Need For Speed

Do Boy Moms die sooner than Girl Moms? I found myself wondering as I drove home from the most nerve-racking playdate I've attended yet.  A twin mom friend oraganized a playdate for us moms of twin two year olds at a park, so I went, based on my boys' recent good behavior at our neighborhood playground.

I almost turned around when I saw the Valleyfair/Cedar Point/Six Flags/Disneyland playground.  Had I not given my word I'd be there and driven a half hour to see my friends, I would have.  The few snapshots I was able to take will not do this park justice.  There were HUNDREDS of kids RUNNING at BREAKNECK speed, DOZENS of (very calm) moms milling about, water fountains spraying water onto the acre-sized playset in the the stiff wind that nearly blew us away. 

What had I gotten myself into?

The boys googled the playground like it really was Disneyland because it could have been - it was the biggest park they'd ever seen - as I packed up the stroller with our diaper backpack, bag o' water clothes, and lunch.  It took a few minutes to find my friends, amongst what was obviously another mom's group gathering (based on the giant sign that said APPLE VALLEY MOM'S GROUP, of which none of us 7 moms and 15 kids belonged).  

They couldn't get out of the stroller fast enough to join the throng of children in the labyrinth.  I tried greeting my friends while surveying the land for the best lifeguard position, so as to scan the area for my (thankfully) red-clad children.  My boys chose to divide and conquer, each darting a different direction, climbing heights I'm afraid to mention, lest you think I'm a careless mom.  My heart was racing as giant 8 year olds tore about, leaping over the 14 two year olds scrambling beneath them.  I moved to the center of the play system when the fellas chose to climb its opposite side, so I could better watch my children tumble down the dark side of the moon keep an eye on them.  I'm sure my blood pressure would have been sky high had you taken it between 10:30-11:30 this morning.

I tried to small talk with my twin mom friends, whose obedient girl-girl and boy-girl twins played together, buddy-style, even posing for adorable pictures through the bars.  Only one other mom there had boy-boy twins, and I know she understands what I'm saying - one of hers went MIA, she parked the known boy with our gaggle during snack/lunch time, and found the missing one wandering the parking lot! 

N attempting escape in the bottom left

We kept up a frantic pace for about a half hour, ate a picnic lunch (kind of) and dove back into the playground with a Need for Speed.  They found the fastest, steepest slide on the system - nearly straight down, and slick with the spray from the water fountains nearby. (M was a bit unhappy with me that I wouldn't let him in the sprinklers, so I think that's why he chose this one - so he could still get wet and I would, too, standing nearby.)  They couldn't get up the stairs, across the bridge, and down the slide fast enough.  Over and over and over again.   I told myself that at least they're working together on the same side of the structure, which was better to keep an eye on them than their previous tactic, Disappear Into The Tube Slides With Lots Of Big Kids.

A little before noon, there were signs of slowing down, and I knew I had to make a hasty retreat before the puppet wagon arrived (for which the Well Behaved Twins got to stay) and I missed my window of opportunity to beat it home and get them in bed before they fell asleep.  Because if they fell asleep on the ride home, just 30 minutes,  I'd have two grouchy two year olds by 5 pm because they didn't get a "real" nap, a risk I'm not willing to take today. 

I also wanted to get out of there before Anything happened.  Anything being, well, anything.  When the fellas get tired, Anything can happen, which is usually Something Not Good. 

So we left, and as I listed to the Veggie Tales DVD entertaining my very exhausted boys to keep them awake, I wondered if Boy Moms die sooner than Girl Moms.  If I were to reflect on the life expectancy of the women in my family, who primarily have birthed girls for the last 100 years, I'd say, yes, Girl Moms live longer.  Because none of my Girl Mom friends looked like they were about to have a heart attack today.  Just me and the other twin boy mom. 

Tumbly Toddler Twins

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew...taking my twin toddlers to a gymnastics center for open gym time, for example...with a bunch of other twin parents!
Then, my tumbly toddlers won't smile for the camera, even though I'm pretty sure they're having fun.  You'll notice my friends' kids love to smile for my camera! 
Fortunately, my Knight in Shining Armor comes to my rescue.  Can you "spot" him?
A fun, crazy time was had by all (I think) and I got my workout in!  We might even do it again someday.

Twin friends O and W sharing a tramp...M crawling across it!

M ignores his mama, but buddy A smiles for me

Mr. A is having a grand time...M again, crawling away!

Here are N and M bouncing across the 4 tramps...we'll work on turn-taking in the future.

N ignores mama again, but his friends smile for me!

Daddy to the rescue!

and into the foam cubes! 

N LOVED sproinging down the bouncy thing... 

Come on G, this is fun!

Four Bouncing Baby Boys

N looking like a real gymnast - full of chalk!

Pictures for Daddy

Here are a few snapshots for Daddy, who's working in Atlanta this week.  What we've been up to:

Wearing Dada's hats

Eating ants on a log, hold the ants and log, please

Sharing a chair and a snack

Posing with our twin friends

All done!

My handsome hubs also sent a dozen roses, and my best boys sent me a half dozen Sherri's Berries!  Thank you, loves!  It turned out to be a nice Valentine's Day!

Gettin' silly with our best buds!

And thank you, too, for the leads on a possible renter for our place and two possible places for us!  In the event none of these work out, keep them coming!  And for the pants tip - now, to actually get to Kohl's....that is the question!  I'll keep you posted!

Beauty Shop Boys

Unexpectedly, I had to give N a bath in middle of our playdate!  (I'll spare him the indignity and I'll spare your mind's eye of the mess.)  Let's just say I would have been woefully unprepared for this surprise had it happened anywhere but home, so thank goodness we were here and my guest was E, a heaven-sent friend who ran upstairs to draw the bath for us.

When N and I returned to the playground of my living room, E cried, "Oh, my gosh!  Look at those curls!  You should put some mousse in there!"

Thank goodness for Auntie L, who purchases a multitude of hair product when she visits and leaves it in my bathroom (because she can't take it in her carry on)!  I dashed upstairs and found some lavender-scented Herbal Essence just for curls.  Heavens only knows how long it's been hiding up there. 

Here are the results of our beauty shop photo shoot:

Mousse! 

I love you, Foofa.

My favorite pic of the day!

BFF's forever!

Like Richard Simmons!

You'll notice M kept touching his spikes, like, what's this crazy gunk?  And one more bonus pic: the four fellas climbing up the stairs to go night-night:

So cute!

They're so fast!  And it was so cute to see four little diapered-sweatpanted-behinds racing up the stairs! Even funnier: the guys smelled like Auntie L's hair all night!

What if they were sextuplets?

That's what I think to myself when I look at these pics.  Yesterday I had two twin mom friends over.  You've all met both of them: E and her boys A and G star in my blog quite often, and M and her girls H and B appeared just last week.  Every now and then I get the unction to have a half dozen babies squeezed into my house so that after they leave I think, my goodness, my house is so spacious and huge!

The four boys are totally diggin' having two girls over!

Ready to roll!

 The two guys in orange are E's boys: G in front, A in back.  M is front and center (again with the binky - still cutting that molar and pretty crabby) and my little ham and cheese in the back, N.  H is pretty in pink and B is binky girl in the back (sorry if I got them mixed up, M!)

What's amazing is that my guys are totally cool with having friends over.  Toys that were boring yesterday are fun today when someone else shows interest!  They share their toys and their food.  N was munching on half an apple and gave it to G, who clearly had never had an apple halved like that.  N, my sweet boy, then tried to put the whole thing in G's mouth, you know, to show him how to take a bite!  Of course, he swiped one of G's ravioli's in trade...but we're working on it.

On a side note, N has also learned how to hug!  On his own, he approached his brother and wrapped his arms around him yesterday!  It was so sweet, I would have cried, except M thought he was being attacked and got very upset, crying.  So I laughed instead, and tried to explain that N was hugging him.  N tried it again today, but M just walked away, N following him a bit like Frankenstein.  We'll keep trying.  I can't wait to snag a pic of the two of them hugging it out.

So what if they were sextuplets?  I could handle it for two hours, maybe, like yesterday, but the truth is, I'm happy with just twins.

Sixteen Little Monkeys

Jumping on the couch

One fell off 

And cried out, "OUCH!"

Okay, no one fell off the couch, and as far as I know, none of them can actually say, "ouch." 

Yes, there were 8 MVMOMs and 16 one-year-old twins in attendance at this week's play date!  The photo shoot lasted less than two minutes and this one had one escapee, and Mr. C. on the far left was leaving, too.  Matthew and Nathan were gems and stayed put on the floor where the couches come together, waiting for the other 14 kids to get their acts together.

They didn't.  That's our buddy, A, escaping into his mom's arms.

Hopefully someone got a shot with all the kids in it, but I didn't.  I was just glad that my two behaved themselves the entire two hours!  I think they're understanding that when they're good in public, I'm willing to take them places (or maybe I'm convincing myself).  They save their naughtiness for the car and at home.  That's okay by me.  Above, that's me and Matthew waving to the camera, surrounded by friends.

Here's Nathan and buddy G.  Nathan LOVED this shopping cart and played with it for about an hour.  He was even able to push it through the crowd of kids all by himself!  After this playdate, I realized that our toys are kind of babyish and spent yesterday afternoon taking out the baby stuff and pulling out the big-kid toys.  A kitchen or workbench type toy is on my list - I think I'm going to need it this fall and winter when we have to stay indoors.  They LOVED playing with it at this date!

 Here's your bonus pic: we actually had TWO playdates this week - here we are at E's house, who had put her boys' bouncy chair in the basement.  Guess who found it and surfed?  Matthew and Nathan spent about an hour doing this - you can see how much Matthew loved it!