How the year is going so far

I've still been a bit under the weather so while I've been trying to do better on my New Years resolutions, it's been about half assed.  But that half an ass is improvement so I'm counting it!

When K and I fall into our pattern of him watching something on TV while I hang out at my computer, I'm now making it a point to say "I'm not ignoring you, I'm just not interested in this program.  I'm here for interaction if you want to interact!"  Before, he would sit and watch TV and expect to understand that he was telepathically issuing me an invitation to join him and then he'd get all butthurt that I continued to entertain myself on the computer.  While how we spend our time hasn't changed a whole lot, we're communicating our intentions better so the hurt feelings or the feeling of being ignored is going away.

I'm actually getting some laundry folded and getting more dishes in and out of the dishwasher so I've improved on my housework resolution.  Still not where I should be but as long as improvement becomes a habit, that's good.  We cleared two boxes of random baby stuff and took it to the consignment store.  They returned about half of it which I haven't gone through yet, so I don't know what we got back.  The hoarder in me hates that!  It's perfectly good stuff that someone in the world could use, but getting it listed for sale somewhere is a pain in the ass so it all just stacks up in a corner.  I don't want to throw it out because I see dollar signs hitting the trash, but I don't want to deal with the process of exchanging the stuff for actual dollars.  Getting it back also has a hint of insult.  What?  My stuff isn't good enough for you?  

The girls had their 18 month check up (at 19 months) and the doctor says everything is looking good!  They are still on the low end of the charts (21lbs12oz and 22lbs2oz) but they are on them!  We filled out a questionnaire regarding behaviors and milestones and so far pretty much the only thing they don't do a whole lot of is pretend play.  We realized that we have a ton of sensory toys, but not many toys that facilitate pretend, so off to the consignment store to shop their 50% off toys sale!  Picked up a play kitchen for $15 and set it up where they can watch me cook (ha!) while they play at the kitchen.  So far they are more exploring than pretending, but it's a start!  The pretend remote control I got them is a BIG hit and helps protect our real remote from grubby little hands.

What those plates are that you see scattered around - sensory toys.  I went to the fabric store and got a massive number of scraps with different textures because the girls like those books that have a spot of fabric to represent lambs wool or kitten fur.  My intention was to make a big sensory book, but I couldn't quite figure out how to make a book work so I sewed the scraps onto paper plates.  They seem to enjoy playing with them, and I've decided they now live in the oven of the play kitchen.

The doctor says that our balance of nutrition is spot on which thrills me to no end.  I'm so addicted to carbs and crap that it's almost an obsession to me to make sure the girls develop a taste for healthy foods and that things are balanced correctly.  The girls now have a tray of snacks available throughout the day so they can graze a bit.  I'm trying to find things other than cereal and raisins to keep available but finding foods that aren't choking hazards will clean up relatively easily is a challenge.  I'm now sometimes giving them wafer thin carrot strips (if left unfound in a corner somewhere, they dry out rather than turn to jelly), kale chips, and some protein mini cookies I found in the natural foods section of the grocery store.  Ok, so they're still getting a lot of cereal and raisins, but I'm trying to mix it up!  I'm actually surprised that they'll snack on the kale chips.

Teeny Tiny is suddenly free flowing with affection.  I'm getting all sorts of kisses and she's learned to blow kisses.  We're constantly getting snacks fed to us.  Middie Biddie is obsessed with playing "kerplop" which is a game where I sit on the floor surrounded by various pillow things like oversized stuffed animals and then I toss a child onto the pillow while saying "kerplop".  As long as I've got my back against the couch and am surrounded on all three sides by pillows, I'm able to keep both girls entertained and giggling for quite a while.

Our first swim lesson went really well.  The girls were the youngest in the class since the age cut off is 18 months.  My dad came along and hung out at the edge of the pool taking video with his phone like a creeper, but it was nice having a third pair of hands help us out in the locker room afterwards.  Yeah, we gotta streamline the showering and getting dressed portion of that activity.  30 minutes in the water followed by 35 minutes of getting kids out of the water and out the door is not an acceptable balance to me.  We got a couple of cheap umbrella strollers and bathrobes so I think from now on we'll just get them showered, get a fluffy bathrobe on them, strap 'em down, get ourselves dressed and go.  The drive is literally three minutes so they can be kind of naked but covered in the car until we get them home to get them properly dressed.  Trying to accomplish that in a family locker room that seems to have an inch of water all over the entire floor doesn't work.  Teeny Tiny made everyone laugh at the end of class.  The instructor pulled out a mat that floats on the water and had the kids walk across it and jump to their parent.  Teeny Tiny decided that she really needed to explore the middle of the mat, and plunked herself down perfectly happy to hang out right there.

Last night I got a great affirmation that I'm doing ok at this parenting thing.  Teeny Tiny was laughing in her sleep!  We just suddenly heard this laughter coming over the monitor and when we looked, she was completely asleep just giggling and laughing.  Middie Biddie often talks in her sleep too and it sounds like happy chatter.  If my girls have so much happiness in them that they need to let some of it out in their sleep, we must be doing something right!