Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A Taste of Tuesday

We don't always have a clear schedule of what we're going to do on any given day, but Tuesday is shaping up to be one of the days with some real consistencies to it. On this day, we all hang out at home until about 9am, when Steve goes to work. Christina, Elena, and Clara go meet friends Caryn and Charlie at a local bookshop for story hour. When we went today, we were part of a pretty big crowd, and many of the young girls were REALLY interested in Clara and Elena. Here we are trying to stay focused on the book instead of the adorable twins:


After the kids have fun and the grown ups get some coffee, Christina and Elena and Clara usually head over to the pet store to visit some animals. The favorites are the turtles and the birds (here is where Christina really works to overcome her fear of birds and lets the girls get THIS close to them!) Yes, yes, they are behind glass- but those birds are crafty and unpredictable. Who knows how they might plot to escape?



In the late afternoon/early evening, Steve comes home and we try to have an adventure together. Often this is a walk around our neighborhood or a trip to the park, but today we went to some local nurseries to see what plants we might want to get for this summer, and to introduce the girsl to flowers. Isn't it funny to think that they have no real familiarity with them yet? They liked putting their noses right in some geraniums today.


So that was our Tuesday. Here's hoping you all had a fun one, too.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Food News

Guess what Clara finally did? She ate real food! We hadn't gotten her to do more than taste a few things before, and she would then just spit them out. But yesterday she ate quite a bit of peas and carrots, and today she had pears as well.


She needs her fuel for all this sitting:

Elena's trying to remember the other big food news in this house - what could it be, what could it be?


Oh, right - they ate Cheerios! Okay, it was an organic brand of wheat o's, and they did a lot more gumming of them and playing with them on a tray than actually eating them, but several did manage to make it off their chins and into their bellies.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Picnic Day (and hey, we're matchy-matchy!)


Today the girls got to go on their first real picnic. We had a real spring day (75 degrees!) and so we took the girls to a creek a little ways away to get some vitamin D and to enjoy the day. Neither of us have skin as fair as these girls, so we had to get smart with lots of sun screen and some hats (thanks Nanny!).

You all know that we don't usually dress the girls identically but today the girls were finally the right size and the weather was right for some shirts that Grandpa and Grandma Mary bought (they say "Perfect Pair" with pears on them). With shirts like those, we figured we'd put them in some other matching items (pants from Aunt Jean and family - thanks!) while we were at it. We won't do this every day, but it was fun today.

Who can tell who's who here?



Okay, here's a clue:


Having the weekend off is so fun on a spring day like today - we each got lots of one on one time with both girls. Here's Elena and her Daddy:



And Clara with her Mom (there was a dog that came up to play with us, and Clara was intent on finding him again!)


And finally, one of each girl on her own, because they're so cute that way.


Little Clara Cake:
And our Leni Bird - what an attitude here!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Everything's New

What do you get when you pair a classic toy, a new find, and soft colorful mats? Two entranced girls - they really played together for the first time ever, and we're having so much fun seeing how they interact with each other and these toys. And their sitting - it's just getting so great. Clara is a pro and almost never falls - Elena needs a little bit more spotting.




This one is too funny - when we are taking pictures Clara almost never really cares about it. Elena, however, thinks the camera must be the most fun toy because we keep it for ourselves. Here, Elena gives Christina a dirty look because repeated stretching out of hands has not gotten her the camera, much to her disappointment.


We're not just excited that the girls have new toys and a new play area (although that is pretty fun). Really, the title of this post reflects the fact that we finally find ourselves at the state where parents often say "You just see them learning all the time, everything is new to them." Honestly, for the first few months we weren't always sure what they were learning or if they noticed all the newness around them. Now, though, we just are in a new stage where we see them experimenting and figuring things out, and we finally get what people are talking about. This is such a cool age!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Real Smiles, As Requested

Okay, so in the last post maybe the girls didn't look as smiley to everyone else as I thought they did - SO, here's a follow up of two great smiles...



...and one fake-out!

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Three and Three

Here are three shots of Clara and three of Elena, to brighten up a Tuesday.

Clara is showing off her sitting and smiling skills simultaneously here:




And Elena is showing her version of crawling. It involves a lot of pushing herself up on her arms, pulling herself forward, rolling a bit, and then starting over again. She is remarkably good at covering ground this way!




Friday, April 4, 2008

Eyes Wide Open

Here's a quick collection from some of the wide-eyed moments this week:


Clara, post-bath, happily flexible:


Elena's "Yes-I-Can-Read-And-Sit-At-The-Same-Time, What-Of-It?" look:



Look who suddenly likes the swing? But only if she can stare at her sister and smile every time she swings up to her.


Finally, two girls who have found that if they both sit in the red chair, they don't slip one bit. Plus, they can look around and reach all of their toys - perfect!

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Clara's in a Contest

One of the other websites on twins that we read is having a photo contest. We entered a picture of Clara (Leni will get in on her own contest, too, but we wanted them to each get a picture up on their own). If you want to vote, head on over to this site. Voting should be up in the next day.