Holiday Portraits

Sorry for the coloration and layout issues - I just scanned them quickly so that you could have a glimpse! Happy Holiday Season! :)

Thanksgiving, Part 2

It has been SO wonderful having Kyle home for a few days in a row over this Thanksgiving Week/Weekend! The girls and I will be sad when Monday rolls around he returns to work - and a super crappy schedule at that. The countdown is on though, until the end of residency! :)

On Wednesday and Thursday, the girls, Kyle and I went up to Ottawa to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Kaufman side of the family. Wednesday was spent with Grandma Shelly, Grandpa Mike and Uncle Troy (plus a visit from a few special cousins!). Elise and Avery really enjoyed playing on the family-favorite rocking horse, checking out the Duplos, and - of course - having tea parties and reading books. More photos in the Album!

On Thursday before leaving, we spent some time with the extended Maas family. It was wonderful to see everyone, and the girls did so well! And I must admit - the Gymboree dresses I bought (several months ago just for that day) were too cute for words!

Cooperative Play?

Starting about November 1st, the girls have mostly hated being around one another. They will still consistently give kisses to "sissy" each night, but otherwise they fight like cats and dogs. All freaking day.

The first week of November, we acquired a teeter totter from another WCMOTC mama that we had planned to add to the Christmas gifts. However, the timing seemed perfect. Perhaps introducing such a toy would encourage cooperative play, and discourage a little bit of the WWE Raw crap that was otherwise going on in our living room.

It lasted about 4 minutes (2 minutes longer than the just-viewed video). Once they got proficient at climbing on and off of the apparatus and rocking it on their own, they discovered that they could both fight AND play with the new toy by themselves. Occasionally these days you'll see them playing together, but most of the time it's used as a single-rider piece of equipment. It has cut down on the number of fights compared to when we just had one rocking thing (horse), so I suppose it has served some sort of purpose.

Besides, in the last week or so the fighting has dwindled down to only about 94% of their awake time. The other 6% (give or take), you might find them doing this --

I prefer those sweet girls, but they never ask my preference. :)

The Pink Army

Tuesday, October 6th

By 7:00am, everyone was awake and getting ready. We were out the door by 8ish, after a good night's sleep - glorious! I headed to Good's for a few necessities (read: Diet Coke) and planned to meet the rest of the gang either at the Hospitality House or Hollywood Studios, depending on the timing of the bus. Can I just point out (again?) that it was NASTY humid out? Blech.

After watching the opening act at the Studios, we joined the mad rush to Toy Storia Midway Mania (as usual). While Kyle was in line for Fastpasses, the rest of us hung out with the green army men, who had been sent to manage the crowds. One of them came up to talk to the girls ("Oh great, they sent the pink army for reinforcement!"), but Avery was a bit freaked out. "Fine then," one of them says, "you stay in your bucket and I'll stay in mine". How cute!

As usual, the ride was awesome. I came from way behind with a rockin' ring toss score... and only lost to Kyle by a small margin. At least my accuracy was still the best ;) And then there was my poor mother, who didn't even think to rapid-fire, and instead just aimed and shot at a ridiculously slow leisurely pace and got, I'm sure, one of the worst scores since the ride's inception. Don't worry, she made vast improvements the next few rides!

While the girls napped in the stroller and I shopped a bit, the rest of the gang watched Muppet Vision 4D. It was during this downtime that I realized we just weren't going to be able to get a lot done in this park when working around the girls' naps. With nearly everything on set schedules (and much longer than, say, a Fantasyland dark ride) it just isn't feasible. How people think this is a half-day park is beyond me, but that's a discussion most of you couldn't care less to have! ;)

We went back and took turns riding TSM with our fastpasses, and the girls, mama and I paid a visit to Buzz and Woody. Avery was in such a bizarre mood that she was terrified of the wooden cutouts in the queue, so we knew it wasn't going to be a great interaction on her part! ;)

We played for a few minutes in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset, but it was really too crowded for my little kids to enjoy. They DID, however, enjoy their first experience with a drinking fountain :)

Lunch was excellent at the Studio Catering Company (a new one for us, I think!) and finally it was time to head back to the resort for a little downtime. Back in the Lawless girls' room, Elise and Avery ran around and checked things out while the grown-ups played a few games for about an hour. We headed back to the park around 2, so that the girls could nap in The Cave. Kyle, Cassi and Lisa rode Rock n Roller Coaster, and I treated myself to a Mickey Bar since I was always so selfless in letting them ride while the girls were asleep ;) It was delicious, of course!

Next it was Kyle's turn to wait while the three of us gals rode Tower of Terror. Elise woke up while we were gone, so finally it was off to Playhouse Disney Live on Stage - we were pumped! And no, I'm not being sarcastic. The girls don't sit down and watch a lot of TV, but they do see enough of 3 of the 4 shows featured in this "live" attraction that we thought they would have a blast! As a bonus, we also caught the tail end of the Pixar Block party on our way. Poor Avery slept right through it, but Elise loved dancing with Flik!

We met Handy Manny outside before going in and scoring front row seats for the show.

This was our problem. The show is puppets instead of live characters, and for some stupid reason they're REALLY short. Poor Avery and Elise saw virtually nothing, and so they were kind of confused. We left right in time to meet June and Quincy (from the Little Einsteins), which they were much happier about! :) We also got to see Rocket (or at least a picture of him), and learn that the girls very much recognized him from a book we (still) read 90834 times each day. Within an instant of seeing him, both of them were doing the "pat pat pat .... blast off" launch sequence. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just look at these cute pictures. You still won't know, but you can pretend.

Dinner was at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. The food was fantastic as usual (especially the desserts!), and our server Eric was phenomenal. It was Elise's turn for a meltdown at dinner, and even still it was enjoyable... That's saying something! ;)

After dinner, the 3 people who rode things (really it was always my choice to skip attractions since I've had more experience, but as I keep saying that I feel like a broken record and/or someone who did NOTHING while at Disney World. That's not true, at least not the second half!) rode Star Tours while the girls and I played with (tiny) light sabers.

Finally it was time for the Kaufman clan to head back to the hotel, while Cassi and Lisa stayed to watch Fantasmic. Some day I'll get to see it again, but for now my fun is in creative bathtime without any bath toys. It turned out just fine, and the girls had a blast discovering what would become some of their favorite toys throughout the rest of the trip. Goofy girls --

Goodnight! (And don't forget to check out Picasa for some of the best pictures - added to the WDW Photo Album)

It's that time again....

Nope, not time for potty talk :) Time to change the cribs, to the last possible stop before Toddler Beds. Oh my gosh, I'm so not ready for Toddler Beds.

The other day - THANKFULLY while both Kyle and I were in the room - Elise demonstrated to us how she could pretty easily climb over the side of her crib. Apparently we weren't getting her out fast enough. 10 minutes later, Kyle was back from the basement with tools, and the girls and I were playing with mattresses --

Today, Avery (my non-climber, mind you) demonstrated that their little legs can still stretch up to the "shelf" Elise had previously used to climb... so I'm guessing it will just be another inch of height or a very desperate, determined moment before they can climb out, even on this last "level". Here's hoping they forget to even try, at least for another few months!

Thanksgiving, Part 1

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Lawless side of the family a bit early. On Monday, the girls and I spent the entire day over there finish meal prep, etc and hanging out as much as possible despite work/school schedules. By about 2pm, most of the family was there (including 2 sets of great grandparents) and by dinner time even cousins joined us. It was a great time, and the girls certainly enjoyed it. Especially the eating (like pigs) part.

We spent lots more time visiting than taking pictures, but be sure and check out the few in the Picasa album if you didn't see them yesterday! :)

The girls visiting the "bear skin rug" they so adore! :)

Let it Snow!

Ok, so I would prefer it not ACTUALLY snow for a while. The girls and I have had lots of fun playing with snowmen and snowflakes indoors, though! :)

It's official now that Elise and Avery's morning nap is finito. Sometimes they seem like they need it, but if they sleep even 20 minutes in the morning they are done for the day, which kills us - so in order to maintain the integrity of the afternoon nap (or try. lots of times without success.), we press through until after lunch. It's been great for us with regards to outings and errands, but sometimes they give me a run for my money between 10am-11am. So, we get creative and that hour is lots of one-on-one intense play. Last week, I gave them access to something that didn't require much creativity, but they loved it the same -- window clings! :-P

The first few days we wore out some adorable snowmen, and I didn't get any pictures/video. I did catch them playing with the snowflakes though, usually for nearly 25 minutes at a time!

(In case you're wondering, these too have been retired. Good thing they're cheap!)

Misappropriated?

So I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but I think any style formerly attributed to my children might have had more to do with mama's preferences than something within them.

You see, when we help them as they request, this is really what it looks like around here --

Yes, that is unbuttoned pajamas, additional pajamas on the arms (perhaps like a robe?), and shoes that may or may not match. It didn't stop there, though!

Hmm... still cute, even dressed like bums.

Everyone Poops

Yep, it's that time - time for potty talk! I've been delaying this entry for a while because I don't want to sound all preachy. I know that parenting is nearly 100% subjective and what works for one family might not work for another, yada yada yada. That being said, I know some medical stuff, some psychological stuff, etc that I can't ignore when making decisions for my family, so I thought I'd pass it along. And I'll throw in a Kaufman twins update and a cute picture or two to make up for it. Sound fair?

The United States is insanely weird about potty training. Let me rephrase that - the United States TODAY is insanely weird about potty training. In much of the rest of the world, infants are trained before their first birthday. Not a typo, FIRST birthday. That doesn't make me comfortable nor does it fit in my lifestyle, so I'll be the first to admit that I have no issues that we (as a culture) don't do that anymore. Still, even aside from sanitary reasons, I get why and how it works.

Let's rewind to a time before most of my readers were even born. We used to be like the rest of the world (and wow, you will RARELY hear me say something like that in a negative light). Then sometime in the early 70's (trying to spare you details here), a doctor wrote a VERY well accepted book about child rearing. In it, he suggested that we wait to introduce the potty to our youngsters. Wait, that is, until they were 8 or 9 months old. People were shocked - THAT LATE?! they thought.

Again - we had zero plans to bust out the potty that early in the Kaufman house, and would choose to wait "so long" again in a heartbeat. I'm just painting a picture that shows you it is a very recent development that we wait until our children are 2 and 3 years old to train.

You might have heard me advocate for children training when they are "ready". To me, and again I know this is very much a "to each their own" sort of thing, "ready" means holding their pee a few hours (and those muscles develop at about age 3-4 months), following simple directions, and the physical ability to sit on a potty. That's it. For me, it does not mean the following conversation:

Mom: Do you want to sit on the potty?

Child: No thanks, I'd rather continue to play.

PLEASE understand that I am not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying that that situation doesn't mesh in my brain.

Let's talk about what does - my girls, and most 15-18 month olds - WANT to mimic grown ups. They love being pleased with their accomplishments. They soak up new information like sponges. They TOTALLY understand what it means to go on the potty (give your kids credit where credit is due!). In fact, studies will back up that the readiness for children to be potty trained - and not even just "mommy trained" (though I could show you some awesome stories about 4 month olds who pee in a pot on command!) - is at it's peak before 18 months... before they start developing a love to defy you ;)

All joking aside, Kyle and I think we started a little late, but are really excited for our girls. Not only does it make sense for our family, but there are numerous medical benefits to earlier training - less night wetting down the road, (much) lower risk for bladder infections/issues, self-esteem boosts, etc. Urinary problems galore - both "incidents/accidents" and actual medical diagnoses are linked to late training. My friends who are a bit more granola than I could also add in loads of environmental arguments, "chemicals on the skin" arguments, etc - but you know that's not really my methodology! ;)

Anyway, enough from me. I'll GLADLY talk your ear off, or even just dialogue with you on the matter if you'd like - in another venue. Or you can ignore me, and just come back for the less-controversial stuff. Here's what we're doing though --

A few months ago, we started really talking in depth with each diaper change about wet vs dry, pee, poop, etc. About 3 weeks ago, the girls got new potty chairs. They learned the sign for potty. We sit them on it every morning, every night, and after every meal/drink. Sometimes, they even tell us they want to go (though it's usually after their diapers are nice and warm with new pee. Great visual, no? ;)). Are they any good at it yet? Of course not. Do I plan to do this until they're 3 anyway, thereby wasting all of our time? Of course not. For now, they get lots of praise when we so happen to catch their pee or poop (which is usually 1 time out of every few days, because I'm not very diligent). They know that mommy and daddy and big kids go on the potty, and are getting very comfortable with the whole process. The next step, after they're 18 months (which again, I struggle - part of that sounds so late to me, after learning the things I have, but it also just seems unreasonable before that, likely since I've been led to believe that) - and mostly after the holiday traveling, etc - we're taking the training full force. Potty-training-in-a-day, Potty-Boot-Camp, whatever you want to call it, we're doing it. A short time frame dedicated to getting the job done.

Will it work flawlessly? Who knows. Is it harder than just waiting until they're 3 and can do it overnight when they decide they want to? Certainly. But we feel like the rewards for the child(ren) far outweigh the inconvenience.

So there you go. Want some cute pictures now? You deserve it if you got through that. You deserve them even more if you chime in with your feedback, no matter which side of the fence you're on on the potty training issue! :)

Sharon Woods Storytime

Last week, we went to the Sharon Center at Sharon Woods for a special storytime about Turkeys! We read an adorable book, A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting, and talked about turkeys in nature. The girls even got to touch a soft turkey feather!

Before the activities started, we had also met our friends in the indoor playground to play with Addy and meet her new baby brother, Liam. What fun!

Once again, lots more pictures in the Photo Album!

November Music & Movement

Another month, of course, brings another Music & Movement class! Since you know the gist by now (and if you're newly following along, you can just search and find several references and explanations), I'll just share some pictures. It makes me so proud to see Avery and Elise following instructions so well and participating on a new level each and every month. (And can you believe this was our eleventh month?!) Toddlers are amazing!
















































































As usual, we stuck around the Children's Museum for about an hour after. It had been a while since we spent time in the Little Sprouts Farm, so we hung out there. The girls loved being able to "roam" free and try all of the different activities. Free, that is, until Elise found a favorite activity of jumping down an entrance you're supposed to climb into, and Avery decided she wanted to dump all the sand out of the play area :-P












































More pictures in the November Picasa album!

Stylish Girls (& a trip to Jungle Jim's)

My favorite outfits this fall (hands down) were only worn a couple of times... but still I got my money out of them ($3.74 each at Target on clearance!). Look how cute!

In other bargain-hunting news, I got the most adorable coats for the girls on my birthday - for $15 each. They're size 12-24 months so they should at LEAST get us through Fall and Spring, if not early next Fall!

Remember these shirts?

Yeah, Elise and Avery just so happened to be wearing them when I found the aforementioned jackets. Could my little girls be any cuter?! :)

Yeah, I know it - it's not possible!

Now on a totally unrelated note, we took a family trip one recent evening to Jungle JIm's. The girls hadn't been in a while, so I grabbed my camera as we headed out since there is so much there for kids to love!

Um, or hate. They HATED all the singing, dancing things.

The menagerie outside was tolerable, but overall it was definitely a let-down. Thus the tag on the end of a post, and not a home of its own! ;)