haircuts and children's museum

We have had a good few weeks. Alan had a week off two weeks ago and other than a few administrative-type things he had to do, he spent most of his time with us girls. He "reconnected" with "his" baby (Meredith-she has always been the one who will give "love" freely to him whereas Hannah is a Mommy's girl and needs to be in the "Daddy mood" to pay attention to Alan) and now she cries when he leaves the room and they follow him in the bathroom and etc ... nice change of pace ;) The change in routine (perhaps) did throw a wrench in our MMO success and Hannah has taken to crying much of the day again. Geez ... just when you think it is getting a little easier! Thursday was a pretty good day, though, so maybe we will be back on track soon. We decided that it was time to even out their hair and took them to the salon for the first time. I was surprised at how much I worried that they would look different from each other ... as much as we feel it is important that they realize they are different people and how much we do want to foster their independance, I guess I will always hold on to the days where people had a hard time telling them apart. Even post-haircut, their teachers rely on my dressing them differently, so I guess I don't have to be sad yet!

this is Meredith, pre-haircut

Meredith, again. She was so well-behaved. I guessed that she would do better with being messed with than Hannah would but I was surprised at how well she did. She just sat there like she was told and looked to be enjoying the whole process.
still Meredith

Meredith, all done from the back ...

... and from the front!

Hannah, pre-haircut ...

Hannah really did OK. Which surprised me, as well! She whimpered a little and reached for me to get her almost the whole time ... and needed her "bee bee, bay" ... and was generally a little squirmy but she didn't cry or insist on getting down so I was super proud of them both.

When her hair person (didn't catch the name!) started to dry her hair she actually looked like she enjoyed it! Now, sometimes she wants me to dry her hair at night after her bath which is fun ... a fun part of having girls ... fixing their hair.

Hannah, all done from the back ...

... and the front!

We had a pretty bad day yesterday. Alan was post-call and the girls were restless and wanted to "go somewhere else to play" though we had plans to go look at a car. So, in order to try to compensate them for spending an hour + at the Toyota place yesterday (which, in turn, made them fall asleep in the car on the way home and therefore not take a nap once we got home therefore be REALLY grumpy the rest of the day) we decided to take them for a fun day this morning. We went to the children's museum then to get some Mexican food (one of their favs) at Taco Boy. They were so well-behaved the whole time (with the exception of when Meredith fell and twisted her ankle ... which she is still limping around from ... so, understandable fit.)

Here, they are playing in the water room ... if they were only about a foot taller, this room would be much better ... so we didn't stay long

Here, they are "driving" the shrimp boat ...

hmmm .... guess the shrimp boat has 2 steering wheels (or driving wheels as Hannah would say) ... speaking of, this is Hannah in the pink ... the girl always has to be wearing pink, have the pink bowl and the pink spoon ... girly girl, that one!

post-twisted ankle (the reason for M holding on to blankie) ... here, they are playing with blocks with Alan ...

The favorite activity of the day, by far, was hanging out in the crafts room. We made these lovely birds (the two funky purple ones with the crazy feathers and rhinestones) and sat them on the tree to help decorate the room ... I think they really enjoyed the fact that since there were two sets of adult hands, I was letting them play with markers and glue ... when it is just me, we stick to crayons and tape! Alan and Meredith's bird is on the left and mine and Hannah's is on the right.

This particular day, they were offering "painting in the garden" so we went out and let the girls mess around with the paints. They seemed to really enjoy it! Hannah, in particular, really enjoys being creative and coloring and crafts (from my observation and also per their teacher at MMO.) Meredith is my sorter ... she loves to sort and organize and to play with multiple of the same-type thing (blocks, plastic animal figurines, stuffed animals ...) They both love to play with Play-Doh and Meredith wants me to take one color and make all of it into little balls she can dump out and put back in, dump out and put somewhere else ... etc. Hannah likes to take all the little cookie cutters and make different shapes or make worms ... etc. It is interesting to watch them learn their preferences with play.

Trick or Treat, Holy Molars & Big Girl Beds ...

Well, we made the leap to big girl beds! Between getting out of the cribs, getting rid of the paci & potty training ... we figured this was the one they were most ready for! They did astonishingly well until today, the honeymoon seems to be over. They (well, really Meredith) partied it up instead of napping this afternoon. Hannah was out the first time I went in but I think she about pee'ed in her pants when I came in and said "get back in your beds!!!" whereas Meredith was in and out of hers for the whole 2 hours they were in there. I kept hearing toys that make music that were not in her bed ... would go up there and poor Hannah would just look at me (from her bed) with the deer in headlights look and Meredith would say "but I, I just, I, I, I, wanted, wanted ... I wanted ... toy ..." she was too worried to make sense but not too worried to keep getting out to play with loud toys! We are getting there though and it has been a lot easier of a transistion than I thought it would be. For Halloween, since it was 90 degrees I decided against putting them in the full length fur monkey and elephant costumes that I bought and instead just put them in some cute little ballet tutus that a friend gave me. They were a little skeptical at first as my neighbors were giving out toothbrushes and toothpaste (they are dentists) instead of candy but after we got some actual candy and they figured out what was going on they had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and then answering the door at our house. They are still doing well in school though in general they are going through a fussy stage. They are getting some more 2 year molars and they are NOT happy about it! Poor things! They are just a mess! They chew on their hands all day and drool and fuss ... I can't wait until all of these darned teeth are in! We had a playdate here today with a few of their school friends and they did great and it has been fun to see them becoming more social. I was very proud of them and how well they shared even their most favorite toys. Here are a bunch of photos from the last week.

Hannah's toddler bed

Meredith's ...
Hannah playing in her bed with her "costume" one ... when I put it on her she said "Mommy! I look like princess!" So we named ourselves Princess Piggytails ...

Meredith ... she is beginning to learn to stand still and say "cheese" for pictures

About the best I could do for two in one photo ... Hannah wouldn't drop that paci ... she is much more attached to it than Meredith ...

Meredith left and Hannah right ... ready to hit the streets and hit up some neighbors for candy!

Hmmmm ... anything good in this bag (Hannah)?

Now THAT is what I am talking about (H)!!!

Mmmmmm ... chocolate (Meredith)!!

just a cute shot of the back of the outfit ... think this is Hannah

They made their little trick-or-treat bags at school ... here, they are checking out the goods ... and yes, eating Mike & Ikes off the floor ;) Oh well, a little Vitamin D-I-R-T never hurt anyone =)

reading books in the tutu ... there is more to a "princess" than just good looks!

I love the close-ups where you can tell their eyes are the same color as mine ... maybe a little proof that they are, in fact, my children =)

Meredith may regret this day in a few years ... the day she proved to me that she can use a vaccuum cleaner (sort of) ... I was flipping my couch cusion covers and getting down feathers EVERYWHERE and she dust busted all of them and had fun, too! Hannah pointed them out for her (over here, sissy, here's a feather) and she would suck them right up! Quite handy aren't they ... when they want to be!

My poor, teething little girls ... the frozen lemonade was a hit tonight and I had a day where insisting they not eat messy stuff on the couch was not a battle I was going to fight ... they are pretty good with the spoon though ... this is Meredith ... full on concentration face ...

Hannah ... a little frozen lemonade ... a little Max & Ruby (cartoon) ... what else could a girl ask for?