Made You Jump

Another Halloween has come and gone and for whatever reason, this is the holiday that most reminds me of the twins' days in the NICU. I'm not sure why since you would think it would be their birthdays, or even Christmas, but Halloween was the first day they both came out of the islolettes and sat together on Jim's lap, so for me it's a day of reminiscing. You can tell that their personalities are shining through now when it comes to choosing costumes. Eleanor wanted to be a turtle and Adam wanted to be Mario from Mario Party 8. Alex plays it and Adam always chooses Mario as his character. He can't really play himself yet, but I'm pretty sure he thinks he's playing. :)

They went to about 40 houses this year and had a system down to get from one to the next. Jim pulled the wagon and I pushed the stroller with Ethan in it. Afterwards they took a look at their haul and Eleanor proclaimed that she wanted the Dots. Eleanor makes many proclamations every day. One example is, "When somebody is still putting on their seatbelt, somebody doesn't leave yet." Or, "When somebody says, 'Boo!', somebody says, 'AAAhhhh!' not 'Boo!' " She has many rules. And be certain to follow them or she may place her arm over her eyes and dramatically state, "I don't know anything!" Adam has continued quoting (appropriately) from all his favorite shows. For Halloween his favorite was, "Boo!" and when I said, "AAHHH!" (because those are the rules), he says, "Made you jump!" from Charlie and Lola. Another favorite is Toy Story. "We need more monkeys! There aren't anymore! That's the whole barrel!!"

Adam and Eleanor and now 5 and in their last year of preschool. We eeked out another year of preschool because of the date of their birthday. Both of them are doing well in school and read all the time. I wish I could get Adam to hold his pencil tighter because he would love to write. He can do it on a Doodleboard, but pencil/paper is hard for him. Eleanor is a social butterfly and everyone is her friend. She barely remembers to say goodbye to me when I drop her off. They both can count by 2's, 5's, 10's up to 100. Now if I could just get Adam to sit in a seat for more than 2 minutes, we could really accomplish a lot. Neither of the twins like crafts much and Eleanor doesn't play with dolls at all. She loves stuffed animals and has them all around her on the couch in what she calls her "nest". Or she plays Leapster 2 Pet Pals and has them circling her.

Adam's favorite game right now is Search for Trouble. He goes around the house and searches for ways to wreak havoc. The other day he came downstairs with two soaking wet sweatshirted arms complaining he was wet. I asked him whose room he got so wet in..."Alex's room." Aaaaagh!! The fish!! Sure enough he had both arms in the fish tanks beyond his elbows. I put him on a chair in the family room stating, "Sit there. Be quiet. Be calm." You know what he says? "Mommy, you're funny." Arrrgh!!! Then yesterday, I thought he ate his lunch kind of quickly, but his plate was empty and he was reading Berenstain Bear books up in Eleanor's room. Later in the evening, Alex comes downstairs with a handful of apples. "Where'd you get those?" I ask. "Eleanor's bed." Aaaaargh!!! When I ask him, he admits to it, I give him a big hug and a kiss. What else can you do 6 hours later?

Let's just say there's not really a quiet minute around here these days. And I couldn't be happier.

(Eleanor's drawing of Adam and herself. Notice the pigtails.)