Twin Speak Quote of the Day: "TomKat"

There is lots of research and literature in the academic, clinical, and popular presses about what most-of-us-common-folk-parents-of-twins call "TwinSpeak." Of course there are lots of better more clinical more sophisticated ways to explain it, I'm sure, but here's the gist of it:
TwinSpeak is that 'secret language' known to be shared amongst many twins and multiples. TwinSpeak is when twins start babbling as babies, then speaking as toddlers, and they use words and/or phrases (and/or create whole languages) that they -- and only they -- understand. It is basically when twins develop a verbal form of communication all their own. TwinSpeak includes when twins use words that only each other understand, or when they continue to refer to things in a specific "twinspeak" way despite knowing the "correct" way. It is really interesting. And it is one of the things that makes parenting twins really different than parenting other children. Kyle and Owen have had lots of interesting phases of TwinSpeak over time. I could write tons about this. But for now, I just want to write about one tiny little instance that happened today on our way to daycare.

In the back seat of the "New Blue Car" the boys were chit-chatting along, as usual. It was quiet for a bit then Owen -- with his fingers fiddling around with his eyes/eyeballs -- suddenly announced: "See my TomKat?!"

He said it again, "SEE MY TOMKAT?!" I was desperately trying to understand what he was saying, so I was silent for a second. Owen said, "Hey, Kyle, see my TomKat?!"

Here's what then transpired:

Kyle: "Yeah, Owen, I see TomKat!"
Owen: "You have TomKat Kyle?"
Kyle: "Yeah, Owen, I have TomKat."
Owen: "You see my TomKat?"
Kyle (now with his fingers fiddling around with his eyes/eyeballs too): "Yeah, Owen, see my TomKat?!"
Owen: "Yeah, Kyle I see your TomKat. You like TomKat?"
Kyle: "Yeah, I like TomKat!"
Owen: "I like TomKat too!"
Kyle: "Yay TomKat!"

I was dumbfounded. Given the country's recent fascination and craze (o.k., I admit it: my recent fascination and craze too) over The TomKat (i.e. Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes: "TomKat" -- click here if you have been living in a bubble for the past year and don't know what I'm talking about)... the first thought I had was, "My god! Am I that pathetic of an in-the-closet-People-Magazine-reading-"TomKat"-junkie that my two year olds have somehow picked up on this TomKat craze thing?????!!!!!!! My god! How do they know about TOMKAT?!!!" I wracked my brain to try to remember ever even mentioning TomKat in front of my toddlers. Meanwhile, they continue on with their TomKat conversation in the backseat.

Then it occurred to me, "Wait a minute! Why are they fiddling with their eyes like that?! What does that have to do with Tom and Katie?" And suddenly I was able to translate their TwinSpeak to english (something I'm not very often successful at doing) ---- I loudly said, "Hey, boys!" to try to interrupt their boistrous TomKat conversation:

Me: "Are you talking about contacts?! Are you pretending you have contacts in your eyes!?"
Owen: "Yeah Mama! TomKats!"
Me: "It is contacts --- you say it, c-o-n-t-a-c-t-s."
Owen: "T-o-m-K-a-t-s."
Kyle: "You have TomKats Owen?!"
Owen, "Yeah, Kyle, I have TomKats!"
Kyle: "Owen, you see my TomKat?"
Owen: "Yeah, Kyle, I see your TomKat. You like TomKat?"
Kyle: "Yeah, I like TomKat!"
Owen: "I like TomKat too!"...
... and so it goes...

Just another day as ThirdWheel-Mama to my TwinSpeak-Twins.
:)

Twin Speak & Quote of the Day: "Underpants"

Back in January I wrote a post about "TwinSpeak" (click here for that post). Lately I've been thinking a lot about TwinSpeak because Kyle and Owen are suddenly so very, very verbal. Sometimes I almost can't even believe it myself, but seriously-- I can have full blown conversations with them now!!! And every, every, every, every single day they say something so funny that I'm almost peeing my pants laughing. Their language is so sophisticated now that I rarely don't understand them. They are totally capable of verbally communicating just about everything that they want to convey. And yet they still have certain TwinSpeak words that they both use; little remnants of their TwinSpeak; specific words that Kyle and Owen -- as twins -- have developed and use; unique words that only each other (and sometimes Braydon, or I, or other people who spend a lot of time with them) understand. One of the most fascinating parts about TwinSpeak is how twins continue to refer to certain things in their specific "twinspeak"-way long after they know-and-are-fully-capable-of referring to those things in the "correct" way. For example...

Despite being fully aware of the "correct" way of saying these things, and despite being fully capable of saying these things "correctly," when speaking with each other or in each other's presence (and only then), Kyle and Owen both still consistently say:

• unck (pronounced, with a grunt, "uh-en-ck!") = orange (the color)
• bulgadada (pronounced, "bull-ga-da-da") = bulldozer
• fird beeder = bird feeder
• whooping crane = whipped cream

Note: if they are on their own, out of ear shot of the other, they will say each of these words "correctly."

Tonight a funny TwinSpeak thing happened. There is some background info that is necessary here--- 1) Since we're really in the throws of some semi-serious potty training, lately we've been talking a lot about underpants around here. Mostly this is in the context of me saying things like, "Look boys! I wear underpants! I don't wear diapers! I don't wear pull-ups! I wear underpants!!!" The boys, especially Owen, are very interested in the whole concept of underpants. 2) For a long time I have had a koosh ball basketball hoop in my office, but it has gone unused for years. Late this afternoon I had the boys in my office with me and to occupy them I got out the basketball hoop for them to shoot koosh balls into. They loved it and I decided I may as well bring it home for them. When we got home I set it up in the kitchen.

So, this evening as I was making dinner Kyle and Owen were trying to throw balls into the basketball hoop in the kitchen. Here's what transpired:

Owen: Look Kyle, underpants!

[I hear this and kind of giggle to myself. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Owen with his hands down and his head looking down -- I figure he's pretending he has underpants on, or something like that]

Kyle: Yes! Underpants Owen!

Owen: Kyle, I can do underpants! Not you! Just me! I can do underpants!

Kyle: [annoyed/mad] No Owen, I can do underpants too!

Owen: No! Not you! Not you Kyle! Just Owen do underpants! You can't do underpants! You can't!

Kyle: [now really very annoyed/mad] No Owen! I can do underpants!

Owen: No! Not you! No underpants for you!

[at this point I know I need to intervene -- a major brawl is about to break out any second -- so I stop what I'm doing with dinner prep and start to move toward them]

Kyle: [now in full-body meltdown mode, about to physically attack his brother] No Owen! No! I can do underpants! Underpants for me too! Yes! Underpants!

Owen: [running for dear life away from Kyle, and starting to lose it] No underpants for you Kyle!

Me: BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! STOP IT!!!!!! Owen and Kyle, both boys can have underpants when both boys go on the potty like big boys.

Owen: No mama.

Kyle: Mama, NO!

Me: Yes! You can both have underpants when you're ready. Right now you have no underpants.

Owen: [now in a complete hysteric state, on the verge of a total emotional breakdown] No, no, no, mommy, no! Only Owen can do underpants.

Me: [I feel like I'm now on the scene of some sort of crazy toilet-training mediation stake-out] Owen, you are doing so good on the potty. But Kyle will get underpants too, when Kyle is ready.

Kyle: Mommy, watch this! [He has found the koosh ball and is holding it over his head. I turn to watch him as he throws it up toward the hoop]

Me: [feeling very relieved at this sign that they will potentially soon be distracted enough by the basketball hoop to drop the whole underpants thing] Wow Kyle! Great job!

Owen: Mommy, watch this! [He takes the koosh ball and holds it dramatically down between his legs, he then proceeds to very dramatically throw it up toward the hoop]

Me: Wow Owen! Great job!

Kyle: See mommy??? Underpants! Owen can do underpants!!!

Owen: Yes! And not Kyle! Kyle can't do underpants! Only Owen!

Me: Oh! You mean underhand?!!! Owen can throw the ball underhand!

[They both look at me like I'm stupid.]

Owen: Yes, underpants.

Kyle: [saying it slowly] U-n-d-e-r-p-a-n-t-s.

Me: You say, underhand.

[They both blatantly blow me off and turn away from me.]

Owen: Look Kyle, underpants!

Kyle: Yes! Underpants Owen!

Owen: Kyle, I can do underpants!

Kyle: Yes Owen! You do underpants! Watch this Owen...

..... and they continue playing as though nothing ever happened.....

Twinspeak: "The Boss"

I haven't posted about Twinspeak lately, but it is still going strong between K & O. (click here for another time I posted about Twinspeak). For those of you who are parents of twins, you know all about "Twinspeak" I'm sure, but for those of you not intimately familiar with twins, remember-- the twins (at least ours) know and often use the 'correct' word(s) when not in earshot of each other, but when in the presence of each other they consistently (and in our case, always, without any exceptions ever) use the 'twinspeak' word(s) in place of the 'correct' word(s). Some of my current favorite K-&-O-Twinspeak terms are:

• Syrian Bars = Cereal Bars


• Making Smoothies = either truly making yogurt smoothies in the blender or fiddling around with the humidifiers in their rooms


• Nanny Juice = Soda


• Bonk and/or Donk = the verb to slam with one's body


• Vacation Trees = Palm Trees


• Macaroni (when used just as the single word, not in conjunction with "and cheese") = the adjective anything good


• Bunny Macaroni = the adjective anything super good


• Stinky Macaroni = the adjective anything not good or in place of the word "yucky"

The funniest Twinspeak thing of late, however, is this~~~

A couple of weeks ago the four of us were eating lunch at home on a weekend. Owen started acting up at the table. Kyle said (in a very sing-song-y, bossy tone), "Owen, remember your table manners!" Immediately I said (firmly, to Kyle), "Kyle, that is not your job," and then (firmly, to Owen), "Owen, eat your lunch and stop acting up." Kyle said, "Why that not my job?" I said, "Because you are not the Mommy, you are the Brother." Owen, acting sassy, said, "I like it when Kyle says that to me." And Kyle jumped right in, "See, he likes it when I say that to him!?!" (this is another regular theme in our house-- often when we try to scold one of them for bothering the other, the 'other' will jump in claiming that they "like it" when their brother does whatever it is that we're trying to scold him for). "O.k., listen, both of you," I said "that's enough. Kyle, you are not the boss. Owen, you are not the boss. I am the boss." They both looked at me like I was crazy. So I tried to be more clear, "In this house, I am the boss!" Very upset, Kyle retorted right away, "No! MORFAR IS THE BOSS!" I didn't quite know how to react. Braydon was just sitting there watching this whole scene unfold. I said, "O.k., at MorFar's house, he is the boss, but at our house I am the boss." Owen was clearly unsettled by this. "No!" he said, "You are not the boss, MorFar is the boss." Kyle was deeply disturbed, to say the least. "No!!!" he yelled, "No! No! No! MorFar is the boss!" I had no idea where this was coming from or where it was leading, but I wanted to cut it off right there. I leaned down to his level and looked him in the eyes like I meant business, "No, Kyle, I am the boss of this house." Since that day either K or O or both have brought up the whole "Boss" topic at least once a day. It always revolves around "MorFar is the boss." Often while driving in the car I'll hear the two of them in the backseat discussing it: "Mommy is not the boss, MorFar is the real boss." "Yes! That's right, MorFar is the boss!" Or, I'll overhear them playing together in the playroom: "The boss is MorFar, MorFar is the boss!" "Yes! That's exactly right! MorFar is the boss!" These sorts of exchanges will go on, back-and-forth, back-and-forth over and over between the two of them. Anytime the word "boss" comes up, they say "MorFar" and in the past few days I've noticed them both starting to replace the word "boss" with the word "MorFar" (as in, "We are pilots! We are the MorFar of this airplane!" or "We are pretending we are teachers! We are the MorFar of this school!!!") I have been at an utter loss as to what this is all about... wavering between ignoring it and thinking it is just nothing, to frantically fretting that it is some sort of weird twisted three-year-old boy form of patriarchal-female-disempowerment. 'Why my father?' I've thought over and over in my own mind. 'Yes, I know they worship him, but The Boss?' And 'If they insist on it being a man instead of being me, then why not Braydon, why my father?????' I've fluctuated between just brushing it off and spending lots of time trying to untangle the whole mess in my own mind. And I've kept reminding the two of them that indeed, at our house, "Mommy is the boss." Until... yesterday...

When I got home from work a package was sitting in the garage. It was addressed to Kyle and Owen. And it was from MorFar! As soon as I got in the door the boys ripped it open in two seconds flat. Inside were two stuffed Fenway Park 'Green Monsters' wearing Boston Red Sox shirts and baseball hats. The boys were thrilled beyond belief, of course. They carrried them around for the rest of the night. They pretended they were "hitting the ball." And the "Red Soxes" (as they quickly came to call them) even had to eat dinner with us at the table. At one point K & O came right up to me, in the kitchen, as I was making dinner. "See," Kyle said, pointing to the "B" on the hat of his, "see, Mommy, it is a 'B' for Bosssssston Red Sox. See!?!?!" Halfway ignoring it, I said, "Uh huh." Owen tugged at my arm, "Look, Mommy, see, from MorFar, the Bosssssssssssssston Red Sox. See, Mommy??!!" I turned to look down at the two of them. Both of them standing there, holding their "Red Soxes" looking up at me with serious determined faces. "Yes," I said, "I see." Kyle smiled smugly and said, "See, Mommy, Bosssston Red Sox! See! MorFar is the Bossssssss!" And then they both took off running, very satisfied, with their "Red Soxes," to the playroom.

The Latest in K & O's Twinspeak

I've posted before about Kyle and Owen's twinspeak. As they get older their twinspeak becomes more and more sophisticated (and thus more and more cryptic to all those outside of their tight duo). Braydon and I will spend huge chunks of time trying hard to decipher what, exactly, they mean by certain parts of their linguistics. I, especially, am fascinated with it. This is one of the parts of raising twins that I really enjoy -- I find it strangely entertaining and fun to take on the intellectual challenge of trying to figure out exactly what their phraseology means and how to use their language correctly. They correct me if I get it wrong (believe me!). And they seem to get a little kick out of it when -- on the rare occasions -- I get it right and use one of their pieces of lingo appropriately. And yet, at the same time, they would never actually use a piece of their twinspeak in direct communication with me. Maybe that is, in part, why I feel some sort of bizarrely deep satisfaction with figuring out how they are using certain words, the origins of the words, and the various nuances to their usage. This part of living with them is like a living, breathing, 24x7 Mensa-challenge-brain-teaser! I spend countless hours observing intently, listening carefully, and trying to figure it out. Here are the latest two that I have mastered from their twinsy-talk.

• "Eins Eins!" This is a phrase, an exclamation, and also an adjective. The only translation I can think of that sort of comes close to it is the adjective "super" in Spanish. As in, in Spanish, "super lindo!" (very, very attractive), or "super delicioso!" (extra very much yummy), or "super rapido!" (so fast), etc. The K-O "eins eins" is often used similarly. They might say, for example, that really good ice cream is "eins eins tasty!" Getting ready to get on the plane for vacation is "eins eins exciting!" Meera is "eins eins cute!" Or they might say, "Mommy's new shoes are eins eins beautiful!" But the 'eins eins' is used in more ways than simply as an emphasizer. Sometimes it can be used to substitute for "pretty" or "nice" -- as in, (when looking out the window at some birds eating at our birdfeeder one morning), "Owen, look at the eins eins yellow bird!" or (when talking about a friend from school one day), "Kyle, he is our eins eins friend, right?" And sometimes it is a stand-alone exclamation, sort of similar to how you might use a 'honk' of your car horn to sort of say 'hello' to someone you know as you're driving by them on the street. One boy might be running, or riding his bike or scooter, very fast past the other, and then just as he passes by he will very quickly shout out "Eins! Eins!" to his brother. The most popular usage of this term, however, is in relation to their socks. Certain socks of theirs are "Eins Eins Slippery Socks" (all caps; as in a title). Almost all Eins Eins Slippery Socks are sports socks. But not all sports socks are Eins Eins Slippery Socks (I've learned this the hard way). When wearing Eins Eins Slippery Socks they like to slide around on the hardwood floors and make a big production of it -- "Look at these Eins Eins Slippery Socks!" / "Owen are you wearing Eins Eins Slippery Socks?!!" / "Kyle, you need to put on some Eins Eins Slippery Socks!" / etc. The origin of this "eins! eins!" thing seems to lie somehow with the show Little Einsteins, but I have yet to come up with any working theory as to exactly who/what/when/why/how this derived. And, as with all twinspeak, the "eins eins!" is only ever used between the two of them and/or in the presence of each other.
  
• "Bad Kitty!" - "Good Kitty!" This is never used in relation to a cat. In fact, they don't call cats kittys (according to them, "Only babies call cats kitties."). As far as I have been able to figure it out, "Bad Kitty!" - "Good Kitty!" is used in only two very specific circumstances. Either, a] in response to the driver of a vehicle's reaction to their efforts to get that driver to honk their horn for them, or b] in relation to "box trucks" (which is K-O twinspeak for 'mail delivery trucks'; i.e., a Fed Ex truck or a UPS truck). First A... at some point they learned that universal hand motion that can sometimes get a big mac-truck driver to honk their horn (holding their arm up in the air and pulling their fist down to motion to pull the horn). That eventually morphed into them doing this motion to every single vehicle driver that they see passing by on any road at any time. So they'll spend hours just doing this motion (extremely enthusiastically) to cars/trucks/motorcycles/anything driving by on any road they happen to be near. Probably about 1/4th of the time they manage to get the driver to honk at them. When the driver honks, they --every single time-- jump wildly up and down screaming "GOOD KITTY! GOOD KITTY!" When the person does not honk they --every single time-- stand there disgusted and forlorn saying "Bad Kitty! Bad Kitty!" until the next vehicle comes into sight. Next B... When a "box truck" pulls into our driveway, then it is enthusiastically greeted with shouts of "GOOD KITTY! GOOD KITTY!" When a "box truck" is spotted driving in or out of a neighbor's driveway then shouts of "Bad Kitty!" are sent in its direction. Origin of the term = the movie Madagascar II: Escape 2 Africa. In this movie an old lady repeatedly and comically tries to shoot the lion, all the while yelling "bad kitty!" at the lion. How and why this somehow morphed into K & O's linguistic use of the phrase in relation to horn-honking and 'box-trucks' is way, way, way beyond me.
  

K & O's Latest Twinspeak

• a "headbird" = a quarter (as in the coin; not 'heads or tails' but 'head or bird')
• a "flying sausage" = a flying saucer (as in the type of sled)
• a "barracuda" = a big wave (as in 'the big kahuna')
• an "invitation party" = a party that you get invited to via a formal, on-paper, invitation
• a "big crunch" = a big chunk of parmesan cheese (note: parmesan cheese only; if speaking of any other type of cheese --or any other of anything for that matter-- they say, a "big chunk")
• "lickitty" (as in, "Let's make it lickitty!") = to stir up your ice cream until it is liquidy/soupy

(for a couple examples of other posts on K & O's twinspeak click here and here)

K & O's School Lunches

Some mamas out there do some pretty incredible stuff for their kids' lunches. Check out this, this, this, this, this, or this as just a few of many examples out there in the blogosphere. These amazing (maybe slightly crazy?!-- I say that affectionately) mamas get really into their kids' lunch-making. I get it. I actually totally, totally get it. [tidbit sidenote -- Confession: I am absolutely convinced, knowing myself as I do, and knowing my own disturbing tendency to lean slightly (well, o.k., maybe heavily) toward the Type-A-over-zealous-personality-type side of the spectrum, that if I weren't totally strapped for time, I'd probably be the proud owner of one of these crazy-lunch-making-blogs too]. As it stands, I simply don't have the time/energy/desire to go completely over-the-top in the lunch-making realm... (and I am working on that Type-A-over-zealous-personality thing) so, instead, I just drop in on these sorts of blogs from time to time out of pure curiosity and utter amazement (and to remind myself --for better or for worse-- of what I could have been). As for K & O's school lunches... well, I have a love-hate relationship with the whole ball of wax. It is such a chore to unpack and repack their lunches every night (any lunch-packing person out there understands). On the other hand, I really like being in control of what they're eating and I get some sort of genuine pleasure out of providing their food for them -- nourishing them body and soul with it. So my feelings about their school lunch-making fluctuate back-and-forth. I have nothing but positive feelings, however, about the laptop lunch system. These bento box style containers (see below) make prepping their lunches interesting for me (without going overboard with tons of bells-and-whistles). And I like knowing that we're using all re-usable stuff instead of adding tons of plastic baggies and saran wrap to the landfills. Usually the boys have "yogurt lunch" (as mentioned in prior post) once a week, and "thermos lunch" (hot soup, stew, pasta, or leftovers of some kind) once a week. But at least 3 days a week they have "regular lunch" (the bento boxes). Here is a sampling of the kinds of "regular lunch" school lunches that I'm packing up for my boys these days.

clockwise from upper left~~ apple slices; their current favorite cookies (Country Choice Organic Iced Oatmeal); "squeezy yogurt" (as they call it -- their current favorite: Horizon Organic Yogurt 'Tuberz'); baby carrots; "special rolls" (whole wheat wrap rolled up with hummus and shredded cheese)

*

green peppers, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots with honey mustard dip; strawberries and blueberries; Annie's Honey Bunny Grahams; ham & cheese on whole wheat

*

fresh pears (they love pears, especially when I peel them!); puffed corn; grapes; turkey & cheese on whole wheat bun

*

Annie's Peace Pasta (mentioned in post from yesterday... strangely they'll eat this at room temperature -- I say "strangely" because normally they insist on stuff like this going in a hot thermos); mandarin oranges; baby banana; cheese stick; red peppers & blanched green beans with ranch dip
*

Granny Smith apples and red pears; Fruit U Bu fruit roll up (a special treat!); "squeezy yogurt"; baby carrots & cherry tomatoes; sesame nut butter & jelly on wheat (their school is completely a nut-free zone, so we need to use sesame nut butter, which I personally think is some pretty nasty stuff... interestingly, however, the boys don't mind it at all, and Owen has actually decided he prefers it to peanut butter [??!!!!go figure?!])
*
"Crackers & Cheese Lunch" (a fav!): watermelon; baby carrots; "syrian bar" (K & O twinspeak for 'cereal bar' -- they are absolutely obsessed with / addicted to cereal bars -- their current favorite is the brand seen here-- Health Valley Organic Apple Cobbler); assorted crackers; assorted cheeses: Parmesan (or, in K & O twinspeak, "CRUNCH" -- a big old chunk of expensive Parmesan -- this is their absolute favorite favorite favorite cheese and the more expensive the better), mozzarella cheese stick, Colby-Jack cubes, and a nice little brick of extra sharp cheddar (the sharper the better -- this is their next favorite cheese after parmesan)
*

grapes; "zucchini bread sandwich" (two pieces of zuch bread with cream cheese in between); a tomato; hummus & cheddar on wheat
*

This is a rare lunch day --- when I have the gumption to actually pack two totally different lunches according to their own separate tastes and preferences.... Here goes~~ KYLE'S LUNCH (ON LEFT): couscous with carrots, raisins, and chick peas; red peppers; hummus & crackers; grapes. OWEN'S LUNCH (ON RIGHT): steamed baby carrots & steamed broccoli with honey mustard dip; turkey and honey mustard on wheat (notice the honey mustard theme!); cheese stick; grapes.

Swinging - In and Out, In and Out, In and Out

We've been working on pumping skills (when swinging) lately. For as physically agile and ridiculously adept as Kyle and Owen are, their swinging-pumping skills have always been surprisingly lackluster. Given that they -- for example -- walked at 10 months, could hit golf balls very hard and very far at 14 months (hard and far enough that one of Kyle's hits from the front yard broke a window in our house), were shooting hoops to a full height basket at 18 months, were riding Razor scooters (and doing tricks on them) at 24 months, were diving swan dives off the ledge of the pool (and swimming underwater the width of the pool) at 2 years 2 months, were snorkeling in the open Caribbean when they were barely 3, and are now hitting baseballs into the neighbors' yards at barely 4... (... you get the drift...)... you'd think that they could pump on a swing. But no. So lately we've been really trying to get them to grasp the whole pumping concept: in and out, in and out, in and out. Really, I think they just really like being pushed and have no motivation to learn to pump. But with a lot of coaching and a lot of coaxing, they are starting to get better at it. This weekend we saw their swinging skillz greatly improve. And I see this as a metaphor for the weekend for all of us: in and out, in and out, in and out.

Our emotions are like four pendulums, our tempers are swinging, our patience is swaying, etc. Again, you get the drift -- lots of fussing, screaming, tantruming, dropping-onto-the-floor-in-a-weeping-heap (I'm speaking both literally and figuratively for all four of us here!). But also lots of moments of sweet contentment, sheer happiness, empathy, and pulling together too. Kyle kisses my belly hundreds of times a day just at random, and tells me "Mommy, I love that baby inside there." Owen talks gently to the baby regularly trying to convince her to "get out of there." In hopes to find inspiration for tolerance, Braydon is back to re-reading our favorite parenting book of all time (the perfect owners manual for our particular twinados; OMG are our boys ever classic textbook SSpirited with a double capital 'S') -- Raising Your Spirited Child (click here). And I'm just basically using every single bit of self-control I have in me to try to remain calm amidst the storm. K & O are trying to be good for their frazzled parents (which is a lot for them, all things considered). And Braydon and I are trying to keep up with our wild high-energy pushing-pushing-pushing boys (which is a lot for us, all things considered). I feel like we're all in and out, in and out, in and out. And not usually swinging in coordination with one another. But we're dealing. And trying to pass the time. What else are we supposed to do?

The truth is, this is nothing compared to the waiting that we went through (all four of us) during our adoption. Nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to that. This just pales in comparison. Pales. I think about that constantly. I can't really speak for what K & O must have gone through (I hate to even let myself think about what those first eight months of life were like for them). So I'll only speak for myself here. But I can confidently say: I'd take the in-and-out, in-and-out, in-and-out emotional rollercoaster of physical discomfort, aches and pains, feeling like a beached whale, hard-to-sleep, everyone-on-the-edge-of-their-seat, trying-to-pass-time, 4-days-passed-the-due-date, weirdness of this melodrama over the in-and-out, in-and-out, in-and-out emotional rollercoaster of a literal ticking-clock, life-or-death, tiny-babies-barely-surviving-in-a-Haitian-orphanage, no-end-in-sight, sleepless nights melodrama of our Haitian adoption process any day of the week. Seriously. I'm sorry if that offends anyone out there who just doesn't get it. But it is the honest to God truth. After having gone through what we went through (and knowing the stories of so many others who have gone through much worse), I have a hard time complaining about this. It is all relative. So, at the end of the day (or the end of a very loooong past-due-date weekend, as the case may be), and at the end of this pregnancy (hopefully the end!!!!!!!!!!!) I really can't bear to complain. It just feels foolish to me -- the idea of complaining about something so relatively easy. Yes, being 9 months + 4 days pregnant kind of sucks. Yes, I'm ready to be done with this. Yes, I kind of want to spend the entire day napping. Yes, I kind of wish someone would devote themselves to catering to my every whim for the remainder of this baby-countdown. But it really isn't that bad. In comparison... it really, really isn't. And so we just keep swinging.

Here are some random (very random!) shots from the weekend. Our good camera is packed for the hospital, so we just have our old camera out -- and our photo taking has been sporadic, at best.







In other news -- interestingly, June was back with us pretty much full-time this weekend. (For those of you who don't know about K & O's imaginary friend click here for one of many posts where we have written about her.) Here are some fun facts that I've learned about June these past couple of days:

• June's bike is black
• June's raincoat is gray
• June's rainboots are blue and green
• When June "has a pee pee accident in the night" (i.e., wets her bed) she "cleans herself up all by herself"
• When June goes out to lunch with us she always orders macaroni and cheese, if at all possible
• When June goes out to lunch with us at California Tortilla (where mac 'n cheese is not possible) she chooses an Oatmeal Raisin cookie over a brownie for dessert after she finishes her burrito (just like K & O)
• June has her own bedroom -- it is between Kyle and Owen's bedrooms
• June has a peace crane hanging from the ceiling in her bedroom -- just like K & O do
• June is not good at pumping
• June is not K & O's sister
• June is not going to be allowed to hold Baby Sister (she'll have her own baby)
• June's age is variable depending on what we (or she) is doing at any given moment -- sometimes she's 4, sometimes 10, sometimes (often) she's 35 or 36. And every once in a while, June is "tweety" years old (see below)
• June does not know how to snap, but she is trying to learn (see below)

And here's some more recent random info from our neck of the woods -- The Latest Re: K & O Twinspeak (click here for another post on this topic)

• "Tweety" (not to be mistaken for the word 'twenty' -- how dare you!!!!!) is a number. This number is 100% made up by K & O and does not resemble any other number known to humankind, and yet is used in their language many times every day. From what I can gather, it means 'many' or 'a lot' or 'a high number' or 'infinite.' But, importantly, it is also fluid (i.e., it is not a fixed number and can fluctuate depending on the circumstance). It is not interchanged with any other word and does not replace any real number. Examples --there are tweety caterpillars swarming around in the nest in the tree in the front yard; the ocean has tweety fish in it; a car driving too fast is driving tweety [mph] on the road; David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez (red sox) can hit the baseball tweety far; Tiger Woods can hit the golfball tweety; a very old man might be tweety years old; sometimes June is tweety years old (when she gets to do something that K & O are not allowed to do, such as cook by herself on the hot stove); K & O are so hungry that they want to eat tweety cheese; Papi is so funny that he is tweety funny; and my favorite... K & O "love Mommy tweety times around."
• "Snap!" is a remark. Owen can snap his fingers to make a loud snap sound. Kyle cannot. Snapping has become a big thing around here. The word "snap" is now part of K & O's twinspeak. To say "snap!" while motioning a snap motion with their fingers in someone's face (sound or not), indicates something along the lines of either 'awesome! you're totally cool! hip hip hooray!' or 'bummer! you're a total drag! boo to you!' Examples -- I say, "I have an idea! Let's go play outside!" and I get two quick loud punctuated verbal "SNAP!"'s along with both boys jumping up and doing the snapping hand motion fast and furious in my face as they run toward the door; I say, "No, we're going to eat dinner soon, you cannot have any cheese!" and I get two quick loud punctuated verbal "SNAP!"'s along with both boys jumping up and doing the snapping hand motion fast and furious in my face as they give me the hairy eyeball and saunter off to the playroom; Kyle does something rude to Owen and he gets the "SNAP!" in response; Owen suggests some fun pretend game to Kyle and he gets the "SNAP!" in response; sometimes they'll be chattering together in the backseat of the car and suddenly they'll both do the "SNAP!" at the same time (in the midst of talking about something super cool or something that they think is a super downer).

O.k., that's it for today. Blogging can now officially be counted as one of my "things to do to pass time waiting for baby"!!! We know that many of you are checking in here for updates -- 697 of you yesterday, to be exact. We feel very checked-in-after, and I've gotta say-- it feels good! Thank you! Don't fret -- we'll keep you updated! ;)

Post Vaca Update

Since returning home from our vacation the boys are playing ALL THINGS VIRGIN GORDA non-stop. If you ask them where they went on vacation they'll jubilantly exclaim: "Virgin Gorda Island!!!" If you ask them about the trip they'll tell you about all sorts of things that were important from their point-of-view... such as:

• "Lizards!" Kyle is proud to explain that he "touched one!" But the lizards are so fast, that despite the fact that both boys tried all week to "catch a lizard!", neither succeeded. And, in fact, only Kyle ever actually touched one. However, Owen will tell you proudly, that he was "this close!" [to touching one]! The boys spent a significant amount of their vacation time "looking for lizards!"
• "Vacation Trees! and polk-a-dots!" Palm trees are called "vacation trees" by the boys. They love them. And they love trying to climb them. Also, despite our best efforts, twinspeak is in full swing when it comes to the word 'coconuts'... no matter how many times we try to correct them to say "coconuts" both Kyle and Owen refer to coconuts as "polk-a-dots" when in each other's presence (and only when in each others presence).
• "Salty in the eyes!" Saltwater in the eyes was a constant theme.
• "Hermit crabs" The loved trying to catch hermit crabs... and unlike with the lizards, the boys were often successful at catching them. But, they got pinched by the hermit crabs' claws (some of these hermit crabs were absolutely huge) often enough to be a bit shy of them by the end of the week!
• "Pelicans" K & O loved watching the pelicans dive beak-first into the ocean for fish.
• "Goats! and chickens!" There were tons of wild goats and chickens all over the island. Regularly we'd see goats and chickens walking on the roads as we'd try to drive without hitting them. This was a very, very big deal for the boys... who loved looking out the windows for the goats and chickens.
• "No seat belts!" Of course there are no seat belt (let alone car seat!) laws on Virgin Gorda. The people there thought we were absolutely crazy for putting the boys in car seats. After a couple days we let it all go... and the boys were free to ride around with no buckles buckled. As you can imagine, this was huge for them. And they loved that!
• "Outside shower!" Our villa had two bathrooms, one attached to each of the bedrooms. The showers in both were outdoors, tucked in amongst beautiful boulder/rock gardens. Showering every evening in the "outside shower" was a highlight for the boys.
• "Huge fish!" All the snorkeling we did was a major highlight.
• "The ferry!" This was, perhaps the highlight of the trip for both Kyle and Owen... riding the ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda on the first day, and then back again at the end of our trip. Both boys told us the following (and I quote) numerous times throughout our trip and also have continued to repeat this numerous times since returning home: "I want to drive the ferry. When I am a big man I am going to drive the ferry. I will be the captain. Me and my brother. We will both be driving the ferry. We will be the captains." While in Virgin Gorda, while boarding the ferry, Owen asked the captain, "Is this your boat?" The man explained that it was not his boat, but he was the driver. Owen said, "I like your big boat!" And then Owen told the captain: "I want to drive your big boat!" The captain looked Owen in the eye and with complete sincerity said, "Little brother, I have a feeling one day you will own a boat much bigger than this one." It was a poignant moment for me, one that Owen will never remember, but one that I won't soon forget.

Since coming home the boys' play is almost 100% focused on playing-out the trip. They ride their tricycles and explain that they are "driving the rental car! to the villa!" They ride their scooters and shout out, "We're going to the villa!!!" The play with their toy planes constantly pretending that they are "going up in the sky! to San Juan!" and that they are "landing on the runway! at the Tortola airport!" Every object becomes a ferry. The ferry is "going so fast!" and it is always "going to Virgin Gorda!" Every playground is a ferry, and the boys are the captains. I am told to "sit! hold on tight! you're on the ferry mama! it is going so fast! this ferry is going to Virgin Gorda island! Mama, say 'good job captain!'" Of course I oblige it all. They walk along the pathway in front of our house and pretend they are "looking for lizards!" (just like they did on the path outside our villa), and that they are "looking for hermit crabs!" The jump onto the floor, pretending to dive into the swimming pool and the ocean. I think the boys had a good time! ;) People have often told us that it is a "waste" to take the boys on such vacations since "they won't even remember it." Oh, what hogwash! Of course they won't remember it. That's not the point.

Patricia Visits!

We spent the weekend with our friend Patricia, who came to visit us from Boston. Patricia is an old friend from our Boston graduate school days. She and I were in the same PhD program years back. We've had some good times studying Schutz, The Frankfurt School, etc. for our comprehensive exams together (??!!?!). We've had some good times going through the PhD-hoops-plus-20-something-angst together (??!!?!). Those are bonding times!!! But in all seriousness, she got real close to Braydon too, and together with a ton of Boston friends we've all had some really good times together -- many of them over dinner in various Boston apartments or over drinks in various Boston bars (margaritas and queso dip at The Border Cafe immediately come to mind)! We were with each other when we were really growing up. But now we see her rarely. However, she's one of the best kinds of old friends -- you start right back up where you left off (depsite not having seen each other for ages), and things are relaxed as can be. Owen and Kyle love her, and all five of us had a good time together for a weekend of doing nothing but everything. A highlight was going to Cosi for lunch and then having s'mores for dessert... with K & O as the "Cheffers" (some kind of twisted twinspeak verbal combo of "cooker" and "chef"). Patricia also got to see plenty of baseball action and Diego videos! ;0 She took a bunch of cute photos-- many of the photos on this post were taken by her. Last night while I was getting Owen ready for bed he said, "Mommy, I'm so sad." I said, "Why are you sad?" He said, "Because Patricia left us." So sad to have her go, but so fun to have had her here!!! Thank you for coming Patricia!!!!!!

END OF FOOD WEEK

Cheers to the end of Food Week!

Well "Food Week" somehow morphed into 'Food 3+ Weeks'; we've been at this now since March 9 and as of right now, it is, finally, officially over. We will, as soon as we can get to it, announce the winner of the Food Week Contest and post the highly anticipated video.

Food WeekS was super fun for me. It was a nice change of blogging pace and I feel like it was very cool that I wound up documenting some of the boys' favorite recipes... now they are here and we can go back to them years from now when they are long forgotten. It is especially cool since most of the recipes I posted were not previously written down anywhere (they were only in my own head). Now I know that if -- God forbid -- anything ever happens to me, someone can still make my boys their beloved Pesto Cream Sauce when they've had a bad day or when they are nervous on the eve of the first day of school. Somehow, as depressing as the thought is that I may not always be around to cook for them, it is comforting to me to know that these recipes are somehow documented now. That is a nice, unanticipated, twist to Food Week.

To all who participated in the contest: thanks for all the great recipes! I'll be cooking up a storm with these for weeks to come!

So, now, back to our usual blogging routine!


P.S. One last, final, set of "Food Week Photos"-- K & O eating ice cream... 9 times out of 10 they stir their ice cream up, "making it lickitty" (K & O twinspeak for some sort of verbal cross-section between the words "lick" and "liquidy" and "lickity-split"/quick-fast). For them, at least half the fun of eating ice cream at home (interesting note: they never do this when we go out for ice cream) is stirring it super fast and watching as it turns from a solid into a liquid -- i.e., "making it lickitty!"