All About Jackson

Jackson is a sensitive little soul. We can't leave him alone at church nursery; he cries when he discovers we're gone. We can't even always get away with leaving him home with his Dad or Opa while we go to bookclub. He sometimes cries at the door for an hour straight.

Jackson is a wild guy. He jumps and runs and giggles. He loves to do whatever his older brother is doing.

Jackson is very neat (the doctor says orderly is the word). He eats Cheetohs with a wash cloth in one hand, wiping his hand clean between every bite. Weird? Yes. Adorable in a neurotic way? Absolutely!

Jackson is sweet and cuddly--when he's in the mood. He charmed his Uroma with random kisses and hugs. He has the best smile--it's big, beautiful, and infectious.

Jackson is particular. He likes things to be just so. He cleans the floor whenever he finds a spill on it. He is the one who puts up a fuss if we leave home without someone or if we drop someone off somewhere to find their own way home. He finds such anamolies very disturbing.

Jackson is very persistant. When he knows what he wants he won't be distracted from it.

Other trivia?

As mentioned already, Jackson is Bentley's biggest fan. Bentley isn't always as nice to his little brother as he could be, but Jake is dedicated nonetheless.

Jackson LOVES cookie dough. The mere mention of it has him over by the mixing bowl demanding his share, and hyperventiliating if it isn't delivered immediately.

Jackson has a dog obsession. When we are out and about dogs will catch his attention even quicker than construction vehicles.

Jackson is going to be a hurdler. He's been practicing his long jumps, and he's quite impressive!

Jackson loves the playground. He spends most of his time there going down the slides or playing with balls.

Jackson is a great train builder. He designs some lovely tracks with curved pieces. A future engineer? Maybe.

All about Genevieve

Genevieve is helpful. Most of the time. Once in a while when you ask her to do something she offers a simple "I can't!".

Genevieve is an impish tease. She likes to steal toys from her brothers and run. When they chase her and are just about to catch her she throws the toy and runs in the opposite direction.

Genevieve is chatty. Once she gets the hang of longer sentences I think we'll hear her voice nonstop. As it is she can keep up a lengthy conversation by repeating back what you've said to her. :-)

Genevieve is sweet. She likes to give kisses and hugs and once in a while you can catch her patting Jake on the head when he cries.

Genevieve is very busy. She's always doing something though not often for very long; she likes her activities varied and numerous. :-)

Genevieve is trouble. She is the one that will think up the crazy ideas, I'm sure!

Genevieve is adventurous. She's the first one to try new activities, although at times she is cautious. She climbs to the top of the playground set and then sits down - she's scared of slides.

Genevieve is my messy child. She's the one that eats crayons, plays in the dirt, and runs barefoot through mudpuddles. She likes to dump her food bowl upside down when she's done eating or if she just wants to play with her food.

Genevieve is very friendly. She loves people. She likes new faces and warms up to new friends quickly.

Other trivia?

Genevieve does a great dinosaur impression. Her brothers encourage her to chase after them making her dinosaur roaring noise. It's adorable.

Genevieve is, at times, a bit of a klutz. She is usually sporting a few bruises! (Of course some of the bruises are courtesy of her brothers. Her teasing sometimes drives them to physical retaliation.)

Genevieve has a great self-image. When disciplined for poor behaviour she starts chanting "I'm nice! I'm nice."

Genevieve loves to color. If life followed Genevieve's preferences, we would have 4 coloring sessions a day.

Genevieve loves to eat. As mentioned in the past, she particularly favors food on other people's plates.

The 2 Year Stats

The twins went in for their 2 year check up with the Dr. today.

Genevieve is... 24 lbs 2 oz (25%) and 33 1/8 inches (30%). They claim her head is 49.5 cm which would put it in the 95%!

Jackson is... 24 lbs 10 oz (20%) and 34 1/4 inches (50%). His head measured in at 49.4 cm (60%).

They got one shot. Genevieve said "ouch!" and she was going to make it with just that until the nurse commented on how tough she was. That cued up the crying. :-) Jake went 2nd with the shot so he was all ready to go with his tears. He quit pretty quick though when he saw the crane out the window - easily distracted!

Interview with the barely twos

Viva and Jake are not quite as verbose as their older brother, and their vocabularies (although impressive!) don't quite match his. So their interview sessions were just a bit quicker.

:-)

Viva said...

her favorite color? "blue!"

her favorite food? "yummy!"

her favorite toy? "bear"

how old are you? "one"

where do you like to go? "church"

what do you like to see at the zoo? "sheep"

Jake said...

his favorite color? "green!"

his favorite food? "green!" I said... "green?!" he said... "yeah"

his favorite toy? gave me a blank look

how old are you? "three"

where do you like to go? "outside"

what do you like to see at the zoo? "the eagle"

So. As you can see, their thoughts are not quite as well formed as B's. That's okay though - they're getting there! And if you average their thoughts on age, you get the right answer. So it's all good.

To set the record straight, though....

Viva loves pink. She calls many colors pink. I suspect her favorite place to go is church because we went there today. She likes to eat many foods, but proteins are still the very favorite. Strawberries rank right up there too. She loves the "No no Yes Yes" book, and the "Paperbag Princess".

Jake loves chocolate. He also loves broccoli and rice. He's a good eater and when he's hungry he can inhale a bowl full of food in seconds flat. He loves the "Yummy Yucky Book", and is currently infatuated with the "Polar Bear Polar Bear", "Brown Bear Brown Bear", ... etc, series of books by Bill Martin.

And there you have it. An interview with the twins!

Those Chairs Again...

It's been 6 months, so the chairs are back! What has changed? Just the location. Now that we have such mobile toddlers we've found we can only keep them sitting by putting the chairs up in the cabinet corner unit - it's about 4 feet off the ground so they have no where to run. Clever, yes?! Going back... 2 years, 18 months, 12 months, 10 months, 8 months, 6 months, 4 months, 2 months, 2 weeks... whew. We've kept those chairs busy!

Interview with a Bentley

I've seen some "toddler interviews" floating around on different blogs lately, and it reminded me that it was about time to grill the kids again. We started off with Bentley. I said...

Bentley, what is...

Your favorite color? "Blue! No - pink. No. Blue!"

Your favorite toy? "My firetruck"

Your favorite book? "The whale one from the library"

Your favorite food? "Snap peas"

Your favorite place to go? "Grandma Karen's house!"

Your favorite animal? "Dinosaurs"

Your favorite breakfast? "Peppers"

Your favorite activity at the playground? "The swings and slide"

Your favorite thing to do? "Color"

Your favorite type of cookie? "M&M"

Your best friend? "Daniel"

and then I asked him a dangerous question - a freeform one! I said... "Tell me more about things you like, Bentley!"". And he went crazy... he said:

"I like to play with trains with Grandma. I like watch train videos with Opa. I like to go home. I like to go on trains sometimes. Sometimes I like to go in the swimming pool outside. I like to go on the water slide. I like to go outside on the driveway and play. I like to play with my toys. I like to go on boats. I like to watch whales. I like to get pennies (smashed). I like to go at the zoo. I like to go to the store. I like to get cards (post cards). I like books from Grandma Vicki. I like to go in the bathtub. I like to go to the bathroom. I like to get my birthdays. I like to get my own presents. I like to get candles. On my birthday. I like to go at church. I like...

I don’t want to do anymore.

I want to do more.

I like to wear my sleeper at bedtime. I like to put my clothes on in the morning. I like to eat breakfast in the morning. I like to sit on the couch. I like to jump and run. And I like to wear bracelets. I like to help somebody when they’re scared. I like to eat candy. I like to get postcards. I like to get magazines. I like to play basketball outside. I like to look at maps. I like to eat cookie dough and I like to make cookies with you (talking to me!) and I like to make poppy seed muffins and cranberry muffins. I like to go see bears somewhere. I like calling Grandma Vicki. I like getting new cars.

That’s all I’m gonna say. (but it wasn't!)

I like pigs.

I like the muskox and the camel at the zoo. "

And then it was really the end.

He's a talkative little guy sometimes!

Urompa!

The twins birthday was extra special this year because we had the chance to have my Dad's parents up to visit during it. Here are the kids and their Uroma and Uropa (thus the Urompa!).


Thanks for coming all the way from Florida to see us, Oma & Opa! We had a great time.

Birthday Fun Times

The twins started off their big 2 with a special treat - waking up in Mom & Dad's bed! I'm not quite certain how they both ended up there. Night time activities of the kids are always a bit blurry. :-) They looked awfully comfy though, so it's all good.


Once they woke up we got right to business. 1st up? Another chair shot, of course! The "official" chair shot is upcoming in another post, but here they are with their birthday balloons.


Next on the agenda? Some horsing around with cousin Ben, while I did some more work on the birthday cakes.



Once I finished my work on the cakes the twins got busy. Their job? Sprinkle beautifucation. Jake had a chocolate cookie cake with crushed up oreos in it and a chocolate glaze on top.


Genevieve had a berry poke cake. A white cake with lots of holes poked into it, which we poured sweetened condensed milk and 3 berry icecream topping into. We had a coolwhip based frosting for her cake. She was in a sharing mood - unlike Jake, she was willing to let Bentley help her with the sprinkles. He was glad. :-)



Bentley has been just as excited (more so, even?!) as the twins about this birthday day. Cake to eat and presents to play with? He was in a great mood.


The finished cakes. My Mother and I make their names out of candy to put on the top of the cakes. Just in case they forgot which cake belonged to who! We ate cake at lunch time and had Grandpa Tim and Tyler (Grandma Karen is out of town), as well as Uroma and Uropa and Ben to celebrate with us. As well as the usual suspects who live here, of course.



They are a little neater with their eating than they were last birthday.


Next up? Present time! Genevieve was very excited about this part of her birthday. The first thing she said upon waking up was "open presents!".


Jake made a valiant effort at opening gifts, but lost focus easily. Luckily for him his older brother was there to help him with some of the gifts. :-)


Everyone checking out the new play kitchen!


Lastly? Picture time on the back deck!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kidlets! It was a fun day.

Twinsies: 10 Pics from Year 2

Twinsies: 10 Pics from Year 1

Birthdays are a time to look back at how far the kids have come. So in honor of the twins birthday (or shall I say... using it as an excuse?!) there will be a number of posts with some favorite pictures! To kick it off here are 10 from Days 0 - 365 of Viva & Jake together.

Thankful Thursday #7

This week we are...

enjoying balloons! Grandma bought the twins and Bentley some balloons to help build up to the big birthday tomorrow, and the kids have been playing with them all day long. Simple pleasures, and fun too!

loving cousin Ben. I think the kids want to adopt him. He's great fun!

happy we have helpful relatives. Thanks to Daddy and some great helpers the kids playground has now (finally!) been relocated to the new place. Now it just needs to be set up. :-)

Time Saver?

What is he doing?! He is getting a drink of milk from his Foogo Thermos! Jake discovered that he could save himself the trouble of removing the thermos from the fridge door and returning it there, if he simply took a drink from the thermos while it's still in the door. Bentley and Viva have tried out Jake's time saving method, but they don't do it often. It's not really that easy!


This technique is only recommended for very short people with good knees and supple backs.