A Quickie

So, no I haven't gotten my Christmas cards out or even started on them yet. I so wanted to take some nice pictures in the backyard where the boys have a wonderland of crunchy leaves to hop in, stomp on and throw. Who said that there are no seasons in CA. I swear that these leaves were very green at one time. Anyway, my best laid plan did not work, no big surprise here.

True, both boys are battling some kind of illness. Seb has had a runny nose and the most horrible poops lately. I know, TMI, but can I just say for the sake of commiseration that the only solid thing in the diaper has been the corn he ate the night before--- that in an ocean of murky brown swamp water. A smell that lingers for 3 hours in a room and makes me check and recheck for a repeat occurrence to find nothing. Hehe....I know, I shouldn't have gone there. But, I thought those days of washing all the sheets, changing the clothes multiple times and daily baths were in the past. Apparently not.

So, after today's late morning (and very needed) bathing, I thought I would try to put the boys in a nice selection of button up shirts in the quest to obtain the perfect picture for our Christmas cards. Staples is great and cheap to get such things done in one day and so I had high hopes that I would be like my former self and have those Christmas cards out with a quickness. However, Ben has been in such a mood lately. He will change his pants from day to day, but he gets attached to his shirts. Earlier this week to avoid unnecessary battles I gave in to allowing him to wear his pajama shirt for two days straight. So, when I approached him with a nice button up shirt....thinking hey, it's cold, he has to wear something after the bath....the battle began. No, No, No. So I moved onto a poloish long sleeve with fancy striped sleeves and a gang looking number on the chest (one of his usual favorites) and this was also a no. So, I gave him a choice which still left me with a No. Ben, dude, it is cold. You can't be half naked today and you aren't wearing pajamas. After much fighting I got him to wear a dinosaur shirt, hardly appropriate for a heart warming Xmas card. Seb seeing Ben in a dinosaur shirt of course had to wear his as well and so I gave up on the nice clothes and gave into their opinions.

So, I thought.....well, maybe I can still get a picture taken with both of them together....although not ideal, they are so cute......maybe nobody will notice or care. Of course, with this I could not get them barely in the same universe to take a picture together. Pose one and the other runs off. That is what I get for trying to get something done without my scary counterpart at home. So, whether or not we get a Christmas card made this year, I do not know. But, I do like to take pictures for the good ole blog and so today was not a wasted day. Who could be disappointed by these loving and cheerful smiles anyway?

Even if things don't (and by don't I mean never) go according to plan.....how can I not be the happiest mommy alive? I am lucky to have these angels to call my sons and a little independent streak never killed anyone.....right?

Coming Soon: The Busy Holiday Season

So, I will start by saying that this last Thursday was the midnight showing of Twilight. My circle of friends near and far had been anticipating this movie for what seemed like an eternity. Luckily, my grandmother agreed to stay over so that Mike and I could join our group of 20+ Twilight Saga fanatics at the opening showing. People started lining up at 1pm for the midnight group. There were three sold out rooms in our theater and another theater with similar numbers down the street. Our wonderful friend Mina got there at 4ish and alerted the movie people that she was holding our spot. We got there at about 7pm and were happy to be about 11th in line.

Some may think that waiting in line for 5+ hours is crazy or would be boring to say the least. It was anything but. It was great to hang with the group and with the hordes of people all with a common interest. There were kids and teenagers. There were husbands and wives. There were soccer moms with whole soccer teams. People wearing preprinted shirts. People with posters and news clippings, magazines and official guides. The LA Times showed up to sell newspaper inserts at 50 cents a piece. There were heated debates about the characters. Those that hated Jacob and those who preferred Edward but couldn't help but defend Jacob from attack. Debates about casting and whether the movie could live up to the electricity pulsing from the characters in the books. It was a wild and fun time.

The whole movie watching experience was amplified by the shear number of fans piled in the room. From the raise of the curtain to the end of the movie, loud roaring cheers and enthusiastic clapping ruled the theater. The crowd even went crazy with the cameo of Stephenie Meyer herself.

The movie itself was good. For an addict like me it was sensational. I would like to see it again and again....if I had someone to watch the boys and also unlimited amounts of time and money. I do plan on reading and rereading the books until it comes out on DVD. And then it will be time to wait in line for the second installment. I don't know if people who hadn't read the books would see it quite the same, but Michael liked it and wouldn't like me spreading this all over town....but has said that he plans to read the books over his Xmas vacation. He may just be fanning a flame there though because he knows how amorous I return when I have spent a couple of hours in Forks immersed in the intensity of Edward and Bella. But, hey, the movie opened to something like 70.5 million dollars this weekend. So, I can't be that crazy.......especially when certain people that I know have already seen it three times!!!

Busy days are ahead. The holiday season will be here and gone before we know it. So, I have to admit that I put up my Christmas tree yesterday and rapped presents. I know....it isn't even after Thanksgiving yet! And, I usually abhor decorating. I always refused to put up a tree and got away with it last Christmas because we went to my mom's for the holidays and so I wasn't depriving the boys technically. Well, this year Xmas is at my house. And, after going back and forth about it.....I got the dang thing. It is a fake one and a little crooked from being shoved in a tiny box....but it will do. It is one of those three piece things that have the lights on it already. That at least took the lazy portion away from my argument. We were shopping yesterday....not my favorite thing to do during the holidays with the crowds, but better now than a couple weeks from now. So, we got the tree and the boys picked out a Cars tree skirt and some Cars ornaments to add to the box of ornaments I had gotten as a gift once and never used before this. Once home I assembled my tree and the boys were in awe of it. They loved it....the lights, the Cars ornaments, even the shiny assortment of Santas, Penguins, Snowmen etc. that were added to leave no branch unadorned. Not touching the tree takes some reminding, but the boys sat for hours oohing and aaahing and pointing things out. I suppose that is why it had to be done.

The gingerbread man book is still a favorite. When my grandmother came over to babysit, she made gingerbread men for the boys with raisin eyes, cherry mouth and papaya buttons. The boys were overjoyed. Seb kept placing the gingerbread man on its picture likeness in the book. Then he would bite it and we would say,"Ouch!" and he would laugh. He also shared the gingerbread man with the cow, horse and little old lady in the book. Ben on the other hand tore off his arm and leg right away to eat and then made him run around the table before finally biting off his head. One gingerbread man apiece was worth at least an hour of fun. Then later that night my grandma asked Seb where the gingerbread man was......referring to the book before bed. Seb smiled, opened his mouth wide and pointed down his throat. Then he rubbed his belly and said,"Good."

As I have feared before, Ben is really attached to me. I have always known that Ben would be one of the kids on the first day of kinder that would be howling and I would be the mother crying right along with him. We have started attending a new church with a great childcare system. They have five rooms --each for a designated year age with two teachers per room and a supervisor that patrols all of the rooms. The kids play and have a little lesson and then have cookie time. If your child gets too upset, they have electronic screens that flash your kid's number so that you know to come and rescue them. Of course, when dropping them off, I already had tears in my eyes. Seb steps in the room with a big smile and runs off to start playing without a glance back. Benny on the other hand pulls at my heart strings. He goes in and finds a toy and before I can leave, comes to me to grab my hand and show me the rest of what he has found. I get my hand back after a couple of minutes and slowly make my way to the door. But the stupid security gates.....it takes a million years to figure out how to open it. By the time I am on the other side, Ben is watching with wide eyes and a quivering lip. I blow him a kiss, tell him goodbye and tell him to have fun. I will see him in a little bit. The roar of death and ocean of tears erupt. I can't bring myself to go into the church. I hide with my back against the wall in the hall, almost crying myself. Michael wants me to leave, he will be fine in a couple of minutes. But, I want to stay and listen. I want to hear him stop crying so that I know he is alright. Of course, Ben senses me there. He climbs up on the gate and cranes his neck around to see me hiding in the hallway. He has an extra loud burst of tears to try and draw me back in. I blow him a kiss and assure him I will be back soon. I have to leave now.

Our number is never called, so I am calmer. Of course upon picking up the boys, they are happily playing. Ben doesn't see me right away and runs around the room as busy as can be. He has a toy spoon in his smiling mouth making quick laps around tables and chairs and Michael and I look at each other and know that that is our typical little Ben. Then Benny sees me....stops in his tracks.....the spoon drops and he runs to the door. He reaches his arms up and says,"Carry, Carry." He is ready to go home. Seb on the other hand, smiles and waves and says hi to us. He then makes his rounds and says bye to everyone in the room. All the way to the car, he walks hand in hand with his Daddy waving at every passer by. When in the car we ask the boys, "Did you have fun?" Seb answers with an elated,"Yeah, yeah!" Ben gives a nonchalant nod.

Not only is leaving the boys hard on me because I am one of those overprotective, hovering, following their every move moms, but because I have this guilt when I leave them. I wonder if it is just Ben's sensitive personality that has him upset or is it a real fear that I won't come back. That I am abandoning him. I think this is what makes it harder for me to be unemotional about it. It is hard for me to go.

One last thing. I have been teaching the boys how to say,"I love you." Seb is pretty good at it and now if I say- I -with a pause, the- love you- come out right after. With Ben, he is not the talker with this emotional stuff, so he has his own rock star moves. With Seb and I saying I love, Ben does an over exaggerated point for the you and adds the biggest sweetest smile so that you know what he means. Of course, if the subject is daddy, it is always, "I love Dada!" instead of the You. I don't know why. It is just how they do it. I love those little dudes.

We have so much planned over the next couple of weeks with trips and visits and parties that I don't know when I will get a chance to blog again. If I don't.....Happy Holidays to you all out there. If I do....well, then I guess I will just have to say it again.

Family and Friends: A Great Weekend

So, with my run of luck lately, I didn't hold much hope for the weekend. We had plenty to do, but I was only guardedly optimistic. We had the CHS LA area picnic to attend and a whole group of family coming in from Friday through Tuesday just for a nice visit. Of course, a couple days before this very busy weekend got underway, the four of us got colds and I didn't know if we would make it to the picnic that we were so anxiously awaiting. But, alas, not wanting to be stuck with a potluck sized portion of hummus, we made our way to Culver City and were glad we did. The fresh air and warmer temperatures were good for both our bad moods and sickly condition.
The boys had a grand time playing on the swings and play structures and running in the endless green fields. It was great to meet Kristina, the CHS social worker who had been so wonderful during our process-- who put up with our thinly veiled exuses for emails which were attempts to see when a referral may be coming and who was the one that actually called when we were notified/surprised with our twin angels. In between chasing our energetic duo, we got to hang out with some of the coolest people known to man. I can never get enough of Lauren and Marley and now I can stalk JCMarie as well. So exciting to be a part of such a cool crowd. We were able to meet and put faces to people from the forum that we knew only as cryptic usernames and not as actual people. It was a really great time, even if a chocolate chip cookie and too much juice ended up as poop on my pants (not my poop...I said on, not in....- a gift poop from Seb, okay). We were sad to leave, but with all the excitement of several hours at the park and multiple people to visit with, Ben was overwhelmed and exhausted. He needed the long ride home to nap and recharge his batteries. When the tantrum tidal wave hits, it is time to run for cover.
So, it was back home to visit with my Aunt Evelyn, in town from AZ for a business trip. Also visiting were my parents from the Bay Area and my Nonny from down the hill. As I have said before, I love when my mommy is visiting because not only are the boys spoiled....I am completely spoiled as well. It is like Christmas come early with having help with the boys and help with the chores and help with the cooking......not to mention a big prime rib dinner that only mom can make. We also had fun playing American Idol on the PS3. Michael always wins, but it is fun to try to sing these songs only for Simon to tell you that you are hopelessly terrible. Although, I do feel bad when some of the less talented family members get the boot even from Paula. Now, that is really sad.

The latest and greatest with the boys are as follows. Sebastian has really been into role playing as a baby. He comes over and says,"Baby, Baby." He climbs into my arms and I rock him back and forth. He then will close his eyes and fake snore with a huge smile. Then he tells me to do the "Gucci Gucci Goooo". I tickle his chin with those silly words and he laughs and laughs. Ben has taken to making me exercise my arms. He comes over and fashions my hands into a makeshift butt seat. He sits and wants me to lift up and down. The trick is in the balance and being able to do it more than a couple times without my arms falling off. The real problem occurs when Seb gets jealous and wants to do the same thing. I definitely can't lift one butt per hand, but Seb is so solid, I can barely get a couple of lifts with two hands when he has successfully pushed his brother off my lap. It is good excercise though as the old lady arm fat accumulating under my arms can use a little minimization.
The boys are also fascinated with putting their toys to bed.....all day long. Whether the giraffe from the animal train or the wonder pets or tow mater, they bring said toy over to the bed, tuck it soundly in and give it a kiss on the head or snout. They then wave bye bye and throw kisses. Sometimes they lie next to the toy and stroke it while it lays under the covers. After leaving it for a few minutes they return to check that it hasn't moved. Then it is thrown overboard and a different toy is put to bed in its stead. Also, Cars has made a return in the DVD player. For a while I had been given a break. I couldn't remember the last time I had to watch it. The boys have too many videos and had actually gotten to a point where I wasn't watching the same one everyday. Although, in picking the video, I would have to go through almost every one before one or the other twin said yes instead of no. Then getting them to agree....a whole separate issue. For awhile I could get the "Ein--eins" in there which was victory because they would usually let me pick which of the eight or so Einsteins to watch instead of repeating over and over the same story. But, now Cars is the favorite again. And they oooohhhh and ahhhhh and scream crash and run in place and get excited like it is all new again. Plus, Ben asks for Cars by name. No going through a collection only for them to pick the last one I offer. Cars it is....again.


So, I leave you with a picture from the picnic courtesy of JCMarie. I had forgotten my camera in our hurry out of the house, so I am glad to have a memory or two of such a fun day, even if I looked half crazed. Lauren looks to really be enjoying herself though.....but that probably has more to do with the cookie than something I am saying. And of course, Marley is as cute as ever. Can't wait to meet up with everyone at the end of the month again. Good times.

Tomorrow...Here begins the end of the World

Maybe....well who knows really.

-------Skip this paragraph if you are tired of political opinion pieces-----------

But it is an end to the principles that this country was built to protect. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and as voting laws are changed to keep those who want to stay in power.....in power......as freedoms like the second amendment are stripped so the common man can't reclaim his rights under a tyrant...... as freedom of speech is done away with if it is a dissenting opinion ....you have to wonder where it all leads. A forced redistribution of wealth and a government who controls what used to be free trade....... With a nonexistant free press.....the Republic is dead. Will it all really be squashed so easily? There are already grumblings warning that this path will lead to a revolution....a civil war. I wish that some balance would occur to prevent such. Without balance, no matter what party or individual is in power......it is catastrophic for our way of life. So, politicians....suprise me. Be the men/women you promise to be. Don't make fools out of those people who trusted what you said and voted for you. At the very least, it will create the same situation we are in now.......but, with victory for the other side and no hope of bipartisanship.

On the lighter side of the political situation, the funniest conversation occured at a family dinner party. Of course, as is the trend for this hot election season, politics was the topic of choice. We agree on the presidential bid and were also debating initiatives. So, just as the conversation is winding down, my mom looks at the twins and asks....."Who are you voting for?" Knowing my boys, they don't talk much and their words are very much in a different sphere of interest. I expected to hear Tow Mater, McQueen, Dora, Wa Pets or Cow Cow. So, it was to the table's surprise when Sebastian smiles and says with a loud and confident boast,"CAIN! CAIN!" Everyone looks up in surprise and claps and smiles and Sebastian looks over at his brother with pride. Well, Ben looks at my mom with a thoughtful glance. He taps his finger to his chin. And proclaims," Obamama!" That brought on another roar of laughter. It is surprising how all of this political conferencing even made it into the minds of my toddlers. And how could Ben pick "Obamama". Ha, ha........Then I remembered.......the last two weeks we had visited with my wonderful (wonderfully liberal) friend Lauren and Ben had taken a liking to her. I thought that he was just after his buddy Marley's chicken while he sat on her lap.......now, I am pretty sure that by some kind of liberal osmosis......Ben was body snatched, ha ha. No more sitting on Lauren's lap buddies......it is just too dangerous. Okay....I am kidding.....but, thought it an amusing story anyway.

Okay, enough of the politics. On to the fun stuff. Daddy was a hit at work in his nerd costume and the boys had fun as Tigger and Pooh on Halloween. I dressed them up in the morning to play in their costumes for the day. We were leaving that night to make the drive up to the Bay Area after Michael got off from work. His cousin's son was getting christened in SF early Sat. morning and so we had to leave before the boys got to go trick or treating. Chocolate is still a no no with their lactose intolerance and so it is just as well anyway. I think at their age the fun of dressing up and playing all day was more exciting than going door to door. Plus, the grandparents made sure there was no shortage of marshmellow and gummy candies, not to mention videos and toys awaiting their arrival.

In the afternoon, Mike, Lauren and Marley stopped by which is the greatest Halloween gift that I could ask for. The boys and Marley played in the backyard and ate lunch together. Marley held his own with my two men who were obviously fiending after his chicken again. I tried to convince the family yet again to move next door and we joked about knocking down the fence and all the fun and parties we would enjoy. I will cross my fingers for this version of reality because there are few people, if any, I would rather have as my next door neighbors. So, we had a great visit and a noneventful drive up north that night. It was Mike and my 10 year dating anniversary as well.....so we missed our usual ritual of gory movies and pizza......but, I suppose I will get over it.

We had a good time seeing all of Michael's relatives at the baptism and then going to a beyond tastey Chinese restaurant for the reception. I think it was a 16 course meal and I gave up at about the 7th round. Sebastian held his own and probably made it through more courses than I did. Ben was all about the rice and soy sauce and of course had some noodles. They were doing fine at such a long dinner, but of course my husband is the ultimate poop. First he convinced his cousin that the hot mustard was honey mustard. Poor guy. Then he convinced the same cousin that the red pepper sauce was sweet. Then he took a whole crab shell and made it chase and pretend attack Ben at the table scaring him to death. So, the boys were well behaved, but Daddy left a bit to be desired. Well, I suppose Ben did start using the chopsticks as drumsticks....but that was after his daddy showed him how. And Seb was using the tip of chopsticks to stick into different entree sauces for taste tests. You can't take us anywhere, hehe! All joking aside, the boys were received very well by the family. In the past, we have had some problems with Filipino culture as it relates to our family situation. Most every person came over to say hello and reacquaint themselves with the twins. Every passerby stopped with an encouraging,"Guapo, Guapo."

We also got a chance to visit with my parents later that evening. It was nice to spend time with both sides of our family. Hence, the picture of the crazy woman with the boys is my mom who people say that I look a lot like. That picture is so a me thing to do. I love my mom.

The favorite song is still "Old McDonald" in which they love to make the animal sounds. This has been great for them as they will now answer with the sound if I ask them....."What does the duck say"....."Quack, quack" and they have expanded to horses and sheep and well, they are convinced that the farmer has a snake, which is their favorite. And, for halloween of course, the farmer had a "gos ---boo" and a "weesh ----hehehe". But, who cares, if I had a farm......I would probably have a ghost and witch too. Actually, my last condo was full to the brim with ghosts. Not by choice of course. The boys already loved taking baths and to make that addiction even stronger, I bought them some bubble bath. Why would I do such a thing to myself? I am dragging them out after an hour and Ben still chases me around wanting to inspect each of his "ra-sin" fingers. The boys also love their Imagination Movers CD. Sometimes they want it on so that we can dance and jump. Other times they are tired of my singing voice at night. I will sit down as I usually do and they will put the "no hand" up and say, "no, no, no". This means that they want to listen to their music and want me to kiss them and say goodnight to leave them to whisper their secrets and listen to music as a brotherly duo. Luckily this rarely happens as I love the time we spend together before bed.....or maybe I like a captive audience when I sing nursery rhymes and reminisce about my teaching days, hehe.

A quick 'ello'

So, I have been taking more pictures lately and though it makes a good excuse to blog....even if I don't have much new to say. But hey, it doesn't stop the politicians so I guess I will babble a little too. And I can guarantee you that I won't repeat my stumping speech soundbites or make promises that will be near to impossible to keep. I won't try to get your vote by pretending to be just like you. I am not Robin Hood, I am not a war hero, I cannot fix the economy (which makes me not all that much different from our politicians anyway) and I may just crawl into a hole and not come up until groundhogs day. What really scares me is the direction that this election is taking. Not so much who wins the presidency on a personal level, but that when Obama wins, he will most likely enjoy a 60-40 advantage in the Senate meaning that all those things that I don't agree with will be streamlined into law. It may be just enough for me to join the NRA and all things that entail, before it is too late.


So, as this is not a happy household with things unraveling politically all around us.....we have to find things to do to keep us busy. Distract us from our impending doom. Fantasy football wasn't going well for me this last Sunday, so I let Michael convince me that we could drive down to the Orange County Auto Show. He had been working on me for quite sometime and I had come up with plenty of excuses why not....the expensive gas......need to catch up on housework......its too draining for the boys....I would rather be run over by said cars then be trapped in a crowded building with them for hours on end. Can you tell it is really not my idea of fun? Still undecided, we were giving the boys a bath and discussing back and forth for the upteenth time why we should/shouldn't go. Then Michael plays dirty. He asks Sebby who is enjoying his bath to the fullest,"Do you want Mommy to let you go to the car show to see all the cool cars?" Sebby gets the biggest smile on his face and jumps up with an enthusiastic,"Yaaaaaaa!" That was the clincher. How could I deny that sweet face? And, so the boys enjoyed themselves. Inspecting and touching and climbing in and out of cars all afternoon. They had a really great time.

And I suppose that Michael works really hard and should be able to do something he wants to do now and again, hehe. I usually say what we can do and what movies/TV shows we watch. I pick the restaurants and he never complains (except for Queer as Folk.....I had to watch that series all by my lonesome.) He didn't even bring up the fact that he babysat that Saturday so that I could go to the movies with some of the girls. It was really great to get away from my house o' penis for a couple of hours. Of course, the girls were seeing a total chicky flick that I probably could have waited for on video. The new Nicolas Sparks movie, the one with Diane Lane and Richard Gere was adequate. Usually I am a water fountain of tears, but not so much for this one. The others were sobbing away. Perhaps after such a movie going drought, I was missing my horror and suspense. I like the Romance too, but I guess this one just had something missing for me. Don't get me wrong....I had a great time.....being out and about and being me, not just mommy. I must say I have a date with the girls again for the opening of Twilight. We are so stoked for that one. And, having read the series......I know it is right up my alley. Okay....is it just me or is that saying just really nasty sounding. Anyway, the boys survived an afternoon with Daddy. Sometimes I have my doubts, but even when Ben cried for 40 minutes after I left......Michael was able to fix the problem. A trip to McDonald's for lunch and I was all but forgotten.

I will come up with some interesting twin happenings so as not to bore you with myself.....Let us see. The bath is a favorite activity in our house still. The boys love baths and will beg for one anytime of day if they are reminded by a cartoon bath on Blue's Clues or whatever program they happen to be watching. They splish and splash, read their books, play with their toys and wash eachother's backs. I still easily wash their hair with a cup by saying,"Waterfall! Waterfall!" and deluging them. They laugh and think it is the greatest. The other night, Michael went to set up the bath as the boys were finishing dinner. Seb was done and ran into the bathroom to get daddy to put him immediately in the tub. Ben was then in a hurry. He did not want to be robbed of those extra minutes of fun that his brother would get. He had half of an Oreo left on his plate. He looks at the Oreo, he looks down the hall, he looks at the Oreo and says,"Done! Down! Down!" The cookie did not rate up there with the bath. That is pretty surprising, but a good sign I think.

So, Oreos are the new favorite cookie in this house. It was once the Teddy Grahams, then the Sugar Wafers and now good old fashioned Oreos. At first we would get those mini oreos, but with the way prices at the grocery store are skyrocketing, I decided to try the Costco size box of the one's that I had grown up on. The boys loved them. Not because of mere size, but because they could twist them open and lick out the filling. This style of eating an Oreo must be innate to our being as I haven't eaten Oreos that way since I was young and I don't think that they were copying the Manning brothers.....all though twin NFL quarterbacks would not be too shabby of a future.

Another cute thing was Sebastian's desire to help me change Ben's diaper. The first time it happened, I was quite surprised although Seb is the caretaker and sensitive dude of the duo. I was even more surprised that Ben allowed such an invasion because although he is quite the flasher, he only likes mommy to mess with such things as diaper changes. But, Seb came over and grabbed a wipe and cleaned the said area pretty thoroughly without a complaint from Ben. If we ever decide to add to our family, Seb will make a very good big brother and helper. Also, the tickling over here is out of control! The boys love to tickle and they will chase me around tickling and saying,"ickle, ickle, ickle!"with giggles of delight. This has made it increasingly hard to get things done as they know the right time to launch an attack....like when it is time to clean up their room and get ready for bed. The tickling buys them at least an extra half hour of awake time as I could never ignore the swarm of little fingers. I think it has become a big thing because at home I make a big laughing deal out of the whole thing. I run around in circles and throw back my head in a fake laughter that they don't identify as fake yet. This is usually pretty fun although Seb got perturbed at me when I didn't respond as such in the middle of Costco. His tickle fingers under my chin with his "ickle, ickle" prompt was not enough for me to wrecklessly drive the cart around the store in a fit of laughing hysterics.

On the Road Again

Okay, so it seems that we are always in the car. Maybe too many cool people live too far away or we live too far away from too many cool people. It is hard to pass up a chance to see them even with gas prices the way they are. And, now to top it off......we have a gas consuming beast. Sorry to my eco-terrorist friends out there. We needed the extra space and this opportunity kind of just fell into our laps and was too good to pass up. We still have the Trailblazer to use for short trips here and there around town (as if that is much more ecofriendly), but the Suburban has the room for the stroller and booster seats and when we go on long trips, the dogs and our luggage. And hey, I was afraid that I was going to end up with a minivan.......I prefer this option to that.
So, it seems that every picture I have taken in recent history is in the car seats. And for most of those, even when awake the boys don't have their eyes open. In the new car we have their seats next to eachother. With no buffer zone.....we have frequent sibling skirmishes. It can be caused by the taking of a favorite toy or Seb wanting to hold hands and Ben wanting his space. Here we are on our way to Little Ethiopia for our monthly lunch gathering/play date at an Ethiopian restaurant. It is a good thing the boys have a couple of hours to recharge their batteries so that they are in a good mood and ready to go. I have come to the conclusion that the boys need to be socialized more though. Of course, when a friend came up to Sebastian, first he slunk away......not knowing what to expect of the little stranger. He adjusted well though and was playing in a few seconds time. Ben on the other hand wanted nothing to do with playing. He stayed securely standing between my legs.....his safety net I suppose. When taking out his "zools" (pretzels), of course, they were a big hit with the group. As to be expected though, Ben did not want to share. He tried to guard his bag of snacks to no avail. He did allow his brother to get his hand in said bag. Seb then in turn, passed out the pretzels to the rest of the group. We look forward to next month's gathering, especially since there were some very noticable absentees this month. Namely, two of our favorite families.

So, it has really been more of the same here. Michael has been tormenting me to agree that we can drive the distance again the next two weeks to go to car shows with the boys. Arghhh...not my idea of fun. At first I tried to thwart his attempts by saying it was too much gas, especially after all of our friendly jaunts down the hill. But, he may get his way afterall since one of my favorite people in the world will try to meet us at one of these horrid car shows with her beautiful family. I can't imagine passing that up.
Sebastian continues to love his cows and still brings that plastic thing everywhere we go. It still shares his food and in this picture has found love with a dinosaur. At night, he has taken to a new hobby. He has always loved brushing his teeth and will remind me when I tell the boys at night that it is time to get ready for bed. He always says,"Teeth, teeth." As if I would forget.....maybe Daddy would, not mommy. This is always to Ben's chagrin because he hates to get his teeth brushed. Anyhow, in the past, Seb always would brush and brush and it would be hard to actually get him to relinquish the brush in a timely manner. I figured, this was a good problem to have as teeth can never be too clean. But, now, it is not his teeth he is obsessed with. It is the teeth belonging to his cow flashlight. It is one of those that moos when the handle is pressed to open the mouth and shine the light. Well, now it is a half hour hobby of Seb's to brush the cows teeth. Not only does this take time without the benefit of getting his teeth super clean.....but the mooing is atrocious for that period of time. Why couldn't he have taken up the hobby of brushing his brother's teeth?......That would have been a win - win!
I continue to be impressed at the progress the boys are making in their behavior while dining out. True, they have whatever coloring activity the eatery has to offer and we bring a bag of their toys, but they do a great job whether it be Chinese, Pho, Italian or fast food. Here we are at Oggi's.....a great brewery/pizza/Italian type place. The boys got popcorn chicken, but I love their Italian Stallion pizza. The best!
Now for the newest of exploits. New ways to drive mommy crazy, I think. They have taken to going to their drawers and throwing every article of clothing out. This makes me very angry as I hate organizing and reorganizing, folding and refolding daily. Of course, I can get them to put the clothes back in the drawers and Seb does it with a smile......but that doesn't mean that it is neat or not just a pile of clothes willy nilly in a drawer. The blankets also come off of the shelf from time to time. The boys love playing ghost. It is too bad they can't see through the blankets as running around with a bed spread over your head (and entire body depending on size of spread and body) can be quite dangerous. The same holds true for pillow cases which are a little more restrictive. The other day, I even found Seb hiding between the matress and fitted sheet. How he fit, I do not know......but these kids come up with the darndest things.

The boys have also taken to removing the matress from one of their beds. They either place it so that it is a supreme bouncer to jump on while they scream and giggle,"Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!" or they fashion it into a slide from bed to floor. They are very excited when they move the matress to find lost cheerios and zools that are, who knows how old. They don't care.....it is still a tasty extra treat to them.
Ben has also discovered the joys of the doggy door. Our doggy door leads into the kitchen which is sectioned off from the house by a gate that keeps both the dogs out of the rest of the house and the boys out of the kitchen. As the boys are always running in different directions, one day I was chasing down Seb in the backyard and returned to find Ben missing. I called and looked and didn't see him. I was panicked until I heard giggling. He had climbed into the kitchen via doggy door and was looking through the window jumping up and down in excitement as I searched for him. I should have known he would figure out the doggy door. The previous week, he would push the flap open and peer in at the less social of our dogs (the one that makes himself scarce when the babies are wildly playing outside). Ben spent much time that week peering in and waving his hand as he said,"Heelllllooooooooooo, Heelllloooooooooooo!"

The boys have also grown fond of drawing with chalk. The cement in the backyard is one big canvass of scribbles. Of course to them they are pictures of either snakes, Tow Mater or helicopters. They have graduated from their fascination of making me draw moons. I just wish they weren't into the graffiti aspect of drawing their "nakes" on everything else......windows, their slide, the chair etc. etc. Something to work on.

Can I Be Anymore Boring?

Okay....so thinking about it.....I am really a boring person. Without my boys....I would have nothing to talk about. Well, there is politics, but being surrounded by lefties in CA in an election year doesn't put me in the mood. I have realized that I don't get out enough. Since moving, no girl's nights out or social lunches where the topics are revolving around adult themed conversation. All the cool kids live so far away. Plus, my singles or kidless groups have given up on me. I am no fun- a shadow of my former self. I used to have a flare for the innuendo.....now I have been reduced to stories about poop. Even Mike and I rarely get out anymore. And, as with this weekend, when we did go out, it was hard not to talk about and miss and wonder about what was going on with my little angels. I guess I am afraid that I am loosing my edge. For example, when the boys first came home.....I was determined to stay my cool quirky self. I wanted them to be matching Freddy Krueger's for Halloween. This year.....they will be Tigger and Pooh.
So, on to my favorite subject, the centers of my universe.....my boys.

As mentioned in my last post......the love of Cows and the need to chase me with snakes is still the most popular of passtimes. Although, we don't only have to watch those Barnyard cows anymore. Now I get to ask through each of their videos to see what the boys want to watch. Very rarely do they agree, but, at least we are back to some variety. They have also taken up liking the Noggin shows as well as the Disney Channel so that gives some more variety as well. But, cows in general are still all the rage. I found myself glaring at a cow on the side of the road yesterday.....just because it was a cow. I have even hidden the Gingerbread Man book because, yes, you guessed it....there is a cow that wants to eat the Gingerbread Man. We could be stuck on that page for a half hour at a time. Seb sees the cow and won't turn the page. And with that book or his puzzle or his plastic cows, there are two things that fascinate him. The utters and the tail. He has to point to every cows utters and say,"Boob!!". He will talk about the "boobs" for what seems like hours. At least with the tails, he will go to all animals and point them out. But, it always comes back to the cow. Even with a picture of a barn with no animal in sight, he will point at the doors and say, "Mmmm (his cow sound) ---inside---Mmmm."
Now, Ben, he is less prone to a one track mind. He plays with just about anything. He is quite the block stacker. He gives rides to his little men on cars. His favorite toy at the moment is a small remote control car. He says,"Push buttons," he pushes the buttons and says,"Go, Go, Go!" as the car goes forward or backwards until crashing. This can keep him busy for a very long time.
Ben is very much into tongues though. He uses his tongue as a taster tongue when he sees a food he is not too familiar with. He touches said food to the tip of his tongue to see if it is worth eating. He sticks out his tongue and points and says a version of tongue. He always wants me to stick out my tongue so he can point and identify it. Well, I finally took out the Mr. Potato head's that they had gotten for Christmas. They have taken to watching Toy Story and Mr. Potato head rates second to "Buzz" only. They even love him more than Woody. So, while I am making dinner, I put the boys in their seats and they pass the time with Noggin on and either color, do puzzles, play blocks or legos, or play with the Potato heads. To Ben's extreme delight, one of the potato heads has a tongue piece. He attached it and before I knew it, with a big smile, stuck his tongue out......they touched tongues and that is the story of how Ben and Mr. Potato head started their almost daily love affair.
Who knew that plastic potatos could keep kids so busy. Ben is one to build more realistically. He likes the pieces to be generally as they are intended to be. Although check out how my smarty flipped the mustache to make bushy eyebrows. Seb is an artist with his potato head, he puts parts wherever he gets the whim or will take pieces to build multiple faces on the sides of the potato.
My boys are a bunch of hams too. They love to be tickled and to tickle. They have taken up the art of fake snoring. Of course, they close their eyes and snore with the biggest smile on their face. Most of the time they remember to lay down before doing so. They love playing hockey and golf and when the clubs or sticks are put away will use anything to hit the balls. Seb is even known to try to putt the ball with his snake.....which he is able to do even with the snake waggling in curls. Until it broke, his plastic hoe also made a good hockey stick. Ben continues to have a good arm, both throwing the baseball and football. This is not a good attribute when he throws books, or crates or toys though. The boys have also taken to learning different modes to escape. They know dump toys out of their crates and stack them to climb over the baby gate. Once I confiscate the crates, they have been known to stack their potty chairs just as effectively. Too smart and brave and agile for their own good I say.
Speaking of potty training. We are still moving at a snails pace. I actually had a very bad week a while ago where one of the boys took up poo finger painting. Within minutes it was on the bed, the walls, the floor, the toys. Three days in a row, I had to figure out how to clean the offender, clean the room and keep the other twin out of said mess at the same time. I needed a twin or clone.....or maid. By that Friday, I was a mental mess. Although, who knows......if you consider it modern art, maybe I should get a canvas and make a fortune for future college funds. It was a crack up, albeit a little nasty when the next day, Seb dumps out his crate of toys. He starts looking through them one by one, putting most in the crate and a couple to the side. When he is done he points to the small pile of toys and says,"Poo". Whether this is him on a scavenger hunt in the backyard or pointing to his diaper and patting his butt, I know what this means. And, yes, the toys have poop from yesterday- dried on them. Poor Eyeore has a snout full of poop in fact. This did not make me happy that I had missed it from the day before, but I was very delighted that Seb could both sort toys and was able to bring my attention to the infraction.
The following week, I am happy to report that Sebastian made progress in trying to use the potty. On the first day, he took off his pants and diaper, peed next to them and then sat on the potty chair. I encouraged him and tried to explain that the pee pee belonged in the potty. Steps out of order and what not. The next day, he took off his pants and diaper and pooped next to them and then sat on the potty. This I was a little less encouraging about, but I try to look on the bright side. At least, it wasn't on the walls, even if it did take some cleaning.
Our nighttime ritual has changed a little as after the reading of a couple of stories, the boys now want me to sing to them. Of course, this usually is about a half hour singing the same two songs over and over. Yes, I do know more songs than two.....I taught Kindergarten after all. But, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Grand Old Flag are the two that I am made to sing until my voice is gone. They enjoy the hand motions and will sometimes join in with them. Then, after my singing it is time to kiss them goodnight. Although, this too goes on for a good 15 minutes......they have a little thing where they tell me to kiss the feet, kiss the belly, kiss the lips. over and over again-- times two silly boys. Just when i think i am done.......i get a foot in the face and can't resist their giggley request. FinallyI end with the usual,"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" This I also follow with a zombie like gobbling on their bellies. But, this means game over and I finally make my exit to their laughing and then a last contented sigh. They do have me rapped around their little fingers. I love though, that I am their favorite person on this earth. They smile upon seeing me enter a room. That never gets old. I get up in the morning, go straight to their room and am met with the most amazing welcome. Sebastian covers me in hugs and kisses and Ben gives a warm smiley wave with his "ello". No matter what is wrong in the world, this is guaranteed to cure it. This is why I don't mind not being anything more interesting than Ben and Seb's mom.