Duck Pond

we have fed the ducks at this pond so many times that they now recognize us and approach us "begging" for bread.

Lucas was needing a haircut (he has since had one- me, too by the way!).

Rowan and Ewan say "Ducks- quack quack" as we pull into the parking lot. Tilly says "silly ducks! They are soooo hungry!" and Lucas says "They poop everywhere. Its big. Its green. Its poop".

Public Tantrums

No matter how tempting, Hobby Lobby is not the place to re-evaluate our "anti-spanking" stance while Lucas is laying in the floor having a tantrum for twenty minutes.

Lucas had decided that tantrums are not a successful means of negotiation at this juncture, however, he reserves the right to revisit the topic at a later shopping date.

Meanwhile in continuance of the toddler humor regarding all things boogers, butts, and poopies, the other evening I told Tilly she needed to eat her broccoli and here was her reply "Feed it to my butt!". She thought this was very funny.

Here are a few pictures of the kids at a playdate we went to a couple weeks back.

Here is Ewan in the foreground.



Rowan enjoying a cupcake.



Lucas and Tilly running through the sprinkler.



All four and me on the playset.

Toddler Humor

Why do all toddlers thing boogers and poop are funny?

Last Friday Tilly said "Mommey- hey Mommy!" "I have a present for you". I went over to her and she says very slyly "Its a.... BOOGER!".

Yesterday morning when changing Lucas's diaper (we've made no progress on potty training), I said "Oh Lucas, talk about a big poop!".

Tilly says "I want to talk about poop, too!".

"Tilly, mom is talking right now- this (blah blah blah) is talking. Talking about diapers, talking about Tilly, talking about TALKING".

She looked at me and said "May I have more POOP, please?".

We've been playing "simon says" lately, and singing songs. The kids always do what I tell them, whether simon says or not. :-) Rowan and Ewan play, too. They like when Simon says "jump" or "touch your ears".

We went to the lake for Memorial day weekend. I hope to update this entry with pictures as my sister went with us. We all had such a lovely time! We hung all four of their toddler swings on the rafters of the dock, and we all sat around and chatted and then went for a boat ride with "aunt aneena" and "bicky". The kids were stuffed full of cheetos, watermelon and caprisun because aunt aneena insisted it was "lake food". :-P

Cheese!

Yesterday Tilly was helping me make Ewan and Rowan's breakfast bottles. She turned and said "Hey mommy, mommy!". "What?" "Mommy, will you help I Tilly get these pickles?".

I turned to see what she had, and she was pointing to two bottle nipples. she said "I Tilly need those pickles right there!".

Ewan and Rowan now pose for pictures and say "Cheese!". Its so cute! Right now Tilly is putting the plastic drum on Rowans head. That's how they play "robot".

Strawberry farm

We went to a local strawberry farm yesterday. The weather was perfect! Look at the rows and rows of Strawberries!



Unfortunately, we did not (yet again) capture pictures of the twins actually *picking* strawberries. Why? Because Duane spent the entire hour chasing Rowan up and down the lanes. Rowan runs as fast as he can anytime he is in a new place, with his hands thrust forward in case he falls down. He didn't slow down until Duane thrust a berry into his mouth. "Yum!" Then he settled down long enough to squish other berries in his fingers.


Ewan figured out very quickly what we were doing, and then stalked me. He kept pulling berries out of my pail to eat. Occasionally he found one in the plants, but wasn't successful in picking his own. We were glad we put a bib on him.



Lucas was much more interested in the sandbox we let them all play in before leaving. Tilly said we went to a "berry farm", Lucas said we went to "play with dump trucks". Lucas only picked very old berries from out of the sand and deposited them into my bucket (I politely thanked him, then chucked them when he turned his back to go fetch another moldy ole berry!).



Matilda had the best fun picking (and eating). She not only helped pick berries, but then was able to keep the spoils all to herself when she found a particularly pretty one!




All in all, it was a very good day. :-)

Swimming!

I guess this is a Ewan and Rowan post (sometimes they get neglected in the picture department!). Yesterday, I wanted to take all four out to play. About the only way I can manage all four alone is to put them in the quad stroller, and we do that often for a walk through the neighborhood.

But, they all love to play boats in their wading pool, and that's what we decided to do.... only Ewan and Rowan decided to climb into the pool- in their sandals and regular clothes. Rowan got drenched and got out when he decided he was cold!






Afterward, I changed their clothes and everyone took turns swinging. Here is Ewan.




Rowan was playing "Robot" this morning. Apparently his robot also ate a small little people cat.

Babbling and Imagination

Duane was thirty minutes late from work today. That wouldn't be a big deal, but I officially "clock out" from playing the heavy at 6:15. Pulling another thirty minutes on a Friday and not getting "overtime" sucks. Ha. Plus, its pizza night, so I hadn't made any arrangements for dinner and had to rush something. I hurriedly cooked mac and cheese on the stove, sliced a pint of fresh strawberries, and got out the yogurt snacks. Rowan was so impressed with this impromptu meal that after he finished his last strawberry he CLAPPED. He's never done that at a meal before, but mac & cheese and fresh strawberries are his favorite foods.

We've been working on Ewan and Rowans language skills. They both hate expressive language. They hate to ask for anything. On Monday I forced Rowan to request his bottle. He laid down on his back, arched it, wailed, and then got up and threw about 15 toys AT me. Finally he went and just took Ewans bottle. Grrrr! When he calmed down enough to say "ah" I handed him the bottle and pretended to him that he had said "ba". Ewan says "Okay" and "yes" to everything, and doesn't know whats thats not enough. "Ewan, you want your bottle?" He says "Yes". I say "If you want your bottle, say ba, or say bottle" he says "Okay, yes". :-P Rowan does say "Cracker" very well, so I am treating him like a puppy and stringing him along all day giving him a cracker every time he will come and ask me for one! Today when I asked him to say "ba" he talked for 5 minutes straight, throwing his hands around, pointing at the bottle, frowning, fussing, and saying who knows what in toddler babble. All the while he was staring me directly in the eyes. Ewan, on the other hand is saying more different words, but Rowans pronunciation is better.

Matilda and Lucas are becoming so imaginative and they play games of pretend all day long now. Unfortunately Lucas's favorite pretend game is "poop". He likes to think of anything that he finds is "poop". Today he brought me a cookie and said it was "Munchkin poop". Now my chihuahua has never pooped in the house that Lucas has seen (she has had a few midnight accidents, but he hasn't seen them), and none of the kids have had diaper leaks, so where he got this I don't know, but he thinks its very interesting and funny. At dinner they had sherbert for dessert. Lucas had some that melted in the bottom of his bowl. He started stirring it with his spoon and told me he was "coloring eggs" for Easter. :-) He kept telling us his egg was "done".

This morning Tilly took "pictures" with her poptart "camera". She would hold her poptart up and say "Say Cheese mommy!". Tonight she brought me a "book" with her hands open wide but empty. I asked her the name of her book, and she said "Girl and the Toys". So, she sat on my lap, and asked me to read her book. Next, she brought Duane a book called "Peter Pan and the Treasure" and Duane read that to her. She stared down at the imaginary pages, and helped him turn the book. Lucas then brought Duane a "book", too. His was "Goodnight Train and the Treasure". We ended up lining all of us up in the floor, and we all rode a train through "Never Land" and then back home again. Everything right now is a "treasure" and they are both very in to Peter Pan still- Tilly is Wendy, Lucas is John, Ewan is Michael, and Rowan is Peter Pan. And they FLY everywhere.

Their aunt Aneena bought them all outfits for Easter- superman pj's and a Tinkerbell outfit for Tilly. Lucas loves to sleep in his, and this morning when I went to get them up, Tilly said "Boogie is a real super hero!" and Lucas said "I'm superman! I'm flying!". Its so cute and they are so precious and I think this age is my favorite so far.