Say, make, eat, paint, and play!

Over the past few weeks...

We've said this:

Abby to Elise: "Oh, your picture is EXQUISITIVE!"
Abby to me: "Mom, how do you spell "coronation"?"
Elise to me: "I love you more than $129!"
Elise to my belly, every night: "I love you baby!"
Abby's baby names: Peter or Carrie
Elise's baby names: Rosella, Violet, Daisy, or Tommy

We made these:

We ate this:

Quinoa Cookies

adapted from Loves Food Loves To Eat

• 1 1/2 C organic stone ground whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 C organic unsalted butter
• 1/2 C organic coconut sugar
• 1/4 C local honey
• 2 local organic eggs
• 1 tsp homemade vanilla
• 1 C cooked organic quinoa
• 1/2 C unsweetened coconut
• 1 C chocolate chips (optional)
• Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes

Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

• Cooked organic quinoa
• Organic milk
• Cinnamon
• Local, raw honey
• Organic raw pumpkin seeds
• Organic banana
• Unsweetened coconut

We painted here:

And we played this way:

It has been wonderful to be outside... making mud pies, playing in the fairy garden, filling pots with herbs and flowers. We miss our chicken companions - the remaining two, Lavender and Pip, found a wonderful home a few weeks ago. As we prepared to drive them across town, Elise insisted that Pip not only kissed her but was also crying. When I said "Well girls, I think we found a great home for the chickens", Abby brought me to tears by responding with "those chickens will never have a better home than what they had with us". We decided that, with baby on the way, it would be nice to simplify the homestead - I'm sure it was the right thing to do and we found an organic, vegetarian home for the ladies - but I'm already looking forward to the next flock at some point down the road. 

Speaking of down the road... Baby L has 5 weeks left to cook. And I'm enjoying each and every day. I feel great, our weekly check-ups are looking awesome, we met with our doulas and have a wonderful birth plan in place, the babe's room is done, and the big sisters are excited! We still have no names picked out nor are we using the girls' suggestions. And the overall consensus thus far is that this baby has a penis. While I'm unsure of that detail, what I do know is that growing a baby rocks: hiccups, kicks, big sister belly kisses, nighttime bathroom breaks and all. 

My sweet little ogres...

One minute we're outside, riding bikes jacket-free. The next minute, we're bundled to the max, wearing boots and slurping soup. The cold weather has virtually no impact on the girls - they are in such a groove right now with one another... all day long, they move from playing Shrek and Fiona to coloring to the dollhouse to singing/dancing to legos to reading to pretending to be Maria and Liesel. I have always thought, in my back of my mind, that we should separate them occasionally - give each one some one-on-one time without the other. But we've just never seen it as a necessity - they get along so well the vast majority of the time that we just roll with it. Over the past couple of weeks, the tides have turned: if I'm running an errand, one might choose to go and one stay, which never happened before; they both always stuck together. However, during a split over the weekend, a song came on the car radio to which Elise commented "this would be much more fun to sing with Abby here". Upon returning home, John shared that, while playing "dizzy games", Abby commented "I wish Elise was here to play dizzy with me". 

Clearly, we think siblings are important (including the soon-to-be baby of the family who is currently kicking at about the same rate that I'm typing). But having the companionship of a twin is amazing and I love that we've kept them together - in so many families, especially when there are age differences, older ones head off to preschool when the babies are just becoming interactive. I feel like keeping the girls together has provided them with the time and the opportunities to learn how to navigate a truly intimate relationship, skills I have to believe will be powerful in future relationships. 

The eight nights of Hanukkah

This week, the menorah went down and the christmas tree went up. 'Tis the season! 

As I do every year, this month makes me really think about "needs" and "wants" and everything in between. I read recently that one of the critical steps in raising grateful children is to NOT give them everything they want. The holidays are a time of giving, right? But I guess everyone has their own definition of "giving" - for us, it comes in many forms... many small forms... many intangible forms... 

I want the girls to be grateful, not greedy... appreciative, not entitled... content, not needy. Thus far, I feel like we're doing a pretty good job. We continue to keep toys to a minimum, screen time and gadgets practically non-existent, and gifts that are about quality, not size and quantity. If I had to name one of Abby and Elise's greatest 5-year old strengths, it would be their ability to PLAY. They can play anywhere, anytime, with anything. Maybe some people think our children are deprived... I think they've been given the greatest gift of all: the gift of creativity. If they don't have a pretend loaf of bread to put in Dorothy's basket, they don't ask us to buy one - they used a paper towel roll. When Mary Poppins needed an umbrella, they didn't ask us to replace the broken one - they draped a doll blanket over the top of a drumstick, creating a perfectly-shaped closed umbrella. Poor, poor deprived children. 

Here's the Hanukkah gift rundown:
- Night one: 2 new Berenstain bear books each
- Night two: Sketch pad and set of colored pencils each
- Night three: Handmade nightgowns with a matching nightgown for their favorite bears (made by Gran with love)
- Night four: Lego building set each
- Night five: Sleeping bags from Gran and Grandpa
- Night six: Animal legos to go with the houses from night four
- Night seven: Dinner on the Plaza to see the lights
- Night eight: 1 Little House on the Prairie book each and a DVD of a Disney Little House on the Prairie mini-series

Our house doesn't look like a truckload of new toys was dumped inside of it. I'm not scrambling to find places to store all of the plastic. But I am enjoying watching them build, listening to them read, and snuggling on the living room floor for rest time in new sleeping bags. They have both asked if we can go to the Plaza again next year for Hanukkah, all of the new books have been read over and over and over again, and the coordinating bedtime attire is really damn cute. It was a great eight nights and I get the feeling the girls are grateful for each and every gift. 

Michael and Jane

I'd like to introduce you to Michael and Jane:

Yes, they resemble Abby and Elise very much in the face... the sparkling brown eyes... the pinch-able cheeks... the crazy hair. But they are very much Michael and Jane... from Mary Poppins. The girls had movie-night on their last overnight with Gran and Grandpa. Yes, we've allowed them to watch a movie... with some conditions, of course. None of the hour-and-a-half-animation. Something with actual actors/actresses. Singing, there has to be singing. And, on a sidenote, hearing the girls say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" is not only impressive, but adorable. 

For the past two weeks, there has been so much imaginative play happening between these two - pretending to be Michael, Jane, or Mary Poppins, singing "Spoonful of Sugar", flying through the house with umbrellas. And tonight I came across this article from a couple of years ago: "Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills". This article is spot-on with my beliefs as a preschool teacher and as a mom. It's no secret that I'm struggling with how quickly kindergarten is approaching - I'm not ready to think about my babies being that old, but I'm certainly not about to send them off to sit at a desk with highly restricted outdoor time and into a world where "play" is viewed as worthless. And I love that the NPR article addresses the way in which "toys" changed the type of play children carry-out. It is absolutely true that, as a teacher, we are seeing an outrageous increase in children with self-regulation struggles and social-emotional needs. Wouldn't it be wild if we could alter that trend by simply playing, creating, and imagining with our kids?