Words Words and Screams

It is a difficult transition in the relationship between parent and child when language is introduced. For the better part of the last 17 months I have been communicating with two of the men in my life without the luxury of words. For the first couple months we guessed and mostly pretended that we understood which scream meant what. Then we transitioned into the pointing phase. Then the point and scream phase.

Now I am proud to say that we are in the language phase. From a limited vocabulary that consisted of "up" and "ga" (meaning Tucker), we are now transitioning slowly into what I feel is going to be a language explosion.

It is amazing that they learned two words for Tucker ( Ga and Tucka ) and they really don't say Mom at all. I just keep telling myself that I am always around- so why in the world would they need to call me? It is not of course that I am constantly saying "Tucker sit." " Tucker no. " "Tucker leave it. "

Although they don't really say "Mom" they do tell me they love me. When I pick the boys up from daycare we have fallen into a little ritual. They both run to me, demanding "up" and no sooner than I have a boy in each arm they proceed to tell the teachers and other children bye - complete with waves and smiles. Although they just are saying bye I hear "I love you" each time.

No cream needed.

There are those mornings when I wake up that the phrase 'Who peed in your Cheerios?" would be fitting. This morning was one of those mornings. Nathan and Adam both were screaming in the middle of the night. I ended up trying to sleep with Adam, who right when I was about to drift off punched me in the face. Needless to say that woke both of us up. When the boys were little I think that I did quite well functioning on little to no sleep. Now, as I am acustomed to a full nights rest, sleepless nights make for a baaaad morning.



As I was trying to check email while the boys were eating breakfast. Tucker was barking at the landscapers who had long since gone. Adam was filling a freshly changed daiper. Nathan was talking in a voice that was not at all his inside voice. I did feel like I was about on the verge of a mommy breakdown.



Right on cue, Adam threw a cherrio that landed just perfectly in my cup of coffee. I looked over at Adam and Nathan grinning their little 10 tooth grins. That cup of coffee with a cheerio was the sweetest cup of coffee this mom could have - no cream needed.

Nathan taking a breather

Adam pondering his next move

Lambs Farm

Cow Kissing...
Chicken watching...

The Sweetest Things.

Adam and Nathan are changing and learning new things so quickly right now. We are trying to use plates and forks. As of now Adam and Nathan have not broken any plates. Teaching them not to throw the food off of the plates is quite another story. It does make it extremely difficult not to throw food when Tucker looks so silly trying to catch it.

Nathan learned how to open the doors in the house and at daycare. Adam must have been watching because one day later he was opening doors as well. So now the front door is always locked. The garage door can't be locked from the inside....I hope that they are still too young to steal the car.

They have learned to do the sweetest things. The other day I handed Nathan two sippy cups and asked him to give one to his brother. Nathan walked over to Adam and handed it to him. It melted my heart. This is not to say that the exchanges between the twins is always this loving. One night Nathan was exhausted and laying on the floor. Adam proceeded to smack him on the head and then plopped right on top of him in true WWF fashion. What goes through a 15 month-old's head we will never know. Maybe this was Adam's version of a hug-a hug that is something I have not yet seen between the boys.

Fun Fun Fun

Nathan cruising for chicks.

Adam learned how to go down the slide like a big boy.

Another reason why it is great to have twins - Mom does not have to pull the wagon.

Nathan pondering how fast he would have to run to get to the neighbor's swingset.

Adam trying to fly with his balloon.

State Park

We all met at Starved Rock State Park for a mini family vacation. This is all of us, minus Grandma and Grandpa. As you can see to get six children to hold still takes mommy arms and daddy arms. All the while lets try to get everyone to smile. I just imagine 15 years from now showing the boys this picture. Steve and I will give each other that look....remember when they were just little pumpkins?

Steve made the comment that he could not tell who had more fun the little kids or the big kids. That seems to be the greatest gift that our children can give us. They show us how to have fun again. We giggle for no reason. We tickle all the time. We chase each other around the house. Even the grocery store is fun (sometimes) And the water park- that was ridiculously fun. The boys loved the water. They were still a little young for the big slides, but the loved the kiddie pool and watching everyone.

At the end of the weekend we were all tired. Adam and Nathan were crabby. Steve was exhausted. And I got sick. I was unable to talk for two days. This was just the break that we all needed.