Wanted: A structural engineer to shore up shaky towers
Also Wanted: A fashion designer to shore up shaky fashion choices. The child loves stripes!
|
|
|
|
When my mom was watching the girls for me last month during her visit, she attempted to help the girls make their own candy necklaces out of Fruit Loops cereal. However, the girls were more interested in consumption than creation, so the activity was put on hold. Yesterday, Susie spotted a picture in a parenting magazine of a girl wearing a candy necklace and she told me she wanted to make one. So today I broke out the Fruit Loops and tried again. The craft was actually a great way to work with them on their manual dexterity as well as impulse control and delayed gratification (I almost sound like I know what I’m doing! In the moment, it was more like a: “Can their stubby little fingers figure this out before they give into the temptation and eat everything and end up with nothing but a piece of string?”).
I was impressed that it didn’t take long before they were threading the cereal without any assistance, and that they even refrained from sampling the cereal…that is, until I gave Becky permission to eat a broken Fruit Loop. Once she got a taste, it was more like a thread-one-eat-one process.
The finished product was very cute, and Becky immediately decided that the necklace was better used as a snack than a decorative item.
Susie, on the other hand, was very pleased with her hard work, and wanted to show it off to the world. Here are her proud poses:
Her necklace actually remained untouched for several hours, because she urgently wanted to show its entirety to her Grammie and Grandpa. Once we called them and “showed” Grandpa the necklace via iPhone Facetime, it was gone in thirty seconds! I was trying to brainstorm a more healthy version of this necklace activity that I could do with the girls next time, but then I decided that would take the fun out of it. Who wants to wear vegetables around their neck? And what vegetable, or fruit or anything wholesome for that matter, comes in a large, convenient circle anyway? Sugar high, here we come! How do you combine a few of my favorite things, all in one spot?
Go out to IHOP with my favorite ladies, eat lots of pancakes and have lots of laughs! Thanks for the wonderful time yesterday, Maria and Laura! Nothing like homemade S’mores to end the day.
Hope your day was filled with gooey goodness! I interrupt our normally scheduled blog post for this late-breaking announcement: Susie successfully used the potty twice today!
Let’s hope we can keep this trend going! Q: How do you know when you’re desperate for spring to arrive? A: When you spread out a blanket for a picnic in the driveway while a foot of snow still covers the yard.
Hurry up, Spring! We want our grass back! Earlier this afternoon, Becky sang a perfect rendition of her ABC’s and I realized that I hadn’t yet caught her performance on video. So I got out the camera and asked her to sing her ABC’s for me. After bobbling the first few letters, she hit her stride and did well with the rest of the song. She even agreed to sing me a second song of her choice, but as you’ll see, she didn’t make it quite to the end. If you turn up the volume on your computer during the last part of the video, you can hear her explain, “I want to just see Susie.” I guess she couldn’t be at her best without her constant companion in the audience! Susie wants you to meet someone. Some people may call him a bit of a blockhead, but she loves him all the same. Everyone, meet Vector.
Susie created Vector at our playground this morning (for an explanation of his name, you’ll have to watch her current favorite move, “Despicable Me”). His hands and feet and head are forever falling off. She sobs every time, as if she feels his pain, and then she tearfully begs me to “Fic my Vecow!” (Fix my Vector). And so I dutifully reposition his pipe cleaner appendages and glue on his extremities.
I tried several times to hide Vector today, hoping Susie would forget about her rectangular buddy. But every time she noticed his absence, she’d go on a “Vector Hunt,” and I’d cave and hand over the missing friend to an incredibly grateful Susie. I’m thinking my insides must be made of the same spongy material as Vector’s, because Susie’s proving me to be a softie!
I’m often asked to describe how the girls are different from each other, and the question always stumps me. I suppose I have difficulty answering because the girls themselves seem to change from day to day; the child that is laid-back and independent on Monday is needy and clingy by Wednesday, and her sister is the opposite on any given day. I used to say that Susie was hands-down the more social child, but lately Becky has been much more friendly (especially with kids her age) and Susie is the one hanging onto my legs when we enter a crowded room. Susie is still the more cuddly and physically affectionate one, but Becky occasionally curls up on my lap when she needs a hug. They both love reading, but right now Becky goes through books faster and Susie prefers to stick with one book for a longer period of time. Susie recently started to love arranging and rearranging small toys, and Becky has always preferred more vigorous activities like chasing and jumping. Becky is more physically daring and is forever wanting to go “Faster! Faster!” But Susie is the one who ends up messier during outdoor play, reveling in puddles, mud, sand, or snow. To illustrate another one of their differences, I’ll share with you their most recent artwork. First up is Becky. Nearly everything she draws right now is circular in shape, and she holds her Crayons very lightly, almost as if she doesn’t want to make any mistakes.
In contrast, here is Susie’s bold handiwork, using more straight lines and sweeping motions. That girl is not afraid of making a colorful impression.
The thing is, I wouldn’t generalize these artistic tendencies to their greater personalities, since Becky is not reserved or tentative in any other areas, and I wouldn’t classify Susie as particularly bold or impulsive. But they definitely have very different drawing styles. I guess the bottom line is that although the girls shared a womb (but not a birthdate), they are clearly individuals who making their own mark on the world! I know I said in a previous post that I’m keeping a distance (or more specifically, a door) between the girls and our cat; however, my mom made the good point that I can’t expect them all to get along if I don’t give them a chance to interact. She suggested that perhaps the girls wouldn’t be so hyper and rough with him if he were a more commonplace sight around the house. So I decided to offer supervised visitation between the girls and Tommy the other day. It went well, I guess. No one ended up mauled, that I could tell. Maybe we made some small steps forward in bridging the female-feline gap in the household. Or maybe Tommy was just so grateful for the attention that he’d put up with anything right now. On second thought, I don’t think that look on his face in this picture is one of gratitude. It looks more like attitude!
|
|
|
Copyright © 2026 My Faith and Joy… and Boys! - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
|
Recent Comments