Michael left the house early, early, early this morning for a two day business trip, so I was single mom this morning. Everything went fairly smoothly including our quick trip to the store to get some items I had forgotten for today's twin/sibling group meeting at my house. Another mom was coming out of the store as I was going in, with Miranda in the hip hammock, Elizabeth in the other arm and Parker holding my hand. She said simply, "Impressive."
When I'm telling Parker something he doesn't like, like Hurry Up or Stop Doing that, he tells me in this sad, hurt voice, "Mommy don't say that." Sometimes he tells me this when I'm annoyed and it's showing. It's actually a good reminder that these little guys don't miss a thing.
As the girls get older, I am starting to really see their personalities more. And what I realized today is that Miranda is just like Dad and Elizabeth is just like Mom. Miranda is patient, pleasant, sweet, slightly shy, and cautious. She thinks before she moves. She ponders before she acts. She doesn't smile a lot, but when she does, it's big. If she could cut, she would measure twice and then do it once. She's hard to know and easy to love.
Elizabeth is impatient, moody, spontaneous, aggressive, active. She can't just sit for any length of time. She has to be be moving, to be going, to be doing. She thinks whatever Miranda is doing is better than what she selected on her own. She laughs a lot. She cracks Parker and Miranda up and she is outgoing with complete strangers. She throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way and she eats with a gusto that only an overweight person could appreciate. She wants to be the center of attention whereever she is. She thinks she can do anything. She not only doesn't measure before she cuts, she does it with her eyes closed.
Interesting, huh?
The girls were legitimately playing today. I caught some of it...
Just after this, Parker came down stairs and announced that Michael went to work and Rachel stayed home. Yeah, don't I know it.
I'm in a twin mom babysitting co-op now. There are three of us and we get together every Monday. One of us gets to leave while the other two stay with all the kids. Today was my day to leave and it was grand. I went to have breakfast by myself, did some shopping and generally relaxed. It was strange to be alone in the middle of the day, but great.
Apparently, all three of the kids were good while I was gone. No Elizabeth drama meltdowns, no Parker freak outs and no Miranda shyness.
Can we do it again??? Tomorrow????
Parker has special cheerios because he slept all night long in his bed.
The girls had toast.
And Ted had strawberries.
Everyone who is reading this knows that Parker has some game in the numbers and letters department. I hate to brag (well, sometimes I hate to do it and now is not one of those times), but the whole saying the alphabet backwards is freaking me out. He says it fast. Faster than you can even tell if he is correct. It's quite a thing. And it's even more impressive when I remember that this isn't something I taught him. Or something Dad taught him or something he learned from a video. He just figured it out on his own(probably with a little help from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom..when the letters fall out to the tree backwards). And he must have practiced it a lot because the speed he does it is alarming.
Seriously. You try it. Try to say the alphabet backwards really fast. I bet you forget the O.
The girls aren't wanting to sit in their bath seats anymore, so we put down some non- skid mats and let them just hang out. They still want to stand up, which sucks, but it's nice to have them able to scoob around a bit.
Daddy dried off Elizabeth while I took care of Miranda. Parker was jumping the whole time.
This morning, after an errand to Target, we had some time to kill before Music Class. So went to PlayPlace. A culturally diverse, socially advanced, and artistically exceptional play area in Castro Valley. Well...actually, it's McDonalds. And it's awesome. You can go there with your kids, not buy anything (but of course we did) and enjoy your tasty treats while your kids have fun. No one was there when we arrived or when we left, for that matter. Parker loved it. He ran around like a monkey while Miranda and Elizabeth had a snack (no, not fries and mcnuggets).
Then, they got in on the action. They couldn't get too far up the amazing structure, but they loved it nonetheless.
Then, they all played together.
They are living the good life in Castro Valley. First Golf Land. And now this. Heaven.
Lately Ted seems to be doing a lot of the same things that Parker is doing. He likes to play marble game, he jumps on the trampoline, he takes a nap, and, as shown below, he drinks milk. Today I learned that Ted's birthday is December 14th, and he is going to be one years old.
After a wise woman recommended I tell Parker the truth about Noe, today I did. He brought her up again, saying that she was grey and Zeke was black. I said, "Yes, that is right but Noe doesn't live with us anymore. She died. She got sick and died." I then went on to say, "She was an old sick cat. Zeke is a younger cat, but one day he will die too. When he gets old he'll die."
Parker said, "Zeke is not old. He should stay at home."
I agreed.
Parker and I were chatting the other day. I asked him something about Ted. He said to me, "Ted's actually a Teddy Bear."
For some reason statements like that crack me up.
Because we aren't doing enough on Mommy and Parker days, we go to a toddler class in the late afternoon on Fridays. It's run by a preschool co-op in a great space in Montclair (hence the name...Monclair Community Play Center)
They put out all of these art projects, play stations, and activities for free play time. With a snack in the middle and quick story time at the end, it's a nice afternoon.
Here are the things set up for the kids yesterday...
After music class today we went to Miniature Golf. I wasn't sure what to expect and truly didn't think Parker would be able to do any of it. I figured he would stay around for a while and then we would go home. But no...we went to every hole, Parker counting the entire time. ("Now we are on hole 11!") He definitely understood the concept: hitting the ball, watching the ball, making the ball go in the hole. He really liked the holes where the ball disappears and then comes out at some other location down below. He wanted to do those over and over. On each hole, he would whack the ball, then I would whack it again (usually worse them him) to get it closer, and then he would hit it in or throw it in. His grip wasn't the best despite repeated attempts, but he had tons of fun nonetheless. When we got to hole 18, he said, Now 19! I had to explain that golf courses only had 18 holes. Which he got.
At the very end and we were leaving, he looked back and said, "That looks like a marble game!" referring to the loopy loop in the last picture below. Since we were done fairly quickly, we went to the nearby McDonalds Playland where he had an even better time climbing up and down the crazy structure. Good thing he doesn't know what McDonalds is yet. Too bad Mommy does and had some fries.
