Adventure Time

After about two weeks of being cooped up inside for various reasons, the kids were going a little nuts this morning, so we went to the playground. It ended up being a good morning for it - not too terribly hot, and the park is nice and shady.

It's been a month or two since we've played at a playground, and the twins have gained so much mobility and confidence in that time. It was fun to watch them exploring in a whole new way and testing out their new balance skills. The last time we went, they were just about comfortable walking on ramps, and this time they were climbing up on bridges (like the picture above), and crawling through the tube, and stepping carefully off of steps, and climbing the slide.

For the first time, they weren't that excited about the swings. They both wanted to swing for a minute or two, then were ready to move on to something else.

I was really impressed with how brave they were - some of the things they climbed onto and off of were different than anything they've done before, and whenever they fell, they'd just dust themselves off (or, in the case of Eleanor, wave her hands frantically to try to magic the woodchips off...) and try it again.

I love that this park has such a nice, fenced toddler area - it means I can let them explore and test their independence without being right on top of them all the time.

Always having a buddy to explore with helps, too.

But... what about the children?

Oh, right. Those kids that I use all the diapers and changing tables for. What are they up to these days?

Well, growing like the weeds in our yard, for starters. Which is to say, we don't just get your average little dandelions and such, we get entire oak saplings that are half my height before I know it. I've started buying 24-month and 2T clothes for them (I know there has to be some difference there, but to be honest, I'm lost. At this point, I say, whatever fits works.), and although they're partly a size ahead because of their bulkier diapers, they're also just tall.

I mean, how did we get from this itty sockless baby...

...to this giant sockless boy?
(And no, we didn't know he could reach that plug - it was moved as soon as the picture was taken.)

They've started really playing together, rather than playing side-by-side - there's always been an awareness of the other, but it's only recently that they've started making up games together and including each other when they play. Their favorite game is tickling - they tackle each other and say "tickle tickle tickle." It actually took me a while to figure out that word, because Eleanor uses it all the time for everything, and it sounds more like "d'ga, d'ga, d'ga."

Climbing anything and everything is also a favorite.

They also like to answer everything. Phones, remote controls, baby monitors, thermometers, GameBoys, you name it - they'll hold it up and cheerfully say "Hi!" That is, unless there's actually someone on the other end wanting to hear from them - then they both act like they have no idea what this crazy contraption is that you're holding up for them.

Entirely too big for his britches.

They're getting to the age that they get frustrated because they want to communicate but don't have the words - unfortunately, that means a lot of whining, but we're working on "please" and pointing to at least get the general idea across. They enjoy swimming, and are getting increasingly comfortable with the water - I think the general goal is to have them comfortable putting their faces under by the end of the summer. They've each figured out how to blow bubbles, but don't do it very consistently.

And of course, being escorted around the pool like a princess isn't half bad, either.

A De-Cluttering Success

I got a wild hair this weekend to do some de-cluttering and childproofing, and realized that the vortex of clutter in my house has been a pass-through from the playroom/office to the kitchen, where I've been arranging all the things I've taken out of the changing table as the kids have gotten more able to reach them. Thus, I had an empty changing table (which was also less stable, since there wasn't anything on the shelves to weigh it down) next to a crammed pass-through windowsill covered in wipes boxes, sticker books, an ugly Huggies box full of shoes, various toiletries, usually a half-package of nighttime disposable diapers... and all of that visible from both of the rooms we use most in the house. I would post a "before" picture, but (I think understandably) I never took any.

You can get some idea of the cluttery mess here:

Empty shelves that they can climb on, random stuff shoved down behind it in hopes that they wouldn't get into it, diapers thrown on the floor whenever they could reach, basket liners untied because they can't keep their hands off of them...

And what I realized was that we had another changing table upstairs, with drawers that close, completely empty because we'd moved most of our changing activities downstairs.

We switched the tables, clearing up some nice space in the nursery since the open table is much smaller, and my sweet dad put child-locks and a wall tether on the drawer unit.

He did have some help.

Now, everything is contained.

The playroom looks so much neater, as does the kitchen - I can't remember seeing the passthrough this clear since the kids were born, and that black-hole corner is empty and vacuumed for once.

Diapers, pajamas, trash, and shoes are all stashed away in drawers where little hands can't reach them, and wipes and toiletries are easy to reach for me but harder for the kids to try to kick over. And I can have a Scentsy warmer set up where they can't pull it down (the cord is far enough behind the table) but I can actually use it - there wasn't room with the old table.

Such a huge improvement! I was a little nervous to wrestle this beast down the stairs, in case it wasn't worth it, but it really was.

Cloth diaper discovery

I realize this post will be of interest to a fairly limited audience, but I wanted to put the word out there for those who are using cloth diapers or who might be interested in it.

We have a TON of different types, brands, and styles of diapers. But I have one that's absolutely my favorite. It's well made, it's super soft and comfortable, it fits well no matter what, and it's remarkably unstained considering what we put our diapers through in this house.

I picked it up at the local diaper store, and had been keeping an eye out for similar ones there, but hadn't seen any since. Then I noticed a little tag on it with a website, and looked it up.

It turns out, it's a group of Americans living in China who work with abandoned babies and orphans, and sell diapers and diaper-making supplies to help support the kids they work with. And the diapers are super cute AND super cheap! Honestly, if I saw diapers this inexpensive without having already bought one (at a markup, but I'm totally okay with that to support a local business), I'd assume they were crap quality and skip them.

So if you're thinking about starting cloth diapers, go here and order a dozen or so. Can you believe how cute those are? The one we have that's my favorite is the Dino print.

The ________ One

I'm asked frequently which of my kids is "the ____ one." The adventurous one, the smart one, the cuddler. Or, as happened the other day, I'm told by someone: "Oh, s/he got all the personality, didn't s/he?"

Yes. Because my other child, who's sitting right here (and, I might add, who just woke up from a nap and is still trying to figure out who you are), has no personality at all.

The truth of it is, while my kids have very different personalities, they can't be summed up in superlatives. They're both the "independent" one. They're both mama's and daddy's boy/girl. They're both super snuggly, they just pick different times of day or circumstances to do it.

They're both good eaters, except when they're not, and then they usually trade plates because they're picky about different foods. Eleanor has been the first to crawl and walk, and is more intrepid about exploring new places, and Steven is bold around water - we took them to a splash pad today, and she wanted nothing to do with even the little mist sprinklers, while he took off on his own to explore all the different ways the water would spray.

They take turns not-napping and keeping each other up, they both love to dance, and they both love books more than anything.

So really, the answer to "which is the ____ one" is:

I have the smart two. The independent two. The full-of-personality two. The mellow two. The utterly unique two.

Reasons I've been yelled at in the last hour:

Because I left him in the playroom to go get her.
Because she wanted water instead of milk.
Because she wanted milk instead of water.
Because he tried to sit on my toe and fell off.
Because she tried to sit on air and fell off.
Because she gave me a book and I read it.
Because she gave me a book and she wanted me to read a different book.
Because he gave me a book and it had the wrong words in it.
Because she gave me a book and I didn't read it.
Because he gave me a book and it wasn't the book she wanted me to read.
Because I tried to read both books at once.
Because she wiped her snot on my shirt and then couldn't get it back.
Because I said "ow" when I got four elbows to the stomach simultaneously.

Because I put them back in bed, since clearly they weren't ready to get up yet.

The Truth About Toddlers

Here's my confession: I've always been a little afraid of toddlers. Or at least uncomfortable around them. Babies I could handle: they want to be held, they want clean diapers, they want to be fed, they want to sleep. Their needs are straightforward, they let you know when something's not right, and when you go through that checklist you've got a 95% chance of fixing the problem.

Toddlers, though, are a different story. They can get around on their own, they invent intricate little games involving using toys in ways they were never intended to be used (I still don't know why there are little piles of alphabet tiles all around the play room today, and I don't know that I ever will), and while they know exactly what they want, they're discovering new things that they want every day and don't yet have the language to communicate them. I just never really understood how to interact with toddlers. I didn't speak the language.

What no one told me (and I suppose I never asked, so why would they?) is that your own toddlers are an entirely different thing.

Because you're part of their world. When they develop their funny games, you're part of them. As they start to communicate, you recognize what they're trying to say or trying to get across because they're mimicking something they've heard you say or they've seen you do. You know, somehow, the difference between a "wet diaper" dance and an "I just spilled milk on myself" dance and a "this is a really good meatball" dance and an "I love this song" dance. You discover that it doesn't actually matter if you don't know the point of the game; they don't really know either, they're just playing, and when you participate you just add another element and it's that much more fun.

As it turns out, the sheer delight in the realization that you do know what they're trying to ask is immense. I'd also never realized that toddlers are always trying out jokes. They're regular little comedians. Nearly everything they do is hilarious to themselves or each other, and all they really want from nearby adults is a laugh (but not too much of a laugh, otherwise Eleanor won't understand why you're laughing more than she is, and think you're laughing at her, and get upset - she has a very nuanced way of seeing the world already). Even though they don't have many words at this stage, they're amazing communicators. "UH-oh" conveys a multitude of things, mostly having to do with dropping something, which happens a lot, or planning to drop something. "Doddy" and "Daddy" somehow get across half the things they want to communicate, since I suppose the doggies and daddy (and mommy, who's also "Daddy" for now) make up most of the world they see every day. They're also already fluent in Whinese - irritating, but effective. Mostly at telling me it's time for a nap.

The truth is, if you'd asked me before I had kids what stage I'd love the most, I'd have said babies. Squishable, sweet-smelling, snuggly babies. If you were to ask me now?

I wouldn't trade toddler-time for anything in the world. I don't even have that nostalgic "oh, wouldn't it be nice to have another squishy sweet baby in the house?" thing. Which may be partly because I've got a sweet, squishy (but growing every day) nephew to snoogle, but is also because my toddlers are so. much. fun.