"I love You"

We have our first spontaneous, unprovoked, "I love you".

In the past few weeks, Natalie and Abby would repeat, I love you, if asked to - especially to Mema.  A few times theywould respond with I love you if she was told I love you first.  Today, Natalie did it all on her own.

The girls have just been running around playing, "I'll get you", ie. chase.  Natalie came running in from the living room into our dining room and said, "I love you, Mommy.  I love you, Mommy."  It took me a minute or two to figure out what she was saying, and then, of course, my heart just melted.  I knelt down, gave her big hugs and said, "I love you too, Natalie."  I have been awaiting this day (as it seems a little late to me), and it was just as wonderful as I imagined:-)

"Check on Mema"

Every morning when we get up, I tell the girls we have to go "check on Mema".  They run towards her room shouting "check on mema, check on mema".  It's hard to describe the level of love and devotion they have for her.  They display a remarkable sense of empathy for their young age.  (My mother, the social worker, has assured me that we do not have to worry about them being sociopaths.  Well, yes, that's good to know.)

Natalie and Abby ask to "get on the bed" and sit beside mema to give her a hug and kiss.  Today, Natalie kept asking for "hand, hand" because she wanted to hold Mema's hand.  They love to make sure she has her tissues boxes and always make sure her "little Buddy" (a little stuffed green doggy)  and Biscuit* (another stuffed doggy) are with her.  They even know about Mema's "oxgen" and make sure she has it on as well.  If they hear us talking about her pillows, they will bring us one, and they like to pull the blankets up and tuck her in.  They seem to understand that Mema is sick and that her leg hurts and they aren't to touch it.  They also know the things mema uses.  She always drinks out of the small plastic yellow cups (like a child's cup).  I've been using one in the tub to wash the girls' hair.  Every time we get in the tub, Abby says, "this is mema's, this is mema's." 

I'm so glad the girls can be here to get to know Mema.  And, I'm glad they can bring her joy.  When she hears their voices she says, "I hear a little one" and her face just lights up.  When they touch her hand, she says, " I feel a little hand" with a smile.  In the last few days, which have been very hard, they have been nearly the only thing that has made her really smile.

Having the girls here is such a blessing, for all involved, I believe.  But it also poses the potential problem of the confusion they will experience when they come in to check on Mema and she is no longer here.  Christmas has actually worked in our favor since we have talked a lot about Baby Jesus being born.  I've been preparing them by talking about how Baby Jesus lives in Heaven with God and we can't see him.  Then I say that Mema is going to go live with Baby Jesus and we won't be able to see her anymore either.  I'm pretty sure they have no idea what I am saying or what I mean.  But, if I can keep preparing them, maybe it will come together when we have to say good-bye to mema and they can't see her anymore.  Explaining death to 2.5 year olds is tough.  If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share.

*Biscuit is really more than just a stuffed animal.  He is a part of our family.  Years ago, maybe 20ish, my Aunt Joyce (mema's sister) bought Biscuit for Granny (their mother, my great-grandmother) when she was sick.  Since then, whenever someone was sick, Biscuit was sent to stay with them.  He has been mailed and carried across a number of states to whichever member of the family was in the most need.

Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong!

The girls are becoming quite the little song birds. I've mentioned before how Abby likes to sing - all.day.long.  Natalie has been singing more of late as well.  We have finally progressed past just the ABC's and onto other selections.  We can sing most of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Jesus Loves Me.  And, I'm not so very proud to say, they now know the theme song to Wonder Pets.  They also picked up pretty quickly on Jingle Bells when I had it on in the car.


The songs sometimes mix all together.  It's very common to start with ABC's and finish with Wonder Pets.  Or, start with anything and end with the ABC's.  In fact, the ABC song is just as often as not started somewhere in the middle, LMNOP or QRS seem to be popular starting points for Abby.  She also frequently mixes talking and singing, especially when playing alone with her babies in her bed.  The ABC's also seem to act as a comfort item for her.  It's really pretty funny.  Abby will be in the middle of whining or crying about something and she's "Mommy, whine, whine, A B C LMNOP...cry...cry".  I can't help but laugh at her.  She's a pretty funny little kid.

Natalie has her funny things too.  One thing she likes to do is make a production about leaving a room.  She'll start to walk out and then turn around and wave with a grin, "bye mommy, bye mommy, bye mommy".  It's hilarious.  Then she'll come right back in, "hi mommy, hi mommy."  The girls do it to each other in play as well.  "Bye, Abby, Bye Abby".  The other day, she was doing it in the bath tub.  She took her little pail of water and started towards the back on the tub, "bye, bye, bye".  I asked her if she was going on a trip.  She said, "yes."  So, so  funny.

Potty Time!

Abby went tinkle on the potty today!!  She's been showing some interest and about two days ago wanted to sit on the potty.  Today, Ben asked her if she wanted to.  She said, "yes" and she did! 

I really haven't pushed the potty training.  I decided that at my mother's house in the middle of all this chaos really wasn't the best time.  Plus, we are hoping to sell our house and move soon, so I thought I'd wait until then.  It appears Abby has other ideas.

Natalie doesn't show any real interest herself.  If you ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, she very clearly and strongly says, "NO."  But, she is very concerned about Abby using the potty.  She says, "Abby potty?" and points to the bathroom.

My mom picked up a Sesame Street toilet seat today.  Maybe once Natalie can pee while sitting on Elmo she'll be more interested.

Working Class Girls

Natalie and Abby have officially joined the ranks of working class America.  They have each earned their first dollars.

Saturday, after our Santa excursion, we went for a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant.  While in line to pay, a woman commented on how well behaved they were and how cute, etc.  I thanked her, of course, and we chatted a bit.  After leaving the restaurant, we popped in next door to Goodwill.  After buying a few plain white T-shirts for bibs and some books, we were getting back into the car, when the woman came up to me and handed me two one dollar bills.  "For their piggy banks," she said.  I was quite surprised, and thanked her profusely and wished her a Merry Christmas.

Mom, on the other side of the car, missed part of the exchange and when I told her what she did, she was also quite surprised.  Mom said the woman had been sitting near us and had spoken to mom about the girls when I was in the restroom.

I'm not quite sure what to think about the whole exchange.  It's not every day people hand me money on the streets - or in parking lots.  Maybe the girls reminded her of her own children or grandchildren or the children/grandchildren she wished she had.  Maybe she was really impressed they were so well behaved instead of running loud and wild as kids are prone to do nowadays while their parents watch or ignore them completely.  Maybe she just thought they were super cute.  Hopefully, she didn't think they looked they needed the two dollars.  I mean, I was wearing my best jeans and my best pink Johns River Valley Camp T-shirt (a pretty swanky outfit, for me.)

Whatever her reasons, I thank her.   She did a very kind and generous thing in the spirit of Christmas and it is a story I will remember forever and be sure to tell the girls.  So, thank you, kind woman in Franklin.  I hope God blesses you ten-fold for your kindness. Merry Christmas.

Project Santa: Success!!

Attention:  We have a successful interaction with Santa!  I am very excited.  No one cried, there was minimal clinging, and we actually sat with Santa. 

I was actually getting stressed about getting a Santa picture since Franklin has no actual mall.  I was even contemplating driving an hour and a half to Asheville just to go to the mall.  But, small towns, like animals trapped on an isolated island, have their own methods of adaptation, so instead of the mall - Santa shows up at Kmart.  He also shows up at The WhistleStop, which is, I suppose, the closest thing Franklin has to a mall.  It's a bunch of crafty stores and antique shops inside one giant building (well, the size of a couple of Walmarts, maybe).  Santa was on site from 1pm to 5pm and we were there to greet him.

I will lament that poor Santa didn't have much in way of decoration or throne to sit upon.  The Gazebo had lights on it, but no one turned them on.  There wasn't a Christmas tree in his Gazebo (although the rest of the "mall" had one every 10 feet), and his traditional big cushy, velvet chair to sit on was replaced by a hard wooden bench.  His little Elf (a rather pathetic, sad looking teenagish girl) looked pretty void of Christmas spirit, and common sense - like that required to GET OUT OF THE WAY when parents are trying to take a picture.  The poor mom before us was trying all sorts of angles to get just her adorable baby on Santa's lap and cut out the sour-faced elf.

I will say this about small towns and Santa's in random places: you don't have to wait and they are very patient.  Operation Santa Picture took some time - at least a good 20-30 minutes from the time Santa was first spotted and the clinging and crawling over Mommy began.  It was quite a process.

First, there was the acknowledgment of Santa.  Hi Santa - Look, there's Santa - When Santa first walked in, it really didn't go very well.  First, he (actually a she, but for tradition's sake..,), he came walking in shouting ho-ho-ho and ringing these very loud jingle bells.  Scared the girls to bits.  Other parents with sensory kids will appreciate this.  Clinging, almost crying and climbing over mommy ( literally, climbing up as if trying to climb over me) was the result.  Thank goodness we were actually a good 30 yards or more away from Santa when this happened.  Imagine had we been right next to him...

So, Step One: seeing Santa from afar.  This included watched an adorable 14ish month old baby in a red Santa dress waddle towards the steps to get to Santa.

Step Two (after Santa stopped ringing the stupid bells), approach the Gazebo and see Santa from about 20 feet away.  I sat on the floor with them and let them cling while Grammy and I talked up Santa.

Step Three:  Observe other happy children with Santa (see adorable baby above).  Adorable baby modeled how to pick a toy from Grumpy Elf's box, how to look up at Santa adoringly, and how to sit on Santa's lap and look right at the camera while mom took a picture.  Abby and Natalie never did any of these things, by the way, despite the baby's lovely demonstration.

Step Four: Avoid Santa and look at giant blow-up Penquin on the steps of the Gazebo.

Step Five:  Sit on steps of Gazebo with - not looking at Santa.  (ps - at the time, I thought this might be our only picture with Natalie, Abby, and Santa!)

 Step Six:  Acknowledge Santa exists.

 Step Seven:  Allow Grammy to introduce Elmo and Mouse to Santa.

Step Eight:  Wonder how to rescue Elmo and Mouse.

 Step Nine: Watch as Mommy takes a picture with Santa not realizing that is a part of the ploy to get us to approach Santa.  This also has the desired effect of booting Miss Grumpy Elf off the bench and out of the pictures.

 Step Ten:  Mommy gets Natalie to come to her by picking little snow men out of Grumpy's box and tantalizing her with it.  (Natalie is the less squeamish of the two)  It had the desired effect and I was able to pick her up and sit her on the bench.  It was my hope that if Natalie didn't freak out, Abby would be willing to approach us as well.  And, it worked!  At first Natalie and Abby have to appear nonchalant and not pay too much attention to the guy in the Big Red Suit (or Mommy who is desperately calling their names to try to get them to look at the camera.)

But, finally, finally, they relax enough to smile (sort-of) and look at Mommy.  Success!

Okay, so this isn't your typical kids on Santa's lap picture, but considering last year's crying and wailing, I'd say this was a huge improvement and I am quite pleased.

Project Santa Desensitization is a success.

Natalie and Coloring - Take II

Little Miss Abigail touched my computer and deleted my first, and nearly complete first attempt...grrrrr.

So, Natalie has taken to coloring.  I have introduced coloring several times in the past but the girls have shown only passing interest.  Just in the past few days, Natalie has developed quite a passion.

When I started the first post, she was sitting to my left, bending over (practically climbing on) the dining room table and intensely working on Cookie Monster in her Elmo coloring book. 

She has started covering nearly the whole page instead of just a  few passing scribbles.  And, as of today, she has started something I am very pleased with - changing colors.  Before, her pictures were mostly monochromatic and she would usually keep the same color for multiple pages.

Today, she is using one color, then putting it down and picking a different color to use on the same page - sometimes two or three colors. 

 

She's not using "appropriate" color choices yet, ie. Elmo is not red or Grover Blue.  But then again, I think a red, black, and orange flying Grover is pretty cool!

Abby shows no such inclination towards coloring.  I did manage to get her to color this:

after I told her I would take a picture of it (she saw me taking pictures of Natalie's).  She is still in your basic scribble, scribble, scribble, done stage.

It's not really that surprising as it fits with their personalities.  Natalie tends to be better at the fine motor activities that require more patience - like coloring, stringing beads and puzzles.  She easily focused on her coloring for at least 15 minutes just now - maybe longer.  Abby tends to be busier, not really in a hyperactive way, just busier.  She will sit and focus for long periods of time on pretend play: feed her babies, stir soup, etc.  But even this is busy.  There's lots of moving around, talking and action.  I think she likes/needs to input more than Natalie.  It may explain why she also sings all.day.long.  Really.  If she sings her ABC once a day, she sings them 100 times.  Or hums them, or do-do-do's them or starts and stops or starts in the middle of them.  Twinkle, twinkle is also being a favorite.  She really does vocalize almost all day.  It's actually very adorable.  Mema can actually tell who is who it is now because with minutes Abby identifies herself by breaking into song.

As I mentioned once before, Abby appears to have excellent pitch for a 2.5 year old.  I am very pleased.  As I also said before, I hadn't really heard Natalie sing enough to really judge but it wasn't looking that good.  Natalie is starting to sing her ABC's more - and it's still not looking so good.  I'm afraid twin Grammy winners are not likely in their future.  However, Natalie does love to dance, and clearly, likes to color, so there's great hope for visual arts in her future.

Eating Christmas Miracle

I am so happy to report that my girls are beginning to eat like normal children.  This morning Abby ate 1.5 pieces of sausage, and few bites of egg, a few bites of banana, and a bite of bread.  Natalie ate one sausage, some egg, banana and a bite of toast.  I am so excited.

The "not-so-much-formula" experiment is going well.  They are now only getting two bottles: one at nap of lactose-free milk, and one at bedtime of bright beginnings.  Everything else is food.

Sausage has long been a favorite food, as well as most kinds of fruit, especially grapes.  I swear they can eat a pound of grapes in a few days.  Eggs are also becoming highly coveted.  They have eaten as many as 4 eggs in a sitting (between them).  One night last week, we had eggs and ham for dinner.  My mom scrambled 7 eggs.  When they were gone, I made 4 more.  3 adults and 2 kids ate 11 eggs!!

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I started this post a few days ago on a particularly good eating day.  I may have gotten ahead of myself with this "miracle" bit.  Our very-good-eating-day was followed by our not so good day yesterday where they ate one piece of sausage, half a bowl of manderian oranges from Wendy's each (of these they would have each eaten 2 or 3 bowls had I bought them), one chicken nugget each, a few spoonfuls of chili liquid (NOT the beans or hamburger), about 4-6 oz each of some chicken and rice soup, and only one bottle for the day.  A not-so-great-eating day. 

But, I'm not getting discouraged.  Just like "regular" toddlers, some days are better than others.  I'm still pretty excited when I see Natalie and Abby spooning soup into their mouths or devouring a whole cup of grapes.  It's actually been just over 2 years since we first brought them to Mema's - that first November.  We were starting the one ounce, every 2 hours feeding schedule.  I remember how we struggled for 30 minutes each hour (for each baby) to try, try, TRY to get them to drink one ounce of milk.  Measure out an ounce some time and see how little it is.  The saddest thing is: most of the time we failed getting them to drink even that.

Now, they are drinking 9 ounces a bottle on a daily basis, eating cups of fruit, bowls of soup, patties of sausage, nearly a whole box of mac and cheese, ice cream, crackers, eggs, chicken, rice, and anything with chocolate.

We've come a long way, babies!

Thanksgiving Pictures

We did make it to Mema and Grammy's for Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed a great dinner on Friday and lots of left-overs.  We shared it with Uncle Wayne, Aunt Jane, and then Cousin Rachel and her family, husband, Mike, and kids, Michael and Maria.  Aunt Joyce wasn't feeling well and couldn't join us.

Here are just a few family photos to remember the day!

 

 

 

Project: Santa Desensitization

This year Natalie and Abby have shown a lot of interest in Christmas - especially Christmas trees and Santa.  They can spot a Santa and tree a mile away - kind of like Elmo and Mouse.  I have taken advantage of this newfound interest to begin Santa Desensitization in hopes of avoiding this:


 





















I would really love to get a great picture this year and more importantly, have the girls enjoy Santa.  Project Santa involves talking about going to see Santa, looking at books about Santa, looking up pictures of happy kids sitting on Santa's lap on the internet, and most recently, seeing Santa in person without the pressure of trying to get a picture.

As you know, we are visiting indefinitely with my mom and mema here in the beautiful mountains of Franklin, NC.  Franklin is the kind of town kids can't wait to get out of and tourists love to visit.  The town is really quite darling and somewhat quaint with a neat little town square with such things as painted trash cans.

 

Also, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the town held a "Cookies with Santa".  It seemed like the perfect opportunity for Project Santa.  I wasn't sure if it would be a sit down at a table thing with Santa (it was really just "have a cookie while you stand in line"), but it sounded good.  We arrived at the Gazebo in the middle of town in time to see Santa wander around a bit before taking his seat.  Natalie and Abby were quite excited.  We had our cookies while waiting in line and took the opportunity to write a letter to Santa telling him that they had been very good little girls.

Natalie and Abby did well until we started to approach Santa.  There wasn't any crying, but there was a lot of clinging.  I think the did great though.  They introduced Santa to Elmo and Mouse and handed him their letters. (They will be getting return letters from Santa soon in the mail.)  They were willing to stand pretty close to Santa as long as they were holding on to Mommy or Daddy.

 

 

We also walked around town a bit and enjoyed the Christmas decorations.  There was a huge live tree decorated and the girls loved it.  Natalie loved the huge red "emlo balls".

Elmo and Mouse also enjoyed the Christmas Tree.

We took a few family photos and one with Grammy.

We also did a little window shopping.

And made sure everyone stayed warm and cozy.

We also had a chance to see the bricks that members of our family donated and dedicated.  The town has a little garden with a brick pathway made of the donated bricks.

Daphne is my grandmother and John, Louree and Joyce are her siblings.  Clayton and Pallie are their parents.  There is another brick we couldn't find for Louree, donated by her children.  Louree passed away quite a while ago.

All in all, it was a great day and I think, a very successful introduction to Santa for Natalie and Santa.  Next step, seeing Santa at the mall.  If all goes well, we should have a picture by Christmas.