Chatterboxes

My boys are not only active little fellas, they are talkative, too!  M started first, but N is never far behind and this fall, he's really ramped it up.  They've been saying so many funny things I thought I would compile them into a post.  Here's what comes to mind right now:

Banana: "Um-BLA-na" M says.  When he doesn't want whatever we are eating for dinner, he sees the fruit on the counter and asks for an um-BLA-na.

Helicopter: "OWIE-clop-ter" We have these tinkertoy type building pieces and their favorite thing to build is a simply a circle with sticks stuck out of each hole.  They call it an "OWIE-clop-ter," despite it looking more like a sunshine on a stick.

Grape Juice: It's a recent introduction to their diet and they love it, but they just don't connect that it's from grapes, so it's "Black Juice" no matter what we tell them.

When we are really desperate, like we are on airplanes, we allow them to play games on our iphones (did I ever mention that I got a new phone this fall?  It's amazing how well things work when they work well!)  One game is called Lunchbox, and there is a monkey that dances when the child gets the question right (i.e, which fruit starts with Q?  That's qumquat, however, spell check is telling me that's wrong.  Ironic?)  However, since they see us using our phones daily, they now think whenever we use them, we are playing their favorite game, "Monkey Dance."  So they dance around whining, "Monkey Dance!  Monkey Dance!  I wanna Monkey Dance!"

Update: Hubby says Q is for quince.  He knows this game VERY VERY well, better than me, clearly.

Talk to me!  Yesterday, M asked his Daddy a question but Daddy apparently didn't answer in the appropriate amount of time (like 2 seconds) so M grabbed his face and said, "Talk to me!"

What are you eating in the mouth?  M's favorite question to determine whether it's worth asking for or not.

We used to read "The Going to Bed Book" everynight, but it disappeared for awhile.  Now that it's back from the dead, they like to not only read it, but randomly recite it throughout the day.  I'll be in the van and hear behind me, "They hang their towels on the wall/and find pajamas big and small" when the other brother chimes in "With some on top and some beneath/they brush and brush and brush their teeth!" 

This morning M was upset because he couldn't find his lovie (at 6:30 am!) so N jumped into his brother's bed and rooted under the covers like a truffle pig, triumphantly jumping up and shouting "I found the lovie!"

When they are upset about something - which could be anything, like returning the correct nightlight to the correct bedroom, where it belongs - both boys put the offender in time out.  They shout to me, their Aunt, their Daddy, their brother, their toys, their bears, their chairs, you name it, "You go time out!"  Now we are working on a different tactic, reminding them Mommy and Daddy are in charge.  So far, no good.

FOR-et: In an attempt to entertain them, I've been trying to build them forts in their play room.  It's not going too well because they just want to rip the blankets off, but every now and then, they will ask me to build them a FOR-et.

BLOC-li  the flowery green which went down the hatch so well for so long is no longer acceptable.  Last night neither of the boys would eat their BLOC-li.

Cookie Dough: They boys used to be TERRIFIED of my hand mixer, then my ancient Kitchenaid, but less so of the new red Kitchenaid that Santa delivered early to me this year. Thank you Santa!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!   I managed to keep them in the kitchen once by convincing them that what I was making in the mixer was cookie dough.  They stood with their backs glued to the refigerator while I added ingredients - much better than when they would run crying from the kitchen.  When the dough was finished, I allowed them to eat a bite off the spoon.   While I solved one problem, I created two more: they both think anytime I touch the Kitchenaid, I'm making cookie dough!  Does N look one bit afraid the mixer this morning?  I think not!

N can't resist taking a peek at the cinnamon roll dough!

Veggie Victory!

I'm not sure what to file this under: milestones, lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, Festivus Miracle, or it's about time.

Yesterday, M came right up to me at 10 am and said, "I want a bejabow snack."

Say what?

"Beja-bow." 

Bowl of porridge? 

"No. BEJ-A-BOW!"

Vegetable?

"Yes!"

(Stunned pause) Okay!  Let's go!  Upstairs!  Vegetable snack, here we come!

It was grocery day, so I had exactly 2 bags of frozen broccoli and edemame, and 4 whole carrots other than the standard canned-green-beans for vegetables (the only one I can count on them to always eat).  I've never peeled and sliced a carrot so fast in my life!  The boys climbed up into their booster chairs with great anticipation of this vegetable snack, and with a flourish, both boys received a plate with 3 carrot sticks and what would become an unbelievable amount of ranch dressing. I suspected this might wind up being a snack of ranch dressing, where the carrots are used like a fun dip stick, but I figured it was worth a shot.

Look, Mom, I really am chewing it up!

N actually said, "I like carrots!"

Then, they asked for more.  HUH?!  Okay, carrot number two got peeled and sliced and it went down the hatch, too.  My battery was dead or I would have snapped a shot of them covered in ranch dressing, but I was happy to have even one photo of the miracle that happened in our house yesterday.  I didn't care what they ate the rest of the day because they each ate nearly a WHOLE carrot!

I swear on the Holy Bible this is true.  If I were making up miracles, it would have been that they woke up potty trained.

Big Boy Beds, all made up with spaceship sheets, airplane comforters, teddy and lovie.

P.S. In old news, we are all sleeping better this week.  The boys are settling down more quickly in their big boy beds and not banging their heads - much - N put a small dent in the wall jumping yesterday and has a bit of a goose egg to show for it.  They both have blue hue as well since the new TWIN size navy blue spaceship sheets' dye is bleeding, despite a washing.  I'll wash again in a day or two.  In the meantime, we are calling them smurfs.  And I'm sleeping mostly through the night since Baby has lifted off my bladder and out toward my front.  Thank the Lord for maternity pants - and veggie miracles.

Belly Buttons and Hidey Holes

Hm, maybe the winter is getting a little long when our weekend is described as "Belly Buttons and Hidey Holes?"  Good or bad, that's the life of twin toddlers in Minnesota!

BELLY BUTTONS

We watch Veggie Tales, a Christian children's program. It's a cute cartoon with singing vegetables and while most of them are Bible stories, they also do "music videos," where the veggies...here, just have a look-see.  Then you'll know what I'm talking about:


So when we were teaching body parts, they immediately added "hey, hey" after we said, "bellybutton."  Now, it's just been shortened to "hey, hey."  So if one of my boys asks you where your hey-hey is, he means BELLYBUTTON!  Okay?  We're not teaching them anything dirty here.

Hi, hey-hey!

HIDEY HOLES

I've mentioned several times that N likes to play hide-and-seek, especially with the toy "boxes" (we have multiple containers).  One is the large 30 gallon tote pictured in my previous post, one is a laundry basket, and one is...well...here, take a look:

 It's just a matter of time before M figures out that he can get back at his sometimes-bully brother by climbing on top and staying put!  This "game" he plays never ceases to amuse us all!

However, I am just a little concerned that his "magic" will develop along with his intellect.  Did I ever tell you about the missing lovie*?  (*A one-square-foot "blankie" with a fuzzy side/silky side we purposely gave each boy as a comfort item during sleep training long, long ago*) We "lost" it about a month ago and Hubs and I turned the house inside-out looking for it (I knew we didn't leave the house the day it went missing).  N accepted a backup lovie and we accepted it as gone when I found his missing sippy cup inside the Diaper Champ.  Logically, he figured out the Diaper Champ, threw his lovie away, and we took it out to the garbage weeks ago, right?

So we wrote off lovie.  Then two days ago, while Auntie L showered, I cleaned the kitchen, and M played with toys, N quietly wandered off and FOUND THE LOVIE!

We have absolutely NO IDEA where it was.

Now N and his lovie, and his second lovie, and his back-up lovie are all a little lovie family together again in his crib.  Along with the eebie (pacifier), teddy bear , and crochet blanket from GiGi.  I can see where this is headed.

This Week in Pictures

Monday: I took the boys to watch Daddy play softball.  Matthew didn't take his eyes off the game.  Nathan didn't take his eyes off the goldfish crackers.

Tuesday: I took the boys to see the Puppet Wagon at our favorite park.  It's cute and a good excuse for a picnic on a beautiful afternoon.

Wednesday: We introduced them to Veggie Tales this week, and it's getting easier to feed them vegetables!  I walked the boys down to the farmer's market and the man I bought veggies from gave each boy a cucumber.  I let them play with them on the way home, only to discover that Nathan ate half of the cucumber when he tossed it overboard and it got run over by the stroller!  Matthew had chewed a significant chunk off of his, too.  I didn't get photos of that, unfortunately, but I did get this.  After breakfast that morning, while I was cleaning in the kitchen, they somehow got this bowl of grapes off the dining room table and were eating them as fast as possible when I found them.  I guess they were still hungry!

Thursday: Daddy's working an evening shift today, so it was playtime with Daddy all morning!  Mommy got a chance to actually clean the boys' room while they played and discovered some forgotten trucks.

The End.