Twin speak

I've written before how I hate it when kids stop saying things that they said so much you never thought you'd forget, but then you forget.

Here are a few that I want to remember from right now.

Luke always starts sentences that are supposed to start with "They" with "Them," but he pronounces it "Um."  Example: "Um said um coming later."  "Um never do that."

They both say "Him" instead of "he" and "her" instead of "she," but they're getting better at using the right pronoun.  My favorite thing Ally said recently was about my dad's dog.  "Him so cute.  Him so little and so cute, but him is girl, so him is a she."

When you tease them, or when they think you're teasing them, they'll check it out by asking, "In real life?"

The injustice of vomiting

Poor sweet Luke.  The kids and I have had influenza the last several days.  Early this morning, Luke shot up in bed and said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up."  I scooped him up and ran him to the toilet where he threw up.

When I got him back to bed, he feverishly told me, "I never ate another booger but I still throw up!  Isn't that so crazy?"

I wasn't sure where to start, but my first question was, "Did you eat a booger before?"

"No," he answered, "I never ate a booger."

So, I went another route, "Is eating boogers what makes you throw up?"

"Yes."

I wondered where he'd heard that, so I asked, "Does someone you know eat boogers."

"Ally."

"Did someone tell her that would make her throw up?"

"No."

I was confused, but half asleep, so I had nothing.

Luke continued, "Ally eats boogers, but her not throw up.  I don't eat boogers but I still throw up.  It's just so funny, right mom?"

Right, Buddy.  It's just so funny.

Why Ally cried

"Mama, do you know why cried?" Ally asked me, referring to when she'd gotten caught getting out of bed and harassing Luke until 9:00 the night before last.

"Why did you cry, Ally?"

"Because Daddy lelled [yelled] and me, and you don't lell at someone who's a twin!"

"Oh!" I said, "Why don't you yell at someone who's a twin?"

"Because," she explained, "I just know this in my head."

Looking awesome... or cool... or lovely

I was dressing the twins this morning, and I helped Ally into a cute shirt and a pair of leggings.  She unhappily mumbled, "I'm going to see what Claire is wearing today."

I've already had two four-year-old girls, so I knew immediately.  "Does Claire wear a lot of dresses?"

"Yeth," she affirmed.

"Would you like to put a skirt over your leggings?"

"Yeth!" she said smiling!

Then Luke started in, looking at his shirt, "Um [them] don't say I look awesome... or cool... or lovely!"

"They don't," I asked.

"No."

"They don't ever!?"

"No."

"Why do you think that is?"

He thought for a moment, and then decided, "Because I'm not a girl!"

Goodbye, Cheyanne

I had Anna's friend Joey and his sister here.  We were making a going away present for Cheyanne who is moving to Singapore on Sunday.  Cheyanne was Anna's first best friend ever since the first day of K4.  She, Anna, and Joey have been inseparable since Joey came to the school the first day of K5.

They made her a frame and we put this picture in it.

We're putting this other picture of Anna and Cheyenne on luggage tags for both Anna and Cheyanne to wear on their backpacks, an entire world apart.

It makes me cry a little.

After they finished the frame, Joey and his sister Taylor stayed for dinner.  We always do our Advent candles at dinner, so Kate and Anna asked to light them.  I said we could do it after Joey and Taylor leave, but Joey and Taylor, who are Jewish, were also interested in the candles.  I compromised and said we could light the candles, but we'd do our devotion after they left.

After we lit the candles, Joey was looking at them. "So..." he asked, relating it to his menorah, "it's the... third day of Christmas?"

He's so incredibly adorable.  I love that kid!  I explained that we do it kind of "backwards." We count down to Christmas, and we only light one candle for every six days.  He kind of thought about that, then nodded.

The kids went back to eating their mac and cheese and asking for seconds and thirds.

Then Anna exclaimed, "Joey!  You know what we should have for our wedding?"

"What?"

"Mac and cheese!" she said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah!"

Then Anna held out her fist and said, "Fist bump!"

Joey bumped her first with his, and they both wiggled their fingers back and did a little "twa la la la" noise.

Could I love them any more!?

Sweet sister

Anna was so inspired by our Advent Calendars that she made Kate this present for her birthday.  She can tear one sticker off every day for 14 days after her birthday.  There are pictures underneath each one.

Spanish

Ally showed me this and explained that she learned to write in Spanish.

Finley and the upstairs carpeting

Finley sometimes runs around like a maniac upstairs.  She was doing it today, and Luke told me she had been doing that when Oma and Opa were here the other day, but he'd told them she had to go downstairs.  "I told them," he explained, "that if Finley wrecks the carpet, we have to replace the whole thing...for ten dollars!"

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"That's what you said!" he spit out, obviously having detected my amusement and irritated by it.  I must have, at some point, told Dave something about Finley wrecking the carpet and about how if she wrecks one spot we'd have to replace the entire hallway and stairs.

"Oh, yes," I agreed, "and what did Oma and Opa say?"

"They made her go downstairs," he told me solemnly.

I bet they didn't even want to think about being asked to pay any percent of the ten dollars.

Candy

Luke was crying because he couldn't have candy.

"I never get candy!" He cried, stomping his foot.

Ally, looked at him, shaking her curly little head, and said, "That's because it's not healthy, Lukey.  Don't you get it?"

Heads or tails

This is how Opa does "heads or tails," but he catches it.

Manners

The kids were all eating frozen wild blueberries.  They are so healthy, but they are so messy.

The last couple times they ate them, Anna and Ally have had a little competition about whose mouth can get messier.  This involves them smearing blueberries all over until their fingers and mouths are stained dark blue. I found this very irritating, but both times it was the end of a long day and I was in too bad of mood to address it without overblowing it.  Last time I just mentioned that we wouldn't be able to eat blueberries if it's so messy.  This time, I just praised Luke for his good manners in using his spoon and getting them all in his mouth so nicely.

Luke ate up the attention and was really putting on a show of perfect manners.  I looked closer and noticed something.  That's when he explained, "I always eat with my pinky up."

Truth

Luke and Ally were having an argument.  Finally Ally ran up to me and said, "Luke says he's smarter than me."

"Oh, honey," I said picking her up, "that's not true."

"No, mom," Luke stated, "Ally's true.  I'm really smart."

He wasn't trying to upset her at all.  He was just stating facts as he saw them.

First aid kit

Luke said he needed a doctor kit.  Kate tried to give him the toy doctor kit we had in the playroom, but he said he needed real doctor supplies.  Kate offered to make him a first aid kit.  He liked the idea, so they gathered bandaids, cotton balls, gauze, tape, and a water bottle (?) and put it in a gallon size ziplock bag.  Luke carried it around and kept reminding us to get him right away if anyone was injured.

After a little while he decided his first aid kit was only temporary and he has asked for a "another daid kit"  ...because the first aid kit was just his first one.

Check in book

For years now, my kids have been obsessed with this old German-English dictionary I had from high school.  I don't remember how the obsession all started, but I know Anna used to take it off our bookshelf and play with it all the time.  Then both twins loved it, too.  They'd play with it almost every day, and there were a good many fights over it.

The last six months or so, it has been mostly Luke's. He's always called it his "check-in" book, and he'd bring it places, or give it to Dave when he'd go places, and it was to be used for directions.

The last week or so, Luke has paired it up with a homemade first aid kit Kate made for him, and he has been taking detailed notes in any white space he can find.

Last night he said to Dave, "Dad, I think you know about this check-in book."

Dave nodded.

"Is that because you grew up in the is world?  Is that why, dad?"

Conservation

The kids and I are doing another sale to raise money for charity this year.  (Yep, I got myself into it again, thanks to my compassionate hearted, over achieving oldest daughter.

We were originally just going to make crafts to sell at a craft fair, but then we ended up inadvertently taking orders, and having a lot more to do than I initially intended.  (I'd posted pictures of some of the crafts on Facebook to get opinions about how much to charge, and my kind-hearted friends wanted to help out by ordering some, too.)

Good thing I have amazing helpers!

So, last night we were making a sign about where we were going to donate the money to.  Kate is adamant about stopping poaching, so we decided to give to the World Wildlife Fund.  We found a program where the kids could each adopt their own animal.  The kids were all gathered around the computer as I scrolled through the choices.  Anna was saying, "I want to save giraffes.  No, I want to save dolphins!"  Kate was adding, "I want to save them all.  It's so hard.  I think I'll save elephants."  Ally was saying she might save elephants too, or maybe she'd save monkeys.

Luke piped up with, "I want to save trains!"