25 Months Old -- Newsletter

Dear little Liang-Liang and Can-Can,

I'm going to try this monthly newsletter out. I've watched Heather at dooce.com do this now for a couple of years and I see what a treasure it is. Heather writes her typical blog, but then she posts a monthly newsletter to her daughter who is now around 3.5 yrs old, I think. I struggled a bit with whether I do two letters (one for each of you each month) and decided on one letter with little vingnettes in the letter about both of you. We'll see how it goes.

This week are you 25 months old. You each weigh exactly 22 pounds and you are each 31 and 1/8 inches tall. You're wearing 18 month shirts but mostly 12 month pants and skirts because you are so tiny and you have such slim hips (okay, yep, you have no-butt behinds!).

You both have become much more physically daring this month. You two love the big slide at the park, you love going really fast down the hill on your trikes (esp. when I irresponsibly run in front of you and let you go by yourself) and you're both beginning to love to really bounce around hard on the beds. Yes, Sammy, you took a big 'ol spill last weekend off the bed, but you got right back up and right back into it.

Nicki, you seem a bit calmer and more confident this month. You're more content (on most days...not all) to let Sammi have more of the "Mommy-holding" time...although it's true that you both really do seem to swap back and forth on that one. Nicki, you're a bit more content to sit still and read through your books and figure out how something works.

Sammi, you are all "out there" every minute every second. Though you are both into this, you especially really seem to enjoy stooping down and inspecting every single rock, acorn, blade of grass, crack in the sidewalk etc. We call you our little "naturalist".

Ah, so....neither of you are really putting too many words together yet. Your vocabulary is still quite limited and so of course I am in the "worrying a bit" mode. I fully appreciate you've had a bit of a tough start....Cantonese orphanage for first 15 months and then the whole "twins are more delayed in talking" thing going on but still....I'm fretting a bit. We're reading and talking and repeating all the time....all the things we should be doing....

But, having said that....the things you DO say are so sweet to hear....You both whisper "bye-bye" to everything. Bye-Bye swingset. Bye-Bye acorns. Bye-Bye stroller. Bye-Bye to me and your Dad at night....Just so cute. And, you do say and sign please, thanks, mommy, daddy, help, more, milk, food, moon, stars, cat, dog, love, baby, hug, etc.....About 25 or so words. And, for sure with no doubt, you both understand 99.999 percent of everything we say....So, my official fretting won't go into high-gear for another 3 months...

Ah, Nicki....now I do know what your favorite word is these days....No surprise 'cause you're two...it is NO!....Would you like to read a book? NO! (as you crawl in my lap...). Would you like a cup of milk? NO! (as you reach for your sippy). Would you like some pudding? NO! (as you gobble the pudding up). Ed and I have to bite our lip....it's funny and we almost say it with you in unisom!

And, Sammi, you're not into the NO! thing yet (but I know it's coming). You are actually into being the sweetest thing possible. (so this must be the calm before the second storm....). You want to "help-Mama" every single second. You put trash in the trashcan, you help me wipe down the floor, your favorite thing is to help me put away the groceries, you help me load and unload the washer and dryer and it goes on and on....It's so sweet. You're also so much more prone these days to be the one that finds Nicki's towel, that gives Nicki your last Cheerio or goldfish....Just in general, you are in a very giving mood this last month. It's sweet.

We've started Fall this month and I've bought the cutest long sleeved shirts and pants for you to wear...And, we're heading out to our favorite mountain cabin up at Nantahala later this month. Yippee....falltime in NC is simply awesome. Oh, yeah, and we're going to a pumpkin patch tomorrow to pick-out pumpkins, have a hay ride, see the goats and chickens, and all sorts of fun.....

Love you both so very much,
Mommy

It's so big....you two are so little

I mean it looks big to me...what must it look like to you?!!. It lords over all of the rest of the playground.....with its gyrating and swirling and dipping and do-ing. The Big Slide. The Big One. And that's exactly what both of you wanted. I woulda been happy with one of the little side "job-bee slides"....the tee-nine-eee ones that spill over the bottom of the playground extravaganza jungle. But nope....once you both made it up that first pair of stairs and then bounded over to the second stairs (gaining confidence...gaining confidence.....) then ran across the cat-walk....then jumped all over the third landing...then..then...you had a choice. Do ya go low and head for the "baby" slides or are ya gonna aim high and head for the Big Kahuna? (Like when I snowski, do you take the Blue Diamond down or do you go for the the Black Diamond....?) You both (pretty much exactly same timing...) looked at that last set of stairs....looked at each other....looked back at the stairs and well, that's "all she wrote"....(sidebar note: they never looked at me...nah, they didn't need me...) You both fought each other to get to the top, you plopped your little "no-butt" behinds down and there you went.....sliding-all-the-way-down....So...then...then...because I was going solo that day sans Ed, I managed to effectively clone myself to get coverage to be at the top of the slide when you started down and then at the bottom of the slide to greet you. And....that I did....Must of been quite the show on the playground but who cares?!!

Then, of course, you both immediately signed and half-spoke to me very very insistently..."a'gin...a'gin"....We did it again...16 times again, that is. (whoo-hoo)

I was so inordinately phenomenally amazed and proud of you two monkeys that I forced all of us to go back later that evening (with Ed this time) so we could take pictures of your prowesses....

Hugs to all,

cindy

Soothing Balm

It's a salve, isn't it, having children...For me they are a balm to the crazy world around us...today's world that has crazy expectations, incomprehensible greed and just downright ridiculous priorities. When I'm feeling out-of-balance and taking things entirely too seriously, I take some Pilates breaths and stretches and I dive into my daughters' world...and then everything just seems to set itself right again. And I realize once again how staggeringly jaw-dropping, spine-chilling (yes, now I have goosebumps down my arm...)lucky (um...double-lucky) that I am to have these two amazing little souls in our lives.

Isn't this a great shot of Sammi below? She's really getting into following me around and puttering in the yard, pulling weeds, saying "hi" to all our plants and trees and shrubs (yes, I really do that....), and just being my little helper. I caught her here pulling little weeds along our stone borders...She'll put the weeds in the little bin at the back of her trike.

And then here's Nicki in pink.....

Hugs,
Cindy

Calling on children's books on adopting Chinese twins

I've got some of the requisite children's books describing...(and catered to children)....the China adoption process incuding "Love you Like Crazy Cakes",
Finding Joy", "When you were Born in China", "Shooey and Dot" and a couple more books (great Mr. Rodgers one), but I'm really looking for a book of similar genre about adopting twins from China. Anyone know of a book such as this? I've searched the Internet, but I'm not the best web "miner".

The reason I'm really getting keen for a book like I'm describing above is because Sammi and Nicki are showing emotions all over the map when we read these books. On one hand, they are fascinated....They are especially riveted over the pages where it shows rows and cribs with 2-3 babies in each crib. It just stops them in their tracks. But then, all of the sudden, I see them get anxious and stressed....When I close the book and go on to the next activity, they invariably want to go back to the adoption books.

So, anyone out there have any recommendations for books on adopting Chinese (or other) twins?

Thanks and Hugs,

Cindy

TwinsFest in Richmond!

We never stopped talking, we never stopped laughing...we never stopped finishing each other's sentences.....it was kinda like an insta-mind-meld.....Such great fun, Rony.....and these pics prove it!! Who else would jump in a pool in a dress (and look so great!!) mere hours after meeting someone in person!

Rony, you so rock! :)

(um, also...I *knew just knew* you were gonna jump in....)

And, yes, it is true. In addition to Rony, Ed is the other rock star. It was everything Rony said plus more....he came with me and girls just to play chauffeur, babysitter, great all-'round guy, waiter, lifeguard, first-aid man, cleaner-upper...and he was (he typically is....) pretty frickin' amazing.

What is it with children and running-madly-down-long hallways....Oh my gosh that was so much fun...I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe...Ok, I admit it...I did kinda start it all off...I did kinda push them to run at first but then they really really! got the hang of it.... Too fun...even when that ol grump-head poked his grumpy ol' grumpy self out of his room to grump at us...whatever....)

Mai, it was truly a total delight meeting you. You are awesome and sweet and beautiful....just a real pleasure having you there...thanks for everything!!

Okay...final picture to prove we DID go to the Park...just only stayed for 36.5 minutes.....! :)

Hugs,

Cindy :)

Lots of Yays

--Yay, I'm blogging again. Got a bit of a work reprieve 'til Monday.Yay, we have a 3-day weekend.
--Yay, our girls turned 2 years old last week...big yay!
--Yay, we have no real plans (just some cook-outs) this weekend so I can catch-up on blogging...!
--Yay, my digital SLR just came back from repair and I am with-camera again.
--Oh yay. Life is good this nice Saturday morning. I have just about a millions things to talk about....think I'll even do multiple posts this weekend. Oh, yay!! :)

They are crazy about their wagon (birthday present). We now do our daily mail runs in it. They climb in the wagon in the garage, I pull them up the long driveway to our mailbox, dole out the mail/flyers, take a spin around the cul-de-sac, maybe stop over and see their friends along the way.