Nana and Tickle Grandpa come to California

Do these look like the faces of happy people?!  They sure do!  My parents made the trip out to California to visit us and we all had a wonderful time!  The boys loved having their grandparents around to play with and talk to and to say that my parents loved interacting with the boys would be a gross understatement.

We started the week with a visit to the farmer's market and then a trip  to Aunt Kappy and Uncle Sam's house for some swimming and family time.  The boys LOVE to swim and it was extra fun having Chris there to play.  Both boys practiced jumping into the pool and were enamored with the fact that Chris and I could dive into the water.  They also like riding on our backs while Chris and I raced from one side of the pool to the other (don't let this picture fool you, I won every time!)

Monday we spent the morning at the park and played in the backyard in the afternoon.  Brody spent most of the time playing baseball.  He was very fair and insisted on letting everyone hit even though we all just wanted to pitch the ball to him.  Brady spent most of his time playing "three little pigs".  He loved building a house of our gym mats and then blowing it down.  Nana and grandpa rotated between the two games to keep everyone happy.

Tuesday we attended a free kids concert that featured a performance by the teacher of our Mommy and Me Spanish class.  There were lots of kids activities available and it was a fun way to spend the morning.  In the afternoon, we went swimming again!

Wednesday we set out for a big adventure and headed down the coast to Monterey.  We started at Denise the Menace park.  This park has several different play areas and the boys loved exploring everything it had to offer.  (Side note: There is a huge suspension bridge in the park that Brady was scared to run over.  Brody grabbed his hand and told him "I help you D" and off they went.  I melted right there in my shoes).  After burning off some serious energy, we refueled with a quick lunch, and then jumped in the car to do the Scenic 17 mile drive between Monterey and Carmel.  The drive was beautiful (as advertised) and we got to see many pretty vistas and lots of birds and sea lions.  It was pretty windy on the coast so the boys had to bundle up a bit to be comfortable.  It's amazing how different the coast looked at every stop; the light, clouds and the color of the water made every view more special than the next.  The drive was made even better by the fact that as we drove passed the huge mansions in Pebble Beach, Brady continued his obsession with the Three Little Pigs by saying "I blow this house down. [pause] I blow this house down."  It really put a different spin on what we were seeing!  We ended in Carmel with a quick walk around town and a stop for ice cream.  Here I was shown (again) how lucky I am to have kids with such even temperaments.  After a day of being on the go and deviating from their normal patterns, they were still cool as cucumbers when Brody dropped his whole ice cream scoop on the pavement.  Without skipping a beat, I took half of Brady's (who passively let me take whatever I wanted out of his bowl) and life went on.  It was not until my parents mentioned it later that I realized how normal that is for them.  When something like that happens, they rarely melt down and I am grateful for that!

We did a few more fun things the remaining days that my parents were here.  On Thursday we took them to IKEA because they had never been.  Random and fun, now they can check that off their bucket list ;)  On Friday they came with us to Spanish class.  We had lunch afterwards and topped off a great week with dinner out all together Friday night.  I loved seeing how the boys matured over the course of one short week.  With so much attention, they really thrived!  I noticed that they added personal pronouns to many of their sentences.  It is such a little thing, but it is so fun to hear them speaking more and more clearly.  Sentences like "Nana, you eatin' too?" instead of "Nana eatin'?" were more commonplace by the end of the week.  Also they liked asking Grandpa "What time it is, Grandpa?" and "Nana sleepin'?"over and over and over.  It was a truly wonderful week!

Happy Birthday Mother's Day Father's Day (2.5 year update)

Well, Brody managed to top his Mother's Day greeting!  I think his Super Hero name would have to be "The Appender"because he has strung together every major celebration we have had since April into one fantastic celebratory message.  This year, Father's Day coincided with the boys 2.5 year anniversary.  Though we focused on celebrating Chris and all his greatness, I could not help but mark this passage of time with memories of funny things the boys do and say at this age.  As they round the corner to 3, I'm hoping to capture as many memories as possible because they change so darn fast!

We started our Father's day with our favorite Farmers' Market breakfast and a trip to the park.  We came home for naps (we all napped in solidarity today!) and then took the balance bikes out for a trip to our local park.  Chris and the boys sported their Father's Day memorabilia- T-shirts that say "Beast Mode".  I bought these shirts especially for my rambunctious boys who are often spurred on by their Dad.  On more than of occasion I have had to say to Chris "please stop jumping off the furniture, you are teaching the boys bad behaviors". No sooner than these words are out of my mouth, they boys are climbing onto the furniture and jumping off.  Brody likes to yell "superman" when he jumps off things.  Brady likes to yell "I superhero!"

Once we got to the park, total Beast Mode commenced.  The park is always extra fun when Dad is there.  We played until the sun set and had a great time celebrating what a great Dad Chris really is.

 

 

Brady:

Brady is my total and complete chatter box!  This boy does not stop talking.  He talks and talk and talks and I love every word that comes out of his mouth.  He forms complex sentences and his ability to articulate his thoughts seems to improve every single week.  He LOVES to laugh and to be tickled and his laugh is incredibly contagious.  He loves puzzles and is happiest when he has my undivided attention and the two of us are woking on a puzzle.  He also like to draw and build with blocks.

Brady is a bit shy and more likely to assess a new situation for a few minutes before jumping in and participating.  However, once he gains confidence, he is incredibly passionate and vocal.  A great example of this is from our Mommy and Me Spanish class.  There is a lot of participation in this class where the kids are given chances to come to the front of the room and repeat Spanish phrases.  Brady has declined most of these opportunities and instead sits next to me and takes it all in.  After the third class, I overheard him counting in Spanish at home. I was so impressed that he had retained this much information after so little exposure.  During the next several days we counted in Spanish at home and when it came time to count out loud in class, he walked right up to the front of the room and waited for his turn to count out loud (he actually walked up while another kid was counting because he was so anxious to show off his skills.  He could not even wait to be called on!). The incredible pride I felt for him at that moment can not be throughly described.

Brady likes to show you that he knows what is going on by helping out with bits of knowledge from time to time.  For example, after about two weeks of Brody referring to his own knee as his ankle, Brady finally decided he had enough of this misnomer and piped up with a forceful statement "No D, ankle down here" and pointed to Brody's ankle.  After that, Brody never misspoke again!  He also does funny, sly things like moving toys to where they are supposed to go.  We have these step stools that spell out the boys' names in different color letters.  One stool has all the letters filled in and lives in the hall bathroom but the other stool (that lives in the lesser used bathroom) does not have any of the letters filled in.  One day when Brady was going through a toy bin, he found a Y that belonged in the stool.  He showed it to me, told me it was a Y and indicated that he knew it should go in the stool.  I really did not pay it much mind- but a day latter, I as in the back bathroom and I looked down and noticed that he had put the Y in the appropriate space!  I love those little moments where you catch yourself realizing the capabilities of your children.  It kind of makes you want to go in their room and wake them up just to give them a hug (kind of).

Being intelligent does not make Brady immune to awesome toddler bloopers.  Statements like "I runned away" followed by a flailing toddler running in the opposite direction and are typical of Brady. Once when I asked him if he can count backwards he started counting from 1 to 10 while walking backwards instead of counting down from 10 to 1.  He calls Brody "D bones" for no reason that I can understand.  He says things like "D bones, over here" and "That's right, D-bones".  You can't make this stuff up!  He is OBSESSED with the Three Little Pigs story and loves to be The Big Bad Wolf and blow everything down.  When I try to blow him down he says "No Mommy, I brick".  Brady is always thinking!

Brody:

How can I adequately explain Brody at this age?  He is constant energy with no fear of anything!  Brody has exceptional strength and coordination.  He can jump over objects with ease, lift heavy loads, sprint with great speed, jump off ledges of any height, kick and catch almost any ball that you toss to him, and ride both a balance bike and a tricycle with almost no effort.  He is incredibly physical, always moving, loves to "exercise" by copying exercises he has seen.  A few months ago, we bought the boys T-ball sets and within minutes Brody was whacking the ball off the T with incredible precision.  Using the Tee lasted about three days and then started tossing the ball up in the air, to himself, and hitting it with the bat.  Soon after that, Chris and I were pitching the ball to Brody and he was hitting it with [relative] ease.  He throws with great power and mimics all the baseball moves that he has seen (the wind up, the pitch, the catch).  He even pretends to run the bases in the back yard, and when he is done, he hands you something imaginary.  Chris and I are not sure he is handing us, but he must think that you get delivered something when you have rounded home.

Brody also says some really funny things.  For example, whenever he falls (which is often because he is always climbing on something he should not be) he yells "Superman".  I have no idea where he got this, but it reminds me of the scene in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant is trying to climb the fence with Julia Roberts and he slips and yells "Oopsy Daisy".  She mocks him and laughs out loud (in the way that only Julia Roberts can) and that is how I feel when Brody yells "Superman". When he is facedown on the pavement, I try not to laugh, but I always think how ironic this is because Superman would never be in this position; being Superman, he would never be face down like Brody is at that moment!  It kills me every time.  Another very funny Brody saying happened after I let him run around the house naked.  I kind of forgot that he had no pants on (something no mother of twins should ever do really) and I exited the living room to go into the bathroom and take care of my own business.  In the mean time, Brody had to use the potty and he used his own little potty all by himself!  When he was finished, he brought his toilet with pee into the bathroom and handed it to me.  I was so excited that he had done his business without any prompting from me that I said "Brody, you're a GENIUS!".  He loved getting so much praise and beamed from ear to ear.  When I finished going potty, I stood and Brody looked in the toilet, looked at me, and said "Mommy, you GENIUS too!".  I too beamed from ear to ear.

Brody is also very sensitive and concerned for others.  He does not like when he sees other kids get hurt in the park and always asks if they are ok.  He is very concerned when others are sad and shows great compassion for his brother and family.  He is also a total ham.  In Spanish class, he loves to be in front of the room speaking Spanish.  He loves it so much that he even asks for a turn when other kids are already talking! Once he is done speaking, he turns around, flashes me a huge smile, and gives me a big two handed thumbs up.  Then he runs- full speed- back to me and jumps into my arms.  Add to this that he of often wearing his rain boots (because he insists on it and I believe in choosing battles worth fighting), it is fair to say that most moms melt on the spot when they see him!

Brody has some catch phrases that I am sure I will never be able to remember just how he says them, but I will try.  He likes to say "What's da loud noise" when he hears something loud and "See DAT" when he see something exciting.  He says "where go" when he loses something (typically a ball) and he is the first to throw his hand up and "I don't know" when you ask him something seemingly obvious.

The dynamic duo:

These guys are amazing buddies.  They play together and love each other.  They cause trouble just as you would expect them to do.  One day at nap time, I heard a lot of ruckus coming from their bedroom. When I opened their bedroom door, I found Brady and Brody- naked from the waist down- each sitting on their portable potties that they had dragged on top of Brady's bed.  Brody was coaxing Brady to go pee, and upon seeing me in the doorway, Brody immediately held up his urine filled pot for me to behold.  The scene was so funny that I immediately called Chris into the room (after I grabbed the potty of course).  This was one time I was happy that I was not home alone because I got to share the hilarity that goes on each day!

It is so fun to realize how different these boys are.  As a mother of multiples, you worry about treating and parenting your kids in a way that caters to their individual personalities, especially since they hit every milestone at the same time.  At this age, it is so clear how different their personalities are that I hardly worry about that.  Their uniqueness forces us to parent them individually.  They are so perfectly different and yet still so unbelievably close.  These boys are the best and fill my heart with joy everyday!