Snippets from the Weekend

• Saturday we did something that we rarely do (but that we are going to try to do more often). We split up. Braydon took Owen for the day. I took Kyle for the day. I/we could write volumes and volumes just about that. It is so different to be with one baby boy. Whenever we have time alone with one we are so totally totally struck by the incredible complete difference between being with one versus being with two. It is entirely relaxing and enjoyable to be with one. You can get to know the child in a whole new way. You can stop to throw rocks down a drainage hole for 40 minutes if you want to (as Kyle and I did!). You can do things you simply cannot do with twins (like, go out to lunch without needing another adult with you; run errands at stores you wouldn't be caught dead in alone with the twins; cater to your individual child's interests/needs/wants instead of constantly negotiating how to swing every single thing with twins.... all of these things, of course, we did on Saturday). Plus, you don't have to spend gobs of time breaking-up-their-fights and pulling-in-the-reigns-of-their-antics. So, you have gobs and gobs of extra time to go at a leisurely pace and savor the moment. Wow. It is just totally remarkable how extreme the difference is to be with just one. I'm not even sure it is the "just one" thing as much as it is the "not twins" thing... because with twins they are all over each other all the time. They are the same exact age so their interests and development is so in-line that it seems to create some sort of additional frenetic energy that you just don't see even with two kids (who aren't twins). Anyway-- like I said, I could write on and on about this. But I'm gonna just say this: It was really nice. We're going to try to do it more often.
• Whenever Braydon and/or I spend time with just one boy we always think about how completely different our life would be if we only had one. We spent the rest of the weekend talking a lot about that. We always wonder about how DRAMATICALLY different our life would have been if two years ago when we got that referral call from the adoption agency they had said they had "a baby" for us (like we were expecting them to say!), instead of "twin babies" for us... Just one would have been very, very, very, very, very different. Not better or worse, just different. O.k., wait, no, scratch that... as much as it is crazy having twins, I would not change it. Truth is, now that we're doing this -- I wouldn't trade it for the world. No matter how much more manageable it would be with just one I would never ever choose that now. I'd choose twins every single time.
• On Saturday I was driving with Kyle alone in the backseat of the car. Amazing how much you can focus the conversation on where your child wants to take it when there isn't a twin brother trying to re-direct the conversation according to his own agenda!!!! Anyway-- We're driving along and it was quiet for a long stretch of time. Then, completely 100% out of the blue Kyle says, "Mama?" I said, "Yes?" And he said: "Q just like Nina." Note: they are both black ~~~ click here re: "Q"... & ... click here re: Nina.
• On Sunday night we were sitting down on the back deck to eat dinner at the "outside table" (as the boys call it!). Everybody was just beginning to eat. Owen was just staring off pensively lost in thought (and hadn't even begun to start eating). Braydon said, "Hey Owen, what are you thinking about?" And Owen, very serenely, said: "Look everybody! Look at the beautiful sky. It is a beautiful sunset!" It was indeed a beautiful sunset. But what was so striking was the way that he was saying it. He was truly just taking a moment to enjoy the lovely evening sky. Braydon looked at me and said, "Is it normal for a just-about-to-turn-3-year-old to say stuff like that????"
• On Sunday we went out for lunch at Nawab -- a local Indian restaurant that Braydon and I like (click here). We had not taken the boys out to eat Indian food before. It was a success. Owen actually really liked the food -- he especially liked the Vegetable Samosas and the Aloo Palak (a traditional Indian spinach dish). I don't think he's ever in his life ingested that much spinach in one sitting! (normally the boys will not even touch spinach) But the huge hit was surely the Mango Lassis. Turns out that Kyle and Owen both love Mango Lassi. They each drank a whole one (in addition to whatever else they ate)!!!
• At one point during the day on Sunday we were getting into the car and the boys were really acting up... i.e., they were pushing, pulling, hitting, biting, kicking, pinching, bugging-the-heck out of each other. Par for the course lately. But it drives me nuts. I was trying to buckle Owen into his carseat and Kyle was annoyingly pulling at his shirt sleeve. Owen wailed off and hit him. Kyle started fussing and then tried to kick Owen back. Etc., etc., etc. I broke it up --- "O.k., boys, that's enough!! Stop it! Enough!" and they reluctantly backed off of each other. I made them apologize to each other and they did semi-unwillingly. As I was trying to clasp the final carseat buckle on Owen's seat I said what I always say at the end of one of their fighting fiasco's: "Kyle and Owen-- Remember, you're brothers for life." And Owen, still agitated from Kyle's initial annoyance, says, "No! We're not brothers for life! We can't want to be brothers for life. We can't!" I tried to keep a straight face but couldn't help it and ended up laughing out loud.
• They had played so hard all day long on Sunday, and had so much dirt all over them, that their bath water was murky gray-brown within just a few minutes of them getting into it. After their bath Braydon made them rinse off under the shower because even the bath water seemed so, so dirty by the time they were done.
• For the past few days Kyle is absolutely positively 100% OBSESSED with speakers -- particularly the car CD player speakers. He is totally obsessed with trying to understand how the music comes from the speakers. It is extremely difficult to try to explain to a 2-almost-3-year-old the concept of music coming from CD/CD-player/stereo-speakers. He talks about it and asks about it incessantly.
• At one point this weekend we were talking about "favorites." Kyle and Owen are now fully starting to understand the concept. They listed their favorite foods. Here they are (in the exact order they gave them): Owen-- "Quesadillas. Beans. Hot dogs. Biscuits." Kyle-- "Cereal bars. Pasta." They then said their favorite colors: Owen said, "My favorite color is orange." Then Kyle says, "My favorite color is orange too." Then Owen said, "No, Kyle, your favorite color is blue." And Kyle says, "Oh, yup. It is blue and orange."
• Late on Saturday afternoon I was getting Owen up from his nap. I sat on Owen's bed with him and Kyle and read them books for about 45 minutes. In the midst of this I learned that they can both count much, much higher than I thought they could. They can both count to 29. They stop at 29. But they are very, very good at counting all the way up to 29. They also now recognize several letters --- K ("for Kyle!"), O ("for Owen!") for sure. And also H ("for Mama!"), and B ("for Papi!") most of the time. They are now working on other letters too and they seem eager to really learn all the letters of the alphabet. They can both pretty consistently recognize the numbers 1 through 10.
• At supper last night Owen ate two whole hot dogs. I know I mention this a lot. But let me repeat it again: These kids can eat.
• And these kids are a handful. Two handfuls. By Sunday night, as usual for our Sunday nights, Braydon and I were absolutely exhausted. They are getting easier and easier all the time (I can't even begin to understand how we got through it a year ago when they were sooo much harder to handle!)... but they really are exhausting. They are so bad all the time. I know, I know, I know... all the parenting experts say you're not supposed to use the word "bad" in reference to your child... and don't worry-- I don't use it to describe them within earshot of them... but seriously: they are bad. ;) They are constantly into everything. You cannot turn your back on them even for a second or they will run off down into the neighbor's yard where they know they aren't supposed to go, or dump a big load of rocks from their Tonka truck right in the middle of the lawn even after being told 100 times not to do it, or they will start putting random items into the microwave and turn it on even though they know this is a 'no-no' and metal things literally explode right before their eyes, or worse yet-- they'll injure each other in one of their little twin tirades (by the way - all of these things, and more, they did this weekend). Yes, they are bad bad bad boys. But they are soo soooooooo sooooooooooo good. They are happy. And they are fully immersed in life. And they sleep well at night. The same exact things can be said about their parents.