February 5, 2010, at 8:54 pm | The girls are at an age where they copy everything I do. I enjoy watching them learn, and I try to be intentional about performing tasks in front of them that I want them to imitate, such as cleaning up toys and other messes. It’s a wonderful feeling to watch the girls grow in their mastery of activities of daily living.
But sometimes I wonder whether they are watching too closely. For example, today Rebecca was very excited about the task of folding laundry. She would select an item from the pile of clean clothes, carefully lay it down on the floor and meticulously manipulate the fabric until it was just so. Then she would look up with a delighted grin and trundle off to choose her next article to fold. Here is a picture of her completed pile:
Believe it or not folks, she spent quite a bit of time making sure those clothes looked just like that. Here she is in action:
Her technique looks suspiciously like my own method of folding fitted bed sheets. It’s kind of a cram-crumple-stuff-pat sequence. I think I’m going to have to step up my laundry-folding precision a touch. Because someone’s always watching.
February 4, 2010, at 9:34 pm | 
Becky: “Mirror, mirror in my hand,
Who’s the fairest of the land?”
Mirror: “It must be your sister sweet –
Whose taste in clothes just can’t be beat!”
Becky: “Take a closer look. You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Susie: “I think your mirror has excellent taste!”
February 3, 2010, at 9:31 pm | Today, I found myself eating cookies alone in the bathroom to avoid having to split them with the girls.
I’m not exactly modeling proper sharing etiquette, am I?
And at the rate that I’m consuming those cookies, I’m certainly not going to be doing any modeling at all!
February 2, 2010, at 9:23 pm | If one hat is good, two hats must be great!
P.S. This image of someone wearing multiple hats seems familiar to me, as if I’ve seen a similar illustration in a children’s story book…any ideas? The only one I can come up with right now is from “Caps for Sale,†an old Reading Rainbow book by Esphyr Slobodkina:
If anyone has any other ideas (is there a Dr. Seuss book, perhaps?), please send them my way!
February 1, 2010, at 10:07 pm | I don’t know what it is, but there’s something so endearing to me about watching the girls read. Perhaps it’s because it’s a glimpse into the future (hopefully). Perhaps it’s because I have such fond memories of my own early reading habits.
Or perhaps it’s because the girls are being still and occupying themselves. Yeah, that’s probably it.
At any rate, I’m finding that more and more of my pictures are of them reading. I hope you all don’t mind!
My mom just sent us a cute set of Sesame Street books. These books entertained the girls for the majority of the time today between lunch and their afternoon nap/in-crib playtime, which happens to be my lowest-energy time of the day. So I was very grateful. And so were the girls!
January 31, 2010, at 9:27 pm | This afternoon after church, I had the privilege of attending a baby shower while Jim watched the girls. I had a wonderful time celebrating the upcoming arrival of baby Riley. As I watched my friend Alyson open her gifts and unfold tiny newborn onesies, I couldn’t help but marvel that my girls were ever that small. In fact, they started out life half the size that Riley will. And now my girls are big, strong toddlers ready to conquer the world – or at least, conquer the furniture, which appears to be their current ambition in life.
I returned home after the shower to a happy (if stinky) household. Jim reported that the girls were on their best behavior, even if they decided, for the fifth day in a row, to play through their entire afternoon naptime. As a treat for being such good sports for their dad, I decided to let them help me open the party favor I received at the shower. It was a beautiful mug stuffed with goodies and tinsel. The girls instantly gravitated to the tinsel (it was hot pink, after all) and eagerly distributed it throughout the hallway. They also made sure that the cat was properly festooned.
I guess it really was the cat who deserved a treat for being such a good sport!
January 30, 2010, at 9:34 pm | Susie laid like this on the chair for at least five minutes this afternoon. It must have been an engrossing story!
January 29, 2010, at 11:30 pm | I took the girls out in the snow for the first time yesterday. I had avoided a snow excursion up until this point; I just couldn’t figure out the logistics of handling two bundled-up children on our very sloped and and very slippery yard by myself. I had also figured that if the girls took after me at all, about two minutes in the cold wet stuff would be sufficient.
I saw my father-in-law outside plowing yesterday and figured he could help me to keep the girls from sliding down the driveway, so I stuffed them into their snowsuits and carried them down the stairs and outside.
It turns out I was right – the girls take after me. We all reached our snow saturation point in about two minutes!
Becky (on right): “I can’t put my arms down!â€
Susie: “Mom, I think the snow ate my foot.â€
Susie: “This is what we’re supposed to get excited about?â€
Becky: “Hmm…do you think snow is edible?â€
Becky (on right): “Why didn’t anyone tell me that snow is slippery?â€
January 28, 2010, at 10:00 pm | What’s almost as mesmerizing as watching the snow fall?
Watching Pappy plow!
January 27, 2010, at 10:24 pm | 
Becky (on right): “Are you watching us, Mom?â€
“Ready…Set….â€
“Kiss!†(or head-butt, depending on your point of view!)
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ABOUT US I'm blessed to be saved by the grace of God, loved by my wonderful husband Jim, and embraced by my twin girls, Rebecca Faith and Susanna Joy and my sons Jimmy and Danny. I started this blog in May 2008 when I was hospitalized for pre-term labor at 24 weeks gestation. The Lord allowed me to keep the girls inside until they were 34 weeks along, and on July 27th, Rebecca made her debut, followed by Susanna, five minutes later, on July 28th. We ecstatically welcomed Jimmy into our lives on April 25th, 2011, and Danny on August 31, 2012. This blog has been a personal journal of faith and motherhood and the only way I can remember which child did what and when. Thanks for stopping by to share in my Faith and Joy! Feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected]. |
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