First Day of School

Here are the twins on their first day of preschool. Adam went all of last year, so it wasn't quite as exciting for him--although he gets to take the bus home from school now! Jim brought him in, but they dropped him off right at the end of our driveway. He absolutely loved it, even though I was sad to see my little guy looking so grown up. Eleanor goes to preschool right across the street from us where Alex used to go to elementary school. She comments that, "That's my school!" every time we drive by. Adam has a new teacher, but it's the classroom right next to his old one. At open house he went right to his favorite counting toys. Have I mentioned that he's taught himself to count to 20 in Spanish and add and subtract single digit numbers? I know his dad is a big math guy, but Adam has taken things to a new level!! His speech has come soooo far this summer, but his math skills are definitely beyond the level of any 3 year old I've met. Particularly his sister, who told me 6+6=5 yesterday. Adam quickly corrected her. In Spanish. I had to attend the first day of preschool with Eleanor. There were 8 kids with parents there for the hour (another 8 kids came later for a total of 16 kids in her class). Being that Eleanor has never really been in a play group, I was curious how she'd do. It was hilarious to watch her. Of the 8 kids, 5 were boys --3 named Jack!--and she would much rather have played with them than the little girls wanting to wear princess costumes. Not her thing. She squished the clay, microwaved a strawberry (as you do...), and showed off her "mad puzzle skizzles" (as Alex refers to them). Poor little boy next to her was trying to just put numbers 1-10 in the right holes and she'd already finished a 24 piece Curious George puzzle. Then it was time to sing a song and hear a story. All the kids are sitting on the rug and Elenaor tells the teacher, "I want to sit right by you!" which of course was fine, but she did have her sit on the letter "w". The teacher, Mrs. B, turned on a CD to sing along with and Eleanor had to stand up and "take a look-see" (from Special Agent Oso on Disney) as to where the music was coming from. And as the teacher read the story, she knelt up there as if the story was only being read to her. A tad embarrassing, but nothing I didn't expect.

They made a little art project coloring in their traced hand. When I explained to Eleanor that she needed to color the hand, she took the yellow crayon to her own hand. Hmmm....perhaps we should have done some more crafty stuff at home... We found out they can't bring in birthday treats to preschool (although it's fine at Adam's school and everywhere Alex has gone, so I don't know what the deal is there) because of allergies and who knows what else. Kind of sad when you can't bring cupcakes in anymore. Anyway, if it hadn't been for the fact that I'm 9 months pregnant and due any time now, it would have been a really fun morning. But when we all got home and it was only noon I almost cried...I was sure it had to be at least 8:00pm. Fortunately, the twins still need naps when it's a school day, so after lunch we all collapsed into our beds for a good 2 hours. This is going to take some getting used to.

Baby It's Hot Outside

I thought I would add a few more summer photos before preschool photos ended up being the next entry! All of the kids love swimming at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house--can you tell by the giant grins?

The Sweetest Thing

If Eleanor took the lion's share of spirit, our little Adam grabbed sincerity with both hands. I guess I shouldn't really say "little" since Adam is about an inch and a half taller than Eleanor...only thing is he weighs about two pounds less at 32 pounds. He has the skinniest rear end that I love to pinch--to which he responds, "cute little bubby". I guess that comes from me telling him he's got a cute little bottom for so long! Adam has recently taken to patting my belly and saying, "baby brother," at the table--usually because I'm trying to convince him to eat something or other and he can't help but have my tummy right in his face.
Adam spent the last year at a special education preschool to get extra help with his speech. I was veeeerrrry apprehensive about sending my little guy to school so young, but I can't say enough about the school and his wonderful teacher. Adam started school saying very little--animal sounds, mom, dad, a few other things. Now he says almost anything (though whether you can understand him often depends on how much time you spend with him), is constantly interacting with the family, and has become much more independent. His voice is quiet because of his paralyzed vocal cord, but if you listen, you'll hear that he can say his ABC's, count to 100, count by 10's, count by 1000's, and can even do some basic adding and subtracting. He also can look at a clock and tell you what time it is. If there are numbers involved, Adam is all over it. He also loves to spell--mom, dad, Adam, Alex, Eleanor, hat, dog, cat, bus, yes, no, nose, up, down...the list goes on. He also surprised the daylights out of me the other day and counted to 10 in Spanish. I'm blaming Handy Manny. :) I wish I could get Adam to enjoy coloring and drawing more, but his attention span needs some work. Needless to say, I'm very glad we can send Adam back to the same school this year and even the following year before starting kindergarten.

When something strikes Adam's funny bone he laughs with the sweetest, most contagious little laugh that shakes his whole body. He loves to be tickled and will even grab you hand and say, "more tickles!" just to be able to laugh and laugh. He just adores his big brother and is not always fond of having to take turns doing things with him. For example, Alex will pick up the kids and spin them in circles while they look to the ceiling and squeal. When it's Eleanor's turn his gets quite impatient and can throw a temper tantrum with the best of them. Even though it's not supposed to be a good thing, I like that he's not just letting Eleanor get away with whatever she can anymore--he's starting to stand up for himself. Only problem is that her speech skills far surpass his, so she can be quite eloquent at explaining why it was all Adam's fault.

Now that summer is here, Adam just loves to go outside. He will grab his Disney hat and wear it all day if he thinks that it will get you to take him out on the trampoline or climb the rock wall on the playscape. His dad takes the little slide and puts it into the little pool so they slide down into it--as you can see from the photos, he loves it. I'm hoping that by the end of summer he'll be riding his tricycle--but he's a little afraid of the whole bike riding concept.

One of the best parts of the day, though, is when I go upstairs to put Adam to bed and he yells out, "Mommy!!!". Not much can beat the sound of that with the huge grin on his face.

That's My Girl

Eleanor finally got to move into her big girl bed this weekend. She is more excited than I can possibly put into words! It all started by moving Alex into a new (more "mature") room. Then we found out I'm expecting--surprise! So we have a new baby boy due in September. Actually on the twins' birthday--so I'm hoping he's a day or two early or late. I'm only a week and a half from the day the twins were born--with not a single emergency room visit. Yay! Anyway, so we have made Alex's old room into Adam and the new baby's room. Which left Eleanor as the only girl with her very own bedroom, which she definitely wanted painted pink. So last weekend Jim painted and when she first walked into the room she exclaimed, "It's beauuuuuutiful! Daddy, how did you DO it?" Don't tell Eleanor but with a response like that, Jim will repaint her room anytime she would like.

This weekend, we moved my old queen sized bed from my single days into her room. She cannot get enough of sleeping in her big girl bed. She needs a stool to get up into it, but she doesn't mind one bit. I've tried to keep her from having a princess complex because I'm not really into that, but it seems that it is in her blood anyway. There has not been one issue about changing beds, changing anything. She still sleeps with her pink blanket (gosh I wish I remembered who gave that to her at the shower) her puppy, and like any normal 3 year old, her shark, fox, squid, and bat. Yes, those are actually her favorite stuffed animals. Eleanor is always up for an adventure or a challenge whether it's a new bed or a new playground. When she walks into a room, even if there are 15 adults sitting there, she'll call out to everyone, "Hi!!!" When we went to Mackinac Island this weekend (we did a lot over Memorial Day) she loved the boat, the horse ride, and even asked to go into the haunted house. Silly girl--doesn't she know her mom is afraid of haunted houses?

Eleanor will be starting preschool this fall and every time she sees the building she says, "There's my school!" I hope the teacher is ready for Eleanor when she gets there, because she's sure ready to take the school by storm. I hope this all means that she's getting the confidence that I hope to be instilling in her each day--the same confidence I wished I had had as a little girl. She sure seems to be wrapping her little arms around life with everything she's got...and wow, she deserves every exicting minute!

Time for an Update

It's been quite awhile since my last post, but lots has happened. Eleanor is just such a big girl now. She plays hard, loves her big brother Alex, and talks like crazy. She is such a strong-willed little stinker, but I remember that that is why she did so well at the very beginning. As I remember one of her NICU nurses saying, she has "moxey". Well, she still does! Eleanor has been known to have as many time-outs in a day as Alex had in his entire early childhood. After being asked not to spin her fork on the table (and say, "Look at it go!!!!!") at least 5 times, she will look directly at me with a glimmer in her eye and do it again. Part of me wants to scream, but most of me has to stifle a giggle--she just makes me laugh all day long. She gives tons of kisses, asks for "zerberts", and tells me she needs lotion on her arms for her dry skin. She has matered the computer mouse and plays on her Fisher-Price computer and goes onto the Playhouse Disney site. The only thing she can't do is type in the URL. Maybe next week. :)

Adam always has been and is still our sweetie. He loves to be tossed into the air, or spun around, or wrestle on the floor with Alex. His favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because they count a lot and one of his favorite things to do is count. Next to that is to spell. He drags the Doodle board to one of us and wants us to spell words over and over. He can recognize about 20 words now and is adding more each day. He spells Mom most. :) When he gets tired, he says, "Cuddle, cuddle Mommy" or "Cuddle, cuddle Daddy," and curls up with us. Adam goes to school three times a week primarily to help him with speech. We can't go on enough about the school and the staff. Adam talks all the time now though not always clearly, can ask for what he wants, and can answer all of our yes/no questions. They have been singing a song about emotions, so he does happy, sad, sleepy, and scared. But my favorite is mad--he makes this hilarious noise where he sounds constipated. Alex gets quite a kick out of it.

Alex also helps make a fort out of their play kitchen and they go in their with all their toys and make a bunch of noise. We're so lucky that Alex is such a great big brother. Both kids have learned so much about playing from him. As far as their size goes, Eleanor has pretty much stayed at the 50th percentile for both height and weight (33.5 pounds right now), though I think she's looks almost 4 rather than not yet 3.5. Adam is always a bit taller than Eleanor, but he's a skinny bean--it's no wonder from the way that kid goes and goes all day. He weighs just about 31 pounds and is solid muscle. If it were up to him, he'd go to bed at midnight and sleep until 11am. School mornings are rough when I have to drag him out of bed at the crack of 8am.
I have a Flip camera now and I can put videos up here now (shows you how often I log on--it's probably been that way for ages) so I guess I will try to do that next time!

Make Me Cry

I know I don't post regularly at all, but I felt the need to share a little thing that happened the other day. As a little background information, both of the twins are saying the alphabet and counting to 20. Eleanor much more clearly than Adam, but he's talking a lot more. Yay!Eleanor can spell dog, cat, pig, cow, egg, Alex, Adam, mom, dad, yes, no, and can tell you what almost any word begins with except "yubyou" (W). She has difficulty with that one. Not bad for not-yet-three year olds, I think. Anyway, I went to get Eleanor up in the morning two or three days ago. She still sleeps in her crib and shows no sign of wanting to crawl out though I know she's more than capable of it. In fact, she can climb INTO it. I think it's because she likes to take the time to play pretend with her stuffed "guys" as she calls them, in her bed. So she stands up and points to me and calls out, "There's Mommy!" like she does every morning, but before I pick her up, she turns and points to the sign on their wall. She then spells it out for me, letter by letter.

M-I-R-A-C-L-E-S H-A-P-P-E-N

Needless to say, I was in tears.

By Request

It's already March and spring is on its way, I hear--though no sign of it with all the snow we've been getting. It's about this time that we're all finished with winter--even those of us like me who love the snow--and are ready to see some green!! We did manage to get our own peek of spring down in Florida last month. We drove all three kids down to Orlando in the minivan to visit Mickey Mouse at Disney World. We had a great time, enjoyed the 70-something degree weather, got photos with Winnie the Pooh...then got the flu. I was the first one sick, then Adam. He really didn't get it until the night before we left, but on the way home he just kept getting worse and worse. We drove with only a seven hour stop at a hotel to get some sleep and by Saturday afternoon when we pulled in, it was time to take Adam to Urgent Care. They gave him some breathing treatments, but didn't like his oxygen sats, so they sent him to the hospital ER by AMBULANCE. I had to sit back there with him--he had wide eyes and didn't make a peep the whole time. When they hooked him up, he was doing fine, so they kept him a bit for observation, then sent us home. Of course, Eleanor got sick then, too, and it took almost 2 weeks for all of us to recover completely. Whew.
But back to Disney...Eleanor really showed her adventurous streak. She went on every ride that her small staure allowed--including the Haunted Mansion. Afraid? Not for a second. She didn't want to sit on my lap--she needed her own seat, thank you very much. Adam did not like the rides at all, not even the calm one, and would sit on my lap while I recited his favorite books in his ear. He did love the characters and the firewoks and the parades--just something about the rides. THe photos here are all from Disney.
Both of the twins are doing well. Eleanor has a vast vocabulary of words and is starting to put them together. She says thank you and please, and gives you a "stinker look" when she knows she's doing something she's not supposed to do. Adam is just starting to talk--he's been going to Early On for some help in that area. He says Mama, book, ball, bubble. This has all happened is a short period of time, so I'm hoping he starts adding wording more quickly now. He loves to do puzzles and both of them constantly bring books to us to read. His absolute favorite thing, though is the Playhouse Disney website. He can sit there with us for an hour and play the games, watch the videos, and listen to the songs.
Sorry I don't update much--I just don't think of it anymore, but I'll try to every once in awhile for those of you out there still reading! Thanks!

Naked Tushie

Yes, it's true, Adam has become a guy. Pants, diapers...they've become superfluous to Adam. I mean, isn't "au naturale" better, after all?? The kid is taking off his pants, diapers, and even his shirt once in awhile. One day I put them back on three times before realizing the only way I was going to win this game was to put overalls on him. But we only have three pairs of overalls! In the interest of all involved, I'm not posting any pictures of the little stripper in action, but I'm sure you can imagine the fun we're having. THank goodness the fun hasn't involved any dirty diapers, if you know what I mean.
Adam is still a skinny bean at 25 pounds, and he refuses to eat any table food beyond Cheetos and breadsticks/crackers. So he's still eating mostly baby food--though at least it's the level 3 stuff with the little chunks in it. Since Eleanor has started eating chicken nuggets and cheese and poptarts (though not a lot of all of it...I think she's kind of flattened out at about 27 pounds or so) I've realized how much easier that is and can't wait for him to become a little more enthusiastic.
Adam has been sick with a cold twice already, and Eleanor once. The good news is we didn't have to go to the doctor! They just got over them on their own. Beleive me, I was tempted, but I realized they were doing ok and a little cough here and there isn't the end of the world. Adam has decided he loves to play Ring Around the Rosey, so whenever we start singing, he gets this big ol' grin on his face and starts spinning around. (He likes to play by himself). Of course he gets dizzy, so he really falls down during the "we all fall down" part of the song.
Last night we went to Halloween at Greenfield Village. Wow, it was impressive! Alex was a farmer and the twins were a chick and a horse. Cute, eh? I've included some photos from the last few weeks. Happy Halloween!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Adam and Eleanor!!

Ok, so I still need to get around to the Adam photos...but here are some new ones of the twins' second birthday yesterday. It's hard to believe two years have gone by. They got wonderful gifts from their grandmas, aunts, and uncles. Playing on the trampoline in our backyard was a big hit...and they even got to play with their younger cousin.










Jim is busy putting together a little car and a Little Tikes slide/swing playhouse for the kids today. Eleanor needed an early nap and it looks like Adam is heading that way, too. No surprise after having colds all week and such a busy day yesterday! And yay! the twins' first cold that did not require a doctor visit. Happy Birthday sweeties...Mommy loves you.

Eleanor Photos

Hi everyone! Here are some new Eleanor photos for you. She is wearing the very stylish floppy brimmed hat we got for her in Las Vegas. She loves to be pretty and calls the hat her, "Tah!" Hat spelled backward...ok, that'll work.
She also says CAA! or Caah-kee for cookies, crackers, or cereal. Uh-oh!, ball, and Bubbub (bottle) are other words she's saying. She has a version of mommy and daddy--but they don't sound--well, like mommy and daddy. We're working on it.
She climbs on everything and especially likes to stand on top of the little table we got for them from IKEA. It's easier to see her and therefore pay attention to her there, you know. Probably the cutest thing she does right now is how she responds to, "No!" If she's getting into something that she shouldn't. We say no! she stops, smiles, and then claps for herself. This comes from me praising her when she listened to me saying no at first. Now she does it every time. She also loves to pile pillows, toys, blankets, and stuffed animals on top of her on the couch and sit there like that, having little conversations with the animals. She holds them by the back of their necks and pretends they are talking. Next entry will be about Adam. I looked at all the cute photos of him and realized he had food on his face in them! I added one of them, just 'cause I couldn't NOT post a picture of him...but more next time. (I guess the good news there is that he's eating!) Adam weighs about 24.5 pounds now and Eleanor weighs 26.5 pounds. She's wearing 2T's now--except in pants--she's just too short for them. Adam is a couple inches taller than Eleanor so is still quite thin, though is at about the 10th percentile now. That's fine with me! He can wear 18 month pants in the waist--but they are too short. All of this means sewing--or more likely rolling--their pants this fall.

Photos!