update on the 3 silly ducklings

Curious George:

He is going to pre-k 3 days a week in preparation for kindergarten. His mood continues to be dependent on the amount of sleep he gets. He is a Lego fiend at the moment asking for small Legos whenever we go to the store. For a period of 2 weeks, he kept a Lego catalog close to him at all times "reading" it whenever he finds a second and plans his future with it. "I want this for Christmas, and this one for my birthday, and the next Christmas..."

He continually amazes as with he says everyday. For instance, during past conversations I've told him that when we look for a new house it may have to be a house without stairs because Mommy's knees hurt. Then several days later, he told me out of the blue that it should be OK to have small stairs and that he, his sisters and Daddy would sleep upstairs and I stay downstairs so that I don't have to hurt my knees using the stairs.

Yesterday, Daddy and I attended a 5-week hr-long parenting class. Daddy and I were quite excited about what we learned and having an animated discussion about it. Curious George thought we were fighting and told us to stop. I explained that we weren't fighting, but instead discussing what we learned in class. He asked what we learned, so I told him it was all about what we could do so that we are not always yelling and getting mad at him. His response was, "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT ALL MY LIFE!!" Daddy and I burst out laughing.


THING 1:

Thing 1 is a sassy little thing who seems to be always at odds with me. Daddy says she's just like me...stubborn. I've said a few times that Thing 1 is Daddy's girl, but she does come to me when she's sick. ;p She is a rough and tumble girl, it seems. During a period of a couple of weeks when Thing 2 was sick, Thing 1 and Curious George played a lot with each other. Curious George throws his weight around and surprisingly, Thing 1 kept up with him. Even now, she and Curious George wrestles with each other. Thing 1 sometimes protests but usually all smiles and giggles.

Thing 1 has also developed a love for her big brother's shirt. She demands that whatever shirt she is wearing be taken off and then she grabs whatever shirt she could find of Curious George's. Sometimes she grabs a PJ he takes off as soon as he takes them off.

Her language explosion was a few weeks behind Thing 2's but they are both very good talkers. She loves to watch Dora The Explorer and Diego and eagerly responds when asked to join on their adventures.

We have noticed several months back that Thing 1 seems to favor left-handedness but it was too early to be sure then. Nowadays, it is becoming more obvious that she is left-handed. All of us have noticed a few instances where she tries to do something with her right hand only to find it very awkward so she just switches hands immediately.


Thing 2:

Thing 2 continues to be a few pounds behind Thing 1. She has been sick a lot this past month, battling strep throat for a few weeks. But after only being well for 1 week, she contracted the flu. It was a mild flu, but the body soreness she experienced for a few days was unmistakable. The illnesses caused her to lose about 5 lbs.

She talks very clearly and can tell on both her sister and big brother. She loves cuddles and would rather be on our lap when the other 2 are rough-housing.

She hates buildings that look like a doctor's office. We went to the Department of Social Services one day and she let go of my hand and headed for the parking lot as soon as she could see in after I opened the door. Thank goodness she didn't take off on a run!

She loves to ask for things using a very small cute voice. "Mom, can I have milk?", she asks in the morning. Recently, she's also mastered the art of begging. She asks for something and when I don't move fast enough, she holds her hands together and puts them under her chin, closing her eyes, and says "pease, pease! [please]"

She loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! If I can't think of anything to feed her, I could never go wrong with PBJ. She also loves any kind of cereal, much to her brother's annoyance. Curious George absolutely hates any kind of cereal and would run the opposite way from it.

Thing 2 loves to pretend to read. She grabs paper with print on it and "reads" proudly, "A, F, I, B!"

TV TV TV!

Curious George, Thing 2, Thing 1 watching Curious George's favorite, Fireman Sam.


Thing 1 in green, Thing 2 in blue.

And then some horsing around with Daddy. They love being on the floor time. All you have to do is sprawl on the floor, and it's like a magnet!

It's apparently not bad to be stuck in doors if you have a twin

Daddy is home recuperating from the stomach bug, so he and the girls are home most of the day together. Now, I hope the following pictures doesn't speak of what he's been teaching the girls.

Thing 2 in pink, Thing 1 in blue.

Apparently, it's all good!

Actually, I must mention that all this merry-making came after a big poopie incident this morning. Thing 1 had a major blow out, and this in the heels of having a stomach bug. As you can imagine, it was nasty! Daddy and I had to hose her down in the tub. Too bad we didn't have a tub of bleach because we would have dunked Thing 1 in there and then dove in ourselves!

is there wrestling in summer Olympics?

You know the Lopez Family (3 brothers and a sister)? The family who went to the recent summer Olympics to compete in Tae Kwon Do? I wonder if my children will grow up to be wrestlers and compete in the Olympics.

Here is what I mean.



Thing 1 is wearing the light blue PJ and Thing 2 is in dark blue.

too much lovin'

Thing 1 was again the recipient of her big brother's love. Surprisingly, she enjoyed the whole thing.

Thing 2 got her turn, but she didn't look like she liked it. Either that or she just needed to warm up to it. I didn't catch Thing 2 and Big Bro on video because I had to referee really quickly.

It's WWE again!

We were all inside the play yard (yes, it's that big!), with me and Daddy laying on the floor, the girls trying to climb all over us, and big brother walking around the perimeter. Jojo just couldn't get enough of me. I stand up to get something, I go on all fours, I sit, I lie down, and the whole time she's still somehow attached to me. It didn't matter that I accidentally knock her over with my big ass.

Katie climbs up on us too, but at least when the person she's holding on to moves, she lets go. But then, there's big brother who didn't seem to want to be touchy-feely tonight. At one point Katie steadies herself on him to get ready to stand up, but immediately, Matty sits up to get out of the way. As he sits up, he put his hands on Katie and Katie goes down on the floor. And Katie stays down. She's a smart one. It was like watching a sumo taking down a little munchkin. Katie didn't cry though, so no harm no foul.

Then Matty lies down on the floor to watch TV. Jojo sees him and decides to go to him. She ends up between his legs. I guess some Martial Arts genes got passed down to him because he trapped Jojo with his legs and down goes Jojo, still trapped. Jojo sits back up, and she tries another position. Again, no harm no foul.

When the girls learn to work with each other, like those two Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, I say beware Kuya!

WWE

The girls had their 12-month well baby check the day after their birthday. Katie is now 19 lbs, and Jojo is 18 lbs. They are keeping to their petite stature and are around 10-25% percentile for weight. They are also following in big brother's footsteps with their big heads. Everything is in below 25th percentile except for the head size which is in the 75th percentile. We are a family of big heads.

I am beating myself up right now for not having other numbers available. I had the paper and now I can't find it. I will post it if and when I find it.

(Jojo is on top.)

These two are becoming quite the characters. They just love climbing on top of each other especially if one is wanting what the other has.

Katie is currently the pro with her evasive technique maneuvers. All you have to do is reach out towards her if she's holding something and she does a 180 in a split second. It's quite frustrating for me when I'm teaching her to tilt her head back when she's drinking water from a sippy cup. She always thinks I'm going to take her cup away!