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The big, big news around here is that K & O got their hair cut!!! (Locs trimmed) This is a very big deal to us, and this is the boys’ second haircut ever in their lives (I posted about their first haircuts here). I cut it (for now I’d never let anyone else touch it!!!!!!!!), and although it was a major endeavor for the whole family (washing two heads of hair, re-twisting two heads of locs, and trimming times two), it turned out looking great if I do say so myself. Tonight, getting ready for bed, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, Kyle said, “My hair looks awesome!” And yes indeedy! It sure does!

Life is moving way too fast right now and it feels hard to keep up with — let alone keep the blog up to speed. But in other big news, we’ve finally given in and implemented a sticker-chart-type-deal… something we’ve resisted doing up until now. After four and a half years of watching pretty much everyone we know do these sorts of reward-based systems with their young kids, we finally caved in, and are now reaping the benefits. We started Tuesday. We call them “Earning Charts.” For this week the deal was that if they did a good job (Kyle at school and Owen at bedtime— their current individual problem spots), then they’d earn a trip to the movie theater to see Madagascar. A sticker for each day of doing a good job– stickers on all four days — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday = earning a trip to the movie theater “with popcorn and candy!!!” They did it and were so darn proud. And we were so darn relieved. Today was the big day. Braydon and the boys got to see the movie. I got to hang out with Little Miss (who we did not want to expose to a major motion picture yet). Here are K & O, so proud, with their end-of-the-week, all-stickered-up, Earning Charts:

‘Tis the season. That’s for sure. One thing about living with two four year olds during the month of December is that not an hour goes by that you’re not reminded that Christmas is coming. Kyle, in particular, is soooo into it. The Saturday after Thanksgiving he went down to the basement and found the box with the “Blow Up” in it (click here for last year’s post about this), and managed (by enlisting the help of his brother– the box is heavy) to get it upstairs, insisting that we put it up in the front lawn ASAP. Braydon and I call this “Kyle’s Blow Up” because, for real, it is all Kyle. Kyle looks at his blow-up a hundred times a day, at least. And carries his little Christmas snow globe with him everywhere he goes. And sings Jingle Bells in the shower (I found him doing that yesterday morning). And is obsessively asking questions about angels and the baby Jesus and “navivity scenes.” And and and. He seems to consider it his mission in life to keep us anticipating the next big thing (and during the month of December the next big thing is really big). We’ve had two little dustings of snow since the blow up went up. ‘Tis the season.

We had a jam-packed weekend. Saturday morning was the absolutely beautiful Spiral of Light at the boys’ school. (I mentioned it last year in this post). Have I mentioned that we love our Waldorf school? We love our Waldorf school. As I sat there, watching my boys with their little candles walk the spiral so calmly and peacefully and reflectively, I kept thinking to myself “no amount of money is too much for them to be able to have this.” Moments like that are so sweet for me as a mom, because I spend so many more moments thinking “oh my God, how are we going to navigate formal education for our children???????????????????” I can’t help it. I’m a sociologist. Anyway, Saturday afternoon was Zoe’s birthday party… which Kyle and Owen had long been anticipating because… it was… an ICE SKATING party!!! Here they are, their first time ever on ice skates. They loved it. (An understatement.)

Again, Braydon went skating with them while I hung out with Little Miss. At one point, while Braydon was going to get their coats from the car, the boys disappeared and I had to go find them. Here’s what I found (see photo below): ~~~~It was such a riot! Without them realizing it I watched them sit there like that, perfectly still, completely in their own little world, for the longest time. They were absolutely enthralled with watching the zamboni cleaning up the ice rink!!!!!

As for Meera… this weekend she did something that really scares me. She refused to sleep for her morning nap on Saturday and Sunday. I tried everything, but she would not nap. She’d scream and kick her legs every time I laid her down. She has never before skipped a morning nap. Never. And here’s the scary part— I am almost 100% certain that she refused to go down out of her own fear of missing out on all the fun with K & O in the house. This morning, (Monday), as soon as the boys had left for school, she fussed her typical ‘pleeeease put me in my crib – I’m ready for my morning nap’ fuss. And sure enough, she went down for it. She loves just simply being in their presence so much that she refuses her most favorite activity in the world– sleeping???!? Scary, scary, scary stuff. Anyway, so as to not tip the balance (with all the photos of the boys above)… here’s the Weekend Sleepless Wonder with her third favorite guy (after K and O)… Cooper.

And here she is, when she should be sleeping, but is, instead, hanging out. Literally:

One last little tid-bit I want to mention from the weekend. Early Saturday morning Owen somehow managed to get a paper clip jammed between his teeth. ??? At first it seemed relatively non-serious. Until we realized that we really could not get it out. Really. And then Braydon started slightly freaking out. Which makes me seriously freak out because he almost never freaks out. Visions of bringing Owen to the E.R. for this ridiculous situation were swirling in my mind as I tried hard not to panic. But we did eventually manage to carefully straighten out the paper clip and slowly glide it out without too much pain or trauma (although there was plenty of drama). Anyway, at the end of the day, I can pretty much guarantee he won’t do that again.

TGIM! (Thank God Its Monday!)

This morning Kyle woke up first (he almost always does), snuggled in bed with Braydon and I (our usual routine), and then started to get restless (of course). He got out of bed and found our binoculars sitting on my dresser (still not put away from our trip to Florida). He stood for a while, peering through the binoculars, looking out our bathroom window. I asked him what he saw. He said, “I see our shed. I see our sandbox. I see the grass.” Etc. Then, suddenly, he said, “I see a rainbow!!!” I thought to myself, ‘yeah, right’ (lately at least half of what Kyle says is not based in reality, and just a few days ago he had told me a long and involved imaginative story about a rainbow). Braydon was standing by him, brushing his teeth. He looked out the window and exclaimed, “It is a rainbow!” I jumped out of bed and sure enough, there it was. Kyle and I ran to wake up Owen, “A rainbow! A rainbow! A rainbow!” The four of us ran downstairs and out to our back deck. And there it was, just sitting there, seemingly hanging right over our back yard. A huge, bright, full-color, full-half-circle rainbow just sitting there on our horizon stretching from end to end. It was cold out, it was 7:00am, and it was incredibly special. A December rainbow. We watched it until it disappeared.

The day after Thanksgiving Meera turned 6 months old! It is hard to believe she’s already 1/2 a year old. Every day Braydon and I wish that we could freeze time and keep her our tiny baby forever and ever and ever. She is such a sweet, happy, cuddly, fun baby to be with. She is so mellow. She is so easy going. She is so happy-go-lucky. She makes it easy to love on her and bring her along for the ride. Meera Grace has truly graced us with her presence in our lives, and we could not be more full of love for this baby girl. During her sixth month Meera spent a lot of time in the backpack (which she loves); she took her third air-travel trip and her first big vacation; she got two teeth (her bottom two); she continued to dabble in eating solid foods (rice cereal and green beans are her favorites, we still can’t get her to eat applesauce); and she continued her love-affair with our cat Cooper. Meera is an easily adaptable baby who is happy to glide along with whatever may come her way (whereas K & O have always been Spirited, Meera’s a textbook Angel Baby). She, for example, has no problem with getting her diaper changed on the seat of a car (even a rental car) — which she’s endured many times this past month happily and without complaint. She goes with the flow, whatever and wherever the flow may be. She does prefer, however, to sleep in her crib (and boy does she still love to sleep!). Generally the only time she cries is when she’s tired and wants to be put in her crib. Meera still has not rolled over or sat up on her own… but she’s working on it daily! Meera is a very social outgoing baby… smiling at strangers when they approach her and happy to be held by most anyone most any time. Most of all though, this month, we’ve seen huge development in Meera’s relationships with her brothers. She’s always loved them, but this month she has taken it to a new level. They are becoming more interactive all the time (there is reciprocity now between them –give and take), and an intense mutual adoration is growing stronger by the week. Meera lights up when she sees her brothers. And she often squeals with delight when they do the funny things they do. Oh, and she does love her Mama and her Papi too. 😉

My parents arrived the day after we got home from vacation and stayed for the week of Thanksgiving. My sister (Auntie Stina!) and my niece (Cousin Sadie!) were also with us from Wednesday-Saturday. The boys were wound up — very, very wound — with all the excitement; quite a few time-outs were given and received. And Meera was still in her post-vacation-recovery period (!!!); quite a few nights of every-two-hour-feedings. But nonetheless, a good time was had by all. (Thank goodness gracious our kids all go to bed by 7:00 so the adults can all unwind for a good long stretch each eve because without that I don’t know what we’d do). Thanksgiving Day and Dinner was, of course, a highlight (my mom knows how to do a Thanksgiving Dinner). And I still don’t know which I like more — the actual dinner, or the turkey sandwiches later that night. Other highlights were New Hope brunch and ducks; a special gift for K & O from MorMor — lego sea planes; Kyle’s trip to the Phildadelphia airport with MorFar; season premiere/tv-movie of 24; good wine and good coffee from Braydon; Sadie, K, and O playing peacefully together for some good long stretches of time; puppy Neptune!!!!!!; the kids really able (and into) cracking shelled nuts this year; Ringing Rocks; Chipotle; Peace Valley; Tabora Farm; crab legs; K, O, and Sadie jumping on the trampoline; Meera’s first Thanksgiving. Snapshots from Thanksgiving Week are below!

On a different note, we spent a lot of time during Thanksgiving Week thinking about my cousins who both left this world this past summer/fall within six weeks of each other. Watching our kids (K, O, M, Sadie) all be together as only cousins can be was bitter sweet for me. I remember so many holidays with Karen and Eric; to know they are not with us is a strange surreal reality. Thanksgiving also kicks off a season of thinking about past, present, and future in such profound ways… and this year will be particularly profound for our family because of all that we have gained and all that we have lost this past year. Braydon and I continue to be focused, very heavily focused, on our gratitude for each and every moment of all of our days. So, we exit the Thanksgiving season and enter the Christmas season truly giving thanks and looking forward to all that is to come.

We’ve been blogging for 2 Years!!!

(Actually we’ve been blogging for 2 years + 1 month. But October was just too tough for our family and I didn’t feel like ‘celebrating’ on the actual Blogiversary — October 11). Last year, on our first Blogiversary we got our readers to tell us some of their favorite blog posts from that year (click here). Then we compiled a Top Ten List of Our Readers’ Favorite Blog Posts (click here).

OWEN CAN BLOW BUBBLES WITH CHEWING GUM!
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KYLE CAN SNAP!
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MEERA CAN SHIMMY HER WHOLE BODY ALL AROUND HER PLAY MAT!
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The boys’ Waldorf School has a lot of events and festivals throughout the year. My absolute favorite is the Lantern Walk that happens one evening in the fall. It is such a beautiful, beautiful night. Click here for Braydon’s post about last year’s Lantern Walk. This year we are not going to be able to make it to the Lantern Walk and we’re all really sad about that. Yesterday after school I made lanterns with Kyle and Owen. After dinner the four of us (Meera was sound asleep in her crib) did our own Lantern Walk outside around our house. It was a crisp November night, very dark, with an almost-full moon. Walking outside in the dark is so powerful and magical for young children — especially carrying a lantern with a real candle in it. K & O carried the lanterns we had made earlier in the day (calling them their “4 Year Old Lanterns”), and Braydon and I carried their lanterns from last year’s Lantern Walk (their “3 Year Old Lanterns”). It wasn’t as full-of-wonder as it would have been if we could have made it to the school Lantern Walk, but it was really special and wonder-full nevertheless.

photo from June 2006

Juli commented on a post from earlier this week asking if we get asked a lot about who is “older”- K or O. I am so surprised that I’ve never blogged about this, but I have looked back through the blog a bit and I really don’t think that I ever have written about it!!! The reason I’m surprised I haven’t blogged about it yet is because it is on my mind so often, because… just about every time we’re out and about in public I get asked this question. Having twins is like walking around with a PEOPLE MAGNET. (at least it is for us.) It doesn’t help that 1) we’re such an ‘interesting’ looking –i.e., mixed race -black&white– family, and 2) K & O are –if I do say so myself– so gorgeous. Plus, K & O are so extremely extroverted and social (to the nth degree) and approachable that they make it way too easy for people to approach in pretty much any/all circumstances. Just about always people will first say, “Are they twins??” and then they’ll respond with, “Which one is older???” We have always explained what ‘twins’ are to K & O by saying something along the lines of, “Twins are two babies who grow together in a woman’s belly and are born together.” This all makes more and more sense to them the older they get. They ‘get it.’ Truthfully, I really hate the question ‘Which one is older?’ I hate it because I don’t like the way people read into it what they do. People always say stuff to us like, “Well, you know, with twins whoever was born first is the bigger one.” And, “The older twin is the more dominant one.” And, “The younger twin is usually weaker.” Etc., etc., etc. I personally think the whole notion of giving any kind of deep meaning to which one came out first is totally unfounded and bizarre. When people ask about which one is older I always say, “We don’t know.” The honest to goodness truth is that we do not know which baby came out first. And we will never know. From my perspective, that is a gift. I love it that we truly don’t know who came out first. Recently, now that the boys are getting older, people are starting to direct their questions directly to them instead of to me. They get asked all the time, “Are you guys twins??”… “Which one of you is older???” To, “Are you guys twins?” they quickly and enthusiastically reply, “YES! We ARE twins!” And when the follow-up question comes (which it so often does) –“Which one of you is older?”– Kyle and Owen just sort of look back at the person with a blank dumbfounded look and then continue forward with whatever it was they were up to. At that point I usually quickly answer for them, “We don’t know!” and then run off, chasing after them as usual.