Christmas 2009

Its been crazy busy here- the way you'd expect it to be crazy busy when you have four toddlers.

For Christmas this year we were in WV. It snowed! My parents had 20 inches of snow, and the kids had a great time sledding, making a snowman, and having snowball fights. They also made their first snow angels. For Georgia children, this was a Very. Big. Deal. I hope to upload pictures...

Christmas was lovely. Here is our family photo this year, plus two pictures of the dress I had made for Matilda. We celebrated at both my parents home, then at our house, too. The kids had a great holiday. Lucas thought the best gift was his tools. Matilda loved her baby doll things, and her barbie makeup head. Ewan loved his parrot, and Rowan loved his Buzz Lightyear robot.

When?

(will update with pictures later)

When did Lucas and Tilly become children? When did they stop being babies? I realized the other morning when I went to wake them up, that they reacted like children. Sprawling in their toddler bed, yawning, sighing, turning their backs to me to cuddle down into their blankets for another five minutes. I didn't notice it at first. They've been greeting me like this for sometime, I would imagine. I noticed it when I went into Ewan and Rowans room, and they greeted me like *babies*. Smiling in their cribs at me, jumping up and down, yelling "mommy", saying "chickie" (Ewan has bonded with a Christmas Chicken that sings). I leaned in and Rowan smoothered me with kisses/ Ewan squealed.

I stopped and contrasted this behavior. These two sets of twins are only one year apart... when did the change happen? When did Lucas and Tilly stop smiling, squealing and greeting me as if I were their most favorite person in the world? When did they stop acting like I brought sunshine into their rooms, and instead react as if I was a nuisance waking them from good dreams?

They are only a year apart, and Ewan and Rowan are still smiling. So it must have been sometime between 2 years and 3 years. How I wish I had known that last morning- for their must have been a last morning- that they wouldn't smile at me again. If I had of known that they would not smile, squeal, call out "mommy" and kiss me, how I would have treasured that last morning, how I would of held on to them a little longer, and savored how warm my heart felt. And how I miss that moment now that its gone. I can still picture them, smiling and giggling and squealing at me. It is so sad that they have stopped.

So, I took pictures of Ewan and Rowan smiling at me the other day. I'll add them soon. And every morning when I enter their room, I stop for a moment and just *sink*. Sink a little further into myself, and allow my heart to swell a little. I kiss them a little longer before letting them go, and hold them a little longer before setting them down. I treat every morning as if it might be the last morning that I will be greeted with smiles, squeals and kisses.

More from Lucas

While making his "coffee" (two tablespoons decaf coffee in 8 ounces of milk):

"I'll take mine black, please".

When he asked what I was making in the blender ("I am making you a little drinkie-poo!"):

"No poo for me, thanks".

When insisting that Daddy was mad at him:

"But he squeaked my cheeks!"

When he was hungry at the mall:

"I'm not hungry, I am SPIDERMAN hungry" ("spiderman" means "extremely" as spiderman is an extreme super human).

When we left his coat at the park:

"I will send spiderman to go get it for me".

When I found him standing on his bed after his nap (today):

"I am going to fly away. Into the sky. Tilly needs to go back to her castle".

My First Afghan

Here is my first afghan. Its the "ripple crochet" pattern made with single crochet. And here are Lucas and Tilly wrapped up in it!

Ewan and Rowan

Here are my two year old youngest twins- Rowan and Ewan.

Lucas's story

Today at Kroger, Lucas reminded me that he and Tilly each get a matchbox racing car. Ewan and Rowan aren't interested in them yet (they just want cookie samples from the bakery- Ewan screams "Want Cookie!" as soon as we pass them). With all four in the cart, we take up a good bit of room and blocked the lane. Another mother- whose child wasn't with her, was also shopping for matchbox cars.

Lucas says "I want the helicopter".
me "I don't see it".
Lucas : "Its in hand"
me: "Let me see (looks at the five cars in my hand)- No, its not in mommys hand"
Lucas "No, its in the Ladys hand"
she isn't listening...
me: "Let mommy see if she can find one for you"
Lucas "Mommy, its in the ladies hand!"
The lady walks away and Lucas begins sobbing saying "She took it! She took my helicopter!"

After going through fifty cars, I found an airplane. He didn't like it. Then, because he had a tummy virus earlier in the week and was looking particularly sad and weak, I tracked down the lady and asked her if she would mind swapping airplane for helicopter. She was fine with it. Lucas said to her "I got my helicopter back!".

So tonight we were telling Duane the story, and here is Lucas's version.

Lucas: "A lady took my helicopter"
me "what happened?"
Lucas "She put it in her hand and she took it away"
me "what did we do?"
Lucas "We went to get it back"
me "then what?"
Lucas "We took it"
me "Then what?"
Lucas: "We took it and then we ran away"
me "Then what?"
Lucas "We paid, then ran away in the car".

His version is more exciting I think.

When I was blow drying Tillys hair yesterday, I sat her on the counter in my bathroom as usual. She said "Mommy, please be careful. Mommy, I could fall and get hurt, so you should be very careful with me."

And today when Lucas wanted to lay down (he is still feeling weak from his virus) Tilly said "Mommy, Lucas went back to bed." I said "I know". She then looked at me and said "Did you tell him you loved him and kiss him goodnight?". Duane calls her "Bossy girl".

Random thoughts...