Humahuma...

We're going to Hawaii at the end of the month, and C/D are SO excited. I have used it as an excuse to buy a few "warm weather" things that we never get to wear here (yeah Old Navy!). C recently insisted on wearing them...to breakfast. Also, their cousin Ainsley is really excited to see a humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Gram and Sam got C/D books about the "humu" fish, and now I think they pronounce it better than I do. Check out C...

No matter...

No matter how nice of a house I live in someday (and right now even living in a house seems like a stretch) I will always consider this the best "curb appeal" I could ever have in a home. (The 'gang' is patiently waiting and watching for their owners, just like their owners do for their Daddy).

Heard from their room at bedtime...

D: "I'm Dylan!"
C: "I'm Charlotte!"
C: "I'm Dylan!"
D: "I'm Charlotte!"
C: "I'm Daddy!"
D: "I'm ANDREW!"
(apparently nobody wants to play mommy :))

Make it a double

A few weeks ago I filled in for a friend who runs the expectant and new parents of twins group in SF. There were about 7 moms there, 3 expecting, 1 with a surrogate expecting, and 3 with newborn twins. We talked about the typical issues of pregnancy risks, delivery, lack of sleep, etc. And the whole time all I could think was "I wish I were one of you!!!!"

I want twins. Again. Seriously. I would be the happiest person on earth if twins came my way again. (Unfortunately, Andrew might not be, but that is another story). I am enthralled watching them interact and it is such a wonderful feeling to know that they will always have each other. Sometimes when I look forward to having another someday I think about the first ultrasound, and I wonder how I will feel when I only see one. It is hard to imagine it topping the experience of finding two the first time around.

That being said, on the rare occasions that I get one to myself I am amazed by how much simpler it is and how different the bonding experience is...so I am sure I will enjoy it in so many other ways someday.

Still, a girl can dream...

Things that make me laugh

• When they go to bed at night and I can hear them in their room, singing in unison. It's like American Idol in there, I swear. Current popular songs are "Great Big Stars," Knick Knack Paddywack, Dona Freda Baila, and of course, the Good Night song.
  
• When the girls make a request without saying please we often say "I can't hear you." Now sometimes when C asks for something without saying please she'll stop, look at me, grin, and say "I can't hear you!" Gotta love a toddler who mocks herself.
  
• When C says "I'm going to go to Daddy's office." and I say "What will you do there? What does Daddy do there?" She responds "Play ping pong."


• Watching C and D give each other kisses.


• Whenever C needs something she says "We need to go to Walgreens."


• When D or C get hurt they want "Owie"...Owie is a pink or purple "Little Miss Happy" and has a freezer pack in it. No matter where they get hurt, they always put Owie on their forehead.


• When I catch D picking her nose I say "What are you doing Dylan?" She grins and says with glee "Picking nose." Then "Big girls don't do that" to herself. And laughs.


• When I tell C that she can't interrupt people and she needs to say "excuse me" when she wants to speak, and she gives this little laugh like "Who are you kidding?"


• Their versions of "smiling for the camera" (and yes, C is both a firefighter and "captain charlotte" in this pic--it was early Sunday morning and Mom and Dad wanted to get out for coffee/tea and didn't care what they wore as long as they weren't naked)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

C and D are thinking red today. (And if you can tell them apart in these pics I'm impressed. Even I had a bit of a tough time with them. And yes, we have bought a few matching outfits lately--that's what happens when they start forming opinions).

(And btw, I am thinking "idiot" today because I set up a Facebook account (mostly for work purposes but could be fun) and in doing so accidentally emailed EVERYONE I have ever sent an email to who has a facebook account. So far 99% of the people who have accepted me as a friend are people I would have pinged anyway. But I'm kinda surprised by the number of people who just ignored me!)

Andrew and I celebrated last night. We went to the Presidio Social Club...a restaurant in the old officers' social club in the Presidio (it made me miss Gumpa, and I had to drink a few stiff ones in his honor). Andrew has this new trick...we agree to not get each other gifts on ancillary holidays, then he busts out with an awesome gift at the last minute. This time it was a new camera (and I know I tease him for only buying me electronics, but this time I REALLY wanted the electronics). I have been taking a photography class, not because I have any talent but because I'd just like to be able to take decent photos on occasion. These are the best shots I've taken so far, taken with my old camera. Not much but it is a start...

Can't wait to start using the new one. Love you Bug!!!

Elmo is a No No

Last night I went to a presentation by the head of the campaign for a commercial free childhood. It was both interesting and depressing. The idea is that instead of allowing our kids to learn and develop their imagination through imaginative and creative play, we are stunting their learning by teaching them to covet commerical figures.

She wasn't saying Elmo is bad. The point she made was that years ago kids got to see their favorite commercial character at most a few times a week on TV. As kids we could see Sesame Street at most 5 times a week. If we wanted to play "Sesame Street" we had to recreate it with our imaginations. Today our kids are literally bombarded with commercial characters--videos cereal boxes, toys, sheets, placemats, towels, etc-- from birth. I am probably butchering their theories, but the gist of it is that by encouraging our kids to want Elmo 24/7 we're discouraging them from using their imaginations to come up with characters, etc. And while Elmo may not be bad, it creates a pattern of behavior that is (ie. next it will be Dora, Bratz, Barbie, etc).

She also talked about how gender specific toys have become--girls are taught to be pretty and boys are taught to be violent--and how much she worries about the generation of girls growing up in America today.

A really uplifting discussion. I guess the biggest thing that I took from it is that I'm driving this bus. By that I mean that when I buy my kids Elmo hats for their birthday, or get them "Elmo soup" I'm doing exactly what I shouldn't.

Ugh. Yet another thing to worry about... good thing I didn't bring their birthday party pics with me...

An Era of Twins

A recent NYT article about the "era of twins."

Two thoughts:

• Is it weird that I'm a little bummed that being a twin is "trendy" right now? Enough with the celebs having twins already.
• I'm so glad the articles calls out JLo for claiming her twins "run in the family." She claims she has an aunt with twins. You mean your Aunt IVF? I know enough women with fertility driven twins who hate the stigma, and when people like JLo deny that hers are fertility driven it just makes things worse.

Pretending

C and D have started to "pretend", and it is awesome. Right now some of their favorite pretending involves personal grooming. Check it out.

A Sunny Day

On one of the first sunny days in a while we went to visit Grandpa Michael's grave. C/D were afraid of the very loud leafblower nearby so we didn't last long, but we put flowers on his grave and flowers on their great grandfather "Gumpa"'s grave and I told them about both of them.

Then we met Papa at the park and had lunch at Fenton's ice creamery. A very nice ending to the morning.

PT for Tenacious D

Dylan and I went to her first physical therapy session today. It was great. She had fun and I learned a lot about where she is behind and what I can do to help her improve her core strength. It was so helpful too to be reminded of how important it is to let her struggle, let her go through the motor development process of learning things even if she fails. The therapist thinks that she is definitely behind (can't stand on tippytoes without pulling up, 'runs' assymetrically, has difficulty with stairs, lacks some core strength/balance) but that there isn't anything seriously wrong. She also said that D was one of the more 'adventurous' kids she'd had in for PT (not only did she take all the balls out of a barrel, she 'shot hoops' and threw them all in, then got them all out again so she could climb in the barrel. She said few kids are do that on their own). We go back next week for more evaluation and then she will likely develop an at-home program. I'm so glad we're going forward with the PT. I'm so thrilled to be helping her now as opposed to trying to help her unlearn bad habits she developed later on.

And while she might behind phyiscally, Miss Dylan is certainly ahead of her time fashion-wise. Here is a typical D outfit---no less than six of the items shown are 'screamers,' by which I mean that trying to deny her the opportunity to wear it would inevitably lead to a lot of screaming (heart dress, fire hat, ladybug boots, fire jacket, jeans, doggy purse).

Finally, SAVE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIGN THE PETITION, PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!! FULL HEARTS CLEAR EYES CAN'T LOSE!!!

Super Duper

Two big "Super" events this week. First, the Super Bowl. The four of us went to the Rubins for as long as C/D would hold out (too bad it wasn't long, they had the best ribs i've eaten outside of TX), and then Andrew went on and the Dodson girls went home to watch the event together. Who would have thought I could have had such a good time watching the Super Bowl w/ my two year old daughters!?! We had a 'Super Bowl Picnic"---they actually LIKE watching football, I swear (and the like the ice cream treat and stickers they got as part of the celebration even more). They even enjoyed Tom Petty (God he made me feel old)--although D couldn't understand why he didn't play "Do Wi Do Wi Circle Wide." All in all, good fun. And then, Super Tuesday!

C and D are already starting to show their true blue colors. And yes, as you can see by these t-shirts (c/d's birthday gifts from my sister and co., which will probably lead to the cementing of the term "the California Dodsons" on Andrew's side of the family: )) I am/was torn between two candidates. I don't pretend to know nearly enough on all the issues. I have taken a bunch of those online tests and I come out pretty even for Hillary and Obama (for different reasons). Here's my issue--I "like" Obama better. I think he is a leader and I think he's more unifying. And I think we need change. At the same time, I value Hillary's experience, and I think she's earned her spot. And I can't help but feel that maybe Clinton's downswing is a bit of feminist backlash in disguise. And I'm not going to lie, selfishly the thought of my daughters learning the concept of "president" when it is a WOMAN thrills me beyond my wildest dreams. I do not think we can possibly under estimate the impact of a female US president on young American women. I think it will fundamentally change what it means to be a girl in America. I do.

Truthfully though, I'm just thrilled and amazed that in all likelihood we'll have a woman or an African American running our country soon. And maybe the real silver lining is that I like McCain too--I can't remember the last time I wasn't voting for the person I 'dislike least.'

Oh, and if that weren't enough excitement for the week, we also made GOOP. Cornstarch and water. And a lot of food coloring. It was super.