. Poor Ben was so jealous of Seb's mask, he put the hanging scream over his head. Now that was funny. Especially seeing two little ones chasing each other around the house with loud giggles and enjoying Halloween in January.
The boys are just growing up too fast. Their vocab is growing and Seb is starting to put together little three word sentences. Usually, "I love.....(enter whatever he is doing)." I love ball. I love cookies. I love tools. etc. Of course, a big laugh came when he was writing with chalk and of course the ch sound came out as a hard c. So, he told everyone very proudly," I love cock." He also is telling me a lot more when he needs to use the bathroom. He says,"Go pee," and points proudly at the stream going into the potty. He also has become more independent. He wants to pull up his own pants or put on his own shoes....even when this could take a million years with tie laces (why he prefers his rain boots I suppose). If I try to help him with my impatience....he puts up the stop hand and says in a strong voice," I DO IT!" He also has become possessive with his things as so very few things aren't joint community items in the life of twins. Well....his bed is his. So, gone are the days when Ben could come over for a snuggle or sit next to brother leaning on the pillow. I frequently hear now..."Noooo! My Bed!" and of course, that makes Ben want to be on that bed more. I finally get Ben on his bed and all of a sudden one toe is over the divider and then one foot with a devilish smile and then I hear,"No! My Bed!" from Seb again. This is reminiscent for me of many battles my sister and I had over the couch when we were allowed a cushion each and pushing the boundaries would often lead to bickering and a call for MOM!
Both boys love to count never mind that everything in a line that they are counting is "2, 2, 2, 2". They also like to try to point out letters. Many times the letters are "E, O, O, T, T, A". Although I was impressed as we have been writing their name in chalk and they can point out letters if asked....don't know how much of that is coincidence in three letter names though. Ben can say his first name now which is a major achievement for him. If you ask, "What is your name?"....okay, usually if I ask as he doesn't talk to many strangers.....he will tap his chest and say,"Me Ben!" Seb also says "Me, Me, Me" when it is his turn for something. He also has started demanding milk, but he calls that "Me" too. I only give them milk or juice with meals and they get water in between when thirsty. Seb now will tell me," No wa! Me! Me!" If he sees me going to the refridge water dispenser as I still water their juice, he catches it. He says,"No wa, no wa".
They are in love with running races now. Ben is faster than a bolt of lightning. Seb runs well, but his big feet often get in the way. They get impatient waiting for me to start the race sometimes and demand,"Set Go!" Of course, once someone fell and my mom picked them up and gave them lots of attention.......they started doing dramatic flailing falls and laying out on the ground every single race. They would then call for the person they wanted to pick them up. I finally got tired of that game and tried ignoring the fallen children helpless on the ground. Of course, Seb then squeaked out in a very pitiful voice,"Help me, Help me." So I couldn't help myself. Seb is also very good in soccer. We set up a kicking triangle with Seb in the middle. He loves "kick ball". He is usually on target and even stopped a couple kicks between his leg....future goalie I imagine.
They are also fond of their slide. They go down it in every position imaginable. They push it over and make forts. They push it back and forth across the lawn for no apparent reason. We got a sheet out and made a fort the other day. We told Seb that we put up the sheet to make a fort of the slide. He said,"Sheep, Sheep," and looked under the sheet and said, "BAAAA?Baa?", looked out and said,"no sheep." We had fun though even with no sheep. The holes of the slide made good spaces to make ghost hands come up through the sheet and grab faces......a favorite pass time around here. We also took the sheet and made adult held hammocks to swing the babies in. That was fun for them too.

One more funny thought......the potato heads that the boys play with. They have become less interested in the potato, but love the accessories. They balance the hats on their head.....put on the Santa beard or hold the various lip pieces in their mouths so that they are in fact the potato head. Seb even took the potato head arms and played the piano with potato head's hands. It was very strange and my crazy brain had wonderful thoughts of horror movies in the making.

Anyway....thought I would say hi from our sick house and let everyone know we are in deed still alive. We miss you all and promise that as soon as the rash leaves we will be rearing to go and ready to hang out with you all.

Jan 7, 2009

Our New Year's

So, as New Year's approached this year I was very upset not to have any plans. Babysitters are scarce and even my grandmother parties well into the wee hours on New Year's. Oh I complained and complained and hated that I would probably be in bed asleep by the time midnight approached. We were set to have a quiet evening at home. Nothing even special for dinner. Mike had popped into work earlier and a couple of friends said they were getting together and we could join them....but, I was reluctant to accept. The twin tornadoes can be a menace when presented with an unchildproofed house full of interesting things to touch and grab and perhaps even break. Michael gets really nervous too and so I convinced myself that they would rather not have the lot of us join them.


Luckily, I was wrong. A couple hours before said get together, the phone rang. It was one of the girls asking if we were planning on coming over. Defeated, I sighed and said that she probably didn't want the boys running around her apartment late into the night. But, I was wrong. She welcomed us one and all. So, we decided to go and I was glad that we did. We all had a great time. There was pizza and cookies.....and wine (see red face in picture). We were able to visit whilst the boys were awed by Nemo and Ice Age on the television. Also, the boys were overjoyed with the pet selection in this household. There were fish, lizards, frogs, cats and a big dog. Okay, Ben was very scared of the big dog, but there was a lot to keep the boys busy.
I always underestimate how grown up my boys are. They visited well and stayed up late without much protest at all. They actually mingled with the guests. Anyone who knows my boys knows that I am making an effort to socialize them. For too long I have kept them home with me and they are pretty shy when it comes to light conversation with an acquaintance. Usually when people try to talk to them, they are met with a stop sign hand and several "no's". Not tonight though. The boys were ready to party.
Seeing how well they did, I felt a little less guilty about keeping them out late....away from their cozy beds. But, if you look at those smiles.....you can tell, they were happy to get out. They needed it just as much as I did.
As the hours crept on, luckily the boys began to quietly fade. They melted into the couch which was just as good as their beds. We covered them with blankets and proceeded to watch an advance copy of Twilight while we chatted and waited for the arrival of the New Year.
Okay.....we got a little crazy too. And, this picture did wonders for helping with a New Year's resolution.....that much Booty is good for no one. Okay, Michael may disagree, but that is a whole different kind of blog. But, to sum up.....we had a great time with great friends and are confident the New Year will bring many good things for many good people.

Jan 1, 2009

Too Tired to Say Much

With the holidays and the endless stream of visitors and the partying and cleaning and celebrating some more.....I am too tired to actually be coherent. So, I won't write much. With pictures being worth 1000 words and all, I think I will meet my word quota for this assignment. I was really even too busy to get that many pictures taken-good sweet wonderful ones anyway, so these will have to do. The boys had a great Christmas though. They had way too many presents and now, if not before, I can say that our house is nothing short of a toy storage facility. When I recover.....um, err, possibly by the summer, I will have to organize said toys. For now they are piled high in every spare closet --to the ceiling like some movie closet where an avalanche could break at any moment. Word of advice, do not open any doors that may lead to a closet in my home.....it could be hazardous to your health. At this moment, the four of us are warn out from our New Year's Eve partying......I may blog about that one some other time, but for now I am going to take a nap. Enjoy the pictures.







Wishing you all a fine 2009 and I hope you all had an awesome holiday season.