reanbean

The Christmas Report

Thanks to our wonderful family and friends (who were extremely generous in their gift-giving), Tiny and Buba had a very merry Christmas this year. It was quite a change from last year, when they had no idea what was going on and were just as happy to play with the paper and boxes as they were to play with the toys inside. This year, Tiny was very much into unwrapping presents (I’m pretty sure she unwrapped all of mine as well). Buba did not have the patience or interest to sit and unwrap presents, but he enjoyed playing with all the new toys.

T and I were so busy keeping track of Buba and Tiny and trying to help them with their presents, that there was barely any time to pick up the camera and snap photos. So, this is all I have to offer…

Buba playing the piano/xylophone

Buba enjoying the Busy Zoo activity cube

Tiny trying on her older cousin’s hat

They received so many new toys that we had to put quite a few away for later, because there simply wasn’t room for them all. And this was after putting away many of their pre-Christmas toys. We’ll rotate through them over the next couple of months, which will make it seem like Christmas all over again. 

Many thanks to our family and friends for all the wonderful gifts. We love you! Mmmmmwaaaa!

21 months old

This past month has been one of amazing growth. Tiny and Buba, you’ve both been experimenting more with language and have recently said things that made me stop dead in my tracks, wondering when my babies became so grown up. I’d become so used to teaching you each word, helping you practice it over and over, that I was surprised to hear such things as, “Big truck all dirty!” from Buba and “Daddy coming home soon.” from Tiny. Instead of communicating with just one or two words, you are now putting together words and phrases to express what you see and hear. Buba tells me, “Birdie tweet tweet!” and “I see Mommy!” while Tiny reports, “Pokey eating dinner.” and “Doggy barking. Woof! Woof!” Some days it seems like non-stop narration from the moment you wake up until it’s time for bed.

And you’re starting to learn and point out the colors of things you see, like purple cup and green bowl. I’m not quite sure when or how this got started, but it’s now another form of entertainment when we are out and about. If you start to get fussy in the stroller I just point to something and ask what color it is. You both think this is a great new game.

I’ve also been very impressed with all the things you can do. You both continue to learn new signs (including bear and friend), and you love copying the gestures you see when we sing songs a the library (including The Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You’re Happy And You Know It). You’ve both recently become pros at working the shape sorter on the Laugh & Learn Leaning Home. This task, that had previously been very challenging and the source of great frustration, now almost appears to be too easy. And it seems you mastered this skill in just the blink of an eye. One day you couldn’t, and the next day you could. I clapped and cheered for both of you when you fit all four shapes into their rightful places, and you beamed and giggled with pride.

You are getting much better at helping, and it is so nice that I am no longer cleaning all the toys by myself. You attempt to sing the clean up song (Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere…) when we clean up toys before mealtimes. You are best at getting your bedroom toys into the toy bin, but are getting better at putting your toys in the proper places in the room used to be our living room. And you love, love, LOVE when I let you help put the groceries away. As soon as I bring the first bags into the kitchen you both run in and Tiny starts saying and signing help. You race each other to empty the bags, and you hand me each thing you pull out so I can put it away. When the last bag is empty, you smile and shout, “All done! All done!” as you run back to the living room to play with your toys.

My dear, sweet Buba, you have grown so much in the last few weeks. You are communicating much more and much better, which means less screeching and screaming. You still love to spend quite moments playing on your own, but have also become more interested in playing with Tiny. You’ll see her doing something silly and join right in- this includes walking around with a rectangular bin on your head and laying on your back on the kitchen floor so you can bang your heels on the dishwasher.

You like to make up  your own songs (Noni, noni, ah, ah, ah) and get so excited when I sing them back to you. And I love the precious little kisses you give me when I find the time to sit down on the floor with you. They remind me why it’s necessary to put off housework every now and then.

Sweet baby girl, you watch everything I do and want to do it too. Lately, you want to clean all the time. You have your own little wash cloths and you walk around the house saying, “Mess, mess, mess!” as you wipe the cloth across cabinets and window sills.

You’re becoming more and more independent each day, and get angry with me when I try to help or do something for you. I am no longer allowed to take off your coat or hat (unless I feel like listening to you scream). And as soon as you get your own hat and coat off, you rush to help your brother. You can be a little bossy with Buba (“No, no, no Brabra!), but there is no doubt that you love him very much. When he wakes up unhappy from a nap, you rush to get his koala and give him a kiss on the cheek. You know just what he needs to feel happy again.

You love music and have recently started to sing parts of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The ABCs, The Wheels on the Bus, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat on your own. I love to hear your sweet, little voice and know that it won’t be long before you’ve learned an entire song.

I am greatly enjoying the Christmas season this year, as you’re both watching and learning about the holiday traditions I cherish. I can’t wait to see your faces on Christmas morning.

Love you!

Mommy

It All Started With Elmo

Sometime over the summer, we took Tiny and Buba on their first trip to Toys R Us. We had a gift card, so we went just to browse and see if there was anything the kids might like. And the kids definitely saw something they liked- Elmo Live. This Elmo talks, sings, tells jokes, laughs, and blows kisses. This was their first exposure to Elmo, and Buba and Tiny could not get enough. And the best part was when we turned on about 10 of these Elmos all at once. Buba and Tiny went nuts- smiling, laughing, waving their little hands. They had the best time just sitting in the stroller watching Elmo Live perform over and over and over. But our gift card didn’t even come close to covering the cost of this magic Elmo, so we left empty handed.

Not long after the Toys R Us trip, I found a Sesame Street book (Cookie See! Cookie Do!) in a box of items passed on from my sister-in-law. I put it out in one of the kids’ book bins, and it wasn’t long before Tiny discovered the book and found Elmo inside. (“Eeemo! Eeemo!” she cried.) Although she definitely recognized Elmo, not knowing the names of the other characters, she started calling them Eeemo too. So as we read the book together, I pointed out the other characters, telling Buba and Tiny, “This one is Big Bird. And this one is Cookie Monster.” And of course, it wasn’t long before they knew all of those characters by heart and realized that they are also on Buba’s diapers.

While I resisted buying anything associated with characters of any kind for so long, I suddenly couldn’t resist. Tiny and Buba get so excited when they see any character from the Sesame Street gang, that I just had to pick up a few items while doing a little holiday shopping. So, this year they will each find an Elmo t-shirt (yellow for Buba, pink for Tiny), a big bird whistle, and a small character doll (Elmo for Buba, Abby Cadabby for Tiny) in their stockings on Christmas morning. I can’t wait to see their faces as they pull each one out. And who knows, maybe one day, I’ll even let them watch the show.

Happy Mommy!

Just here to report that today is already much, much better than yesterday. It is my birthday, and apparently T had been teaching Buba and Tiny to say, “Happy Birthday, Mommy!” They’re not quite there yet, but keep telling me, “Happy Mommy! Happy Mommy!” at random points throughout the day.

Although it’s probably just a coincidence, they’ve been pretty well behaved, and we’ve had a nice day just doing what we do. Tiny and Buba are still too young to produce a homemade card, but their laughter, smiles, hugs, and kisses have totally made my day.

Mistakes Were Made

T says that I am not capable of telling a short story. I think he may be right. If you’ve got time for a novel, just read on. If you need the short version, skip to the end….

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I woke up at 6:30 this morning, just like I do every other morning. But instead of following my usual routine, I made adjustments to accomplish a few other important things. Unfortunately, that lead to a bit of a stressful morning. But in hindsight, it seems that mistakes were made even before this day began.

Because T works outside the home, I’m in charge of getting Tiny and Buba up and ready in the morning. From 6:30 to roughly 7:30 am, I’m in their room getting them out of their cribs, changing diapers, giving them their cups of milk, reading books, and changing them out of pajamas and into their clothes. Then T comes in and I get about 15 minutes to get myself ready for the day.

So I started my day doing all of those things. And as an added bonus, today I also had time to change the crib sheets. Now normally, once T comes in to read books and play with the kids before heading off to work, I do one or more of these essential things-  shower, get myself dressed and presentable enough for the outside world, make and eat breakfast for myself, and/or make breakfast for the kids. But today I had a pile of crib sheets and sleep sacks that had to get washed. Mostly, it was the sleep sacks that needed to be washed because we would need them for naptime. So, I picked up the pile and headed to the basement to throw the laundry into the washing machine. I made a mental note to self- make sure this all goes into the dryer before leaving the house – and headed back upstairs.

With about 12 minutes of just-me time left, I contemplated making myself breakfast, but then I remembered that there was a small stack of bills in the bedroom that had to get mailed this morning to avoid overdue/late penalties. Now it’s true, I knew these bills needed to go out today last night and probably should have paid them last night instead of addressing Christmas cards while watching TV shows on Hulu (mistake #1), but I thought it would just take a couple of minutes. Wrong. I had not balanced the checkbook in a while, and therefore, was not even sure there was money to cover the checks I would be writing. I had to work my way through a small mountain of debit card receipts to make sure I didn’t also need to fit in a trip to the bank this morning. Once I realized that a trip to the bank would not be necessary, I got to work writing out the checks. Except that there was only one check left in the checkbook. I had known that the last time I paid bills, but decided not to seek out the new stack of checks until next time (possible mistake). It only took a few minutes to locate the new checks, but those were a few minutes that I did not have. I could hear T helping the kids pick up their toys and knew that I had very little time until they were all mine again. I quickly scribbled out the checks and was affixing the stamps just as my kids ran into the kitchen looking for their breakfast, which was not even close to ready.

I warmed up a blueberry pancake in the microwave, slathered on some butter, some syrup, and a few frozen blueberries and announced to Buba and Tiny that breakfast was served. I knew that I now had about 15 minutes before breakfast clean up would begin, and normally this is when I would make and eat my own breakfast if I hadn’t done so already. But today, I decided that I really wanted to finish making the black bean soup I had started making over the weekend, before I realized that key ingredients were missing from our cupboard. I was thinking that I could make the soup while they ate, and then eat my own breakfast after I cleaned them up (mistake #2). The soup took way longer to make than I had expected, to the point that I no longer had time to make myself breakfast before we had to get ready to head to the library for storytime.

I rushed through changing two diapers, putting on two pairs of shoes, and putting on two coats before quickly throwing on some clothes and my own coat and heading out the door (mistake #3- remember those sleep sacks? yep, they didn’t make it into the dryer.) We got to storytime (on time, for a change), listened to stories, sang some songs, and chatted with other moms and babies. Finally things felt on track. Until my stomach growled and I became very aware of the fact that I’d had nothing to eat or drink since late last night. Perhaps we should have headed home immediately, so I could fill my belly, but we needed to get some groceries critical to the dinner I had planned. And it didn’t make sense to go home and eat, only to have to reload Buba and Tiny in the car to go back out for groceries. So we went to the store, quickly got what we needed and headed over to the self checkout lane (mistake #4). Even though I’d done everything perfectly, I was randomly selected for an audit. So we had to wait for the customer service woman (who we love, by the way) to become available so she could double check our order. Ugh!

By the time we got home, got our coats off and and our shoes changed (just like Mr. Rogers, we have indoor shoes and outside shoes), it was time to make lunch. At this point, I was starving, and I should have just grabbed the first item of food I came across. But I’m trying to be careful with my food choices, and there didn’t seem to be anything healthy that was readily available. Plus my kids were at my feet crying, “Hungie! Hungie!” So I tried to put my hunger aside (mistake #5) while I quickly threw some lunch together for them. But my hunger made me cranky and I’ll admit that I snapped a few times at Tiny, who just would not give me any space. Of course, I felt terrible when she finally ran off to tell Buba, “Mama angy.”

Lunch was finally ready, the kids were eating, and I should have grabbed my own lunch, right? If only I had been so smart. But I was now racing the clock to assemble the ingredients in our slow cooker for tonight’s dinner. I thought it would just take a few minutes (mistake #6), and then I’d grab some lunch. Of course, it took the entire time that Tiny and Buba spent eating, and as soon as they were done, it was time for diaper changes, books, and nap. And that was when I realized that the sleep sacks that they ALWAYS sleep in were still wet in the washing machine. Arg! But I knew I had bought some at our twin sale in the fall that could work for one nap and ferociously dug through the closet to find them. They were quite big, but the kids didn’t seem to care (or even notice that they were any different at all).

Once I finally got Tiny and Buba down for their nap, my day got back on track. I felt instantly better after eating some lunch and taking a little nap myself.

Moral of this story: Nothing good comes out of trying to do too much, and a hungry mommy equals a cranky mommy. So never put off eating (or any of the little self care things that make all the difference in the world).

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The short version:

I should have paid bills last night.

I should not have spent my window of time for breakfast making soup.

I should not have ignored my grumbly belly and gone grocery shopping (there should always be a plan b for dinner. always.)

I need to make sure I take care of myself so I have the energy and proper state of mind to take care of my children without snapping at them (so, so sorry Tiny).

Moral of this story: Nothing good comes out of trying to do too much, and a hungry mommy equals a cranky mommy. So never put off eating (or any of the little self care things that make all the difference in the world).

Who Loves You?

I tell Tiny and Buba that I love them many times throughout each day- in the morning when I’m getting them up and ready for the day, at naptime, at bedtime, when I leave to go to my part-time job, and whenever they run in for a quick hug or tickle while we’re playing. It’s not something I think consciously about. It just comes naturally. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of how often I say, “Mama loves you.” or “Love you!” until I heard Tiny saying these phrases to her stuffed animals.

Anyway, this morning after changing Tiny’s diaper, I picked her up and gave her a little tickle. She smiled, and I asked, “Who loves you?” I expected her to say Mommy, or Daddy, or even Grammy, Buba, or Pokey (our cat), so her answer really threw me off…

“Santa Claus,” Tiny said very sweetly.

Santa Claus? I thought. Santa Claus? It didn’t make any sense. Why would she answer Santa Claus.

And then I remembered our car ride home from the mall the day we saw Santa. Tiny kept saying, “Santa Claus. Santa Claus. I cry.” At first she sounded almost proud, but the more she said it, the more I thought I detected some sadness in her words. So I told her, “It’s okay that you cried. Lots of kids cry (and we’d seen some that very day). But Santa still loves you. He loves all the boys and girls.”

Perhaps Tiny’s memory is in fact that good, or maybe she just had something else on her mind this morning. I’ll never know. But instead of correcting her or trying to get her to elaborate, I simply said, “Yes, he does. And Mama loves you too.”

Oh Where Oh Where Have the Boy Baby Dolls Gone?

Last Easter, I bought Tiny and Buba a baby doll.

I bought a soft bodied one because, at the time, I didn’t think they were ready for one with a plastic head and limbs. They didn’t seem to know what to do with it, so from time to time I’d pick up the doll, rock it, give it a bottle, give it kisses. And over time, they started to mimc these behaviors. But for the most part, the doll just stayed in the toy box unless I dragged it out.

Then this fall, we went to a of playgroup and there was one of those plastic baby dolls lying around. Buba was instantly drawn to it, and Tiny followed closely behind. There was also a little, pink, plastic doll carriage (pram style), and Buba had the best time pushing that baby doll all around the room. So I decided, right then and there, that I wanted to get them both their own baby doll and stroller for Christmas this year. I found that to be so much easier said than done.

My mission: I had it in my head that I wanted to get them these cute little boy/girl twin dolls that I had seen last year. Except it seems that they are no longer available. No biggie. I’d just get something else. They didn’t have to be twin dolls, but I had it in my head that I would get a newborn baby girl for Tiny and a newborn baby boy for Buba- preferably from the same toy company so the dolls would be similar in size and appearance. I also had decided that I wanted to get them each a pram style stroller so they could just plop their babies in and go and not have to worry about fastening and unfastening any straps. When I created this plan, this all seemed very reasonable.

Problem #1: no pram like strollers & Problem #2: majority of doll stroller are pink- Okay, this isn’t completely true. But there didn’t seen to be anything to my liking. I wanted to spend $30 or less for each stroller, which narrowed my choices. And I wanted to find one for Buba that wasn’t pink. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying a boy can’t push a doll in a pink stroller. I’m sure Buba couldn’t care less what color the stroller is. But I really wanted a nice blue or green pram style stroller for him. And this made things very complicated.

Problem #3: cute newborn boy baby dolls are hard to find- So, it’s been decades since William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow hit the bookshelves, and yet here in the year 2009, I found it quite challenging to find a newborn boy baby doll. Again, this isn’t entirely a true statement. But they were much harder to find than I had anticipated. And sadly, some of the ones I found were not all that cute. The girl versions were all happy and smiling, while the boy dolls had flat emotions or sour puss faces. And that just would not do. I wanted Buba’s doll to appear just as happy at Tiny’s.

Mission adjusted and finally accomplished: Since I couldn’t seem to find the stroller I was looking for in stores or on Amazon, I decided to just do a google search to see what it might find. It brought up a nice wooden pram that was over $100, but that lead me to start searching for a wooden stroller. And I found two (not pram style, but without any straps to fasten), made in an Amish furniture shop in Pennsylvania. They were in my price range, so I took a chance and made my very first Ebay purchase. I didn’t buy the dolls until the strollers arrived, and I’m glad I waited, because they are on the small side (which is fine, since Tiny and Buba are too). Then I was on back on my mission to find two newborn baby dolls- one boy, one girl- about 12-14 inches, with happy faces. And just when I thought it couldn’t be done, I found two perfect Water Babies at Toys R Us. While I didn’t like the idea of having a doll filled with water in the hands of my toddlers (For the record, I have no intentions to fill these dolls with water to make them feel more “real”. They are perfectly fine just filled with a little air.), the newborn boy water baby was the only one that fit the rest of my criteria.

I am sure that Buba and Tiny are going to love these dolls and strollers the moment they see them on Christmas morning. But who am I kidding, they’re 21 months old, and chances are good that they would have loved any old doll and stroller combo I’d have come up with.

Nothing like Christmas shopping to make a mother crazy.

Snowed In

Most days, I make sure that we all get out of the house for at least a little bit of time in the morning. It has become part of our routine that I clean up the breakfast mess, I change Buba and Tiny’s diapers, and then we go somewhere. Anywhere. Some days we are fortunate enough to have plans with other kids their age, but most of the time we just run an errand or stroll around the shops in the plaza half a mile from our house.

But today was different. Today it was snowing. And not the beautiful, fluffy, white snow. No, we had to get the wet, wet kind. The kind that you have to look at closely to determine whether it’s actually snow or just rain. Plus, we had someone coming to the house at 11am (an appointment that got cancelled at 11:15 because the person’s car couldn’t make it up the hill to get into our neighborhood). So today, we stayed home.

Now Buba didn’t really seem to care that we weren’t going out, but Tiny knows our routines by heart and it didn’t take her long to figure out what was going on, and subsequently, to begin melting down. The standard toys for everyday play just weren’t cutting it, so I had to get creative. Luckily, I had some things stashed away that totally saved the day…

1: Sunglasses from last summer

Tiny’s glasses no longer had lenses (in fact, I’m pretty sure the lenses popped out the very first time she wore the glasses last June), but she didn’t seem to care. Even as I gave them both their sunglasses, I expected that they would rip them off immediately and then cry for me to put them on again. While that did happen a time or two, I was quite impressed that, for the most part, they enjoyed playing while wearing the glasses for a good 20 minutes. Somehow the glasses made those everyday toys more fun again.

2: Connect Four

This is not something I every would have thought of on my own. But Buba’s occupational therapist has one of these games and uses it to help him improve his fine motor skills. So T brought this one home from his classroom. Tiny loves hearing the plink when the game pieces fall to the bottom, so this was another 20 minutes or so of indoor fun.

3: The Tunnel

We picked this tunnel up at a yard sale over the summer. It’s suppose to connect to a playhut, but the kids have more fun just crawling through the tunnel by itself. It’s only 4 or 5 feet long, so completely doable in our living room. This was also tons of fun for 10 to 15 minutes.

And last, but not least…

4: Snowblowers

We may be the only homeowners on our street who do not own a snowblower. The noise combined with the spraying snow, made it completely fascinating to watch the neighbors snowblow their driveways. And this allowed me just enough time to make lunch.

I certainly hope we don’t have too many inside-all-day days this winter, but it’s nice to know that we can survive (and even have fun!) without getting out of the house.

Our First Snowy Day

Yesterday, there was snow in the forecast for the first time this fall. Sure, we’d had some early morning flurries back in October, but this was the first time we were expected to get 2-4 inches. The first snow of the year is always exciting, but I found myself getting even more excited, knowing that it would be Tiny and Buba’s first opportunity to play in the snow EVER!

The snow started falling early in the evening, and even though it was tough to see, I held each kid up to the window and said, “See? It’s snowing.” Tiny just stared blankly, not really sure what she was supposed to be seeing, but humored me by reiterating, “Snow.” Buba looked out the window, then looked at me and said, “Dark!”

When I woke up at 6:30 this morning, I could see trees covered with beautiful, sparkling snow. I went into the kids’ bedroom, and pulled up the blinds to give them a glimpse of the snow covered front yard. But it was still dark, and with condensation on the windows, it was still tough to see the snow.

So, while Buba and Tiny drank milk, I read The Snowy Day (a classic favorite) and The Snow Ball. I pointed out all the fun things to do in the snow- crunching through the snow, making tracks, building a snowman, and making snow angels. I was trying to make Buba and Tiny as excited as I was about the snow. But it wasn’t until we got out the snowsuits and boots that they started to show signs of excitement (and most likely, it was just because they knew we were going “Outside! Outside!”)

First there was mostly looking around…

Tiny decided she liked snow…

Buba decided that he did not (and sadly, there were some tears)…

Tiny decided to go exploring…

Buba was okay if I held his hand….

Or if he was sitting in T’s lap…

Then, both Buba and Tiny helped T build a snowman…

And a good time was had by all.

First the Goat, Then the Piggy

For their first birthday, Tiny and Buba received the Little People Animal Sounds Farm from their great-aunt. They didn’t play with it much at first, but recently Buba has been playing with it a lot. He knows all the animals and likes to show them to me and tell me what sounds they make. The only problem is, he also likes to throw them.

Maybe it’s just a little boy thing, but Buba likes to throw toys over the baby gates. And strangely enough, he seems to throw the ones he prefers most often. He’ll be playing happily with a toy at my feet while I’m working in the kitchen, and then as soon as I step over the gate to go to the bathroom, Buba will run up to the gate and throw the toy over. Almost like a screw you gesture. But then he stands at the gate and whines until I retrieve the toy and hand it back to him.

But sometimes, the toys disappear. I hear them drop over the gate, but I don’t see them. Sometimes they roll and end up behind a door or under the furniture. And sometimes they spark the interest of our cat and get carried off to only-she-knows-where. Of course, we usually find them days after we stop looking for them.

However, this has not been the case with the beloved farm animals. Earlier this week, the goat went missing. And then yesterday, we lost the pig too. I don’t know if Buba threw them somewhere or what. We’ve looked in all the usual places and some unusual ones too, but the goat and piggy are nowhere to be found.

How does this happen? I have no idea. But if you happen to see our goat or piggy, please send them home. Buba misses them.