Cubbies, stars, and weather bears ... oh my!

Maddy and Libby are starting in the 2 year old preschool class next week and last night was the parent orientation.

Wow, what a big difference from their last room. We have cubbies, colors and shapes of the month, leaders of the day (with a star to stand on and the weather bear to dress!), Dixie cups to drink out of, a potty!, and no high chairs to be found.

I've heard great things about their teachers, and they seemed great. Full of energy, but also with a laid back attitude - probably perfect for 2's. I can't wait to see how much Maddy and Libby will learn and grow this year. We were sad to see that their last class was separated with many of the kids going to the Older Toddlers because they hadn't yet turned 2. We do have 2 little girls that they knew last year, and a set of boy/girl twins that will also be in the class.

Today, is the orientation for the children, so I'm hopeful that they will be as excited as I am!

"School"

I feel like all I do is write in " " lately. We went to the open house where Maddy and Libby will be attending "school" aka Parents Morning Out. I like that they are PC when it comes to the name.

About half of the students are attending 3 days a week, 3 of them are going 2 days a week like we will be, and then the other 2 are going only 1 day. I think they have 9 children on Wednesday's, but only 7 on Monday and Friday.

So cute ... the door is decorated with monkeys and a trailing vine with leaves. Each leaf had the name of a child in the class. We walked inside and found their very own hook! with name to hang up their little backpacks. Can you tell it's been a while since I've been in a classroom? We also know one of the teachers and she is wonderful. It turned out that we knew two of the other families in the class, so that is always reassuring. Another Dad is a Detective, so I know they'll be safe!

So cute and I love their little schedule ... outdoor time and music every day. The teachers talked about how they come in as babies and leave as toddlers. What??? My babies are growing up for sure. Maddy and Libby will be about in the middle as far as ages go for the class.

I'm a little worried about snack time. I have known that Maddy and Libby are great eaters. Lately, our sitters have commented about how much food they can put away, so I'm assuming that they are ahem, overachievers in this category. The school will provide a snack, but it will typically be Ritz crackers, graham crackers, goldfish, etc. I may need to sneak in a banana to go along with what is provided. Otherwise, we may have a tiny revolution from my two Generals who want to know where the rest of their food is!

One cute thing that I've noticed lately ... if you say "good job" to Libby, she automatically claps her hands. So adorable! Sigh. They grow up too fast, they really do.

Nap, no nap, nap, no nap.

If you had twin thirteen-month-old daughters who for the past two days have only taken one nap a day, would this mean they are trying to drop one of their naps?

Please, please, please tell me it's not so.

Yesterday, I ran with my running group and when I got home it was during their morning nap time.  Hubby said that they had been chattering for over an hour and he had tried several times to get them to go to sleep.  We finally went ahead and got them up, so we didn't mess up any other naps or sleeping for the rest of the day.  In the afternoon, we put them down at 1PM (their normal nap time), and they slept for almost 3.5 hours! WOW!  They normally will sleep for about 2, but I assume they were trying to make up for the hour or so that they didn't get that morning.

Today, they went down great for their morning nap and slept for about 1.5 hours.  Today, they went down around 1:30 and it was uggggly.  Lots of crying.  Lots of listening to the monitor and trying to wait it out to see if they'd fall asleep.  Two doses of Tylenol because there was a lot of hand gnawing, but no sleep.

When I got them out of their cribs for a snack, they happily ate and drank.  Now they are playing and life seems good.

I thought they would transition to one nap around 18 months.  Is this just a fluke?  

So, what are you doing ...

On this EXCITING Friday night?

After the girls were tucked in and Hubby was cleaning up the kitchen, I made the trek to the grocery store to stock up on necessities and some not so necessities.

Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bread, whole milk, skim milk, eggs, avocados, fig newtons, Gatorade, coffee, olive oil & rosemary triscuits, and our EXCITING Friday night dinner.

Drum roll please ... California Pizza Kitchen BBQ chicken pizza. Yum. It's the kind with the rising crust that is the perfect happy medium between their thin crust pizza and too doughy super thick crust pizzas. It's become our Friday night ritual, because I have been running on Saturday's and it's a great carb loading meal. Plus, it's yummy.

Tomorrow begins Operation Sippy Cup. Poor Hubby will be starting Phase One while I'm out on a long run in the morning, so I hope it goes OK for him. The girls are great eaters and drink their milk of their bottle like little champs. I've tried to transition gently by giving part of the milk in a cup, but when they see the bottle, they throw huge fits that result in crying, screaming, and throwing themselves on whatever flat surface they can find and they won't even try the cup. Our Pediatrician recommended the cold turkey approach, so I'm hoping that it goes well.

I'm a bit nervous that I may come home to milk-stained walls and a frazzled Hubby, but here's hoping to find two happy, full-of-milk-out-of-cup girls and one happy Hubby.

1 year check up

We go tomorrow for Maddy & Libby's one year (12 month) check up. By the way, do I really have to start telling their ages as thirteen months, sixteen months, etc. or can I just say one year? It just seems confusing to me. I don't tell people that I'm 436 months old. (!)

Anyway, we had taken this picture of my Dad last July after both girls were home from the NICU. My family have always been huge St. Louis Cardinals fans and my sister-in-law sent them these onesies. They were a 0-3 month and they were huge. I think we had taped them in the back to get a better picture.
My Dad wanted to take another photo this summer and even packed up his same STL hat and shirt. It was definitely a big difference this year. Don't you think?
It's easy to get a little anxious about their appointments ... people are always asking about their milestones. "Are they walking yet?" "Are they talking?" "My Pediatrician told me that our daughter should say three words by her 1st birthday." "What do they weigh?"

Needless to say, I can easily get a little overwhelmed by all the other questions, plus all the ones that I'm thinking about ... "Why do they scream like I'm poisoning them when I offer milk in a sippy cup?" "Should I be concerned about their teeth since their top teeth came in the wrong order?"

Part of me doesn't care about the milestones, because after all they are only a range. I do know that they are healthy, happy, determined, and sometimes shy, silly, giggly, daring, curious, great eaters and sleepers, excited when they see Daddy, and to me are the cutest & sweetest girls around. Of course, I can't help but worry a little, because I want to do everything possible for them and I want them to meet or exceed any "test" no matter how big or small. So, here's to hoping for a good report tomorrow and a reality check for me that my little babies are indeed growing up.

** Edited to add ... I have to say that after a combined eight shots, two finger pricks, and minimal poking and prodding, both girls did very well. I have also decided that my scales are about 2 pounds heavy, so I will immediately start changing MY weight whenever I give it out. Ha. Because I freely announce my weight all the time. Anyway ...

Libby checked in at 21 lbs, 5.5 oz and 29 3/4 inches tall. She is in the 50th percentile for weight, and 60th for height.

Maddy almost hit the 19 pound mark, coming in at 18 lbs, 15.5 oz and 28 3/4 inches tall. She's in the top of the 10th percentile for weight and 25th for height.

Both got a great report and scored well on their developmental questionnaire that we filled out. Do other people do these? A list of about 25 question that go over gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving, verbal communication, etc.

They've both continued to grow at a steady rate over the year, which is good. I think I have also been in denial about how close they are to walking when Libby nearly took an unassisted step while standing on the table in the office. Oh, I don't think there are enough baby gates at Babies R Us to help us out when I have two walking.

Our Pediatrician also noted how M&L seem to be mirror-image twins ... something that we had noticed as well. It'll be interesting to see if that continues.

Makes a mom proud

How did they get old enough to wear polo shirts? And have a total of five, yes five teeth? Maddy has one, Libby has two on the bottom and is cutting two on the top. Oh, and they can eat bites of shredded chicken and other "real" food, and sometimes "wave" hi or bye, but only when they are in the mood. Oh, and Libby can now pull to a standing position and Maddy has done it once. Yikes. And crawl up stairs. Bigger yikes.

Hubby said that since I have prepped them out in coordinating polo shirts and polka dot pants, that they will rebel and want to be skater punks as teenagers. Oh well, I went through that phase too, but I came around.

Hey, he has teeth too!

Daddy gets all the attention when he comes home.

Libby

Maddy