First, I should premise this by saying that actually both of these things are true about both of my boys. It is just that Owen does the first a bit more than Kyle, and Kyle does the second a bit more than Owen. I just want to be clear, though, that they both do these things regularly (like, all the time lately; like, multiple times every day)…
Second, I have to say that as much as we’d love to be able to take credit for these two things (because I sincerely think they are extremely admirable characteristics), Braydon and I actually did not teach them these things (at least not in any explicit way that we are consciously aware of). These two things are all Kyle and Owen.
Mr. Complimentary / A.K.A. Owen
Lately, Owen is soooo complimentary. He is just full of compliments all the time. This has been going on for a few weeks now, so it appears to not just be a flighty passing short-lived phase. Owen just loves to give compliments. And the best part about it is that he seems completely and utterly sincere with his generous complimentary gestures. I actually truly think he really does feel these things– he’s not just saying them because of the (adoring) reaction he gets. He compliments people regularly. “Mommy, I love your shoes!” “Papi, I love your pants!” “Alex, I love your necklace, it is so beautiful! Alex, you are so beautiful!” “Hi! Oh! I love your eyes!” “Your car is so nice!” “I love this food Mommy! Thank you for this yummy in my tummy supper Mommy! This is my favorite mommy!” “Oh, Papi, I love your earring!” It isn’t excessive; it doesn’t sound over-done when he does it; it feels like you’re getting a true compliment. Everyone that has conversed with me about this (which is several people) tells me that they truly feel so flattered when he does it. Somehow he just spreads the joy and spreads the love. Owen is Mr. Complimentary.
Mr. Inclusivity / A.K.A. Kyle
Lately, Kyle is soooo inclusive. He just seems to truly live by the motto “the more the merrier” all the time in all endeavors with all activities whether they are large or small, spectacularly special or mundane. This too has been going on for a few weeks now, so it appears to not just be a flighty passing short-lived phase. Kyle just loves to welcome people in and embrace them into his life. He seems to genuinely want to include people in all that there is to be included in. And, again, as with Owen, the best part about this is that Kyle seems completely and utterly sincere with his generous inclusive gestures. I actually truly think he really does feel that he wants to invite people to join him in these things– he’s not just including them because of the (adoring/surprised) reaction he gets. He is incredibly inclusive toward people regularly. “I’m having my birthday party on May 8th! You can come?!” “We are going to the grocery store now. You want to come with us?!” “You want to come to our house and watch a video?” “I have good pasta Mama. You want to have some with me?” “Come on Papi! Let’s go play!” “Hi! What’s your name? You want to try my ice cream?” “We’re going on vacation! On a big airplane! You can come with us!!!” It isn’t excessive; it doesn’t sound over-done when he does it; it feels like you’re truly being included in something special. You feel special. Everyone that has conversed with me about this (which is, again, several people) tells me that they truly feel so flattered when he does it — like Kyle is including them in his “inner circle” — like Kyle is genuinely living out an open heart and an inclusive spirit. Somehow he just spreads the joy and spreads the love. Kyle isMr. Inclusivity.
For awhile now I’ve been reading the Mayhem and Magic Blog. I’ve linked to it before on our blog (click here for that link). Today the post there is really great. Click here to read today’s Mayhem and Magic Blog post “Talking to Adoptive Parents.”
I was at work today, talking to Heather and we thought it would be fun if we finally took the boys to the driving range. With all the golfing that they’ve been doing at home, I’ve been so much wanting to take them to the range. We finally did it.
On the way there, I was explaining what we were going to do: “Now, guys, we’re going to a golf course. When we get there, you have to be quiet and no running around. We’re going get many golf balls in bucket and hit many many balls. At home we run after the balls, but here we don’t, we just hit more.” Owen sums it up perfectly: “Just like on baby golf!” (the golf video we have watched in the past).
We went to the Center Valley Club – which is a really nice public golf club around here. For the first (and only to-date) time, we could understand why someone might want to a member of a golf club. It was a gorgeous spring day – early evening – a light, warm wind was blowing across the fields, and there were a number of people enjoying hitting balls. It felt relaxing, low key, fun and delightful. Now of course, with one notable exception, they were all white, but it did give us a sense of it.
I bought tokens at the Pro Shop to get balls from the ball machine; they tumbled out of the machine and into the buckets and off we went. Got to the driving range and setup. K&O teed right up and whack! Cracked the ball straight out. It was a glorious sight.
The man next to us just chuckled and chuckled. And then said: “They both have very natural swings – that’s great!” And the pointing at Owen – “And really great for a lefty!”
We very very quickly went through 70 balls. There was a little flag out about 20 yards away and Kyle hit it 3 times. Wow – that kid can hit it straight and pretty much anywhere he wants. Owen has a really BIG swing, but Kyle has accuracy.
When we ran out of balls, we ran back to the pro shop to get more tokens and ran to the dispenser. Kyle put his token in and got more balls. While Owen was putting his token in, we look over and Kyle has walked off carting his bucket of balls – he couldn’t be bothered to wait for his brother!
On the second set of 70 balls, K&O started to look around at other people hitting. Kyle noticed that people dump their balls out into the feeder on the ground and said “Papi, can I do it?” So of course we did. Owen started noticing how other people were swinging and his swing almost doubled in size as he wrapped his whole body around.
As I looked over at Heather, then at my boys hitting balls and out at the beautiful scenery, I was looking through time, across the future of our life as a family, and it was wonderful.
And I only got to hit something like 4 balls total.
Scariest part about having 2 year old twins… those times when you seriously just cannot be in two places at once and you seriously need to be. This morning, for whatever reason, Owen decided to remove his own diaper (which had a huuuuuge poop in it). Luckily, I caught him in the act just in time. I was in the kitchen and I heard him in the playroom saying to himself, “Whoa Owen! Biiiiig poopie in there! Whoa Owen!!!” I ran in as fast as I possibly could. He’s been so good at potty training lately but every once in a while he’s just way too busy to bother with the toilet (why take the time to do that when you can just conveniently unload right in your diaper?!) Anyway… I had Owen lying on the floor of the playroom while I tried to contain the situation (so to speak), and clean him up. Very shortly into this I heard Kyle’s little pitter patter of feet disappear somewhere off of the kitchen (I figured he was going to do something he should not do in either the laundry room or the bathroom). I yelled out, “Kyle?!” and he did not respond. I could hear him moving about, up to no good. I yelled louder, “Kyle? Where are you?” and again he did not respond. I shouted out, “You better not make Mommy mad!!” At that point, I was into about wipe #21 with Owen, frantically trying to move as quickly as humanly possible, knowing that Kyle was definately doing something he should not do in either the laundry room or the bathroom. It took about 51 wipes to finally clean up the Owen situation. At around wipe #45 Kyle emerged on the scene appearing ever-so-innocent as he looked on at the Owen-clean-up-wrap-up. From about wipe #46 through about wipe #51 this is the conversation that occured (Kyle and I leaning over Owen, who is lying on the floor with his legs spread):
Owen: Kyle, what you were doing? Kyle: Oh, I was in the bathroom. Owen: Kyle, what you were doing in the bathroom? You did a pee pee? Kyle: Nope! Heather: Kyle, tell Mama– what were you doing in the bathroom? Kyle: Um, I was in there. Heather: Yes, doing what??? Kyle: Um, I was playing a little bit in there. Heather: Oh God, I’m scared to see this. Owen: Oh God! Heather: Owen, I said Oh gosh! Owen: Oh. O.k. Oh gosh! Heather: Yes, that’s how we say it — oh gosh! Kyle: I broke it. Heather: Oh God, what?! Owen: Oh God! Kyle: I broke it. Heather: Oh gosh. Owen: Oh God! Heather: O.k., o.k., listen to me– boys– go play. Go play. And be good. I’ll be right back.
Seriously, my heart was racing as I entered the bathroom. What I found was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. The toilet paper roll on the wall was completely empty. There was an additional completely empty paper roll sitting on the counter. The toilet was completely-overflowing-full-of-toilet-paper and endlessly-running-but-not-able-to-flush. I locked the door, pulled out mounds and mounds of soaking wet toilet paper, and then cleaned the bathroom up. As I was about to unlock the door I paused to look at myself in the mirror. I thought, “O.k., this isn’t that bad. Not that bad at all. At least some of my make-up is still in place. And my outfit has no poop on it, just toilet water drip spots. O.k. Wait, where are they now???” As I ran to try to find them I checked my watch. 8:03 a.m. My first meeting of the day is at 9:00. Just another Manic Monday.
Snorkeling 101 is well underway (click here). Braydon’s diligence and patience (and sheer determination) are paying off; even I must admit, Snorkeling 101 is going very well. Braydon has been the ever-so-earnest Instructor since he committed himself to this ‘project.’ Regarding the Instructor… In true Braydon fashion he is kind and supportive toward his pupils, while at the same time driven to see them succeed. Anyone who knows him can imagine. I’ll leave it at that. ;0 Owen has been an eager and enthusiastic pupil right from the start. Always ready to jump at the bathtime opportunity to put on the mask and tell his Papi all the things he “sees under there!” (he sees “dolphins!” “Swiper the Fox!” “fishes!” etc., etc., etc., “under there!”). He has recently begun a new phase of the training — blowing bubbles “under there!” He can blow “big bubbles” and “little bubbles” and can watch them underwater through the mask. His only snorkeling ‘issue’ thus far is his over-enthusiasm for the activity. Braydon can’t seem to get him to stop kicking (thus splashing the bathwater all over the bathroom) while he’s looking underwater. Kyle has been a more hesitant pupil. After his first mask-wearing-experience (when he reported the mask to be “too tight”) he has been less-than-happy about the Snorkeling 101 exercises. However, in recent evenings he’s been more and more enthusiastic about wearing the mask and trying out the under-water-bathtime-sight-seeing-adventures. And tonight Kyle had a major breakthrough in his training. He spent virtually the entire bath bobbing back-and-forth between being submerged underwater with his mask (seeing “star fish!” and “an octopus!” “under there!”), and bolting upright (see photo above) with a huge proud grin to ‘high five’ his Papi-Snorkeling-Instructor. (Honestly, it was one of the cutest things I think I’ve ever seen between any father and any son ever). Tonight the boys had a special lesson — they got special training in looking at each other underwater with the masks on! Yes, Snorkeling 101 is going very well indeed!
(note: you can click on this photo to see it larger)
Today we went to a Kite Festival & Earth Day Celebration at our favorite nearby park — Tinicum Park (click here). Lots of beautiful kites to see flying high, lots of folks with picnic blankets (including us!), and lots of fresh air and sunshine. Part of the festivities included a kite-making workshop for kids. Kyle and Owen each made a paper kite (well, to be more accurate: Braydon and I each made a paper kite for Kyle and Owen). That’s no matter….. they/we loved it! There was just enough of a breeze on this gorgeous 80+ degree spring day for the kites to fly high if the boys ran fast enough in the fields of Tinicum Park. Honestly, it was just so darn beautiful, I felt like we were in some kind of living Hallmark card or something. The pictures don’t nearly do it justice.
I just had to post this photo because I always want to remember this because I just think it is one of the most precious little things in the world and because I want to be able to remember to tell Kyle and Owen about this when they are bigger –> K & O love to go through the car wash but whenever we go through a car wash they are both loving it and a teensy weensy bit scared about it at the same exact time –> and from their car-seats they reach out their hands to one another across the back seat of the car and they hold hands through the entire car wash. I happened to have the camera with me in the car on Saturday so I grabbed it to take this photo while we were inside the car wash.
(note: you can click on this photo to see it larger)
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