And the (training) wheels come off!

I couldn't be more proud of this photo

I couldn’t be more proud of this photo

E – Sowwy I hit the barn daddy.
Me – It’s ok baby. You’re ok. Next time just ride around it, not into it.
E – Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.
Me – Ya think?

 

Words cannot begin to describe how amazingly proud of these two girls I am. Just a couple of weeks ago I was thinking to myself, “I’m going to have kids that are like 8 years old with training wheels on,” and today I can’t wipe the stupid grin off my face because I have two girls, that in a few short training sessions are riding with no training wheels. I don’t want to take anything away from their accomplishment and say they still have a little ways to go before they’re totally ready to hit the trails/sidewalks/driveways without my help, but the way they are riding, and the confidence they are gaining from this is so absolutely amazing to me and I couldn’t be more proud. Part of it is how quickly they’ve picked it up, considering they both fell a lot even with training wheels on. Part of it is how confident they have gotten from accomplishing something that I didn’t think would happen for a long while, making them feel like official “big kids.”

A couple of weeks ago, while I was hanging out with my dad he said, “You should bring them down here, taking the training wheels off and set them loose in the back yard. That’s where you learned how to ride.” It was brilliant and perfect. Not only is there a gradual downhill grade all the way over to my grandma’s house, but the grass would provide a smooth landing spot for them that concrete wouldn’t. I could never bring myself to let them go to crash on the concrete.

Cut to a couple weeks later, we were picking my bike up at the bike shop after a tuneup and the girls are ogling new “big kid bikes.” I informed them that those bikes don’t come with training wheels and the only way they’d be able to graduate to those is if they learn how to ride without training wheels on their current bikes. That was motivation enough (note: I did not promise them new bikes). Next thing you know, we’re at my folks’ house and the girls ready to get going. My dad and I split up the duties of running through the yard with them and the results speak for themselves:

 

 

In one day, they went from being scared of riding without their support system, to riding across the barn lot like champs. I never thought that day would come, or at least not this year any time.

In between big training sessions at Nana and Pops’ house, Annie and I took Hudson over to a park, where she could either ride in the grass or around the sidewalk and she did amazing!

 

riding at the park

riding at the park

 

Cut to Memorial Day and we made another trip down to Nana and Pops’ house to give training another go (and hang out and relax in the country). They again killed it and built even more confidence. At one point Hudson told me to let her do it herself as she tried to start on her own. They both tackled the hill in what can only be described as a daredevil role. It was pretty amazing and I might have captured a couple of their wrecks:

 

 

After this, I thought they were ready for the next level. So I organized a plan to pick them up from school, pick up Tracey and Annie and we’d all go over to Centennial Park to ride together. Initially I thought it’d be enough to just have them ride around the big circle, but after Elle’s count rose to 20 laps around, it was time to move on. From there, they managed to make their way through the winding park sidewalks like they were seasoned veterans. It was pretty amazing and like I said, I can’t seem to get this stupid grin off my face. It’s exciting watching them grown up, and even more exciting when they do something you weren’t sure they’d be able to do (any time soon anyways).

Here’s their trips through the park:

 

2013
05/29
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Where did this school year go?

First-day-of-school Smiles

First-day-of-school Smiles

E – I don’t want to go to first grade.
Me – Why not?
E – I’m gonna miss my friends.
Me – Oh, you mean this summer?
E – No, in first grade. I’ll be with the first graders.
Me – Uh…I’m pretty sure your friends will be in 1st grade too.
E – Oh. Ok. Yay first grade!

I’m trying to avoid being sappy and cliche here, but wasn’t it just last week that I was watching them ride away on the bus for the first time? Where the hell did this school year go? To be honest, I’m not going to miss the two hours of homework every night and all the wonderful frustrations that come along with that (see: Acting Stupid is not Cute). But it’s pretty crazy and scary that this school year is already coming to an end.

I can say, without a doubt, that the girls have absolutely loved kindergarten. From being separated in classes for the first time in their lives, to all the new friends, to their teachers, to riding the bus, it seems like they’ve had an absolute blast this year. I’ve enjoyed watching them learn and grow throughout the year. It has definitely been a banner first year of school for them and one I won’t soon forget (because I’m going to write it down).

Here’s a list of some of the bigger things that have happened throughout kindergarten:

Learning how to read, write and do math
Being separated in different classes
Riding the school bus
Having a kid birthday party with kids from school
School Festivals
Homework
Losing Teeth
Taking off their training wheels (kind of)

And the list could go on…

Along with the idea of moving on to the first grade, they’ll also get to experience and enjoy their first summer vacation away from school. While they’ll be spending most days at Little Red Schoolhouse, they’ll still have the opportunity to go swimming with their cousins, take a few little trips and enjoy all the greatness summer break has to offer. And I’m looking forward to not having to rush like crazy to make sure they catch the bus every morning.

It’s funny to look at summertime now and realize how short it actually is. I used to feel like it was 6 months long and you were away from school forever. Then when you’re in school, it somehow seems like it never ends. The anticipation for summer break left you salivating. Pool time. Playing in the woods. Working on the farm (well that part wasn’t fun, but it was a part of summer). Going on vacations. It was a glorious, golden time and the girls will soon get their first real taste of it.

I know I’ve complained a lot about how much homework they had and how hard it was, but it really has been a fun year now that I look back on it. I hope the girls get to enjoy their time off from school as much as I’m going to enjoy them being out of it. Now it’s time to hit the pool, ride bikes and have fun. Before we know it, that yellow bus is going to be pulling up to whisk them off to first grade, and start it all over again.

2013
05/21
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Well S-h-!-t!

They don't need glasses to look smart. They already are.

They don’t need glasses to look smart. They already are.

E – …and you said the S-word.
Me – What? No I didn’t say the S-word.
E – Yes you did. You said it.
Me – When?
E – You said that was Stupid.
Me – Ohhhhh that S-word. Yeah…sorry I said that.
E – You should be sorry daddy.

Every parent wants their kid to be super smart, to be head of their class, to get a full scholarship to college and eventually become a doctor or something very important. You want them to do better than you did or what you’re currently doing. To be super successful and to eventually kick-back to mom and dad a sweet vacation home or something, because they love how you’ve inspired them to their success (he says looking off into the sky, dreaming of the day).

Anyways…where was I? Oh, that’s right…school. That’s why they go to school. To learn, become smart and start down that path towards success. Since the girls started kindergarten I’ve seen them grow academically by leaps and bounds from knowing their alphabet to being able to read full books to me for homework. I couldn’t be more proud of their progress. It’s really one of those “first steps” moments that you realize is a huge milestone.

As proud as I am, recently I’ve found a problem with them becoming smarter and I don’t like it one bit. Spelling words to talk around them is becoming increasingly more difficult. I spelled “i-c-e c-r-e-a-m” the other day and one of them looked at me and said, “are we getting ice cream?” My reaction, which  was initially shock, then disappointment, then turned to anger, that I’m not going to be able to spell stuff around them and keep them in the dark any more.

I mean, I’ve had to watch what I say around them for years based on their proclivity to repeat anything you say, like swear words. Well, I’ve tried to anyways. And if I haven’t, they’ve been quick to point out that I’ve used a bad word that they refer to by the first letter of the word (see conversation above). Not that they’ve totally grasped the concept of all the bad words out there, thank god, but I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time before they know them all. Hopefully they won’t use them though. At least to the extent that I do. (Damn, just typing this…I’m feeling like I really need to work harder on watching my mouth).

Back to my main point, that they now know how to spell, I guess this means I won’t be able to have my own secret language (spelling words) to talk around them anymore and that’s kind of sad. It’s just another example of how they’re growing up too f-word-ing fast and I can’t stop it.

2013
04/30
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Birthday Party Crashers

My girls are 6! Make a wish!

My girls are 6! Make a wish!

 

Me – But you promised me that you’d stay 5 forever!
E – I’m really sorry dad, I’m growing up and I can’t stop it.
Me – But you promised.
E – Don’t cry daddy, it’ll be ok.
Me – I’m not crying, I just want you to stay little.
E – I’m still little. I’m just older.
Me – Fair enough.

 

For the past 5 years we’ve tried to do the girls birthday party with friends and family at the house, praying for good weather so everyone could sit outside, the kids could play in the yard and fun would be had by all. For 5 years, without fail, the weather turned for the worse on party day, leaving us scrambling inside, crowded and struggling for space for everyone that would come to celebrate the girls’ big day. This year, we decided to do things a little differently. We planned the party inside.

The weather wasn’t the only driving force for this decision. The girls started kindergarten this year and have acquired a pretty decent number of friends (If this surprises anyone, then you definitely haven’t met my overly-social little humans). So instead of taking our chances with the weather and ultimately having a crazy party at Tracey’s house,  we decided that a “kids” party at Jump Zone would be the event this year. Plus, it was indoors, so no fear of a rainout. Invitations went out to friends at school, cousins and family friends to gather for a couple hours of unbridled craziness in bouncy houses and were followed by a decent number of RSVPs. The girls would tell me that basically everyone they invited was coming, besides a couple of kids, which had me thinking we might have to pay more than the 15 we’d originally planned. When all was said and done, there were 14 kids in attendance. Or so I thought.

In an effort to make sure no kids were left behind at the end of play time on the bouncy houses, since some of the parents dropped off their kids and didn’t stay the whole time, I started a list. The count was indeed 14 kids, so as we were setting up for cupcakes, ice cream and drinks, that’s the number we planned for. Over the loud speaker, they called for Hudson and Elle’s birthday party guests to gather around the fire truck for photos and then head to the room for cake. We took pictures and moved to get the kids settled. The number was coming up short for some reason though. We handed out some more cupcakes, drinks and ice cream cups and sang happy birthday. The girls each blew out their candles and everyone was happy. Tracey even went around the room, in an effort to meet some of the kids we’ve only heard stories about from school, and asked all the kids their names. A few minutes later, a very apologetic mother comes in, scooping up two of her kids that were “in the wrong room,” as they polished off one last bite of their cupcake and sucked own their Capri Sun.

We all had a good laugh at the “Party Crashers” and continued on with the fun. Two minutes later, another apologetic mom scoots in and plucks her child up who was also crashing our party. 3 sneaky little kids managed to make their way into the party, fill up on drinks, amazing cupcakes and ice cream, all without any of us knowing. The funny thing is, all of these strangers were sitting right next to my girls and they didn’t say anything about not knowing who the kids were sitting next to them. But they all had sweets…so who cares right? It’s a party.

The party wrapped up after that and I think everyone had a good time. The kids all looked worn out and the parents were happy that their kids would probably crash early that night. Unless they massive amounts of sugar coursing through their veins kept them up. The girls had a great time, even welcoming in some new friends they didn’t know to join the party, or at least to not call them out for being crashers. I guess that speaks to the social aspect of the girls. Everyone is welcome around them, especially at their party. I can’t wait to head back to Jump Zone and send the girls into some parties to get free cake and ice cream. They’ll be the kid version of ‘Wedding Crashers.’

Who knew they sold trick candles at Kroger?

Who knew they sold trick candles at Kroger?

 

Waiting to add Cupcake and Sparkly to their new homes

Waiting to add Cupcake and Sparkly to their new homes

 

2013
04/22
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Sibling Rivalry

This moment of sweetness brought to you by "Wow!"

This moment of sweetness brought to you by “Wow!”

Me-Are you playing ‘Slap Jacks’ against yourself?
H-Yeah, Elle won’t play with me.
Me-Ah…so are you winning?
H-Yeah I’m crushing this game

I knew it was coming. I’ve seen signs of it building for the last couple of years. There have been hints here and there along the way that have led me to believe things are going to get ugly at some point, I’ve just always hoped it would be later rather than sooner. Contrary to the photo above, a rivalry in it’s purest sense is rising.

When we found out we were having twins, one of the first things Tracey wished for was boys. I know that sounds bad, but it was rooted in good intentions. She, herself an identical twin, knew the competitive nature that exists not only between females, but how it’s exponentially heightened between twin girls. I’ve seen Tracey and Nicole in action and I’ve never had any doubt that it was coming to Hudson and Elle too. I hoped we could somehow push it off. Make them care for and love each other so much that they don’t compete with each other all the time. Yes, I realize just how stupid that sentence sounds as I typed it.

While it may have been building for the last couple of years, I’m officially saying it’s in full swing and this is no fun. The girls fight and argue about everything. They’re in a constant struggle for attention. They are in a constant struggle for independence, to have stuff of their own, time of their own and space of their own. I get it. They’re always together. Whether it’s when they’re with me, with Tracey, with their grandparents or with their cousins, they’re always together. And it makes them very, very competitive with each other.

One of the best examples I have of this is one day when I was fixing them lunch, they informed me that they no longer both like PB&J. Hudson only likes peanut butter, and Elle only like jelly on her sandwiches. At first I didn’t think much of it, but after weeks/months of them saying the opposite of the other one, just to say they did, I realized the root of their sandwich difference came to competition. The second Hudson decided to not like jelly, Elle immediately went the other way and took the jelly side. Just to be opposite. It’s weird.

The competition has spilled into everything from riding bikes (who can ride faster), to Candy Land, to Slap Jacks, to who gets their prayers said to them first before bed. I usually have some sort of clever wrap up to my posts that brings it all around, or shows that I’ve figured out an answer to all the problems, but in this case I’m not sure I have that pretty bow to wrap it all up. Some things, I realize, are out of parents’ control when it comes to stuff like this. Right now I’m just hoping they spend a little more time like they are above, loving each other and being very sweet to each other. If not, well then I guess I’ll always have this picture to look back on and remember when they were sweet to each other.

2013
04/15
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Bringing Balance

Ridin dirty

Ridin dirty

H-Elle ran over my head with her bike!
Me-I saw that. You feeling ok?
H-I’m feeling like I got my head run over by a bike.
Me-Makes sense.

With a new bike season comes new challenges. I wrote last year about how it was going to be scary taking the girl’s training wheels off, and with the weather starting to warm up, we’ve jumped right back into outside time. It also means we’ve jumped back into tearing up the streets on their bikes. Before we started the other day, Elle was all about taking the training wheels off and learning how to ride on her own. Hudson quickly jumped on the bandwagon and wanted to be a “big girl” too. Then the fear set in. For me.

Just to give a little back story, earlier that morning, the girls were playing in the living room, Hudson jumped up to run into her room for something and ran squarely into the door frame…with her face. This is just one of several examples that help to set the groundwork for my fear of letting them loose without training wheels. They’re not always the most graceful creatures when it comes to things like walking, running or generally moving around. I thought their dance and gymnastics classes would help with that, but apparently we have a ways to go.

Back to the bike story: We filled up the tires, got helmets on and made our way out to the dead-end street in front of my place where the girls can ride without worrying about traffic, running into people or getting in the way. They immediately wanted to jump into the “no training wheels” portion of the day, but I suggested they take a few minutes to reacquaint themselves with riding before we take that step. After a bit of a warm-up, I took the training wheels off of one of the bikes and we were ready to go.

I walked/ran behind, holding on to the bottom of the seat for balance as Elle peddled, leaning strongly from side to side, never really giving me an opportunity to let go of her seat, I realized this was going to be the extent of our “no training wheels experience” without simply letting go and having her crash to the ground. Next up was Hudson, who was only slightly better about not leaning so hard to the side that she’d fall over, which allowed me a few quick opportunities to let go of the seat, then quickly grab it back when she felt herself starting to fall. Although I couldn’t bring myself to totally let go, I think they felt accomplished in the fact that they tried it.

It was a pretty fun and exciting thing for them and for me, but I couldn’t help but feel that I’m not really sure when I’ll be able to let go…and let them crash. They don’t normally need my help hurting themselves, and I really struggled with the idea of them hitting the pavement at faster speeds than usual. The cuts, scrapes and bruises are a part of learning to ride a bike, but I can’t shut off the over-protective parent part that allows me to let them go.

Overall it was a good first run at it and I was proud that they both wanted to try it. I know it’s probably some big parenting metaphor about letting your children go, letting them learn the hard way, making them get back up and try again or whatever other thing can be related to that, but I think it’s going to take a lot of courage from the three of us to make this happen. I think I might have to go buy them some knee and elbow pads first.

Side Story: While riding bikes last night, the girls had a major collision that resulted in Hudson falling and Elle unable to turn away and ultimately running over/falling on top of Hudson. The quote above was from that crash and while it’s not funny, I can’t stop laughing about their reactions. Hudson said she felt like she got run over by a car (she’s my drama queen) and Elle cried for an hour cause she hurt her sister (she’s a sweetie). Just before that wreck, Hudson was trying to ride without a helmet, of which I immediately made her put back on. Luckily I did, because without the helmet, she could have really gotten hurt, with Elle running over her head and all. See why I can’t let go of the seat?

2013
03/15
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It’s like pulling teeth

It didn't even hurt!

It didn’t even hurt!

E – That turned into a pretty good night.
Me – Yeah that’s not how I thought it was going to go after dinner.
E – Yeah…first you’re mad at me and then we’re all happy cause you pulled my tooth.
Me – It was quite a turn of events, but I’m proud of you.
E – I’m proud of us!

 

Whenever I start to write a blog post I usually have to read back through my archives to make sure I haven’t written anything similar before. Sometimes a thought hits me, I sit down to write and quickly realize why it seemed like such a good idea…because I’d already written it. Well, in this case I don’t have to go back too far…just two posts…to know that I’d just written about Hudson losing her first tooth. This one was completely different though, and not just because it’s a different kid, so it warrants it’s own story.

Shortly after Hudson had lost her first tooth, Elle’s front chiclet started to wiggle. She was so excited, yet somehow apprehensive about losing the tooth, which I think kept her from wiggling it enough to come out any time in the near future. Fast forward 3+ weeks and the tooth is still in there and not much closer to coming out than it was in the first day. Fast forward a week and Elle didn’t have much of a choice. The tooth below was coming in and that baby one was coming out. We were sitting on the couch watching tv, when she showed me how far it moves and I about lost it (see previous post about loose teeth making me queasy). It was down to her lip, and clearly, that bad boy was ready to come out.

There was only one thing to do, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I had to pull this tooth out.

But first, I tried to see if she could do it herself. Apparently that’s how Hudson’s came out and if I could get away with her doing it herself, then I was happy to oblige her in that area of personal accomplishment. She gave it a couple half-efforts and finally I asked her if I could just do it. She was hesitant. I was hesitant. Together, we didn’t want to do this, but after some coaxing (her out loud and me in my head) we gave it a pull. It was a miss and she immediately began to question whether or not to do it. The second try was equally unsuccessful, with her pulling away and me never really getting a grip on the tooth.

We took a breather, and after a promise that it would come out this time, I reached in, grabbed the tooth and with one straight-up pull, it came out. She wasn’t sure I did it. I wasn’t sure I did it. Annie couldn’t tell. Hudson was dead asleep on the couch so she didn’t care. But there it was…a tiny little tooth between my fingers and a healthy amount of blood starting to trickle out from where Elle’s first loose tooth once was. As she bit down on a tissue to stop the bleeding, she held her tooth and shook her sister to wake up and see what had happened. Although half asleep still, her sissy was pretty excited for her and told her good job. I just love when they encourage each other. It’s so sweet.

It was done. Elle was on her way to filling her face with adult teeth. Hudson was hazily proud. I conquered my fear (only for that minute) of pulling out a tooth. And it was all a whole lot smoother than sitting through dinner earlier. Somehow a tiny little tooth managed to make us conquer our fears and smile at the end of the day, albeit a toothless smile for Elle.

Oh, and the tooth fairy delivered a sparkly, fairy dust covered dollar to Elle over night. Although she was scared and slept in my bed, just in case the tooth fairy wasn’t nice. I guess we’ve got some more fears to get over now.

 

 

 

 

2013
02/25
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