Up and Over

I still remember  the Montessori approach to putting on winter coats.  I didn't remember that hoods can make it a bit difficult.  I do remember it was sometimes important to stand back as coats with zippers and mittens attached went flying overhead. 

The boys understand Mommy has a black car and Daddy has a blue car.  When Daddy leaves, after we all have breakfast together, we look out the laundry room window and watch his blue car drive away, while the boys say, "Daddy's blue car, Daddy's blue car." Gramma's car is champagne gold.  We'll have to work on that.

Who're you calling a monkey?

I remember how excited my children were to eat bananas like a monkey.  Now, I realize having children prepares you to be a grandparent.

Twins Work Is Never Done

 

Gramma found a way to put the boys' love of water to good use.  We wouldn't have needed to replace our dishwasher and could have put the money we saved toward our higher water bills.  A weeks' worth of dishes are nothing for Nathan and Andrew.  Nathan gets so into his work that he has to be stripped down first.  I also have the cleanest floors, lately. 

Andrews has discovered pockets.  He likes playing the role of "cool dude."  I will have to keep a closer eye on my keys, now.  I remember Uncle Matt's parachute pants; a favorite, because they had so many pockets.  Or perhaps he liked them because the shiny black nylon felt so nice.  I still think they were a "hike" above the baggy pants, he used to lose on the trampoline.

The twins stay overnight at Gramma's and Grampa's

Breakfast at Gramma's is very laid back.  No one bothers you about putting your feet on the table or about pushing yourself away from the table.  If Daddy were here, it would be another story.  I did not include the picture of Grampa's feet on the table.  The boys' parents are hopeful that Nathan and Andrew will understand, what happens at Gramma's has no application to home.  Part of the joy of being a grandparent is making sure things aren't too easy at home.  Nathan knows he's not supposed to push his chair away from the table, at least not until he's complimented the cook.  He's wondering if Gramma doesn't know the rules.

Nathan is heading down the ancestral path of the former Goedken engineers.  I discovered he knew how to work the locks of the high chair seat belts after repeatedly finding them locked.  I wondered if one of the boys had manged to slip of of it without my opening it, or if their grandfather was doing it, or if I was losing my mind.  Eventually, I caught Houdini in the act.  He will repeat this over and over as long as you're willing to open the locks. 

He's also into locking and unlocking my bookcase doors.  Keys are really interesting.  Hi Great-grandfather Lynch used to be able to pick locks.  I'm not sure how a policeman developed that skill.  I used to have three keys, but one went missing for a couple of weeks.  I found it eventually in the couch in their bedroom.  Hmmm..., I wonder how that got there?  Nathan's especially good at unlocking my heart.

Sock puppets. 

Gramma's Pantry

Nathan is now tall enough to open the front door.  No problem; we can lock the front door.  Andrew, not to be outdone, has learned to open all of the doors.  He can now admit himself to the pantry, where all of Gramma's good snacks hide.  There's crackers, cereal and pretzels; all within reach.  We're going to have to rearrange those shelves shortly.  At least before they discover the beer is in there, too. 

Nathan told Rebecca that he wanted to eat. He also signs it.  She asked if he wanted a snack and he agreed vigorously.  When she opened the pantry door, she found Andrew already inside the pantry in the dark.  He can't reach the light switch, but I guess he has no fear of the dark, since he didn't call for help.  "I see you had the same idea," Rebecca told Andrew.

 Ryan Joseph and the boys stayed for dinner.  Gramma had made homemade bread that Nathan tasted as we were getting dinner together.  As dinner was served, Nathan explained he wanted the bread.  Of course being health conscious adults, we all tried to explain he had to eat something else first.  He looked at us as if we had lost our hearing and very clearly said, "bread."  The adults went on with their ludicrous explanation.  Nathan looked at us as if we had all lost our minds, pointed to the bread and repeated, "bread."  By this time Gramma had him on her lap, but it obviously didn't improve her hearing. 

It makes you wonder what they think we're thinking. We've told him time and again to use his words. Nathan didn't get the message that words are powerful, but instead thinks we all have a hearing problem. Adults will tell you, "one bite" and then panic if you make it a big one. They save dessert for last, which makes no sense. They have a pantry of good food and won't let you in it. The outside is just waiting for you and they won't let you go there. They put you down for a nap, when you're clearly not tired. They put their most treasured items up high where you can't reach them.  The cat can eat whenever it wants, but they make us sit at the table and then put everything out of our reach.

Andrew taste tests Gramma's chocolate lava cakes.  It passed the test.

I often try to play or sing for them.  No matter what I want to play I must begin with "The Wheels of the Bus" if we're at the piano, "Yankee Doodle" for horseback riding and "Rock-a-Bye Baby" for the rocking chair.  It's a short repertoire list for someone in my profession.

Life Laws in Twindom

We may have to suspend a few of our lifeskill activities, that I thought were such a great idea.  We usually do laundry, because Andrew and I needed something to do while Nathan washes his hands for 15 minutes. We were working on using a dust pan and broom, scooping up dead leaves from an orange tree.  Andrew loved the activity and would often return the leaves to the floor, so he could repeat the process again and again. This week he decided to add harvesting the oranges to our list of duties.  I can see how this would make sense to him.  While I tried to explain to Andrew that we shouldn't pick the oranges, Nathan was busy beginning his own harvest.

What do you mean, these aren't for picking?

I cannot tell a lie; I did it, too.

I'm learning how to be an attorney in Twindom, where possession isn't 9/10ths of the law; it's the whole law.  Nathan wasn't even aware his brother covetted the toy he was playing with, when his brother came up and shoved him.  He turned around and looked at Andrew thinking he had simply fallen against him and went back to his toy.  At that point, Andrew's hands were raised and heading for the head of curls that stands out like a target.  Gramma's arms scooped Nathan up before he lost handfuls of hair.  Nathan, was still oblivious to the peril he had been in.  Andrew was not pleased with this and threw himself onto the floor.  I had to walk away before I started laughing at the drama before me.  When Grampa came to see why Andrew was upset, he joined him on the floor.  Living with Gramma, he could commiserate with Andrew.  In seconds, Andrew and Grampa were into a new game.  Seconds after that, Nathan was checking out what the two of them were up to.  All was forgiven and the sun came out to dry up all the rain.

Life is just not fair!

Been there, done that.  I know just what you mean.

Well us guys just have to stick together.

Grampa, you bring out the sun!

Auntie Rebecca came from Chicago to visit the boys and have a headlight fixed.  They were thrilled to have her take them on their first wagon ride of the new year and came back with cold noses and fingers.  Andrew, always the helper, assisted  Grampa in fixing her car.

Just a few more pushes and it will be out of the garage.

We've got our own red car just like Auntie Becca's!  The gas mileage is pretty good, too.

Pillsbury Dough Boys

It was time to pull out the Marimeko Playdoh mats that I've had since Ryan Joseph was the twins' age. I couldn't bear to part with them, because I can't bear to part with anything.  Now, I'm feeling nostalgic and smug that I can even find them.  Ryan Joseph recognized them.  Ahhh!   Terry told me that you can buy playdoh; the same comment he made 30 years ago.  I was going to modernize my playdoh recipe, by making it in the Vita-mix.  I learned some things are just better not upgraded.  The directions seemed easy enough.  Put ingredients in the Vita-mix and turn on for five minutes.  With a minute left to go, I panicked.  The top wasn't moving and the motor was changing pitch.  So, I shut it off and tried to remove the dough, which was sticky and gooey on the top and pretty solid on the bottom.  It was also very hot!  The boys were all eyes, as I called for Terry's help.  I had dough up to my elbows and my hands were burning.  I put the rescued dough in a pan and cooked it the old-fashioned way until it was the right consistency.  Then we dyed it with food coloring.  It only took five bottles to find two that weren't dried up.  It must have been quite some time since I've made colored frosting.  That's right, I bought a membership to Costco for the cakes.  I knew I would be judging a piano competition the next day, so I didn't want to go with blue or green hands.  It's not the professional image I like to project.  I got out latex gloves, which Nathan found very amusing.  He stayed free of the dye, while I managed to develop a green thumb.  The dough was much better than anything you could have bought.  I'm sure eventually my thumb will return to normal.  And the fun the boys had, made it truly worthwhile.  Nathan prefers using the dough to build things and Andrew prefers cutting it into pieces with a blunt knife. Construction and destruction.  Ryan Joseph sighed when he saw the boys playing.  "I've been working for weeks to teach them not to play with knives." 

This is much harder than mittens.

When I went into the pantry to get the oil for the playdoh, the boys moved quickly to seize the moment.  That door doesn't open very often.  We keep Kitty's food in the pantry, to curb Nathan's appetite for dry cat food.  By the time I returned to put the oil back they were helping themselves to their favorite snacks.  You would not believe how fast those boys can move.

Snack Sneakers!

A big favorite of Fridays is Grampa's fresh baked cookies.  Even Rebecca, Ryan Joseph and Marco enjoy his culinary treats.  He makes just a few at a time so they're always warm when he and the boys get to enjoy them.  Nathan and Andrew have grown into holding their own cookies and taking bites from them.  The bite size for cookies is a bit larger than most other things.  And you have to eat quickly or someone may get yours.  There are never any left.

Daddy, get your own.

Life doesn't get better than Twins' Friday.

Laser Bugs

I used to play with Rebecca's cat, making him chase a laser beam in order to burn off a few calories (off the cat).  I never realized that children and cats are so much alike.  They both like chasing laser bugs.  At least the laser bug can be spared sudden death at the hands of the boys.  Come to think of it, the boys enjoy Kitty's ball with feathers attached that makes bird noises, too.  And Nathan has demonstrated he likes cat food.  Who needs pets if they have children?  Although, Kitty's litter needs changing once or twice a week.  Those boys have some diaper changes that can't wait. 

The practical life lesson for the week was sweeping with a dustpan and broom.  I thought the fallen leaves from my orange tree would be the perfect opportunity for a lesson for the boys.  They were excited about the new experience, especially Andrew, who insisted upon repeating the lesson over and over again.  The problem was that leaves are easily swept up, but after they've been crushed by scooping them out of the dustpan, scattering them on the floor and starting over three times, they start to crumble into minute particles.  Fortunately, Gramma's skills are rather developed and she knows her way around a dustpan and broom.  It's great to be able to impress someone with my sweeping technique.  I can't remember the last time that struck someone else as remarkable.

Shinichi Suzuki always said  "look at your children while they sleep to remind yourself how much you love them."  God had a perfect plan when he made sleeping children so heart warming.  Grampa always says, "Never wake a sleeping child."  I'm sure that's so you can continue warming your heart as long as possible.

Brothers are connected in so many wonderful ways.