Transplant

First things first. It was pointed out to me, by a devoted reader or two, that I failed to post pictures of the girls with their Easter baskets....
Madeleine on the left, Emily on the right.

Madeleine with her chocolate bunny.

Emily with her chocolate bunny.

Now, on to the post.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened. Finally, after at least two and a half years of heavy use one of the tags on our Essies (security blankets) had to be replaced. Unlike their mother, aunt, uncles and any "normal" child I have encountered Emily and Madeleine rejected the satin binding on their Essies and went straight for the tag. The girls' blankets are smallish squares with an animal head in the middle (as in small stuffed toy head, not anything from the local taxidermist) with the tag in the center of the back, under the animal's head. Madeleine's blanket is lavender with a kitty head and Emily's is yellow with a duck head. Each of us have three security blankets, but about a year and a half ago each girl designated one of her three as "the good one". The good one is, of course, the one that has had the most "nose water", saliva, etc. wiped on it, and is the recipient of the most love. Anyhow, the tag on Emily's good one finally totally disintegrated....after months of being nursed along, repeatedly reattached to Essie, being worn down to nothing but threads, etc. So, in Williamsburg's first case of tag transplant I snipped the tag off a baby washcloth and attached it to Essie. I was told "I want a brown tag, this one white", it's also coincidentally free of bubonic plague...but who cares about that minor detail? I told Emily the tag just needs some love and I'm sure it will be brown by Christmas time. It seems the initial rejection period has passed and the new tag and its owner seem to be doing well together. Side note for anyone who may find themselves in this position - use a Gerber washcloth tag. The tags from Target's brand, Circo, fray and just come back off...I "bound" the edges with crazy glue, but realized Emily would essentially be a huffer when sucking her thumb - not optimal parenting. So....we tried a third time and the Gerber tag doesn't fray!

World War 276,342 took place recently, and as is often the case, the battleground was the backseat of the car. For our next car, I'm buying a taxi - I'm going to slide that window behind the driver shut and just let them go at it until only one can walk away! Anyhow, we were driving home from playing in the sand at Yorktown and Madeleine announced she wanted to be an animal doctor and therefore would go to college (we've had a few discussions about college because that's where Daddy works). Emily said she was going to go to college too. I remarked it is good for both girls to go to college, blah, blah, blah. Madeleine asked if there were toys at college and I said sure (not exactly made by Fisher Price, but there none the less). Then Emily announced she was going to college so she could be an animal doctor too. This was the shot heard around the Subaru. Madeleine came completely unglued. It simply was unacceptable that Emily would be an animal doctor, Madeleine was going to be an animal doctor, the world is not large enough for two animal doctors!! Once we had Madeleine's breathing restored to a normal rate, I asked why Emily couldn't be an animal doctor too. "Because I need a nurse! I be doctor and Memy be the nurse! Memy is the animal nurse!" Apparently we paid attention the week we went to both the pediatrician and the vet. It was suggested that both girls could be animal doctors and another person could be the nurse. Shockingly, this was acceptable. However, the doctors had some questions as to who would be qualified to work with them. I tried telling them it would be someone they'd meet in college, but they weren't buying it. I finally told them it would be their friend Gaius (who at the moment is constantly practicing his Spider Man impersonation skills...but I don't think a medical career is out of the question) and this, thankfully, was acceptable!!

Uncle Chuck reading The Poky Little Puppy to Madeleine (When he found out she was unfamiliar with the dessert rice pudding, it was suggested a call to CPS be made.)

Madeleine in blue and Emily in green coloring pictures at the folk art museum.

Last week the girls "met" their great-aunt Carol and great-uncle Chuck who live in Gaithersburg, MD. Actually the girls had met Chuck and Carol at the age of approximately four and a half months, but shockingly did not remember it (although I remember Chuck carrying Madeleine around for a bit of time while she happily soaked his shoulder with drool). Chuck and Carol and some friends came down to Williamsburg and Jamestown. They stayed in one of the colonial houses and it was a very big deal for us to finally get to go inside one. We saw some animals and went to the DeWitt Wallace Museum because Carol had noticed a table set up for little ones (paper, paints, etc.) while on a tour the previous day...sadly the activity was not set up, but we saw some nice spoons. However, Uncle Chuck later found and told me about an exhibit, "Down On The Farm" at the folk art museum; so we went and saw that on our own. It was a hit and we got to color pictures of farm animals! I was informed "they very nice people" at the end of our visit.


Last Saturday we went to Busch Gardens....there is a reason we don't go on weekends in the summer. Granted, it is still April, but the place was packed. Every cheerleader from ages 4-18 in the Mid-Atlantic region was there for some sort of competition, as well as high school band members, choir kids and a corporation having their "family day". This was the first time we have ever waited in line just to get in the park. The bright side was that Land of the Dragons, the area with the heaviest concentration of kiddie rides, was fairly empty. This week we played in the water attraction for the first time, it took a bit of getting used to, but ended up being a hit. Also, while watching one of the Clydesdales getting a bath we saw a small lizard....this was completely acceptable, until it moved.



Emily

Madeleine caught a bit off -guard by water shooting out of the ground next to her.

Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right.

While driving to Busch Gardens Till and I were talking about a trip we took right before I got pregnant with the girls. From the backseat came Emily's "What you talking about?" Her eavesdropping capabilities are superb, and if she fears she missed something...she happily asks. We told her we were talking about a trip we took before we had the girls. Life before the girls is incomprehensible to our backseat crew. We were informed they were little tiny babies at the time of the trip, we said no. We were told they were big girls at the time, we said no. Finally, to buy peace, I said they were in my tummy at the time. However, this brought up the question of "How we get out your tummy?" We try and be fairly open with the girls, use the correct terms for all body parts (hence two of us having "beninas"), etc., but we didn't want to get into this. So, we said the girls came out when the were ready. How? I said I didn't remember. Emily concluded "We come out your head" and the matter was settled.


Looking stylish driving home from the eye doctor in Richmond. The girls had their eyes dilated and we were thankful for our "Hawaii glasses"....which have obviously been removed since parents initially placed them on our heads as Emily's (left) are upside down and Madeleine's ear doesn't look too comfortable.


The forest animals exhibit is leaving The Virginia Living Museum so we made one last trip. Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right with bugs and magnifying glasses.

Emily and the red ant.

Madeleine and the black ant.

Happy (Very Belated) Easter

Emily dying Easter Eggs!

Madeleine dying Easter Eggs!

Amazing how time flies when you are having fun - sorry for the lapse in "publishing".

Shockingly, the girls have been keeping pretty busy. Easter was a hit this year and once again the difference between this year's Easter and last year's was anticipation. As with any holiday, the girls had fun with the actual day a year ago, but this year Madeleine and Emily are aware the holiday, whatever it may be, is coming and are waiting with little patience and great anticipation. We knew the Easter Bunny came at night (it was pointed out this is much like Santa Clause) and that he would hide our eggs and put candy in our baskets. The day before Easter our naps were a bit on the short side (which means we are just a wee bit grumpy "gumpy" and not coping as well at bedtime), after Emily and Madeleine had been put to bed Till left to pick-up a pizza as I was boycotting the idea of cooking. Emily spied the departure from the girls' window (unfortunately over the garage and with a clear view of the driveway) and came unglued because Daddy wasn't cooperating by going to sleep so the Easter Bunny could come. When I told her he would be right back, it was suggested that perhaps he had gone to pickup the Easter Bunny and bring him to our house. While this was the topic of great discussion we concluded the Easter Bunny would simply hop to our house, just like he hops to all the other kids' houses. Madeleine, Emily and I read all of their books featuring a bunny in any form until Till returned, upon which he promised to go to bed as soon as possible.

Easter morning brought a thorough review of Easter candy. On the acceptable list are Cadbury Mini Eggs and M&Ms. On the unacceptable list are jelly beans (although we like to lick them just a bit, but will not place them in our mouths), chocolate eggs from Germany (which they would love if they would just try them) and, much to their mother's distress, peeps.

In advance of Easter Madeleine and Emily had a wonderful time dying eggs. Just like last year we wore head-to-toe black as it seems this color is least likely to show spilled dye. The first video gives a good indication of our method. No spoons for us! It is all about using one's hands and, as shown on the left of the screen, constantly rotating the egg in question. The second video gives an overview of our vibrant finished products and some discussion on the creation of secondary colors. In both videos Emily is in profile on the left and Madeleine is facing the camera.

In other news, Busch Gardens reopened on March 21st! Two of us were slightly more excited about this than the other two - you can guess as to pairings. We didn't tell the Madeleine and Emily we were planning on going (we were too afraid to risk the excitement that would be destroyed by an unexpected shift in the weather - we are proud to be cowards) and once in the car did not tell them where we were headed. However, the girls have a very good sense of direction and can navigate Williamsburg fairly well (including being able to tell you - most of the time - the direction to turn at each intersection, and the street names, on the way home from Colonial Williamsburg) so it didn't take them too long to figure things out. When Busch Gardens closed at the end of October we had told Emily and Madeleine it would reopen in the spring when the flowers were out. This video demonstrates some of the enthusiasm of that morning and Emily's connection that the flowers are out! Emily is on the left and Madeleine is on the right. The girls were thrilled to see all of their favorite rides and their mother is on a mission to get them on a ride that involves riding in a "log" (with an adult) by the end of the season. She wants a picture of terrorized girls to go with the picture she has of their terrorized Uncle Kyle on the same ride in 1994....so far, we have gotten as far as actually getting to the ride and refusing to get in - we obviously respected the boycott, but will continue to work on this.

In literary news we have been reading two of the Fancy Nancy books in which Nancy teaches the reader "fancy" words...."furious is a fancy word for angry...mauve is a fancy word for purple". When I looked at these books at the store they seemed a bit long for our attention spans, so we decided to test the waters with the library's copies. They are a hit. Periodically, Nancy says something is "ooo la la fancy", so we are doing the same. We have "ooo la la fancy" shampoo, scarves, etc.....just what I need - divas in the making.

Yesterday the girls and I took the car through an automatic car wash at the gas station. There was some preparatory discussion as to the noise, water all over, etc. There were four VERY large eyes in the back of the car and Emily physically shook. However, both young ladies stood their ground, possibly damaged the circulation in their right thumbs because of the hard sucking and did not cry! We consider ourselves very brave for this effort.

Last Friday the rain finally stopped and I took the girls to Yorktown to play in the sand. When we first arrived we were basically the only ones there. We did very well playing together in one central location, then Emily decided to wander off. While she was never out of my sight, she did have a nice time ignoring my requests for her return which meant I had to go stomping after her (leaving Madeleine and my purse at the original location) and bring her back. Her walk (the kind where the child has to walk really fast and hop periodically because one side of her body is being pulled up by a ticked-off adult clutching the child's wrist) back was accompanied by a lecture about safety, etc. As soon as Emily was back, Madeleine decided it was her turn to take off. I threatened that should this occur, we would pack up and go home. This was the point Emily looked at Madeleine and said "It's okay Madeleine, just walk." grrrrrr I am so looking forward to the teen years!