Dromedary Elementary

Our (and by our I mean me and my job; this post has nothing to do with 2-yr-olds!) dress rehearsal for the multicultural holiday musical is today.

Reindeer rides

Sorry for the terrible picture quality - it's hard to get a good photo of two small boys riding a reindeer through your house.

Age of surprises

"Don't worry," I said when our photographer friend warned that her studio was not child-proof, "they're not the kind of kids who are into everything."

Or at least, they weren't until last weekend.



To be fair, we also didn't think they were "the kind of kids" who would be bubbly and fun in front of the camera for a good hour, even though they were in a strange place with someone they didn't really know.

Two-year-olds are such a joy - they surprise you every single day!

Picture with Santa - year two

Finally it happened. After weeks of brainwashing, I mean explaining and encouraging, the boys asked to go see Santa. They evidently remembered only the good things about the Santa Claus parade, as they chattered about getting candy from fire fighters and seeing big motorcycles.


And see Santa was exactly what they did - from just close enough to accept candy canes and colouring books.

Not exactly the photo we were going for, but the fact that it contains a Santa and some evidence of boys is a huge improvement from last year...

They got their motorcycles too - Santa's elf made them some out of balloons. And I heard them nattering about Santa's lap on the way home...

Stylin' Saturday #15

They had no interest in picking their own today so I took full advantage of the "If you don't choose then Mommy gets to pick whatever she wants" rule.

The outfits called for tree-decorating...

Phew

Life goes along just fine until someone gets sick. Or someone has an early meeting, or a late dinner. It's been a busy few weeks, and by busy I mean phew we made it to Friday evening. Families need someone they can call on "sick days". We have supply teachers, so why not supply mothers?

Gymnastics

MeMe and Gump take the boys to 'nastics once a week. Here they are demonstrating their floor routines on "Parents Day":

Pink-eye

Although in our case it would have more accurately been called "Swollen-and-glued-shut-by-goop-eye(s)"; I have no idea if there was any pink under all that.

It seems to be on the mend with the help of eye drops, the administering of which was initially much more traumatic for the boys than any discomfort associated with their infections. Happily they seem to have learned that the drops make them feel better, and tonight Max asked for his "turn" after watching Vanh get his put in.

Cookie Creations

We have cookie baking plans for the holidays... the boys took the recipe for a test run on Saturday.

Fun photo shoot

Every photo tells its own story. What a talented photographer. We are so lucky to know her!

Pantsless Dancing

More sundering

Today was Vanh's turn to stay with Mommy while Max went shopping for groceries. After some painting he took his teddy bears along on a walk to the Farmer's Market. He really liked the trumpet players.


You can see 2 separate paintings, both firetrucks. The yellow bits are the lights.

Stylin' Saturday #14

A little bit of a different start to the fashion shoot today. Both boys grabbed handfuls of clothing to bring downstairs instead of the usual one each from the respective pants, diaper-shirt, and top/sweater drawers. Each child's selection is spread out behind him:

Here is what they ended up in:




It should be noted that Vanh wore his hat exactly long enough for these photos, after which he offered it to the dog and demanded candy as a reward for posing.

You can also see some of our stuffed menagerie. Vanh is holding his two very favourite teddy bears, both of whom are named Two. (He has two more teddies named Two as well. When I suggested that maybe he could think of another name for the fouth one, he showed me the number 2s embroidered on it. As if.) The brown bear on the floor with the plaid scarf is Max's Big Bear, and the bear in his lap is Max's Other Bear.

Zeitgeist

This month's theme for the post-every-day challenge is Zeitgeist. Here is some zeitgeist of these twins (am I using the word correctly?)

They help each other. They work together to achieve a goal, and make sacrifices for each other.

Like the other night, when they were sitting at the table and Max had a blue ring-pop candy, his first and hopefully only, and boy was he enjoying it. It was probably the most special treat he's had to date.

Meanwhile, Vanh noticed the ketchup bottle on the floor (its flight from the fridge having broken the door flap and exposed said candy for discussion in the first place) and wanted it returned. He climbed down from his chair and managed to pick it up, but was thwarted by the fridge door, the opening of which is Max's special skill. Vanh called to, "Help peese Max," and Max immediately started to climb down to help, until I reminded him that candy is only eaten at the table. He looked hard at his candy, then his brother - then sat back to enjoy his candy.

But, "Help Max, peese, help peese," came again, and with a "Max help brother" Max laid his candy on the table and went to open the fridge. Watching the two of them trying to maneuver the full bottle into various too-small spaces was equally sweet. And then "Tanks Max, tanks."


They want everything the other one has. When I cut their nails they fuss over who's turn it is. Last night I noticed Max had something in his hair, so I ruffled through it to try to fluff it out. Vanh quickly slid his head under my hand and moved it around to create the same ruffling effect.

We rarely get them two of the same thing so they are good at sharing. When they fuss I usually say something like, "Don't worry, Vanh knows how to share, he'll give you a turn when he's ready," or "Max knows that's yours, but he wants to play with it for a bit, you know he'll give it back when he's done".
Sometimes that even works.

They like to sit in big chairs now when they eat (unless of course Mommy-yap is available).







They are enjoying their first chocolate advent calendar. Santa puts chocolate in there for them. I know because they told me.


(PS Max in red, Vanh in black)