We’ve been having a very mild winter season… which made the First Snow of the Season all the more exciting. Even though it was just a dusting, and even though it melted almost immediately, K & O were entranced with the snow as it fell. I forgot to post these on Wednesday, the day they were taken.
Photos from dinner at Carrabba’s
This post is really about two things: 1) eating out in a restaurant with Kyle and Owen last night, and 2) a funny “quote of the day” by Owen…Last night, as a little token of our gratitude for all she’s done for us in the past week, we took my mother out for dinner at one of her (and our) favorite family-friendly/great-food-yet-a-chain-restaurants: Carrabba’s. Like any three sane adults would be, we were somewhat (o.k., I admit it- VERY) nervous about taking our twin two year old boys to a “real” sit-down restaurant. Yes, we eat out with them quite a lot… but usually at places like Panera or Baja or McDonalds (click here to see a post I wrote in October about eating out with twin two year olds). It is hard to explain it until you’ve actually done it, but just trust me on this one: bringing K & O out to eat is nerve-wracking at best. Let’s face it, even eating a meal with them at home (even our own home) can be nerve-wracking. Cups and silverware go flying (sometimes a genuine “accident” sometimes *not* so much!), they sing loudly, they “organize” their food in little piles all over the table, they like to joke around with each other and their other table-mates in all sorts of ways, they wiggle, they squirm, they burp a lot, they slurp, they get frustrated with spoons so they use their hands and then suddenly need to hug you tight with foodstuff all over their hands and faces and clothes (so now it is all over you too), they eat fast, they eat slow, sometimes they decide they don’t want to eat at all, if you’re not watching closely enough they’ll try to “paint” with their yogurt or milk or soup (or whatever!), they ask constantly for ice-cream (Owen) and Fig Newtons (Kyle) and vitamins (both of ’em), they laugh wildly, they have very active imaginations (“Hey! I know! You see this bowl?! This bowl is my motorboat— you hear this loud motorboat’s motor? Hey! STOP carrots! You have a red light carrots! O.k., carrots! Light is green carrots! Go carrots! Go in my mouth now carrots! Yay carrots! Hey! You see this fork? This fork is my chainsaw! Watch me start my chainsaw motor! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Watch me cut my avacado with this chainsaw!”) Etc., Etc., Etc. Need I say more???
Anywhoooo………
Last night we really wanted to take my mother out to Carrabba’s. We had never taken the boys there, but my mom loves their pastas (as do we), and we wanted to at least try to do something nice for her (since god knows she’s done so many nice things for us in the past week).We arrived at 6:00 and were told it would be a 30 minute wait. My mother’s immediate reaction was we should leave. That really says something about my mother: she knows our boys very well. Also, given that she was at the end of a whole week with them, she was justly tired and understandably frazzled — but not deliriously so (as Braydon and I are 24×7). She had the presence of mind to at least know that a 30 minute wait was unreasonable for our little party of five, and that we should just get out of there quickly while we still could (the boys even still had their coats on!). She actually admitted later that when she heard “thirty minute wait” she had thought “let’s find a McDonalds.” But Braydon and I were insistent: “No! We really want to take you out to dinner! No! We are going to wait for a table!” She looked at us like we were crazy, and then she manned her station in the waiting area with Owen on her lap.
By some miracle we got through the entire 1/2 hour long wait totally beautifully. Our boys were like poster-children for eating out with toddlers. They were quiet, calm, well-behaved. Kyle just wanted to suck his thumb and be held by me, cuddling and snuggling the entire time (surely to the envy of most women in the place, who if given the chance would probably pay good money to get that kind of affection from a beautiful young child at the end of the day! – I know I definately would if I didn’t get it for free!). And Owen — the little extravert that he is — just hung out with MorMor and Papi and proceeded to enchant all of the other guests waiting for tables. Us three adults were thrilled and shocked! Things only continued to go wonderfully. I’ll just cut to the chase here: We got our booth and two booster seats, we had a full civilized meal –drinks (chocolate milk for the under-3 crowd, sangria for the 3-and-over crowd), appetizers (the best calamari), salads (adults only – the boys wanted nothing to do with it), and entrees (just for the record: K & O loved their penne with alfredo and fresh romano) — the boys were absolutely perfect angels, and all five of us had a delightful evening. Shocker of all shockers! We were most amazed. [Not quite inspired enough to try it again tonight, but maybe we’ll take them to Carrabba’s again sometime in the not-too-distant-future… which, honestly, is a lot more than any of us thought we’d be saying the day after!]After a lovely dinner experience we were all getting up to leave. My mother and Braydon and Kyle were in the lead; I had Owen. I was a little distracted because I was trying to check our booth to make sure we hadn’t left any hats or mittens behind… and before I can stop him, Owen has walked right up to the people at the table closest to ours and he’s gently tapping the man on the arm. The man turns to him. Owen, in the sweetest cutest way imaginable, says, “What’s your name?” As I’m just getting close enough to snatch Owen up into my arms (to try to restrain my little social butterfly just a bit), the man says, with a big grin, “James.” Owen smiles widely, so pleased with himself, then looks the woman straight in the eye, and so sweetly and pointedly says, “What’s your name?” She says, “Angela. What’s your name?” And Owen, again, so pleased with himself, says, “I’m Owen.” Well, that was it. My boy was in his groove. And there was no stopping him. In order to avoid a major meltdown/tantrum the only way to get out of that restaurant was to let him do his thing — he proceeded to ask every single person we passed, “What’s your name?” To which every single person we passed responded (with huge grins and delighted giggles) by kindly stating their name. Many also added on the polite ending: “And what’s your name?” To which Owen would sweetly and proudly state, “I’m Owen” each and every time. Well, suffice it to say, he had charmed half the restaurant (including half the waitstaff, the bartenders, and the hostesses) by the time we got through the door. A couple of people in the bar area actually got up from their barstools and purposefully walked over to the door just to be able to position themselves firmly in Owen’s path in order to receive one of his adorable, “What’s your name?”‘s. Owen, of course, happily obliged them. Since my mom and Braydon and Kyle were ahead of us, they had all been out of the restaurant long before Owen and I emerged onto the sidewalk. As we walked toward the car, with Owen in my arms, I was proudly explaining to my mother how gosh darn CUTE my boy had just been. I said, “Owen, say it to MorMor.” And Owen, cute as a button, says — looking my mother right in the eyes — “What’s your name?” And my mom of course responded, “MorMor!” I said, “Mom, now ask him his name!” So my mom says to Owen, “What’s your name?” … and Owen … rather than respond right back “I’m Owen” as he just had about 20 times in the restaurant, just sits there, paused, silently thinking to himself. After a long silent pause, Owen looks my mom right in the eye and responds firmly: “Claire.”
?????!!!!!!! Who the heck is Claire?! Not one person in that restaurant had said the name Claire?! Not one person at daycare all day was named Claire?! We have no friends named Claire?! ?????!!!!! My mom and I cracked up in hysterics over Owen’s antics for about the zillionth time in the past week.Good behavior from my twin two year old boys in restaurants is worth a pretty penny!
Owen’s sweet sociability charming-the-socks-off all of our fellow diners is worth even more!
But… Owen’s hysterical little sense of humor: PRICELESS.That boy is quite the character!
This morning we all got up a little late (see post below), which was nice; I had spent 4AM-7AM on the floor in Kyle’s room since he awoke in the night and couldn’t get back to sleep; poor little guy.
We were sitting in the playroom this morning, I was on the couch with Kyle on my lap, Heather on the floor with Owen on her lap and MorMor in the chair. Kyle looked up and said “I want to sing songs; mommy, crying?” I had no idea what that meant, but Heather did. She started singing, mid-way through a song:
/the other night dear, when I lay sleeping/
/I dreamt I held you in my arms/
/when I awoke dear, I was mistaken/
/and I hung my head and I cried//You are my sunshine, my only sunshine/
/You make me happy, when skies are gray/
/You never know dear, how much I love you/
/Please don’t take my sunshine away…/After she finished, Kyle said: “Mommy, what happened?” Owen was listening intently at this point. Heather replied: “That mommy, while she was waiting and her babies were in the orphanage in Haiti, she had a dream. She dreamt she was holding her babies in her arms. But when she awoke and they weren’t there, she was crying. Then Mama and Papi went on a big airplane up in the sky and went straight to the orphanage to get their babies”
Owen chimed in: “Kyle Owen Mama Papi went on a biiig airplane up in the sky.”
There was a pause, and Kyle said very thoughtfully:
“Kyle in own house now.”
MorMor & Owen in NYC on Saturday
MorMor & Kyle in NYC on Saturday
~ ~ ~MorMor is guest blogging today! This is her second time posting to our blog (for her first time, click here!)… Today MorMor writes:——————————————————————————How can I describe the Johnson-McCormick household? In a word – LOVE. This family LOVES each other. Braydon very often gets tears in his eyes he’s so moved by how the boys act (like giving hugs to each other and sharing everything) or by what they say which almost always comes straight from the heart unprompted (many, many times a day we hear “I love you mommy, I love you Papi”, and I get to hear “I love you MorMor” too!). Heather’s sweet talk and cuddles with each of them warms your heart, by example these boys know how to feel and express love.
A few things from my trip here this time are:
- Hearing the boys remind each other to be “gentlemen”. Which means no screaming at the table, no throwing food, etc. which in this house is a miracle if any one of us makes it through a meal in clean clothes!
- Watching the boys march (and I mean a stomping march) through the house with Owen blowing a huge horn with his cheeks puffed up just like Louis Armstrong, and with Kyle playing his beloved trumpet.
- Waking up to one of the twins coming into my room and saying “Get up MorMor” and being very excited myself because I got to sleep until almost 8 am – YES, 8 am! The boys are totally off schedule this week with Heather on semester break and working from home. So they get to go to bed a little later and sleep in. This is really nice for me because when I’m with my granddaughter, Sadie, she can often get up and be ready to play as early as 5:30 am!
- Hearing “No, I cannnnnn’t”……… they both say this when they don’t want something. No I can’t stop playing to get in the car to go somewhere, no I can’t have milk in my cereal, no I can’t go poops on the potty (Kyle), no I can’t stop playing and get ready for bed (Owen). And it’s said in all sincerity, with no temper tantrums or fussing, just the plain truth! No I cannnnnn’t!
- Watching them talk to each other when they don’t know we are observing them. Kyle will say “Owen chainsaws” and then they both switch toys to the chainsaws and begin playing (always within inches of each other). Or Owen will say “Kyle, wannnna go on the bump, bump slide?” and they do. It seems like they always oblige each others request. Twin activity is amazing to watch.
- “How about……………… ice cream?” About half way through every meal Owen will say it. And he says it with his hands out, palms up like he’s really just had a unique thought that we all will want to do! Too cute!
It’s been a great visit; I leave tomorrow but am making plans to come at the end of February. I love being here and can’t go too long between visits. I love these little guys so much. Who ever thinks it’s biology that makes a love bond between parents and kids or grandparents and kids is so wrong. I often hear “She’s MY MorMor” and they point at me with big smiles. Nothing can be better.
K&O have really taken to hide & seek. Which means that I count to ten (sitting on the stair), while they go and hide together. Then I call out “10! Here I come, ready or not, I’m going to find you!” and go find them. I go searching around and pretend to not see them, despite their giggling and squirming. When I don’t see them, I look in a spot and say “Nope!” and do that until I run out of spots where they are not. Sometimes they can’t stand it anylonger and say “Here I am!!!”
But when I do “find” them, we all scream like crazy men and I grab them, pick them both up and tickle them – lots of laughter all the way around.
Tonight, when it was my turn to hide, I hear “10! ‘EreI come, re’ee or not! I’m uh uh ghona finooo! And then as I hear them looking for me (I was around the other side of the couch), I hear “Mama?!? Where’s Papi?!?” and then… “Nope!” “Nope!”
I laughed and they found me!
My mother. I don’t even know where to begin. Lots of people complain about their mothers, I know. I really can’t. She’s way too amazing. This is what she does when she comes: she breezes right in, takes over the kitchen and the laundry room, and makes our life feel manageable for awhile. And the boys absolutely adore her. When she visits she basically moves in with us (my dad as well when he isn’t traveling for work and can come too), she sees us from the inside out (literally), and we all live together like a multi-generational family under one roof. It is interesting and it is intimate and we’re always laughing. The rest of the time — when my parents aren’t here — we’re on our own, many hours away from all of our family members, pulling our own weight in the world. It is tough, especially because Braydon and I are a two-career-couple. But when my mom is here she more than makes up for all the space in between… So as far as long-distance family goes (especially long-distance parenting and grandparenting) this is about as ideal as it can get. I know this probably makes a lot of you envious as heck… especially you working mothers out there (because you know firsthand how tough it can be!)… I totally get that, I really do, but I can’t hold back from singing the praises of MorMor. This week she’s baked almond breads (truly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my whole life!), huge batches of her homemade granola (that the boys and I LOVE), pigs in a blanket (Owen’s new favorite food), from-scratch-mac-n-cheese (Kyle’s long-standing favorite food), turkey divan with egg noodles (one of Braydon’s absolute favorites), my favorite spinach salad with her homemade sweet dressing (I insisted on eating it again tonight for the second night in a row), and her famous homemade honey mustard. Oh, and cookies, of course (to the tune of The Farmer and the Dell the boys repeatedly sing “MorMor has cookies, MorMor has cookies, hi ho the derry oh, MorMor has cookies”). She’s also done about 200 loads of laundry (no joke), cleaned things around my house that I never even knew needed to be cleaned, emptied the kitty litter, helped us sort through all the random items in our basement, run errands with me and taken me out for lunches, played for hours with the bambinos, and made us all feel like a million bucks. Right now she’s rocking a fussy Owen to sleep. Earlier, after dinner (a dinner that she made), she watched the boys gobble down huge pieces of her almond bread — Kyle shoving it in so fast he could barely breathe, Owen doing his famous “human purr” (a phrase so aptly coined by Auntie Jessie to describe our Owen’s happy-“purring”-sound when he’s eating foods he loves). Even earlier in the day she changed poopy diapers, wiped runny noses, cleaned booster seats that hadn’t been scrubbed down in weeks, and ran around the yard in 30-something-degree weather with two two-year-olds. So go ahead and hate me for this post y’all (!!!!) but honestly, MorMor is just the BEST!
MorMor has taught the boys a new trick! She has them both get situated on Braydon’s old skateboard, they push off down our driveway’s decline, get rolling pretty fast, then land in the grass. Kyle then runs back to start again and Owen carries the board back for the two of them. They do it over and over and over. It is so, so funny to watch. The photos don’t nearly do it justice – but I’m posting some here for documentation sake so that when our bambinos are the first Twin Haitian Luge Team in Olympic History everyone will know where it all began. (You only need to have been born in the country to represent it in the Olympic Games! And MorMor has already agreed to by their official Olympic coach! Anyone interested in a sponsorship?!)
Note: The formatting for this video is off on the blog (it should be 16:9). If it doesn’t look right, please click the title link to go straight to YouTube.
I’ve introduced K&O to Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland. It’s “Trumpets, French Horns, Trombones and Drums!” We have listened to it a couple times in the car. On the CD I have, it’s followed by variations on a Gift to be Simple, and they like that too.
Today we were waiting in the car after little gym while Heather and Janet ran in to get coffee in Panera. I asked the boys if they wanted to listen to music. “YES!” What did they want to listen to?
“TRUMPETS!!!”
It’s a dream come true.
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