Lately Braydon and I have been joking with each other that we’re on the Birthday Party Circuit — technically, we’re not on it, K & O are on it and we’re just chaperoning them — but you get the point: we’re just jumping from Birthday Party to Birthday Party these days. For two three year olds I’ve gotta say that Kyle and Owen are very popular. They get invited to the birthday parties of every kid in their class– even when the celebrations are small and the guest lists selective. Luckily, K & O love birthday parties, so this is just a joy for them. And luckily for Braydon and I, these Waldorf School birthday parties are so creative and so amazing that they are truly fun for us to attend with the boys. In the past two weeks we’ve attended two different Birthday Parties. The first was for their friend Amelia, who turned 3. Amelia’s party was at her house but they live on a beautiful piece of land that includes horses/horse fields/horse barn, duck pond, etc., etc., etc. It may as well have been a party at a gorgeous park/petting zoo. The second was for their friend Stella, who turned 4. Stella’s party was a “Ballerina Dance Party” held at a dance studio. Taking K & O anywhere can sometimes be a harrowing experience. But put them in Party Mode, give ’em some cake, surround them with their peeps (who all seem to think that K & O are just hilarious)… and now that is always a harrowing experience. Here’s our Top 10 List of Near Misses at Amelia & Stella’s Birthday Parties:
- At Amelia’s party there was a large fresh fruit tray laid out with a bowl of yogurt in the center to use for dipping. At one point the kids were all playing while some of the moms sat chatting. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Kyle leaning over the fruit tray, with yogurt dripping from his mouth all over the fruit, holding a spoon in his hand (somewhere he had found a spoon), and absolutely devouring the bowl of yogurt. Under the radar of the other mothers I carefully and quietly motioned to get his attention, gave him the ‘hairy eyeball,’ and mouthed the words to tell him to “come over to me right now.” Still leaning over the fruit, yogurt and drool dripping all over the tray, spoon in one hand, the other hand unsuccessfully wiping yogurt off his face (and successfully smearing it all over his face/chin/neck) he says — super loud– “WHAT MOMMY? I WAS JUST EATING SOME YUMMY YOGURT!?!!????” All the mothers then of course turned to look at him. The one sitting closest nudged me and said, “At least Kim [Amelia’s Mom] is still in the kitchen!” At that precise moment Kim shouted out, “Time for the cake!” and everyone got up to move to the dining room while I mopped up my kid and cleaned up the tray.
- The dancing portion of Stella’s Ballerina party was truly a lovely thing. All of the parents quietly sat along one wall as we watched the children in the center of the sunlit studio– dance lessons to learn some graceful steps and leaps, enacting stories about fairies and magical forests, classical music playing all throughout. I was getting lost in it all, watching K & O as they became more and more entranced in their own imaginations, prancing around like little dancer boys. Until all of a sudden, from right in the center of the room, Owen shouts out, “MOMMY! I HAVE TO GO POOPIE! BADLY!” (Luckily for everyone we made it to the bathroom just in time).
- As I noted, at Amelia’s house there is a duck pond. It has a fountain in the center. As we were walking toward it to go feed the ducks a few of the kids ran up ahead. As we got closer Braydon and I could see that K & O had discovered the cord that runs electricity to the fountain. And the two of them were playing tug of war with it. Under my breath I told Braydon to “GET DOWN THERE AND STOP THEM!!!!!!!” He took off in a sprint, ahead of all the other adults, and got there just as they were about to pull the entire fountain out of the pond.
- Stella’s Ballerina Dance Party included a craft activity. Crafts are not K & O’s strong suit. The activity was ‘Make Your Own Magic Wand.’ O.k., I admit, basically, on the sly, I made them each a wand. It was just easier that way. Neither of them could have cared any less about participating in this and both wanted nothing to do with it. When I had finished making them, they each danced around with theirs for all of two seconds before the Ballet Teacher running the show announced that “all the children should carefully place their wands on the studio floor.” While other kids delicately put their wands down K & O nonchalantly tossed theirs into the heap. But later in the party the wands were suddenly important because the Ballet Teacher announced that “all the children should now find their magic wands!” I knew K & O would have no clue which wands were theirs. But of course, eager to find out what was next, they ran faster than any other child and got to the pile first, snatching up the first two wands they saw. Running back to the teacher they were passing all of their friends still on their way to the wand pile. Two of whom began crying out, “He has my waaaaaaand!!!!” Trying to divert disaster, I jumped up, ran out to the center of the studio floor, grabbed the wands from K & O and gave them to the two kids to whom they belonged. As we walked back to the wand pile, one boy on either side of me, my hands tightly grasping one of each of theirs, Kyle was saying to me, “I’m sorry Mommy, I just didn’t know what wand was mine because YOU made it for me.” “It’s o.k. Ky Ky,” I said, “but,” (we were getting close to where the parents were all sitting), “please whisper!” Miraculously he obliged, whispering repeatedly, “I didn’t know because YOU made it!”
- At Amelia’s party there were juice boxes for all the kids. You’d think this would have been exciting enough. But no. At one point we caught Owen strolling around Amelia’s house, chugging from a can of Pepsi. We’ll never know how he got his hands on it, or where it came from. But Braydon confiscated it ASAP.
- Stella’s party, being in a dance studio, was quite self-contained. I guess I got a little confident about it for awhile there because I got caught up in conversation with another mom and lost track of where K & O were. When I realized they were nowhere to be seen I frantically started searching the building. I found the two of them alone together having a grand old time in the women’s bathroom playing with the soap/water/water faucet/sink.
- At most of the birthday parties we attend the kids do not open their presents while at the party, but instead wait until everyone is gone. This was how it was being done at Amelia’s party. They had quietly tucked away all the presents in the corner of a room that was set away from the festivities. About mid-way through the party Kyle came to me telling me that he wanted Amelia to open our present and asking where it was. I told him “No, Amelia is opening them all later and I don’t know where the presents are.” About five minutes later, while all the other kids and parents were in the family room and kitchen, I caught Kyle alone with Amelia at the dining room table — with our wrapped present on the table between them. He was gently sliding it across the table toward her, trying to convince her to open it. She, being the good girl that she is, was refusing. He was all sweet and batting his eyelashes saying, “Please Amelia, you will see, it is music instruments inside, you neeeeeeed to open it nooooooooow.” I got there before she caved to the pressure.
- At Stella’s party, as a party favor, her mother gave out beautiful silver musical wands that chime when you tap them on things. Each kid got one. They were really sweet and cute favors. At one point, while everyone was still eating cake, I caught Kyle and one of his friends Lydia in cahoots together, rolling with laughter, in the dance studio, banging their wands so hard that they’d ring super loudly (i.e., not ‘chime’ but ring super loudly), against the mirrored walls. They were hitting the wands to the mirrors so hard I was sure they were going to scrape the mirrors. I ran in there just in time.
- Amelia’s party included a ‘Decorate Your Own Cupcake’ activity. K & O thought this was just spectacular. Braydon and I looked at each other in panic when we saw the ‘decorations’… which included neon pink sugar sprinkles. All the other kids carefully and neatly sprinkled some sprinkles on their cupcakes. When Owen got a hold of the container he literally squealed with glee, held it up high, then — before B or I could get there — wildly dumped the whole entire thing onto his little cupcake, shaking the container like a madman. Neon pink was everywhere. “OOOPSIE DAISY!” he said with sheer thrill in his eye. A nearby mother looked at me and said cheerily, “Luckily most of it just went onto his plate!” (This was a very generous statement on her part.) Just then Owen went to pick up the plate (why? I don’t know), and I got there just in the nick of time to grab the whole thing from him. (By the way, he then proceeded to carefully and methodically lick all the pink sprinkles off the cupcake, then left the rest of it on his plate.)
- Stella’s party included a big white cake, outlined in pink, in the shape of ballet slippers. When the cake appeared, Owen told me that he thought it was “BEAUUUUUUUUUUTIFUL!!!” When he got his hands on his piece of cake he proceeded to meticulously lick all of the frosting off of it, leaving the now-very-soggy cake part on his plate and declaring, loud enough for everyone to hear, “MOMMY! I LOOOOOVE THE WHITE!!!!!!” Stella’s mother offered him a second piece and I let him have one, after which he declared again, “MOMMY! I LOOOOOVE THE WHITE!!!!!!” He of course asked for a third piece. I said no. He whined. Then that was it. Or so I thought. Later, when all the kids had left the cake room and were dancing in the adjoining studio, I noticed that Owen was missing. I quietly left to look for him. And found him walking around the cake table from plate to plate licking “the white” off of anyone’s cake that had left any. I scooted him back into the studio before anyone else noticed.
Here’s another good example– not so much of the hair, but of the floor— (see post below):
These photos are from early winter 2006. K & O were about 1.5 years old then and man!–they were a handful (two handfuls). I love to see pictures of them from before their locs! These pictures were from just before we dredded the boys’ hair. I just loved those fuzzy heads. But we were going through a terrible phase then, in part related to hair… the boys were absolutely unstoppably crazy about throwing food, smashing food, and… rubbing food into their hair. It was awful! We tried everything to stop it but the two of them just thought it was the funnest and funniest thing on earth. Every meal was a horror. I literally cried in frustration, at the table, many-a-meal. Meanwhile they’d be laughing their tushes off getting the biggest kick out of each other. Kicking their feet in their highchairs and slamming their hands on the table in hysteria/mania/ecstasy with the fun of it all. Braydon and I were at our wits end with it. The hair, especially, was a terrible aspect of that phase— they’d rub/smash/grind bits of food, handfuls of cereal, fistfuls of yogurt, bowls of pasta, ETC. into their hair. You can just imagine what a nightmare this was to deal with (especially all of you mom’s of black kids out there– you know this was a horrible nightmare of a phase to go through with these two crazy boys). Somehow we all survived to tell the story. But if you click to enlarge the photos you’ll see lots of foodstuff in their hair. đŸ˜‰
Around these parts we’ve been looking forward spring a whole bunch – and today was a great way to begin ushering it in. A nice leisurely breakfast and playing in the morning (playing included vacuuming…) then off to Friendly’s for lunch which included the boys current fav – mac and cheese, and a burger for us and Heather’s current fav (and by current = while pregnant) Reese’s sundae. Then we went to the Castle playground and had a wonderful afternoon playing and watching and chatting and playing some more.
We took a nice walk around what Kyle called the “perfect pond” where K&O splashed the water with long sticks (like about 4-6 feet long) – a favorite type of past-time. While there, some kids came by on skateboards; you can imagine what transpired next. Or if you can’t you can look at the picture below. Please forgive the lousy quality, as you know, our camera died and this was with my cell phone.
All in all, a great, great J-M Family day – right up our alley.
“When I be 36, I’m going to do something dangerous. I’m going to swing off a big huge cliff… Rock on!” –Kyle, tonight at dinner
K & O
ZoeSince we’re cameraless, I’ll leave it to others, whenever possible, to post about our life! 
We had a great day today with a family we love. To check it out: CLICK HERE
Kyle and Owen at the Piano (Kyle facing camera), February 28, 2006Well, as promised, as the result of our cameralessness, I’m digging deep into the photo archives. Golly, I’ve just got to say: They were sooooooooo darn cute!!!!!!!!! Two years ago today, the boys playing the piano. Even as a 21 month old Kyle was totally into music and musical instruments. He’d pound away at the piano for long stretches of time, focused on seemingly trying to understand how it worked– wanting to take the top off and watch the pads move inside as he’d press the keys; seeing how loud he could make the sounds; figuring out what happens as he’d play each key individually. All the while, his brother sitting next to him, pounding away too– but looking out the window and quickly distracted from the actual keyboard. Fast forward two years to right now. These days, as a 3-year-old-almost-4-year-old Kyle sits down at the piano bench multiple times every day. His little legs dangle from the bench as he patiently and deliberately presses the keys, trying to work out the tune to the Messiah’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’ He’s fixated on this particular tune. For the past couple of weeks he’s spent hours upon hours on it– trying to work it out with his little fingers on the keys. He’s a perfectionist– the tune has to be played with the precise notes to satisfy him. Owen comes and goes from the bench, interested in pounding away with both hands, just making noise, and then distracted, interested and then distracted, interested and then distracted. But Kyle wants more than noise– he wants the music. He plods along tirelessly trying to sound out the keys to make the tune. And at least 2-3 times a day he gets it exactly right: ‘Haaaaa-lle-lu-jah, Haaaaaa-lle-lu-jah, Ha-lle-lu-jah, Ha-lle-lu-jah, Ha-ll-eeeeeee-lu-jah.’ Braydon and I will hear it from other parts of the house and yell out to him: “Yay Kyle!!! You got it! That’s it! Yay Kyle!!!” But no response. He just keeps at it. He doesn’t do it for the praise.
Two Prefaces to this Post:
1) The photos above were actually taken just a few days before the camera died. But they could easily be from this morning’s breakfast~~
2) The boys’ imaginary friend, June (click here), has been waxing and waning these days. Sometimes she’s with us at many moments of a day, sometimes we’ll go for long stretches of days without ever hearing mention of her. She seems to be there when they need her and gone when they don’t… and there’s no telling when they might need her~~
This morning Braydon had to leave for work early. I was sitting at the kitchen table with Kyle and Owen, the three of us eating our breakfast. From the table you can see through large glass doors directly outside to the deck and a large birdfeeder. We have tons of beautiful birds in this part of Pennsylvania. K & O have been really into bird watching this winter, and they particularly like identifying the different kinds of birds they see. Their favorite are the bright red cardinals– “CARD NULL!!!” they shout wildly. “Card null! Card null! Card null!” This morning the boys were making a big commotion of the fact that we were “ALL eating our breakfast!” (i.e., the three of us at the table and all the birds flocking to the birdfeeder). By halfway through our breakfast, though, still no cardinals were to be seen. So, in typical K & O fashion, rather than dwell on the disappointment, they cheerily and snappily moved right on– “Oh man! No card nulls today! Maybe another day!!!” And then the real riot began… It was onward in the birdwatching… to the “FURPLE PINCHES!!!!!!!!!! Furple pinches! Furple pinches! Furple pinches!!!” You’d think they were watching their favorite episode of their Curious George videos– the excitement and exuberance were that extreme. In truth it really was quite spectacular– it was like a purple finch feeding frenzy at the birdfeeder this morning. I interrupted their “Furple Pinches” proclamations to say to them, “Yes PPPurple FFFinches! Look! So many Purple Finches!” (i.e., doing what you’re supposed to do with preschool age children — not ‘correcting’ them but simply repeating and enunciating the right pronunciation). This stopped them dead in their tracks. Stone faced and silent they stared at me as though I had just committed a serious infraction. All serious now, the thrill all gone, Owen says to me, exaggeratedly: “FFFurple PPPinches.” Silence. Both of them still staring me right in the face. I said, calmly, “Yes, Purple Finches!” Kyle then cocks his head, turns and looks at Owen and says: “Owen, look, June likes Furple Pinches too!!!” And now it was not just two against one, but three against one. One thing I’ve learned over the past three years is to choose my battles. I quietly smiled at the two of them and then took another bite of my cereal. And at that K & O (and presumably June too), carried on, slap-happy, and as fun-loving and feisty as ever~~ “FURPLE PINCHES!!!!!!!!!! Furple pinches! Furple pinches! Furple pinches eating their breakfast just like we’re eating our breakfast!!!!! We just loooooove furple pinches!!!”
This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. They suddenly really like wearing these crazy ‘wigs’ and when they wear them they proudly say, “We’re CRAZY BOYS!!!”, and they act crazy (even crazier than usual… just let your imagination run wild and you’ll get a good mental picture). As a result, we find metallic strips of blue and red tinsel stuff all over the house… which is really annoying. They are so wild and so crazy.
And at the same time they are so incredibly lovey. It is quite a charismatic combination of personality traits to have. Some of their latest lovey-dovey phrases are:
“Mommy/Papi, I loooove you sooooo much.”
“You are the best Mommy/Papi in the whole world!”
“Mommy/Papi, you are my special girl/boy.”
“Mommy/Papi, I need my love tank filled. I need a hug. Will you fill my love tank?”
Owen has taken to lots of self-initiated kissing — i.e., at random moments of the day he impromptu starts silently kissing Braydon or I all over our faces over and over and over and over, very passionately.
And Kyle has taken to saying the following (while cuddled up on my lap, caressing my face and hair with his hands):
“I love you my Mommy. Look at your beautiful skin. And look at your beautiful hair. And look at your beautiful eyes. I am so glad you are my mommy. I love you so.” (so sweet– and so transparent– I’ve been saying this exact phrase to him repeatedly for the past three years; lovey boy.)
Then in the next moment they’ll be running around like little maniacs jumping on furniture and climbing up bookshelves and sliding down banisters and screaming nonsense at the tops of their lungs. Times two. They drive our poor cat crazy, they break things, they make messes like you wouldn’t believe, they do stuff they know they shouldn’t do, often. And when they act in concert, using their twinship against us, double-teaming and third-wheeling us, conspiring together to undermine us, they can quickly and easily make us feel like we’re seriously losing our minds (which is pretty regularly). They push our buttons and challenge our patience. And then in the next minute they melt our hearts so that we’re a love-struck gooey mess desperate to give them the world. They are absolutely charming and absolutely exhausting all at the same time. They are three year old twin boys.
A Notice to Our Readers
Given our state of camera-less-ness I will be digging deep into the photo archives until further notice. I have a few relatively recent pics to post in the coming days, but after that it is going to be all old shots folks. We have no way to know when (or even if) our camera will be able to be fixed, so the archives are just going to have to do. We might be able to use our cell phone cameras from time to time but those are bad photos at best. Sadly, for those of you interested in Baby Sister’s progress, we have no way to photographically document the here and now. Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences this may cause you.
Signed,
Cameraless in Blogland
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