I know I've posted about how much the kids love their little ride on cars but I'm still so surprised how much the play with them considering most of their toys are played with a few times and tossed aside. Without fail, they are zipping around the house everyday on these cars.
They got these hats as a party favor at a recent birthday party. They only put the hats on when they are on the cars but the hats are too big for them so they typically can't see where they're going...I guess that's what make it so much fun!
We were at the park the other day which is next to a baseball field. As we were leaving, the kids caught sight of lawn mowing tractor! Yes, a huge tractor mowing the lawn of the baseball field. Oh, Timo was in heaven...we ended up sitting on the park bench almost the entire 30min it took the nice driver, who would wave every time he circled around, to mow the grass. We were there so long I pulled out some snacks and milk while we watched the show! And to top it off, as we were walking down the sidewalk back to the car, we happened upon the mother all tractors...a digger!! This was Timo's lucky day. Right there by our car was a dump truck and a digger. The workers were so entertained every time Timo said "tractor", or "ump truck" that they let him get next to the dump truck. (didn't get a picture of that because Cameron was more interested in casing the leaves and I was chasing her). The digger's engine was running so Timo was a little too scared to get next to it but he throughly enjoyed just looking at them. What an awesome day to be Timothy!
Light switches are big in our house. There is one right by the kids changing table that get ficked on and off about 100 times a day. The kitchen switches are just low enough to be reached by chair...so why not pass the time flipping on and off!
I think I've posted before how much the kids love to help "clean"...and I use that term loosely b/c it usually ends up just spreading the mess into a bigger area...but they try. Typically when I pull the brooms, vacuum or sponges out, Timo is right there trying to use them. The other day I was cleaning the bathroom and I gave him a sponge of his own. He went to town cleaning, or "leaning" has he calls it, all over the house. I guess Timo thinks our house could use a little top to bottom cleaning!!
We had a few rainy days last week so it was time to start trying out some arts and crafts for the kids. We've gotten a few containers of Play Doh from party favors but I've put them all away thinking the kids would just make mess. Let's just say I was right and wrong. One of my children loved playing with it and the other loved making a mess.
Cameron has the knack for creativity, I think. She loves to color and does a pretty good job at it. And play doh was no different. She played for over an hour! Both she and Timothy started out enjoying it and somewhat realized the concept of shaping and molding it, but Timo quickly grew tired of it and was picking it all apart throwing it on the floor. Cameron just kept going and going.
I got a few cutters from the kitchen for them to make prints in it as well as shaped some balls and snakes. But they had the most fun just putting it in the containers and taking it out, putting it in, taking it out...ah, the joys of repetition. And it didn't take long for all the colors to get mixed up but they didn't seem to mind.
For some reason it's taken the kids a while to warm up to apples. I've tried giving them apple slices over and over only to be spit out. Then a few weeks ago Cameron kept asking for apples. I sliced one up and she ate almost the whole apple...Timo was still on the fence taking only a few bites. Then, just a few days ago, Timo started asking for "bapple" and now I have two apple eating toddlers. But wait, it only gets better...I noticed a few of my friends giving their kids whole apples to eat so I thought I would give it a try. Jackpot!
We have officially started the round of 2nd Birthdays for all of the twins' friends. We had one party last month and had Caleb Moy's party this month. I remember a few years back when it was an endless number of baby showers for all our friends, us included, then all new births, 1st birthdays and on and on. We are so lucky the the Lord placed us in the right place and time to have friends to share all these adventures with!
Back to the party...Caleb is one of Timo's buddies from church. They are both die hard Thomas the Train lovers and when I saw the Thomas party invitation I knew we were in for some fun! Caleb's mom, Anna, sure did set the bar high for birthday parties. Check out this cake and peanut butter & jelly sammies shaped like trains!! Timo had so much fun with all the train tents while Cameron took a break doing what she loves most...eating! They even had a Thomas tattoo station where Timo got his train tattoo. Let me just tell you how much Timo adores this tattoo. He wants his sleeve pushed up at all times so he can look at his train.
Happy Birthday Caleb...Timo looks forward to many more years of train fun with you!
We took an outing to our local library last week and had so much fun! I went to the library all the time as a kid and used to work in the library through high school and collage. It's something I want to pass on the the kids and try to take advantage of all the public library has to offer.
I've taken the kids one other time about 6mo ago, our local branched had just reopened, for story time and it was a nightmare to say the least. Timo pulled almost every book off the shelf, I "lost" Cameron in the crowd of little kids and had a complete panic attack even though she was actually only a foot or so away from me, and Cameron kept trying to steal the storyteller's puppets while she read. Ugh, we left vowing never to return until they were at least 10 years old.
So, fast forward 6month and I thought we were ready for another go. When you first don't succeed, try, try again. What a difference 6 months makes! The kids have been doing really well as far as listening and following simple instructions such as "don't touch", "do you want to sit down", "come over this way", etc... And yes, there was moments of pulling a few random books off the shelves and running between the isles b/c they liked the sound the floor makes, but all in all it was a great experience.
We got there just a little before they opened so the kids could play on the new playground they just built. Of course Cameron preferred to climb up the slide... Once inside the kid played in the kiddie corner for a while or on the puzzle table...that's where Timo spent much of his time. Cameron was having a book overload. She kept taking books off the shelf, sitting and looking at them, jump up, get another book, sit and read, and repeat it over and over. I'm not sure if you can tell but the book in the second picture is in Chinese...guess pictures are a universal language! Timo carefully picking out his books for Mommy to check out for him...we got a book on trucks (surprise, surprise)... Once we picked out our books and a few DVDs on fish (Cameron's new fav animal)then it was outside for a snack and another run down the slide. We had a great morning and the best part was I didn't take the stroller! Yes, the kids walked from the car to the library and back to the car!!! What a vacation it felt like not having to lug the big stroller in and out. I can see many many more days of library fun in our future. Good job Cameron and Timothy, you are growing up so fast!
I'm not sure if I can come up with as many things to say about Timothy as Cameron...he is such a mellow little boy, not very complex and 98% of the time he is so happy. But there are a few little quirks about him I can jot down...
Timo loves to figure things out. He is always figuring out how the toy works, where the on/off switch is and to get the most from the toy. Cameron tended to just enjoy a toy for the simple pleasure but Timo always has a mission when he encounters a new toy.
All things plains, train and automobiles!
He loves to laugh! Even when tickling him so hard he is laughing/crying...he grabs your hand and wants to be tickled more. And he is such a silly boy, always trying to do some trick to make you laugh.
Just like his mommy, he eats one food at a time on his plate. He will eat all the pasta, then the chicken then the veggie. (not necessarily in that order) He doesn't like his food to touch, like his mommy but slightly picky...not like his mommy.
My little man is a tester of his boundaries. He has spent 10X more time in "time out" than his sister simply because he tests you when you say "no, no". He gives this look as if to say "does no really mean yes?"
He doesn't like to wear shoes without socks...go figure.
Timo loves music and loves to dance. His daddy has the gift of dance and Timo loves to watch him and try to imitate Daddy's moves. Whether it's in the car, sitting in his high chair eating or in the a wide open space, Timo just needs some music playing and he will dance!
One of the best traits in Timothy is his love for his little sister. If he wakes up first and you try to take him out of the room while Cameron is still sleeping, he cries out for his sister. Whenever I give him a snack, drink, or something of that nature, he asks for one for "tister". When Cameron is crying he'll come sit next to her and pat her head. Yes, they have their brother/sister moments from time to time, but it is usually followed by a kiss and a hug.
Timothy is such a sweet and sensitive little boy. I see so much of Young in him by his gental nature. We can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use his compassionate heart as he grows up.
I've been wanting to do a posts on each of the kids for quite some time but there always seems to be so much going on. But this week Young is out of town so I have my evenings to try and get some thoughts down.
As the kids grow, I see their personalities coming out more and more each day. I see so much of myself and so much of Young in each of them. I thought I would get a few things down about each of them to compare when they are 18 years old. Cameron is so emotional developed, it just amazes me. She runs the gambit of almost every emotion on any given day from so excited about seeing a fish, sad over a crayon breaking to incredibly angry at me that she turns her head away and won't make eye contact. We often nickname her the "drama queen".
The number one thing most people say about her after they have spent time with her is "wow, she knows a lot of words and expresses herself really well!"...ie, she talks A LOT. She gets that from her mommy...
She loves food! You would never know that by being in the 3% in weight, she sure does love to eat and will try anything you give her. She also loves to be up in a chair watching everything going on while I'm cooking in the kitchen. My soon to be chef.
I'm not sure how long this will last but she is extremely obedient. It just takes saying "no, no" to her once and she quits immediately. Sometimes all you have to do is say her name and she stops in her tracks. I think she gets that from her Daddy...
Little Miss Independent! She tries and tries over and over until she can master it. And she has to do it all by HERSELF! Anytime I take over just to get it done faster (dressing her) she gets so mad at me. After a few dozen tries, she can now put her pants on by herself. My mom would say she gets this from me...hum....
She loves to sing! She is forever singing songs all around the house...even when she is just sitting in her high chair eating. Her current favs are Twinkle, twinkle and the ABC song. (she only knows "ABC" but keeps singing it over and over". We listen to Childrens Bible Songs in the car and she says "ready, ready, ready" when one song goes off and is waiting for the next to come on. I think she gets her love of music from both Young and me but let's hope she gets her Daddy's beautiful voice!
We often say of Cameron that you have to earn her love but once you do, you have a new best friend. We just adore our little girl and can't wait to see what a beautiful woman, inside and out, she will grow up to be.
The kids are full of words now days and the real challenge is to figure out what they are saying. Sometimes I have to ask them over and over again before I can decode what word they just said or I'll have them take me to show me what they are talking about. Cameron grabs my finger, pulls me up and takes me into the kitchen to show me what she wants to snack on.
Here are few examples of words they say that sound the same
Bubble and apple..."bubble" vs "babble"...I can usually tell which they mean when we're in the bathroom and/or kitchen but it's not as easy when we're playing outside trying to figure out if they want an apple snack or play with their bubbles.
Up and help..."up" vs "elp"...Cameron was saying help the other day when I thought she was saying up and was getting very frustrated that I kept lifting her into her high chair instead of helping her with snapping the straps.
poo poo and peekaboo..."popo" vs "pepo"...many of times I've checked their diaper when I hear poo poo only to find out they were just playing peekaboo with me!
applesauce and octopus....it's funny to see an octopus in a book and they point to it and say "applesauce". Here is a video of their new favorite word.
It's a milestone for both of the kids...they are saying each other's names! Cameron actually did it a few days ago...she said "Memo" while pointing to Timo. She now repeats "Memo, Memo, Memo" over and over again. And today, Timo said "Carmom" after Cameron got yogurt all over her hands and I said her name with a very heavy sigh, "Cameron..." He just repeated it after me but it came out sounding like "Carmom". I asked him to say it a few more times and then it was back to "tister". But I have to say, it just melts my heart to hear them call each other by their names, such a sweet sound. Hopefully they will be saying their own names soon!
We are having such an amazingly beautiful Indian Summer right now, I had to take the kids over to the best park in the city...Alta Vista Park. I say it's the best park because it has a little train you can climb all over and a merry go round for toddlers. The kids love this park too because it's really big so there it lots of room for Timo to go running..his new thing is to say "I'm running" and pump his arms up and down. And I love this park because of the amazing views of San Francisco while I sit and watch the kids tire themselves out!
Young has been wanting me to post this for a while so here it is....it's bath time one evening with daddy. Timo is such a character...it doesn't take much to make him laugh. It just goes to show you are never too old for a good ol' fashion game of peek a boo!
As many of you already know, Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday...but having kids makes it a little more fun. I've never been one to really dress up and make a huge deal out of trick or treating so it's nice that we have the Harvest Fest at our church to give the kids a venue to enjoy the "holiday"
Having said that, I did want to start some tradition with the kids this year like carving a pumpkin. We visited a few pumpkin patches this year but ended up getting our pumpkin at the local Safeway (buy 1 get 1 free). Once we got Timo off the pumpkin (don't know why he loves to sit on every pumpkin) it was time to get started. Young drew the face on first and the kids went crazy for his marker so I got them crayons to draw on it themselves. Young is the master artist in our family so he was in charge of carving while I headed up the pulling out slimy guts gang. You can quickly see who the kids take after by watching them carve pumpkins. Timo, like myself, loved the idea of playing the insides and seeds, while Cameron is a spitting image of her Daddy in that she wanted to draw on the pumpkin and wanted nothing to do with the "guts" and getting her hands dirty.
And the kids were so helpful cleaning up afterward... After their nap it was time to get my little scarecrows ready and head to the Harvest Fest. Timo was a little slow in waking up...needless to say it was difficult for him to have his clothes taken off and new clothes up on. Cameron wasn't really into all the yarn on her clothes and started pulling it all off. I had to bribe them with cookies just to get their clothes on and stand still for a few pictures.
But once we got to the Harvest Fest it was an evening full of fun. Cameron had successfully pulled out every piece of yarn off her clothes on the way over so she was just a hillbilly by the time we got there. But no matter, she still had a blast getting her face painted, doing arts and crafts, drinking juice and playing the games.
Timo was a crazy man all night running around playing with the balloons, balls, bowling and eating his body weight in popcorn! Whenever we couldn't find him we just looked at the ball toss game and he was there...
All in all it was a fun Halloween. We got to carve a pumpkin, spend the evening with our friends having fun! I wonder how many years I can put off the whole trick or treating thing???
One of the kid's new favorite things to do is coloring. We got the WonderColor markers and books for them for our plane ride and they really like coloring with them but you can only use the markers on special paper. So I figured if they like the markers so much, maybe it was time to break out the crayons again and see how they do (last time they found eating them much more exciting). With a little guidance, they actually do a pretty good job at coloring on the paper. Now Cameron is always asking to "loler". She knows were I keep the crayons and coloring books by now and will just stand by the drawer asking until I get them out out for her. I printed out some Halloween coloring sheets off the internet to give them something fun and festive to color. Here is a short video of them coloring...
Here is a video left over from Ohio. I remembered it this last night when Cameron started asking to play Ring Around the Roses. This is one of her favorite games/songs. She is always spinning round and round. It's especially fun when we all hold hand and go round and round but in this video she is running solo...I think she likes it that way so she can wander around and around. She typically sings while spinning around but I think I shot this on about her 50th go round and she was tiring out.
The kids were playing happily on the floor the other day so I took the opportunity to get some dishes done in the kitchen. Because the kids were being so quiet I guess I got carried away cleaning and was out of sight about 20min. In that time, the kids figured out how to push their stool over to the dining room chairs, climb up in them and on top of the table. I heard this banging on the table and came in to see what they were up to...this is what I found. Timo had dumped the salt out all over the table and Cameron was reorganizing the napkins as if to say "What Mommy?, I'm just helping" Once I saw it and gasped...Timo started trying to wipe everything up but just ended up spreading the salt all over. Once I got them down and started cleaning, I looked down and Timo was "cleaning" up the floor with a fallen napkin...almost makes up for the huge mess he made..almost...
The kids are all about snapping their own buckles on any seat we put them in. Strollers, car seats, high chairs, changing table, clothes...you name it and they will snap it. Sometimes they stand in front of their high chairs and "nap" their snaps over and over. Timo always gets his done first and then tries to push Cameron out of the way so he can snap hers...but she is pretty firm when she is determined. Timo was pretty quick to give out kisses when he saw he upset his sister (we say sorry and give kisses when you act in an unloving way).
Even at the park...all Cameron wanted to do was play with the snaps.
I must say it makes the difficult tasks much easier now that they have this new skill...getting in car seats, getting dresses and changing diapers is way more fun for them now!
Vroom, Vroom!
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who knew the floor vent needed cleaning??
...and the TV stand...
...the wall...
...the TV...
We had a few rainy days last week so it was time to start trying out some arts and crafts for the kids. We've gotten a few containers of Play Doh from party favors but I've put them all away thinking the kids would just make mess. Let's just say I was right and wrong. One of my children loved playing with it and the other loved making a mess.
We are having such an amazingly beautiful Indian Summer right now, I had to take the kids over to the best park in the city...Alta Vista Park. I say it's the best park because it has a little train you can climb all over and a merry go round for toddlers. The kids love this park too because it's really big so there it lots of room for Timo to go running..his new thing is to say "I'm running" and pump his arms up and down.
As many of you already know, Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday...but having kids makes it a little more fun. I've never been one to really dress up and make a huge deal out of trick or treating so it's nice that we have the Harvest Fest at our church to give the kids a venue to enjoy the "holiday"
I printed out some Halloween coloring sheets off the internet to give them something fun and festive to color. Here is a short video of them coloring...
I must say it makes the difficult tasks much easier now that they have this new skill...getting in car seats, getting dresses and changing diapers is way more fun for them now!
