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Kyle and Owen playing on the floor this morning before daycare
One thing that Braydon and I have often talked about is the way that Owen and Kyle seem to always sit/play/stand/color/etc. very close to each other. They seem to always be in close proximity. We notice it a lot. In a large room with plenty of space, they will play right next to each other. In the bathtub with plenty of room to maneuver, they will sit with their bodies right up against each other. In our huge yard, they will play within feet or even inches of each other. At a table or on the floor, they will draw and color so close together that their arms rub. It is very rare for them to go their separate ways. Almost always they are right tight together, usually with their bodies touching. If they play apart for awhile they will inevitably always gravitate back to close proximity. And soon we’ll notice it and point it out to each other — “Look how close they are together, their whole bodies are rubbing up against each other, and with all this space??!!” We wonder — is this a twin thing? or a Kyle and Owen thing? or a nothing of note? We don’t know. But we notice it all the time.
O.k., so, I’m not gonna lie about it: A lot of days the “terrible two’s” seem like a folkloric myth to us. I’m almost embarassed about saying that out loud since so many people have the opposite situation and complain to me constantly about their two-year-olds. But not today. We’re grumpy here. Grumpy grumpy grumpy. We all woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. All four of us. And by 6:30 p.m., the “terrible two’s” seemed more real than ever. And with two of ’em fussing and whining and carrying on and losing it left at right all at the same time — it doesn’t feel like the Terrible Two’s times two. It feels more like the Terrible Two’s TIMES-a-MILLION around here. And with two parents who are frazzled and burnt out and sick and tired of burning the candles at both ends it feels more like the Terrible Two’s TIMES-a-ZILLION.We’re *done* with this whole mama-fall-semester-overextended-up-for-tenure-book-just-out-THING. We’re *done* with this whole daylight-savings-dark-when-we-get-home-from-daycare-no-light-to-play-outside-THING. (see below). We’re *done* with this whole daily-grind-rat-race-two-parents-working-two-twin-toddlers-two-neglected-cats-all-under-one-roof-THING. We’re just done done done done done. Wha Wha Whah Whah Whaaaaaaaaah. Can’t I just have a big ‘ol TANTRUM about THAT?! ;0
Biggest gripe of the day: By 5:00 it is dark outside. But we’re not nearly ready to give up on our outdoor play time. Something’s gotta give. Poor Kyle and Owen are playing in the dark every day now. They seem unphased by it. But Braydon and I are just beside ourselves with annoyance over this! Here are some photos of our happy-go-lucky boys playing in the sandbox in the pitch dark. What are we saving with this daylight savings thing afterall?
Thank goodness MorMor and MorFar arrive tomorrow. Just in time to save the day! My guess???– By Thanksgiving Dinner we’ll be asking ourselves: “Terrible Two’s??” “What’s that?” “Daylight Savings??” “What’s the big deal?!” “Pass the turkey and gravy please?”
From time to time, by the power vested in me by nothing but motherhood, I declare a day a “HAITIAN PRIDE DAY” for the Johnson-McCormick Family. Sometimes there is an actual reason (like, something is happening in Haiti at the time, or it is the anniversary of something big that happened in the history of Haiti, or another family we know about somewhere succesfully got through a major milestone in a Haitian adoption, or the day has some significance for our own family, etc.). But sometimes — like today — there is no “official” reason at all. First thing this morning I announced to K & O that today was “Haitian Pride Day!” The boys were very, very, very proud to show off their shirts to all their friends in the toddler room at daycare. Woot woot! Rah rah! The other two-year-olds seemed only mildly impressed… and were much more excited about another kid’s “Bob the Builder” shirt that he proceeded to show off with as much (o.k., I admit it, a bit more) gusto than K & O had for their shirts. Despite this, the boys carried forth. I was told at daycare pick-up that they had been adament all day long to show off their shirts to anyone who would listen to them repeatedly say, “HAITI!” I was totally completely impressed and thrilled when one of the daycare staff (an intern I actually have in class this semester) told me that she “got so into it!” that she went to her dorm room and brought back to the daycare center her own actual Haitian flag (she is Haitian) which she then pulled out to show me! Owen pointed to her flag and said, “Haiti Flag.” Could Haitian Pride Day get any better than THAT?!!!
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From day one with us, since they were little tiny baby bundles snuggled up together in a double jogger stroller, K & O have loved walks. From the time we first got them home all the way through ’till now, these guys have *LOVED* being in a stroller, and have consistently sat for 1+ hour stretches on long walks, happily and contentedly. They babble and sing and take in the scenery — and now that they’re getting older, they also chat chat chat along. We hate to mess with a good thing, so we were reluctant to switch from the double jogger to two single jogger strollers. However, the two of them just got waaaaaaay too big for one of us (especially me) to be pushing them at once. Once they hit the 35 pound mark (i.e., 70 pounds total!), we threw in the towel and bought two singles. It hasn’t cramped their style at all, and, as usual for these go-with-the-flow-guys, they’ve just rolled with it (no pun intended), and now seem to love long walks even more. One of our favorite things to do on a Sunday morning is a long walk. Today was an especially good one.
When they were babies, K & O would often hold hands when they were in the double jogger together. Even though they are in two separate strollers now they’ll still sometimes hold hands while the strollers are parked.
Today we walked along the river/canals of Sand Island in Bethlehem. After the walk K & O played at the playground there. Note the boots that they insisted on wearing today!!!Top Ten Reasons I Am Counting the Hours Until My Parents Arrive For Thanksgiving
- We need Thanksgiving Break!!!!!!! As an academic, I’ve got our entire household operating on an academic calendar (despite the fact that none of us are technically students). You might think we call it “Thanksgiving Break” because Lehigh has “Thanksgiving Break” blocked off on the university calendar from this coming Thursday through Sunday. No no no! So WRONG! It is “Thanksgiving Break” for us because MorMor and MorFar are coming. This is the most stressful time of the year in our household for a whole host of professional reasons not even worth getting into here— and we sooooo need a break. All four of us sooooooo need a break!
- MorFar will entertain the boys and play boy-sports-truck-rough-house-stuff with them ’till their hearts’ content. We will be able to sit back and watch.
- MorMor will absorb the boys’ excessive lovey doveyness and over-the-top-super-cutie-ness ’till their hearts’ content. We will be able to sit back and watch.
- My mother will cook for us. We will be able to sit back and watch.
- My father will pour drinks for us. We will be able to sit back and watch.
- My parents will do things around here that we never even knew needed to be done. We won’t even be sitting back and watching since they’ll do it without us even realizing they’ve done it — until later when we find out all the stuff we should be doing around here that we’re not (I’d give examples here, but I’m not even sure what examples would be).
- My mom will prepare food for K & O (see photos below taken by me this evening).
- My mom will clean up after K & O (see photos below taken by me this evening).
- My mom will do laundry (see photos below taken by me this evening).
- MorMor and MorFar will make life feel perfectly manageable here for 4 days straight.
They arrive in time for daycare pick-up on Wednesday afternoon… or as Kyle and Owen have said several times today: “not tomorrow, not the next day, but the next day!!!!!!!!” The countdown has begun!
To nap or not to nap — that is the question. Today was a very fun Saturday. But there was no nap. So the evening was a little hairy… to say the least. K & O love action-packed Saturdays. And they LOVE to skip a nap. But by mid-afternoon of a napless day they are bleary eyed and frazzled and sucking their thumbs. And by 5:00 of a napless day — forget it. And 6:30 of a napless day inevitably involves at least one of us having a total complete meltdown (sometimes that person is Owen, sometimes that person is Kyle, oftentimes that person is HEATHER). Anyway– from time to time on a Saturday we skip a nap. The beautiful bedtimes on napless Saturdays are so glorious (they go down like a breeze and are asleep in a snap — tonight, for example, Kyle was literally asleep within 2 minutes of his head hitting the pillow). But man, the late afternoons of a napless Saturday are almost physically painful to witness… let alone experience. The boys are so naplessly miserable that your heart wants to just break for the poor napless little them. Lots of parents of other 2.5 year olds we know have started dropping the naps entirely. I don’t think we’re even close to that yet (and a napless day like today reminds me of that!), but it is really really fun to be able to have a whole nap-free Saturday without that huge chunk of time in the middle eaten up by the naps. Napless Saturdays for us mean the glorious bedtimes and the fussy afternoons and the meltdowns. But they also mean a whole full day of uninterupted family togetherness (and 3 cups of coffee each instead of 2 for Braydon and I!)…
Today we went for our weekly Saturday morning class at the Little Gym. Miss Jackie, our teacher, confessed to Braydon that she thinks K & O are “actually amazing” (her words, not ours). We then went to K & O’s favorite park where they got to throw rocks in the river (one of their absolute favorite passtimes). See photo above. We then went to our friends Tom & Lisa, and their son Jack’s, house for their big Lehigh v. Lafayette party. Guess what they had in their backyard for this extravaganza? A dream come true for K & O: they had rented one of those huge blow up jumping things that you see at fairs and festivals. The boys had a ball jumping with a whole bunch of wild and crazy 6-8 year old boys in there! Lehigh lost (click here), but we had a great time at the party. The end of the day was at home and included the boys new favorite video (A Dora the Explorer episode where a star falls from the sky and Dora and Boots sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”), a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, and the above-mentioned fussiness and meltdowns. The boys are now sound asleep (have been since before 7:00), and I’m waiting (with DVD set to hit “play”) for Braydon to return with Chinese take-out. A happy ending to a napless Saturday.
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