keep forgetting I have a camera again

Whitney being cute

Putting on Fuzzy

Fuzzy is on

I keep forgetting that I have a camera back in my possession and haven't been taking cute pics this past week.  I did remember a few times and got these pics.

This week was the last week of dryness.  The rains moved back in on Friday and I'm back to trying to figure out how to get enough energy out inside to get them to go to bed at night.

Today they played bicycle blanket.  They sit on their blankets and pretend they are bikes and try to ride them sliding through the house.  Never really works well, but they seem to really enjoy trying.

Today we went to some friends' house for dinner.  They had a old baby wipe container full of gerber jar lids.  It might be worth it to post it on Pintrest.  Tucker played with it for about 45 minutes.  Dumping them out then putting them through the slot in the container.  Whitney made a bunch of "cupcakes"  and "sandcastles" with the lids while Tucker made "chips" with them.  Tucker likes to make more savory snacks and Whitney likes the sweet ones.  But Whitney has added to her sweet reportoire of just ice cream from last week.

Have I mentioned that Tucker likes to "go potty" whenever we are close to new bathrooms?  Drives us insane.  He had to "go potty" about 10 times while we were at our friends' house just because they have "blue water for Tucker" in their toilet.  I made Jim be in charge of that, since I do it at playgrounds with two kids.

Yesterday I switched out the toys since they were bored with being indoors all day Friday.  It was nice.  About one morning's worth of peace.  We cut paper, made cookies, made frosting, and played with playdough in the afternoon and then gave up and walked laps around the mall to get some energy out.  Kind of worked.  It brought back all sorts of memories of keeping them entertained indoors last winter.  Yuck.  I think I will always associate mall smells with really cold, rainy weather.

This winter I was hoping that we would be able to play outside in the wet better since they are better at keeping on warmer layers.  On Friday it was more of a misty rain, so I thought we'd be fine outdoors for a bit.  Whitney even asked to go to the playground.  I was quite excited about this, so we went to the playground.  For about 10 minutes.  Whitney got out of the car, excited to be at the playground, but then started whining.  She wanted to snuggle.  She was too cold.  We went back home.

Later that day it warmed up a bit and there was less wind and rain than when we went to the park and Tucker was begging to go out.  So I tried again.  It lasted a lot longer, but after awhile I was getting cold.  Whitney plain gave up and ran inside to be warm.  Tucker didn't want to go inside at all.  "No! Outside!" was all I got when I kept asking him to clean up.  He didn't want to clean up.  He wanted to keep practicing his new skill of throwing a plastic ball on the roof and watching it bounce back down to him. 

We had a pretty fun week.  This week was my week to teach school.  We talked about nature and part of school was to be outside.  Pretty much everyone was good with being outside for about 1.5 hours each day of preschool.  They liked the dirt pile the best.  Of course.  They got out our plastic sleds and were pulling them around with pinecones in them.  Then started loading them up with dirt.  So far, so good.  But then when the other moms came to pick up kids, I got a bit distracted.  All of a sudden we were all choking on dust because Tucker dumped the sled full of dirt on the driveway while we were saying good bye.  He was pretty proud of himself.  He said "Mom!  I'm dumping!" as the plume of dust billowed around us.  They were all filthy.

We also pretended we were birds.  Made nests and ate spaghetti noodle worms.  One kid spent about 20 minutes making his nest of sticks in the dirt complete with two eggs, one a rock and the other a white ball.  The other kids made quick circles of pinecones so they could get to snack faster.  It was pretty fun!

Grandma and Grandpa visited for a night and a morning on their way back from Alaska.  My father in law worked up there for 6 months and they were doing a side trip to see us really quick on their way back into town.  That was fun!  We got to hear about the Alaska adventure.  My father in law really liked working on the boat the best and seemed to really like his co-workers (most of them) and the projects he completed.  Grandma got to catch the first part of school with us.  Tucker has been having fun because Daddy is home.  He pretty much never leaves his side when he is home.  Really misses him and shouts with such excitement and glee to see papa come in.  He really wants to play on the computer and watch music videos with him. Whitney likes to ask for treats and cheese from Papa.

My neighbor and I had a pretty funny discussion about Gummy Vites.  She starts off by saying, "Man, I must be going through some SERIOUS calcium withdrawls.  I ran out of my gummy calciums and feel like I gotta have them."  We had a good laugh about it together.  We don't know what is in those gummy vitamins, but all of us, herself, me, Whitney and Tucker, totally look forward to waking up to Gummy vites.  Sounds a bit like a Folgers coffee song I remember from when I was little....

This week Tucker went in to go potty and quickly came out crying a seriously distressed whimper of a cry.  I went in to see Fishy, the toy he was holding when he went in, was in the toilet.  Since then, he is very good about putting his toys up on the counter before using the bathroom so they can watch, not go swimming.

To end I'll write some of the cute stuff they said and did this week.

Whitney likes to make all sorts of things.  She made her babies a calender with torn up pieces of paper.  She made a closet rack with her rings and hung a bunch of hangers on it.  She made me soup to help me feel better with her pretend carrots and garlic.  She made a ton of ice cream. I have a particular ice cream, Papa has his ice cream and Tucker has his.  She has her own.  Don't taste any of the other person's ice cream.  She uses a plastic ring and puts a plastic ball in the middle.  She also started making animals and stairs out of her food for her toys to play with or use. 

She is really cute the way she says bottom.  It's pronounced bob-bum.  She also knows all the construction type vehicles by name and points them out when we're out and about.

Tucker really likes to fix things.  He found an extra key and goes around the house fixing things or noticing things that need to be fixed.  He talks in such a sad voice about "Papa's truck is broken" drawn on the driveway.  I got distracted while drawing it and it has no wheels.  He inserts keys into our door locks and fixes them. I check and re-check the outlet covers on a daily basis.  Making sure they are in and protecting Tucky from a shock.  As soon as Daddy started up the drill to fix the chairs, Tucker beelined it over to his side.

They both like to get a string or necklace and pull each other around, pretending they are leaving on a field trip, something they picked up from nursery.

Tucker calls all of his friends' parents by name.  "Annabelle's mommy, ect"

They both pronounce spaghetti, ba-sketti.  They both eat the "skin" off their cheese by eating all around the edge of the piece of cheese.

Will try to get more pics. The leaves here are beautiful.

japan pics

I found this on the table.  Whitney had been cooking dinner.  Each place setting has a ball, a cup holding the ball, a container holding the cup and a special O as a side dish.  She already knows how to put together a good meal.  That would explain why she doesn't eat anything that is a little bit off in taste.  Nothing gets past her palate.

The entrance to a temple up in the moutains that Jim visited last weekend

Jim didn't know what this meant, but he kept seeing rocks with dresses on.

You can't see too well for the glare, but there is a taxi driver taking a nap in his back seat.  Jim said that part of the work culture is that a short nap is acceptable.  Some of his co workers would put their heads down for a bit during work.  They also all do exercises together at work for a break.  Man.  I wish I could be a PT there!  But then maybe they don't need my services.

Picture of osaka.  Not where he was staying, but I was amazed at how big the city was

 

 

Jim really liked the gravel garden things

 



My hubby has been gone for 2 weeks and I'm definitely sick of it.  You also have to add in the 2 days after he got back that he wasn't really around because of jet lag and working still.  Grrrr.  It ended up being 3 saturdays and 2 sundays by myself.  My first real taste of people that have hubbies traveling all the time.  Or single moms. Or hubbies really involved in other things.  Definitely done with it all.  Now I remember why I wanted to coincide the time I would be gone with the time he was gone.  How dare his company not consult with me as to when he was to be gone!:)  And then I remember that some people's hubbies are killed in a war.  And life is great again.

Some things he commented on were about kit kats and airport security.  I guess part of customs into Japan is screening for cold or flu like symptoms. I asked him what would happen if he had had them.  He said he didn't know.  He had a lot of fun buying all the different flavored kit kats.  But being american, I really don't like the green tea one.  Tastes and looks like grass.  I only deal with that flavor if the food has nutritional value.  And the cookies and cream one. He also said it was fairly easy to get around and not get too lost, even though he doesn't know any Japanese.  He also said people like to practice with him.  One of the tables next to him in a restaurant they ate in noticed them speaking English and switched to english to make them feel more comfortable.  And people are honest.  He saw some money in a train station for 3 days where millions walk by and no one picked it up.  The cabbies were honest, too.

We had fun and lucky, lucky me that it was not my turn to teach preschool and I got some time to myself.  And some other willing friends watched them for me during some other times I needed to be gone.  Whew!  What would we do without friends?

Back to the babies being cute.  I'm sure if Whitney had a tea set and we had tea on a regular basis she would be playing tea party.  It still cracks me up how their imaginative play is just a repeat of days repeating.  She played feeding me several times this week.  She found a big blanket and put it over me, just like a bib, saying I need to put a bib on because I wasn't being careful with my food (usually ice cream).  That's what I tell her all the time about big huge messes down her shirt and her spilling food and the dogs eat it.  She makes me soup and feeds it to me to "make me feel better" after I get after Tucker jumping on me or hanging on me.

She also put me in time out for "hitting Tucker", one of her most common time out reasons at the moment.  Although sometimes it's a bit hard for me to put her in time out for that because Tucker has been beating her up for probably 2 years and she is just now defending herself.  I kind of want her to defend herself a bit.  Especially after the park incident.

This week at the park she was making nests in the playground tanbark.  Another kid, probably around 4 or 5, came over to fling chips around with her, too.  That was fine until Whitney looked up at him to see who was coming close to wrecking her nest.  When he saw her look up at him, he said "Oh!  You're cute!" and tried repeatedly to give her a hug.  She wasn't liking it, and neither was I, but the grandma kept telling him no touching and pulling him away from her, seeing her distress.  The boy was confused about this reaction from his grandma and said to her, "but grandma, I love her!"  AAAAGGGGHHHH!  And where was Tucker during all of this???!!  Not slugging the guy or telling him to go away!  Not even aware.  What is a bully smaller brother twin for anyway!  The boy was innocent and looked like that he was working on the no touching of strangers with his family for awhile, but it did unnerve me a bit.  Whitney did come to me, right away, though.  I was glad for that.  I decided I should probably have the good touch, bad touch talk repeatedly these upcoming weeks.  AAGGHH!  A reality check that the babies grow up every day and will soon be in school and such.

This week we were out  gardening and I heard Whitney say "oh no bug, oh no!" in a very distressed voice.  I turned around and a spider was climbing up Whitney's face and over her open and blinking eye.  She didn't like it, but wasn't totally freaking out.  She does have some toughness!  I, on the other hand, had to withold the scream I had in me to flick it off bare handed.  Whitney was definitely more brave than Mommy.

We have this nursery rhyme tape that they love.  I'm liking it less and less as the days go by.  But the other day Whitney was singing and the lyrics to this song are "won't you be my darling".  At least I thought they were.  Boy was I wrong.  I started singing with Whitney and said darling, but Whitney stopped and said "no mom!  Won't you be my dolly!"  She didn't get why I started laughing, just looked at me like I was weird.

Whitney made a bed for me with the couch pillows this week.  She told me to lie down and went through most of the nighttime routine.  The part that really got me was Tucker laid down on the floor next to my bed and said "Do you want Tucker to stay?"  So cute!  That's what I do with him when he is bouncing around the room.  I give him the option of staying in bed and mommy staying and snuggling or bouncing around the room and mommy leaves.  He also says "mommy stay?" if he wakes up and goes potty in the night when I tuck him back in.  I can never resist, no matter how tired I am.

Tucker found a new and improved way to eat noodles this week.  He puts them from the bowl into his bib and then slurps them up.  Less falling and flicking of sauce everywhere. The first time he did it, he finished off the meal with " Mom!  I ate them ALL!"

Their current favorite bedtime song is "small one"  I have no idea how this song got this title from them and it took me forever to figure out which song they were talking about it, but it is "I feel my Savior's love"  It amazes me how Tucker slows down and stills his body to listen.

This week they've been learning the five senses in pre-school.  It's my turn to teach this week, so I brought home the board that has pictures of eyes, ears, etc.  Tucker saw the hand on and exclaimed "touch!"  They must have had a touch lab this week he really liked.  Or he really likes touch.  A good snuggle will usually calm him down.  That or fish crackers.

This week I asked Whitney to leave her paraphinalia in the car instead of bringing random toys around with us.  She amazingly agreed rapidly, placed them in the sun and said "they LOVE the sun, Mom!"  just how I say it every time we are in the sun.  Lucky, lucky, lucky me I've been able to say it pretty much 3 months straight, a record for here. 

Thursday they babies were absolutely amazingly well behaved.  I couldn't believe it.  The girl that usually plays with them while I go clogging wasn't able to come, so they played by themselves for an hour and a half without whining or fighting.  I was blown away! I couldn't believe it!  I did bring out toys they haven't seen for a few months, but still.  No fighting over "new toys".  Then we went to the park and they listened to me and played together for 2 hours again!  They played walk up the slide then slide down as slugs, Whitney sometimes asking Tucker to sit on her lap like a baby.  They played on the bleachers  and Whitney made fruit snacks for Tucker with pulled off green pine needles and put them in a bottle cap.  Whitney and Tucker both said "I will help you" lots and lots.  Tucker wanted a boost to talk into the speaker thing and whitney helped him by shoving his head up.  I guess it didn't hurt, because Tucker was glad for the boost.   They helped each other jump off rocks and crawled through the duck tunnels.  It was very pleasant!

I love how Tucker says pjammys.  Tucker also did a really, really cute thing today.  He gave Whitney some of his fruit snacks to "help her feel better".  She wasn't upset or anything, but I loved how he knew how much she loves those things.  So do I!

Did I tell you about how they put their playdough on their toe nails like nail polish?  Cracks me up.  Whitney has purple ones and Tucker has blue ones.  Whitney also likes to make boots for her "dedos".

They are really liking Curious George more each day.  But I do have one regret of reading them Curious George.  We read the one about making pancakes and putting blueberries in the pancakes.  So I thought it'd be fun to make pancakes just like Curious George.  But then Whitney got me.  She started begging for syrup.  You know, just like Curious George.  Previous to reading that book, I had them convinced the way you eat pancakes is by dipping it in applesauce.  Nope.  Whitney knows better.  It's syrup from here on out.  Aahh, the influences of the media on the very small.  Totally effective:)