So there’s now a law in Florida allowing parents to keep twins together in the same classroom. Huh. Before I had twins, I would not have understood this issue at all…. I mean, shouldn’t twins be separated so they can form their own identities independently and not rely on each other for company?
But now I know. That’s not the way it works. There’s something different about being a twin. If we had to split our boys up in a school setting, I’d send them elsewhere.
Last month we joined the Miami Children’s Museum. It’s a large, air-conditioned, kid-friendly building within half an hour of our home… how could we not join?!
We’ve visited twice already. The highlight is always the long ramp that connects one floor to the other. Yes, I paid a $150 annual fee for them to run up and down a ramp over and over. And just behind the ramp is a big slide. I sat down and watched as they climbed up the stairs (built into the side of a pretend boat), rang the boat’s bell, then slid down… about twenty times before I insisted we move on to something else because I was getting bored. Next time I’m bringing reading material.
Benjamin also liked the pretend fire station. They both freaked at the mention of trying on the firefighter clothes, but Benjamin drove the truck for a while (below) while Jonah climbed up on Benjamin’s seat and jumped nearly two feet down. Over and over until I stopped him for fear of punch-drunk syndrome.
And they didn’t know Jonah was coming or else they would have put out a dozen crayons instead of a hundred. He was in crayola heaven. He grabbed a couple of handfuls, immediately picked out all the orange ones, and got to work.
And 90% of why we joined… an indoor bounce house. Combined with the ramp and the slide, it’s a perfect way to wear out two toddlers while enjoying the lovely air conditioning:
Do you love me?
I’m still here, aren’t I?
That’s because you don’t have any other option.
That’s not true.
That wasn’t very nice.
That wasn’t very nice.
For a couple of weeks the boys have been engaging in sub-par napping behaviors. Their naptime is shrinking.
An hour and a half break in the afternoon is not enough – I miss the days of 2-3 hour naps, with the occasional four hour stretch thrown in the mix. But now Benjamin wakes up, crawls out of his crib, pulls out Shirt and Puppy, opens the door, closes the door behind him, and heads straight for me in the kitchen.
And this reminds me, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that Benjamin is now obsessed with a Puppy as well. It’s Jonah’s surrogate puppy that we were encouraging Jonah to switch to since his is looking rather…. sad…. these days. The stuffing is coming out of the nose and it is literally half the size of the newer puppy – all of the snuggliness has been loved out of him.
Jonah was not at all interested and eventually Benjamin took a liking to it and there you go…. it’s now Shirt AND Puppy.
And back to the napping tragedy… not only are they sleeping less but they are going to sleep quicker. Instead of talking and playing for an hour or more before exhausting themselves, now it’s 20 minutes at the most. (This is my own fault – I’ve been putting them both in the same room again, but instituted a No Talking Rule…. so they get bored quicker.) Which means it can be 3pm when Benjamin toddles in needing to engage in either conversation or snack-eating, and preferably both simultaneously.
3pm?!
That means four more hours till bath time. Ack, ack, ack!
So they are sleeping less in the afternoons but Jonah is also sleeping a bit later in the morning – delightful! Most mornings I don’t get out of bed till 7:30am or later. This extra half an hour makes me very, very happy.
But this trend toward fewer and fewer hours of sleep during the third year of life…. who came up with that?!
Benjamin & Nana
Sprinkling sand on your skin is an easy way to get the sand off after a beach visit…. it made an impression on Jonah:
Jonah: When I get sand, Dad put paddle on me.
Me: He puts paddle on you?
Jonah: No, puzzle.
Me: Puzzle?
Jonah: No. What do you put with change diaper?
Me: Ummm, powder? Oh! Powder! He puts powder on you to get the sand off?
Jonah: Yes!
* * *
We’re working on a bit of assertiveness training for Jonah so that instead of whining and yipping when he’s been maligned, he can stick up for himself. So after Benjamin said something like, “Not right now” (which is the latest version of Silly Samantha), Jonah yipped and yapped, and I said:
Me (to Jonah): Tell Benjamin, ‘Don’t talk that way to me.’
Jonah (to Benjamin): Don’t talk that way to me.
Benjamin (to Jonah): You want I talk polite-fully?
* * *
And if either boys asks you, “What’s your number?” he wants either your age or your weight – your choice. Although Benjamin claims his number is thirty-five, which is neither.
* * *
Jonah (runs over to me out of nowhere): Mama! Mama!
Me: Yes, Jonah?
Jonah: 45!
Me: 45?
Jonah: Yes, 45! (and runs away)
A few minutes later….
Jonah (runs over to me again): 45 10!
Me: 45 10?
Jonah: Yes! (and dashes off)
* * *
If the sun has gone down and you’ve been outside, Benjamin will ask “It was making dark on you?”
* * *
A playground conversation that made sense only to it’s participants:
A three year-old boy (I happened to already know his name was Victor_ says to Jonah: Hi!
Jonah: Hi.
Boy: What’s your name?
Jonah: I’m Jonah. I’m Jonah. [pause] What’s Benjamin’s name?
Boy: Victor.
* * *
And for Act II of Chauvinist Piglet, we have Benjamin working on a puzzle with me: “It’s too difficult for you. It’s not for womans.”
A couple of months ago I began splitting the boys up for nap. One boys stays in a crib in their room and the other lays on our bed in our room. This means they go to sleep within half an hour instead of two hours. (Toddler boredom can either be very good or very bad, totally depending on the context.)
Benjamin usually stays in his room because he sleeps better and longer in his own (or Jonah's) crib. So Jonah ends up in our bed and always requests to be "by self." Because if I'm there with him, he can't rummage in my nightstand for a pen and doodle all over our sheets:
Let me put the above photo in perspective: it's nearly a quarter of our bed. Meaning the diameter of some of those circles is over a foot. He scriblbled on every horizontal surface he could find - without leaving the bed, which is against the rules - including a bit of paper sticking out from a book on my nightstand:
And he's moving from abstract to a more impressionistic style, with a touch of realism... as seen in the spider detail below:
Mixed media sculpture by Jonah.
I’ve only seen a few minutes of the Olympics thus far, but both times were synchronized diving. Um, how can I say this nicely…. what is the “sport” in synchronized diving?
And just imagine, first you have to find someone else in your country who is also interested in synchronized diving (this can’t be easy), then you have to have the same general body type/appearance?! This gives an edge to just about every other nation except the U.S. of Mutts.
Separately, from the local paper: “A 20 year-old man was in critical condition after nearly being electrocuted while trying to capture Quaker parakeets from an FPL tower in Pembroke Pines. He fell 20 feet and sustained severe burns.”
Also, we are now in the midst of Miami Spice restaurant month here in South Florida. Quite a few local restaurants offer a three-course fixed-price meal for lunch and/or dinner to encourage the locals to try places they don’t normally frequent. I would love to normally frequent most of these places, it’s just that Miami Spice month is the only time of year the prices are in the ballpark of reasonable. (and at $36/person for dinner and $23/person for lunch, that’s a big ballpark)
Since having the boys – and implementing the $15 rule – we don’t go out to nice restaurants as much as we used to. We did, however, go to the Blue Door at the Delano last week for my belated birthday dinner (had to wait till Miami Spice started!) and it was reeeeally good. And it was so nice to take our time, order alcoholic beverages, and hear only adult conversations all around us.
If I ordered a raspberry mojito with the boys around, I’d be tempted to give it to them to, you know, take the edge off….
The boys just had their 2 ½ well-child visit and Jonah made the weight charts for the first time in … um … probably a year. 5-10%, which corresponds perfectly with his height. (Benjamin, on the other hand, weighs a little more than average for his frame – he’s in the 25-50% for weight.) They were perfectly healthy – and the doctor wasn’t concerned about either area of hyperpigmentation…. Benjamin has a place on his ankle that was three separate freckles when he was born, then they have slowly grown together then kept growing – now it’s about ½ inch wide. And Jonah has an area on his cheek (see photo below – I increased the contrast so it’s more visible) that the doctor said may or may not go away, but it’s harmless.
Just two days later the doctor had to make a house call over the weekend to diagnose and medicate Jonah for bronchitis – he couldn’t inhale without coughing. Ugh. But he’s doing much better now – just coughing when he’s laying down. He’s on two different medications – both given just once per day which is so helpful for the memory-challenged such as myself.
I saw my first Beth Moore video this past Sunday. When it first came on, I groaned inwardly and looked at my watch. She, her singers, and her stage look straight out of a televangelist set-up. And she’s very perky and says things like, “I am ECSTATIC that you are on this journey through the Psalms with me…. thanks so much for coming along, Dear One.”
But by the end, my eyes were undeniably moist and judging from the sniffles around me, I wasn’t the only one. Her message was convicting (in a “Dear One” sort of way). One of her more memorable lines was: “Every time you’re tempted to hoard, give something away.”
Which means I’ll be left with about three possessions by the end of the year.
But I’ve kept that piece of advice in mind during this impromptu Home 4.0. I’ve divested a couple dozen books, a dozen colored glass bottles, several picture frames, and a couple of trivets that I have never once used. Along with an old travel computer case that never really worked, one of the boys’ riding toys they no longer use, and one of our two college yearbooks. Oh, and a pair of Jonathan’s boxers that split up the back when I was carting stuff from one end of the room to the other. That counts, right?
I now have two boxes full of infant/toddler twin boy clothes that I refuse to part with until I find someone expecting twin boys. The outfits are cute on their own, too, but most are “similar yet different” just like fraternal twins. So, people, start having sex twice in one night (someone actually asked if that’s how a friend of mine became pregnant with twins, which technically speaking is possible, but…) or doing something very unnatural (my boys are the human equivalent of aspartame, you know), but do it fast…. I need the closet space!
We’ve been debating whether or not to join an organic farm co-op this winter. I just received an email with details:
“The price is $630 for full shares, $375 for half-shares-plus a delivery fee based on your pickup site, (FREE at the farm, $40 for Dade, $60 for Broward, and $100 for the Keys), due to the crazy increases in energy costs (thank Bush).”
Thank Bush? Isn’t Bush in favor of drilling for oil in Alaska? Wouldn’t that bring oil prices down? But that would harm the environment, right? Which might negate the good the organic farm is doing.....
Hmmm, it’s all so terribly complicated.
When we leave Benjamin alone on our bed to take a nap, he wiggles around and talks to himself until he goes to sleep.
When we leave Jonah alone on our bed to take a nap, he takes everything out of the drawers and shreds tissues until he goes to sleep. When I cleaned up the latest round of tissues the other day, he went into a panic and accused me of demolishing his “tissue truck.”
Each evening when the suns starts to go down, Benjamin says “it’s making dark outside.” If he sees a cloud in the sky he announces that it’s going to rain soon.
Jonah has this peculiar new habit. He says with a little grin: “I’m Johnny.” Then forces a giddy laugh. He thinks it’s hilarious. Maybe this is the way Johnny Carson started out, too….
I explained to the boys that the pastor of our church just spent a few weeks in China. We ordered Chinese take-out soon after. When it arrived, Benjamin asked if it was Pastor David’s food.
Jonah’s love affair with writing utensils continues unabated. He fell asleep for his nap yesterday clutching an unopened package of five mechanical pencils.
I told Benjamin I was toasting an English muffin for his breakfast. I also made one for Jonathan. Benjamin asked him if his was a Spanish muffin.
Jonah jumps. Here, there, and everywhere. Including down the stairs. So that he wouldn’t bash himself to bits, I told him to jump on the last stair only. So now it’s step-step-step-JUMP!
We put the boys to bed and began a discussion in the kitchen that was not that serious but got pretty loud. From his bedroom, Benjamin calls out “No fighting, Dada!”
Jonah had an out-of-the-blue episode of reflux after dinner (just like the doctor predicted). On the rare occasions that he is really hungry he can pack away an impressive amount of food. Then he laid back on a pillow to drink his milk while Jonathan read a story. Then the Puke-Fest.
Benjamin had a raging fever in the middle of the night. After giving him ibuprofen, he puked, like he always does after we give him ibuprofen at night. Completely un-phased, he turned to me and said: “I spit out.” Then he looked down and matter-of-factly stated “I spit out a strawberry.” And then a moment later with a trace of horror: “I spit out on Shirt!”
I buy Starbuck’s stock. They FINALLY open one in our neighborhood.
I can only hope it’s not one of the 600 slated for closure this month.
I better buy more stock soon, just in case. Plus at least sixty-four lattes per week, right? That should do it.
So I’m here in Starbies, typing away on my laptop, when one of the employees comes over and asks the half-dozen teenagers within arm’s length of me: “Are you letting our paying customer enjoy her coffee in peace?” And she’s the type of person who can ask that nicely with a smile and they get the point without getting offended and cussing her out under their breaths. If I would’ve said something to that effect, we all would’ve ended up in a fist-fight. I’m just that kind of gentle, sweet-spirited, easy going person, you know?
I’ve tried both flavors of their new smoothies. The Banana Chocolate is not so tasty, but the Orange Mango Banana is delicious.
Drink up, people! Drink up!
The boys and I were getting out of the car at church and a man asks me where the office was and was really annoyed at my response, for some reason.
“You’re welcome,” I muttered under my breath.
Benjamin looks at me and asked, “You said ‘you’re welcome?’ He was a little wude? You said ‘wet paint?’”
Rainy Season is upon us. Showers and/or storms most days. Thick humidity. A few mosquito bites every time we leave our house. And no more exercising outside anymore. At least for me.
On our last family jog/skate ride of the winter season, one of the jog stroller’s wheels blew out halfway home. The boys and I hung out under a pavilion while Jonathan ran two miles to the bike shop, then home to get a couple of tools, then two miles back.
He was worn out when he got back, all huffing and puffing and whatnot. He asked, “Aren’t you impressed at how fast I did that? Doesn’t that make me attractive to you?”
“You are attractive to me when you are nice to me,” I said (again).
He slumped over and muttered, “But being nice is so much work.”
