thetadpoles.com

Why our house is in a constant state of upheaval.

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Auntie T sent the twins a fab care package. They were most excited about their new monkey jammies.

The first day of July started out with a screaming bang. Literally as Derby threw a ridiculous temper tantrum and whacked his head on my side table. We still don’t know what triggered it. I was afraid today was going be another bad day. Two terrible twos can wear on you sometimes. But it has turned out to be a good day so far. I should go knock on my wood side table now, it owes me some luck.

Derby on his way to therapy. Lately he has been wanting to bring “lil baby” to therapy with him. He holds her while they make him walk on the treadmill.

With Derby at therapy Loen & I went to the mall to return something. While there she stopped at the Hello Kitty display at Macys. She was so overcome with adoration she had to kiss the kitty sweatpants

Next stop was Gymboree. They’re having a big sale and I was looking for some inexpensive flips for the twins. Loen told me “I like those”. I told her spandangle boots do not come in her size.

Then they went down for a long nap with no fuss

The best part:

As I have jokingly complained before, the twins are wild and busy and TODDLERS. They make me tired, they make me laugh, and they make me cry.

On Wednesday we went in to see Dr. Silverberg, the twins opthamologist. You may remember that he was featured during the Childrens Miracle Network telethon we were in. Our main concern during this visit was Derby’s vision. As always, when it comes to medical issues, he seems to be the one we worry about more. We had our IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) meeting last week to discuss what will happen with therapy once the twins turn 3. Loen will no longer be eligible as she has caught up to most of her peers. But Derby will need help for a while longer. One of the recurring concerns his therapists bring up is his vision. What does he see, what doesn’t he see and how is he processing these images. It is all a guessing game until he can tell us what is going on. Tadd and I were ready with a barrage of questions regarding our little man. What we weren’t ready for was that Derby’s eyes, anatomically speaking are fine, but his sister’s that have gotten progressively worse. She went from minor nearsightedness (common in babies) to a prescription of -7 & -9 in 2009. Anything over -6 is considered severely nearsighted.  On this visit they measured her to be -12 and -14. A huge jump. They tested her a couple of times to be sure. Without her glasses Loen is legally blind, sigh….. She is fine and will have to see the eye doctor every 6 months to be sure her vision is not worsening. We asked if there was a chance she could lose her vision. It is very rare but that would be the outcome if the retina was to detach.

I really shouldn’t get worked up but it is times like this that make we wonder what could we have done to prevent all this. If we would have hired movers when I was pregnant instead of doing it ourselves would they have gone to term? If I rested more? I know it is ridiculous to rehash this but it just comes to mind when yet another thing comes up. Again I feel bad because it is nothing life threatening just a bump in the road. But when I check on them in their cribs sleeping so soundly with their little pouty mouths hanging open, I want everything for them. I want the best. I fear for the day when some kid will make fun of their glasses or the way they walk. How am I going to protect them from everything yet let them live freely? This is motherhood huh?

On the upside she will be able to try out for Professor Trelawney in her high school production of Harry Potter.

I swear my son’s internal compass points to DANGER and DESTRUCTION. Just when I think he is playing so quietly I find he is up to no good.

On Friday we went to the park then to Trader Joe’s to pick a few things for dinner. They recently introduced kiddie karts at our branch and the twins were excited to use them. My mini shoppers were picking up necessities left and right (though the roast chicken had to go back. I don’t know how Loen got her hands on THAT). We are quite familiar with the sample station so we had to make a stop there. It was yummy peanut butter cookie day. Derby knew that cookies must be in his dominate hand. Waste not, want not…you know all that. So he is holding the cookie with his right hand and attempting to steer the cart with his left. I was excited because he was using his LEFT HAND to steer, a true testament to his wonderful therapists. Then his hand slips off the handle and he whacked his head on the cart. Commence screaming and food throwing then add in some shocked looks of fellow customers. He had a lovely bruise on his ear and head.

That night we had “the girls” and their parents over for dinner. You don’t know fun till you have 2 sets of toddler twins together! All the kids were in the living room watching Yo Gabba Gabba while we cleaned up. It was then that Derby fell off the couch and whacked his head (again) on the coffee table. The cut was just big and deep enough that I questioned taking him to E.D. He showed no signs of a concussion (unlike the LAST time he fell off the couch) but his head was oozing blood. After speaking to the on call Pediatrician we took him to the E.D. Turns out we were the 4th kid in a 2 hour period that had hit their head. The nurse asked if we were all together. “Yes, we were at a huge toddler rave and there was insane bed jumping…..”. Anyways Derby was a super trooper. One staple and he didn’t cry. In fact they stapled his head and it was loose so they removed it and re-stapled his head. He raised his eyebrows in concern but that was it. He is such a boy. The nurse called the staple “so cute”. Tadd said it was his first stitch, I had to remind him that Derby has had many stitches (from surgeries). I guess his first stitch from being dangerboy. Why do I have the feeling this wont be his last? Did I mention the E.D. doctor recognized Derby as the kid that puked in his cast over Thanksgiving weekend? Yeah, we have a rep like that….

Can you see the teeny tiny staple?

They wrapped a cotton ball with numbing agent on his head before the staple, which he enjoyed. When the doctor unwrapped his head he said “More hat, I want more hat”

Yesterday we took the twins to the park. Fauxbro John came along so we were 3 big people against 2 little ones, we were covered! Except for the fact a dog came out of no where and plowed Derby over. The dog was merely playful and the owner kept apologizing but I could see by Derby’s face he was traumatized. He doesn’t cry often and his bottom lip kept quivering. Usually he loves dogs, but he was quiet for awhile. Then he looks up at me and says “doggy owie”. My poor guy, he had a rough weekend. On the upside he was determined to climb this ladder arch thing at the park. He must have went up it like 10 times, you could tell he was so proud of himself.

Loen picking flowers

I always put the twins in their crib before I take a shower. It cuts down on any unsupervised mayhem. Today when I got out I went into their room to release the hounds. One little girl was running around her room saying “I play a minute”. I had to hide my face so she wouldn’t see me laughing. I put her back into her crib to see what she would do, she climbed right out. A third time and I taped it. I will say she is quite graceful until the very end.

I thought it would be a nice break after tax season (which seemed to drag on FOREVER this year) to take the twins to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Naturally we would spend the night because no one wanted to drive 8 hours round trip in one day. I spent days looking at hotels and special deals. Originally I checked the Clement. Tadd said to call versus just looking online because they usually give better deals. Not so with that place, online a room was $170 and when I called I was told rooms started at $300. I explained the room was cheaper on Orbitz and after a pause the man says “I could give you a special locked in rate of $170″. Where is this special room, in the basement next to the laundry facility? In the end I chose a hotel that was to be family friendly and had really good reviews on tripadvisor.com. When we saw both places we wished we had went with our first choice. Oh well.

We left after breakfast on Sunday. The drive wasn’t bad but the twins refused to nap in the car even though they looked exhausted. Derby kept telling me he wanted “nigh night”. The good news was the hotel said we could have an early check in. I thought they could nap for a bit, go to the aquarium then dinner. Once at the hotel the ground floor with king bed & courtyard seating I originally booked became a 2nd floor with 2 double beds and a window seat. After explaining that we needed an area to hide out when the twins would inevitably be crying it out for the night they switched our room. Now we were on the third floor with a 4′ wide balcony. I was over switching rooms and by then the twins were raring to go.

A word to the wise, try to avoid the Monterey Bay Aquarium on a weekend afternoon. It was PACKED! To no ones surprise they wanted out of the stroller and were running in opposite directions. I packed the child leashes but forgot to bring them. No one was impressed with the HUGE outer bay viewing window or the amazing seahorses. They wanted to play on the escalator or touch the elevator buttons. Derby just wanted to run through the legs of fellow visitors with his mother in hot pursuit. There were a few picture perfect moments. I should say we deleted a couple of hundred shots that were NOT picture perfect.

Somehow the turtles held their attention….for mere seconds

I realize Derby has a gift as a turtle whisperer

Seahorse

Sea Dragon

Sharks trying to get my daughter

After we stopped at a pizza place to feed the twins we went to Dennis the Menace park. Tadd and I took the faux bros Matt, Andrew & John to this park back in 2004. I was excited to see how the twins would like it. When we walked up I was amazed because the whole park had been remodeled. There was so much to see and play on. The twins were excited and I had a thought of I could never do this park alone. The twins favorite was the slides. They definitely were worn out by the time we left.

Fooling around at dinner.

That night we bathed the twins and got them ready for bed. Tadd went to pick up some dinner while I hid out by the closet so the twins wouldn’t see me as they were screaming about going to bed. Loen conked out first then finally Derby was silent, of course that is when Tadd opened the door with dinner and the screaming started all over again. We grabbed our jackets and dinner then went to the teeny tiny balcony to eat/wait. The food smelled SO good, I was ready to eat. Tadd pulled out one container of chicken kabobs then the container of beef. The restaurant switched to the new eco friendly cardboard containers, turns out they get limp when holding hot steamy food. Limp container decided to break open all over the balcony. Tadd was ready to pack up and drive home. After a few moments to calm down and clean up the food that was all over (not to mention drink a much needed beer) he called the restaurant again. They were kind enough to make him a whole new order free of charge. Tadd went to pick it up which woke Derby up as he tried to sneak out the door. Woke Derby up again when he returned. We sat out in the cold eating the most delicious kabob and chutney I have ever had while listening to the wails of my son. You know the guests in the next room hated us.

The twins favorite part of the hotel was the luggage cart. Tadd said maybe we should buy one for home.

The next morning we were ready to start anew. We got to the aquarium right when it opened (I also brought a leash for Derby which helped). We raced ahead of the field trips and crammed in as much fishy goodness as the twins could handle.

This is where Derby, who was attached to my wrist, had to go on a little ride as that dumb shark appeared out of nowhere and the mommy screamed and left the general vicinity. We were much happier playing in the sharkless toddler land.

When asked what they wanted to do the answer was “PARK”. we ate lunch first then back to Dennis the Menace park. They had so much fun and ran up the hill to the roller slide more times than I can count.

They napped for 2 hours on the ride home. When Derby walked through the front door he sighed “home”. I know how you feel buddy.

All in all when asked of our trip I hear “More park, more slide!” I’m so glad we drove 4 hours for a park. No really we had a good time