Season of Hope... Merry Christmas

I feel bad that I don't find the time to post more often. Having two busy, 2 years olds in the house can be a little crazy! (There aren't any books on parenting Virtual Twins!) Impulse control is limited, sharing is rare. Screaming and taking toys away from each other is a regular occurrence and climbing onto furniture is a constant battle! The second I leave the room they climb on the couch or try to play with the computer or printer... We call them little termites!

If two year old twins isn't enough... Chris is in High School now, in drivers training, (!) dating (!) and just quite busy. My husband is working 11 hours a day and has an hour commute each way (13 hours away from home a day!)  He is home only for a few hours before the girls are in bed, making for a super long day for both of us. We always KNEW that until the girls were both 3 and potty trained... this would be the most difficult period of raising them. It's just a season... a busy time all the way around.

PLAY
They love to play with blocks... it really is uncanny. My son NEVER played with blocks when he was little. Kate and Hope will build towers together, put blocks into buckets and carry them around, dump then in and out and build again.  Hope will hand Kate a block and then Kate will build, then they will knock them down and laugh like crazy.  We have several different sets, I swap them out every few days.

READING
They both DEVOUR books!  Sadly... literally.  When Chris was two, we had a routine of reading several times a day.  It was dreamy to sit with him on my lap and snuggle with a story.  Kate and Hope chew on books.  I have so many beautiful books that have been destroyed.  Hope likes to peel board books too... Now I have a special basket full of ABC books (Already Been Chewed) those are the only ones they can have unsupervised. Sadly reading to them has been difficult because they fight over who has control of the book, what page we are on etc... I have found that reading to them while they are in their high chairs or in the tub is a way to keep them from grabbing the book from each other. I just feel sad we are missing that wonderful snuggy reading time.  I know it will come later when they are a little more mature.

SINGING:
Hope LOVES music.  It is one thing that will always calm her down. Just when you think she isn't even paying attention she will yell  "Yeah!" and clap when a song is over.  No matter where she hears it, on TV, on the radio, in the store, at church.  It's super cute.


Kate loves music too and has started to sing.  She tries to sing along to any song she hears even ones she has never heard before.  She can sing ABC's all the way through and is cracking us up with "Dingle Bells"!

DANCING
Both girls love music, I tape 'Dancing with the Stars' just to watch them dance around while watching.

Hope has this hilarious wiggle.  She keeps her body completely rigid, arms down at her sides with her hands flexed out, then she starts wiggling at the shoulders... it's hilarious!

Kate will move around waving her hands trying to pirouette like a ballerina and she will bow at the end and laugh her big laugh so proud of herself.  Need to get them into a dance class this winter.

SPEECH
Hope was assessed in her 2 year appointment with speech delay.  After many weeks of appointments and delays we were able to get her into a speech therapy program. I'm not really sure how much this program is doing for her speech but I can see it will be a great help to acclimate her to a classroom setting and transitions. We tried her in 'Come Play With Me' in September and it was a disaster.

That said, since September we have seen her speech develop.  The concern was that she was only saying the first syllable or last syllable of most words. She was calling everyone Mama, including herself. (however her Chinese nickname was MungMung so I have always thought that was what she was saying)  Now she calls herself Hope and even says Me. Daddy and Chris are finally happy that she is calling them by their names too!

She is repeating well now and recently started saying words that end in TS, BS, PS.  Like bibs, oops, poops, wipes, boots. (We get the giggles when calls boots, boobs!) She knows MANY animal sounds but can only say some of their names... I believe she knows what they are but just can't say the word and their sound is much easier to say...

Kate - is speaking in full sentences with an amazing vocabulary and hilarious mannerisms.  She watches (too much) Little Bear and I see that she has picked up a lot of his expressions. She will cup her hand on her chin and say "Hmmmmm, let's see.  I know! How 'bout (then whatever she wants)"  Last night at dinner after taking a bite she yelled out "Delicious!"  She likes to say, "Amazing!" and we think she is!  We love when she will yell "Come on Hope, over here!!"

One day she was snuggling on my lap and I asked her if she was my Little Bear, she said, "Mama? Hope, your Little Bear too?" LOVE.
 
FOOD
2 year olds eating...
Kate will eat bread, pasta, rice, crackers and fruit and very little else. Picky like her brother...She is my challenge. She will eat some raw veggies, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber, but her protein is limited to turkey sausage, hummus, peanut butter only if jam is with it. I hate that she won't eat eggs.

Hope will eat anything that isn't nailed down.  We finally took her pacifiers away when she was biting the nipples off and chewing off the plastic.  She is like a Golden Retriever puppy. This is also a challenge!


CHUBBY BABIES
My girls are both petite... in height.

My vision of Hope was always a little waif of a thing but this was not to be.  Again with the Golden Puppy analogy, but she has the biggest feet and hands and the chubbiest cheeks!! Her chest measurement is bigger than Kates and she feels like a ton of bricks to lift. I'm guessing she is at at least 32lbs now.

Kate is a bit more willowy all over except she maintains her big round belly! Must be all the carbs she's eating!

MILESTONES
Sippy Cups vs. Cups: When they stop throwing their cups on the floor when they are 'done' I will switch.

Potty Training: I'm going to start with Kate in January, she is probably ready.  Hope can play along too but I don't think she will be ready.

Big Girls Beds: Here is something that if I had ONE, I might consider it... but they share a bedroom and go nutty in there when they first go down for nap and when they wake in the morning... Hope is not a deep sleeper and needs much less sleep.  She has ZERO impulse control, she would be all over that room and jumping on Kate... We might wait until Chris goes to college in 4 years... then they can have their own rooms... I think at 6 they should be ready?? : ) Just kidding... I think....

CHRISTMAS -
This year we are decorating on the light end... 4' tree on a table in the kitchen. A few knick nacks on the mantle, wreath and done.  Again, Hope does not understand the word, NO and does not stop even when you are telling (yelling) her to stop. So to keep her from getting hurt or destroying anything we are waiting another year to get the big tree back into the living room.  Last year we had the little tree on a table in the living room behind the couch... I don't even trust her with that this year she LOVES to climb on the couch.

I got them these adorable smocked dresses for a song! I can't wait to take them for pictures!

I bought the KidsCraft Pink Retro Kitchen set for them this year and am adding a bunch of toy pots and pans and play food.  They are getting Little Mommy Dolls and a few things to go with them from my mom and that's really about it.  Trying to keep it simple this year. I can't wait to play house!

So whether you read all my ramblings or not...

Merry Christmas and I pray for you a Season of Hope. God is Good, His timing is Perfect and His Love for you is beyond measure...

(Click on the picture to view it larger)

Kate is very curious about Hope, these shots were taken last Tuesday. Kate was warming up to her but afraid to 'approach' from the front! So every time she touched her or tried to hug her, it would be from behind!!

Hope had her first pediatrician appointment. She was 21lbs 14oz and 30". At 12 months Kate was 23lbs and 8 oz and 30". So, so far Hope is keeping up quite well with her big sister! Developmentally of course Hope is a bit behind. She can not sit up while laying on her back, can't pull herself up to standing, let alone cruise the furniture. She even occasionally falls backwards when sitting up, so we always make sure if we aren't sitting with her that there is a pillow behind her.

Tomorrow we are expecting a visit from a physical therapist from the school district to evaluate her and hopefully will recommend exercises we can work with her or possibly even physical therapy. At this point we don't have any concerns that Hope won't overcome her delays, we just want to give her the opportunity to progress as quickly as possible.

So keep us in your prayers that we do the best things for our sweet girl!

My Little Ladies!

So much going on and so little sleep. Hope's day begins at 4am ugh! I am looking forward to when this changes but in the mean time it is precious time I get to have alone with her until the rest of the troops are up for the day.

Hope is usually down for her first nap around 7:30 and I get at least half an hour alone until Katie is up and ready for her one on one mommy time. Then Hope is up by 8:30 - 9 and the games begin! They are both fascinated with each other and yet both fiercely territorial of mommy! Kate loves 'stealing' touches of Hope when she thinks Hope isn't looking, but Hope could care less, she grabs and pinches and pulls at Kate any chance she can get. Kate yanks herself away and looks at me like, "What's her deal?" Kate keeps handing Hope toys only to yank them back gleefully once Hope accepts them and both girls are guilty of grabbing the other's pacifier right from her mouth! They are certainly getting used to each other but I can already see a future of tea parties and dress-up!!

Both girls take an good 2-3 hour afternoon nap and are in bed by 9pm. I do try and nap with them but feel quite drugged afterward. At 9pm? I pass out... It will get better... I am looking forward to more sleep!