My Gym

Over the weekend we attended Karissa's 1st Birthday party at My Gym. Karissa is the daughter of Young's very good friend, Ky. They live down in the south bay so we don't get to see them as often as we would like, but it's a joy to spend special occasions together and see each other's families grow.

The kids had an absolute blast at My Gym! The place is set up just for activites and fun for the smallest of children. There were so many balls to hit, steps to climb, things to bounce on and a huge bin of balls to play in. At one point, Cameron couldn't decide what she wanted to play with...she just circled around and around the gym laughing. Here are some shots of our afternoon.

Timo checking out the bin of balls and thinks he might want to get in....

Once he figured it out he was hooked...he wanted to spend all his time in the ball bin! "Look at all these ball I can throw out!!"

Cameron especially loved the trampoline and found it much more fun when more people were on!

So many different types of balls! Cameron rolled this one all around the Timothy loved hitting the ones suspended from the ceiling. (he's behind that ball)

but the coolest part was the Car Wash! They set up mats, pom poms hanging from the ceiling and a bubble machine blowing bubbles all while "Car Wash" was playing over the speakers. The kids rode the little cars though the maze. Here is Daddy pushing the kids through to get their car washed!!

Learning New Skills

I was trying to do a little forward thinking last week and teach the kids a new skill...reaching into something for their snack instead of always having to hand them each piece. In the nursery at church the snacks are given in a little cup for each toddler. Well, my kids dump their cheerios or goldfish out on the floor and pick each piece up, one by one to eat it. Timo has the nickname of "cleaner man" because he goes after all the little pieces on the floor, cleaning it up!

So I decided to let them reach into the teddy graham bags last week and get their own snack. It was a good idea in conception but the outcome wasn't as neat, clean or as organized as I had hoped. At first they were a little unsure as to what to do, just holding their hands in the bags for a little time. Then they grabbed as many as could fit in the hands, crammed them all in their mouth and proceeded to chew and dribble out slimy teddy grahams all over the coffee table. So much for forward thinking! I think this will be a practice makes perfect situation...practice and practice... Good things babies like repetition!

Can I Fit?

I have no idea why the kids love to crawl into tight spaces...

this was just before we got locks for the pantry! The last hurrah!

Wearing Your Food

One of the favorite food for the kids is ravioli...but it's an extremely mess meal. Now that I know how messy, it's only a dinner time food so the kids can go straight in the tub afterwards. I have to cut the ravioli in pieces causing cheese to spill all out, mixing with the sauce and causing a huge mess! Inevitably they will wipe their eyes or nose and smear it all over the whole face, ears, hair, arms....But they love it and I've learned to take their shirts off first and let them at it. Here is Timothy after his delicious meal. (you can see Cameron tying to swipe one of his edamame)

Tickle Me Timothy pt 2

Here is Daddy giving Timothy a good tickle before he goes to bed!

Tickle Me Timothy

We tickle Timothy all the time because his laugh is so much fun! We also have Cameron tickle him and he thinks it's just as funny. Usually we have to hold her hands and wiggle them over Timothy tummy but yesterday she started tickling him all by herself! They were having the best time. I took some pictures but I know it's hard to get the full impact of how adorable it was. Then Timo leaned over and gave his sister a big, sloppy kiss! I'm sure the fun in that won't last long...

First Words and more...

Timothy said his first word last week, ball, and I kept trying to get it on video but he clams up when he sees the camera. Then a day later he said "duck" and then it was "book" and this morning it was "trash". The words are coming so fast now I figured I better document it and not wait for video. He seems to pick up words easily now, most of the time not really knowing what he is saying, just repeating what we just said. And I'm sure if you heard the words you wouldn't know what he is saying...words only a mother could understand. Thank you comes out as "tu tu" but I know what he means...

It seems Cameron is putting all her energy toward walking and Timothy is putting his energy into communicating. Cameron is taking more and more steps every day and doesn't seem to want to crawl much anymore. She holds onto anything she can find to walk her way around a room or down the hallway...even holding the wall. And she is understanding more and more. I can say "it's story time" and she goes right over the the books and starts pulling them out. And the both know what breakfast, lunch and dinner mean...they head straight into the kitchen. This is such an amazing time for me as a mother! It seems they do something new everyday, so exciting!!

Shoe Size

I was cleaning a little the other day and straighten all the shoes up by the door. I walked back by it a little later and thought it was a cute picture. Maybe I'll take a picture every year to see how the kids' shoes get bigger and bigger.

Trouble in the Kitchen

Anytime I go into the kitchen the twins are right on my heels! I can't walk in there with out them right behind me, looking for trouble! They are no longer amused by the pots and spoons I get out for them to play with. Timothy loves to push the chairs. He'll push anything that moves but especially the chairs because they make noise crossing the floor. And Cameron scopes out the food. Bless her heart, you would think I starve her by the way she is always looking for something to snack on. I caught her red handed yesterday trying to eat the raisins out of the raisin bran!

Daddy has been doing a little baby proofing in the kitchen because Timothy was getting out of control taking ALL my tupperware out of the drawer every day...several times a day. He was also trying to take the frying pans out...I was afraid he would drop one of my cast iron pan on his foot so we took action. Looks like it's working! I just need to get a few more locks for the pantry doors to keep Cameron from snacking between meals...

Pearly Whites

Both Timothy and Cameron are cutting teeth. Actually I took these pictures a few days ago and as I write, Timothy has two more coming in. Cameron is getting her first teeth, YEAH...finally! I think 13 months with no teeth has to be some kind of record. And Timothy is getting two up top and two more coming in. I heard him crunch into a cracker the other day and it sounded so strange and he laughed when he realized what he did. I'll be glad when they get more and more teeth. I feel like they are picky eaters simply because they can't break a lot of food down with just two teeth. We've been stuck on the simi-soft food menu for a long time. They will eat anything but end up spitting a lot of pieces out. There are so many yummy, delicious foods I want to introduce them too!

Zone Defense

It wasn't the best weather this weekend but since Young was around we took the kids to the park. It takes two sets of eyes right now to keep the keep track of them both. The kids know the play structure well and they like to repeat the same loop over and over...up the steps, around the corner, play with the wheel, down the slide and back around to go up the steps. So Young and I had zone defense! I covered the top of the structure and wheel and Young covered the slide and lower steps. Of course, Timo just wanted to climb up the slide most of the time so Cameron was the one Daddy had to watch the most.




Cameron loves to walk around like this now...practicing her skills. Timothy is a super fast crawler, so many people comment on how fast he gets around, so I think that's why he isn't really interested in walking just yet. He can get from A to B much faster on his hands and knees...and that's all that matters to him right now.

Hallway Highway

Between pushing their cars and pushing the walker...we have a highway in our hallway!

and occasionally we have a little fender binder...beep, beep!

Spring Has Sprung!

The weather finally cleared up this week, the sun came out and we headed for the parks! It's a little difficult to keep track of the twins on the playground so we only go there if I have help. But they don't really know the difference, they are just as happy to hit the grass, eat the dirt and push the stroller...just to be out of the house!

Cameron enjoying her snack time and Timo chasing the pigeons in at the playground.

Timo headed straight out to pick and eat the flowers. It's impossible to keep him from eating dirt!

Getting in his daily exercise of pushing the stroller and Cameron giving me flowers she picked.

Cameron practicing her standing skills...she is so proud of herself!

Can we sit in it?

For some reason the kids have a new fascination with sitting inside something...anything. We have a toy organizer with bins. They now know how to get some of the bins down, empty them out and they sit in them. I'm not kidding, the other day, they climbed in and out, playing with the bins for over an hour! And we went over to my friend's house, Timmie, to have a play date with her daughter...they pulled a large try off her coffee table just to sit in it! Oh, and don't forget the best one of them all...the laundry basket!! It's all fun and games until someone tried to push the other out...then we have a little time of learning how to share.
Sharing one bid wasn't working out too well so I got another one down. They climbed in and out over and over again.

Timmie's tray they pulled down and had the best time just sitting in it...go figure!