... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : 3.5 years later...

Where did my toddlers go? I am currently live with two very short adults – able to hold full conversations, rationalize what they want and why that want it, acknowledge how things work, and get themselves dressed. Honestly, they seem to have it more together than I do most days – except for the whole using the toilet thing. Riley is still just as stubborn as ever – she will immediately go if you sit her on the potty, but she WILL NOT tell you when she needs to go. It is exhausting and I am beginning to think it will never happen. She seems perfectly content with wearing pullups, even the promise of princess underwear has had no effect. I know that it will happen eventually, but if anyone has any “potty training bootcamp” philosophies or if anyone is willing to just come over and do it for me – either is welcome. Honestly though, I would just prefer someone to do it for me. Between my work at Holy Angels, the contract work I do, and now the addition of 2-3 hours of homework each day – I just don’t feel I have the time, which is probably why I am in this predicament.

Anyway, on to another subject. My sweet little man Landon. He loves to be held and wants to sit in my lap all the time. He still wants to be carried when we are out in public. The Hubby refuses to carry him and informs him that he is a “big boy” which leads to a “big boy” breakdown, but I plan to carry him as long as I can. He is only going to be this little once. He has recently discovered a love for dance and has some very interesting side to side dance moves. He can still always be found with a toy in his hand, usually a Rescue Bot. He loves to have conversations with and between his toys and actually does a lot of play by himself creating elaborate story lines that involved Paw Patrol, Doc McStuffins, and the Rescue Bots. He does play well with Riley (most of the time) and has no problem pretending to be her pet or using his characters to “rescue” hers. Over the last month, we have been playing a lot more board games as a family and Landon and Riley are complete opposites when it comes to the games. She gets frustrated and moves to quickly, not following the rules. Landon is more meticulous about it and makes sure he is playing the game correctly. They still love to watch Curious George and Paw Patrol. Landon has a particular episode of Curious George he wants to watch – he even has many of the lines memorized. He is still a picky eater, but the way to his heart is to offer him a cookie if he will eat some bites of his food. I have no shame in that- he gets a cookie most days after lunch and dinner – it is the only way to get him to try something other than peanut butter and Jelly or cereal. There was one day where he ate imitation lucky charms aka “cereal with a star on it” for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He loves to read and will take a book to bed with him to read to his toys. He likes to read about trucks, trains, and his new favorite is Pete the Cat. They both ask for MANY hugs and kisses before they go to bed, perfecting that stalling technique. They usually go to bed between 7 and 7:30, but don’t often fall asleep until 8ish. They can be heard talking and playing together until then.

I just had a lady ask me today if Riley ever walks, and the answer is no. She continues to run everywhere she goes and unfortunately it has led to multiple injuries – but she just does not want to slow down! Her two favorite words are “beautiful” and “perfect” and she uses them as descriptions about 50 times a day. She continues to love animals and ALWAYS has a stuffed cat or dog with her and each of them have a name. I spent a lot of time looking for White Puppy, Clifford, Tiny, Rocky, or Princess just to name a few. Sometimes Landon even has the honor of pretending to be her pet – or more often than not, Riley is the puppy and we have to call her puppy and act like she is a puppy to avoid a major meltdown. If she is not a puppy, she is a princess. She will only wear “princess dresses” and her “bow shoes.” The bow shoes are pretty rough looking and have most of their glitter knocked off, but she won’t wear anything else. She has come to expect a hug from her brother when he runs into or hits her and will stand there and demand it until he stops and gives her one. We talk each night about what was her favorite part of the day and she offers up the information if I don’t ask. She likes to read books before bed and then will read a book in bed as well. She prefers to read about Princesses and puppies – no surprises there. I love that they are starting to read along with me, not necessarily reading, but they know the stories enough to know the next line and I let them “read” it for me.

I love being able to spend the time with them and I am grateful to have the opportunity spend several mornings a week at home with them. This month we did some homeschool activities involving The Five Senses and they seemed to enjoy it. Overall, I think they are very intelligent and pick things up quickly. They can recognize and name all the colors, shapes, and most of the letters. There are a few letters that trip them up sometimes. They like to practice tracing letters, but don’t like to try and write them on their own- I think they are each too much of a perfectionist for that. Riley does like to “write” though and at any given moment there will be 8-10 notebooks around my house with random scratchings on every page. They both love to color and cut with scissors. Riley asks me if we can paint at least twice a day – the messier the better with that one. All in all we stay pretty busy and while it can be exhausting at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.