Pushing on the swings

Before I get to our playground pictures, I just want to share with you yet another sleeping baby picture.  It’s been a tough sleeping week (month, year), but I’m having a harder time than usual with their sleep shenanigans because Justin is out of town.  I don’t have anyone to come relieve me if it’s really bad, and I have no one to talk to when I finally get them to sleep and I come out of their bedroom.  Last night, I had a bad headache and I was really tired from only four hours of sleep the night before, and the morning sickness was on the verge of becoming overwhelming.  Amazingly enough, both babies snuggled into my arms, listened to a few stories, and then drifted off to sleep within 30 minutes of climbing into bed.  I took this picture to commemorate the occasion.

Ronin and Claire sleeping, 26 months

Today I went to a new playground with them.  I’ve been getting a little tired of my few tried-and-true fenced parks, and they’re getting old enough that they sometimes return to me when I say “Come back!” insted of running as fast as they can away from me.  It did happen once or twice today that one of them took off running, but they didn’t run off in different directions at the same time, so I was able to catch the runner with a quick sprint.  I was nervous because of the water, but it made a pleasant backdrop and they didn’t run straight toward it.

Ronin with grass

It is a pretty day, one of those days that actually makes me appreciate Autumn.  The air was crisp but the sun was warm.  Claire and Ronin paused for a hug on a rock overlooking the Bay.  They are both really enjoying hugging and kissing these days, mostly with the grown-ups, but occasionally with each other.  Ronin asks “Huggie?” which is his own invention for an imperative.  We realized a long time ago that “Downy”  means “Put me down!” and “Uppy” means “Pick me up!”

Hugging

They took turns pushing each other on the swings.   They’re still learning not to follow the swing when it goes forward so they don’t get knocked over when the swing comes back, but they’re improving all the time.   Claire is saying “Claire’s seat” in the video, for those who may not understand her.

Ronin pushing Claire on the swing

We were reluctant to leave, but we had to get home in time for a snack before naptime.  I can’t wait to go to this park with Justin, so we can go for a walk on the trail next to the Bay.

Examining the letters on the rock

Another baby!

Yes, that’s right!  Claire and Ronin are getting a new baby brother or sister next May.  We are so excited!  The twins don’t completely understand it yet, but Claire has been patting my belly and saying “Baby” and also suggested the name Kai-Lan.

Ronin has been saying another Mandarin word.  When I ask him if he is listening to Mommy, he turns to me and says “Ting!”  That means listen, so I guess he is agreeing with me.

Justin, meanwhile, is still at his conference and tells me he wants to be here.  He’s been videoconferencing us when he can, and I sent him a text message from the doctor’s office today to let him know as soon as I found out there was only one baby in there, and that it had a good heartbeat.  I’ve gotten so big, so fast, we were worried about more multiples.  Hopefully this will stop him from referring to me as Octomom.

What Justin sees when he Skypes us

Party at the Little Farm

We went to the Little Farm in Berkeley last weekend, knowing that we were getting there near closing time but desperate to do something fun with the babies AND get rid of our excess accidentally-bought celery.  Much to our surprise, they were having a big party there, with live music and booths.  My mom made some pinwheels for the twins at one of the booths.

Justin and Claire blowing on the pinwheel

It was a hot day, but Claire and Ronin danced to the music for a while.  Then we took a tour around the farm to feed the animals.  The sheep were particularly hungry that day.   The twins were delighted, and I regretted not bringing along our other bunch of celery.

Claire and teeth

After we finished off the celery, we strolled to the main area of the farm and found two tractors to climb on.

Tractor excitement

On the farm

It was a fun time for everyone, and we were glad we decided to go.

“R ~ Ronin”

R is for Ronin

Ronin has been increasingly paying attention to letters.  Every time he sees an R he points to it and says “R, Ronin.”  He noticed B-O-Y spelled out on blocks the other day and said each letter, and when I told him that B-O-Y spells “Boy” he was fascinated.  Since then he has been pointing to other words and asking me what they are.  It is so neat to realize that he just made a leap of understanding, that letters combine to form words and that written words are symbols with meaning.  Ronin also surprised Justin recently by saying “Chui” when holding out a pinwheel for him to blow.  We had to go look it up, and sure enough, that is the Mandarin word for blow.  It’s a little weird having the twins know words that we don’t know.

R is for rocking

Claire, meanwhile, has been working on her pronouns.  She can say “Mine” and “Yours” correctly and frequently.   When she sees a picture of herself, she still says “Claire” but also says “Me!”

C is for Claire

Claire has also been singing along with songs more often, and knows some words to the ones she hears most often.  I sing the alphabet song every time I brush their teeth, and it’s funny to see her trying to sing along with her mouth open and a toothbrush in it.

C is for companionship

Claire has been demonstrating some more evidence of a good memory.   She always remembers where items are on the pages of her books, but recently she saw a balloon animal and then talked about the last balloon animal she’d seen, several days before that.

C is for counting

Justin is away on business for the next week, in Boston and then Toronto.  He talked to the twins about his trip and that he was leaving on an airplane, but it didn’t stop them from asking about him at dinnertime last night (since he always comes home right before dinner)  and asking about him at bedtime, since he normally gets them ready for bed.  I keep reminding them that he’s at work for a whole week.  We all miss him.

Costumes and painting

We have been adding to the collection of dress-up clothes.  We now have a Blue’s Clues and a Tinkerbell costume.

Ronin as Blue

Claire with cowboy hats, balloons, and Tinkerbell dress

We are expecting a long heatwave starting tomorrow, but even yesterday it was quite warm.  I stripped the twins down to their diapers and they painted for a while, and then we all took a cool shower.  It was fun and refreshing.

Ronin painting

Ronin has just started saying “Ummm” as a filler when he can’t think of what to say.  He told me “I want… ummm… two kisses” this morning.  He is also trying to master every verb he can.  He asks what people are doing frequently, so we can tell him the verb.  He is not so good at asking in a complete sentence, but we get the drift.  Every few minutes he asks “Claire doing?” or “Daddy doing?” and we tell him the action.

Sleeping arrangements

After more than two years of sleeping with us, the twins are now sleeping in their own room.   I thought it would be really difficult, but they have actually been sleeping quite well during the night.  Except for two incidents of Claire falling off the foot of the bed (she rolls around a lot), it’s been remarkably peaceful.  In fact, Justin didn’t sleep well the first night and had me go check on them in the middle of the night to make sure they were still breathing.  I am not sure why they’re sleeping better now.   Before we moved them, they were waking up a few times in the night and refusing to go back to sleep unless they were cuddled.  Maybe we were waking them up when we rolled over.  I still hear them wake up from time to time, but they go back to sleep immediately, without being held.

Sleeping in their own bed in their own room

We have had a lot of different sleeping arrangements with them.  When they first came home from the hospital, they were in a co-sleeper next to the bed.  After that, they slept in our bed and we just used the co-sleeper for diaper changes.  Later on, when they got bigger and more mobile, we put our mattress down on the floor and put a twin bed next to it.  This summer, we put the box springs under our bed and side-carred the crib next to it.

Side-carred crib

We realized the crib was getting small and the babies were still mostly trying to sleep on our bed, so we put a full-sized bed next to ours and used that as the baby bed about a month ago.  However, they still weren’t using their bed very much so we rearranged the furniture once again and put their bed in the nursery.  I still cuddle with them when I read them books before naptime and bedtime, but all of us seem to be sleeping better during the night.  And yes, I still check on them at least once a night.

I heard you talking in your sleep

Peacefully sleeping

Claire has been talking in her sleep lately.  A few nights ago, she said “No no no no NO NO no no NO!” and then the next night she said “Yes yes yeah yes YES yeah yes!”  Last night she chuckled for a while.  I wish I knew what her baby dreams were about.

It's Claire!

I love this picture of Claire.  I have many pictures of myself as a toddler making that exact same face.  Claire had so much fun at the playground, running and sliding and spinning around.

It's Ronin!

Ronin was fine all morning yesterday.  We went to a playground and he ran around for a long time.  Then, in the afternoon, we went to another playground and he just lay with his head on my lap and watched Claire run around.  He wouldn’t walk.  If I stood him up, he would just cling to any nearby supporting object, listlessly, and wait for me to pick him up again.  On the way home, he started crying inconsolably and when I asked him what was wrong, all he would say is “Ronin crying.”  He touched his throat and ears a couple of times.  When we got home, he still couldn’t be comforted and still wouldn’t move so I gave him some Ibuprofen and called the doctor.  I had a phone consultation and was told to bring him in for an appointment this morning.  Half an hour after I gave him the Ibuprofen he perked up and was back to doing headstands on the couch.

He slept well all night, so I’m not sure what was going on with him.  I’m still going to take him in for his appointment, because if it’s his first ear infection, I don’t want to delay and have him get worse over the weekend.  I am sure I’ll have to explain the faint happy face drawn on his tummy.

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Later… Ronin woke up happy and chipper, so I ended up canceling the appointment.  I also called work because I felt so badly about calling in sick, but they had replaced me and didn’t need any help.  I still have no idea what was wrong with little Ro.

“Xie xie, Mommy”

Claire and dandelion

Yesterday when I put Claire’s dinner in front of her, she said “Xie xie, Mommy,” which is “Thank you” in Mandarin.  She can also say “Hello” in Mandarin.  Ni Hao, Kai Lan is one of her favorite shows and apparently she’s picking up a little Chinese while she’s dancing along to the songs.

Justin and Claire, swinging

We are enjoying the long holiday weekend.  We went to a wedding on Saturday while my mom babysat for us.  It was so much fun!  We got all dressed up and had a nice dinner and danced and we were able to talk to our friends without having to chase after runaway toddlers.  It was relaxing, and I have to say again–Thank you, Mom!

Yesterday we took the twins for rides on the steam trains in Tilden Park, followed by a walk through the extensive botanical gardens.  They had a lot of fun running around, although we had to watch them carefully to make sure they didn’t pick any plants.  I’ve been working on telling them “Smell, no pick” around other people’s flowers, but they still get enthusiastic.

Holding hands

A collection of silly faces

What can I say?  We had fun at the playground today.

Sharing a kiss

Sharing a slide

Animal Zoo

Last weekend it was really hot.  Justin and I tried out a local pool that offered drop-in swimming lessons for toddlers.  It turned out to just be a free-for-all, with equipment available and instructors hanging out for informal advice.  The main instructor told us the first time we should just get them used to the chaotic environment and let them feel at ease in the pool, so we just played and swam around.  Ronin really loves the water, and Claire tolerates it.  It was wonderful to get cooled off in the blazing heat, though.

On Sunday we went to the zoo with my mom.  It wasn’t quite as hot, and the zoo was packed with animals as well as the creatures in pens.

Ronin picking a frog's nose

Claire and Ronin had so much fun.  They loved seeing all of the animals and climbing up and around all of the structures in the children’s section.

Claire taking a break

We ventured into the petting zoo section, and they were able to brush goats.  The poor goats were surrounded by swarms of children, all wanting to brush them and pet them.  Luckily there are safe areas where the animals can go to escape the hordes of children.

Claire, excited about brushing a goat

That night, after their bedtime stories, Claire would not stop talking about the “animal zoo.”  She would get sleepy and then all of a sudden sit up and shout “Animal zoo!  Monkeys!  Monkeys!” and I’d shhhh her and she’d lie back down, and then a few moments later jump up and shout “Animal zoo!  Piggies!  Piggies!”  She’s been doing that all week, before naps and before bed.   It obviously made a huge impression on her, and it’s neat that she’s thinking about it even days later.  I just wish she’d exclaim a little more quietly when Ronin’s trying to sleep too.

Ronin and Grandma Jan