double dutch: September 2011

I'm back to making the girls blog a priority (fingers crossed!). I was looking through it tonight and noticed pretty much only wordless wednesday posts, which are great but what's the point if there's no filler!

Fall is here and it's always been a favorite season of Royce and mine. The girls are excited for Royce's birthday, Halloween costumes, pumpkin picking etc. Adia has been asking day after day if we can visit a farm so a trip to the MN Zoo is on my list before the farm exhibit shuts down for the winter and maybe a Hugo Farm trip as well if we can schedule it.

The girls are growing so quickly it almost feels surreal to look at this blog and see that all of the sudden they are approaching three years old in January. They love to learn and are learning every second it seems.

Potty training is coming along fabulously! Rasa almost never has accidents and Adia only does if I put her in a pull up. When they are in big girl undies they do exactly what they need to. It's very strange to be here with just the girls and hear the toilet flush! Of course that independence comes with a price.......like last Thursday when Adia flushed four or five rolls of toilet paper and then was playing in two inches of water that flooded our upstairs bathroom before I caught wind of what had happened.

Adia is obsessed with the alphabet and playing "house". She loves "grocery shopping" which consists of her loading up her grocery bags and baskets with her play food from their kitchen pantry. She loves playing with Rasa and they have SO much fun together. They play in every single corner of this house all day long. She knows all of her letters and every preschool puzzle and game to do with the ABC's she just immerses herself in. I don't push anything but just teach when and what they ask me to. She has such a great hunger to learn and read and know letters I hope I can continue to fuel that for her.

Rasa loves playing "house" too and is always the caregiver. She will go as far as to tuck Adia in bed, tell her she's sick and then run back and forth bringing her (play)food and things that she tells her will "make her feel better" or "it's good for you!". She loves puzzles and art. She will draw a picture and then hold it up and explain every detail of the story she's created on the paper. She is also showing some perfectionism tendencies. She wants puzzles to match up perfectly and loves to organize and when Adia marches in to tear things apart Rasa will yell that "you're messing things up!". Maybe she can teach me a thing or two about being organized?

Both girls love music. Good music (thanks to yours truly!) and we rock out all the time :) I love dancing with those girls. It's SO much fun! I'm spoiled.

Music Together fall semester started up today so we're still doing that every week. Last semester I was worried because the girls were running around out of control with the other kids but they seemed well behaved today like they usually are.

Royce is really excited to start art class with the girls each saturday morning at Articulture! They will be taking a 10 week class for 2 year olds and get to make 2D and 3D art projects! They are going to LOVE it, all three of them! It's going to be nice for Royce to have something to do each week with just the girls and they will appreciate the extra time with just him. Even better yet they get to trash the school instead of my dinning room! You want to paint? SURE! You want to use glue and glitter? HAVE AT IT! I'm envisioning my saturday mornings quiet with me by the fireplace sipping a latte in sweet, sweet, quiet peace. Will that actually happen......don't burst my bubble!

Needless to say the girls keep me busy fielding requests and balancing needs, wants, picking my battles and helping mediate theirs. I've semi given up cleaning the house. Everything under the mess is clean so I'm still washing, scrubbing and taking care of things as usual but I'm refusing to spend my day picking up the never-ending mess they make by pulling everything out of everywhere and stringing it all over the entire house. My life is so much more enjoyable this way! No pressure! Friends: when you come for a visit expect my house to have a less sterile feel and a more lived in cozy :)

Royce and I have been looking at houses and trying to figure out what we want, what we need and where it might be. There's a strange panic and excitement about it all. I hope my babies will adjust with ease to the newness of everything. Keeping the same daily rhythm throughout it all will surely help to make them feel grounded. I find myself reminding myself to let go, and hang on. We are moving in the exact direction we are supposed to and to the exact place we are supposed to be. What peace that brings me!

Tonight when the girls were ready for bed Rasa was in the bathroom with Royce getting her teeth brushed and I was making Adia squeal by ticking her legs and tummy. When I looked at her, even after a very trying day for the two of us (she has the Gordon German temper!), I thought to myself I am so excited and so lucky that she is all mine! I have the same affection for both girls and some days when we're out exploring I just look at them and can't believe how incredibly lucky I am. Indescribable.

Well it's midnight and if I hop in bed and fall asleep quickly I'll get just under six hours before they're up! Good night and Happy Autum!