I have been feeling a little scatter brained lately. While the twins are doing excellent, the task of watching four little kids and taking care of the house is overwhelming for Kari and I. I find it particularity difficult to complete any household task without getting sidetracked onto at least one other task. For instance, I was just going to wash the dishes that were in the sink, but the drying rack was full. So I started putting clean dishes away. When I opened the cupboard where we keep all the sippy cups one fell off of the top shelf and landed on a half full glass of iced tea that was resting on the counter, sending the tea glass to its doom on the tile floor. It shattered into about a million pieces. So I start to clean that up, but have to pause to fend off all the barefoot children, who as you know are very interested in loud crashing sounds. Once the kids were dealt with I got out the vacuum to get all the bits and pieces. I might as well vacuum the rest of the floor while I'm at it. As I am putting the vacuum away I notice that the washer is done, so I move that load to the dryer and start putting another load in the washer, but the kids are hungry, so I stop to fix breakfast for the big girls. Then I wonder "Where was I?" Oh I forgot to feed the dogs, oh the twins are crying, look how dirty that is -I should clean it, what was that crashing sound, where did I put my coffee?, how are we going to get this place clean enough for a party? Oh its trash day - I better get the trash out.
You get the idea. It is a little crazy around our house, there isn't much time to sit and relax.
On the positive side I got to see Jordan take her first steps. They weren't much, but she stood up, took four shuffling steps, sat down, stood up again and took four more steps. I was very pleased and Jordan looked like she had just conquered Mount Everest. You should have seen the grin on her face. Madi is not far behind. She is also now standing up without having to steady herself on some other object.
A couple of other things that I am writing just so I don't forget them:
Rylee finally got the concept of "tag". So now instead of just me chasing her, she will turn around and chase me when she is "it". Even though I am horribly out of shape I wasn't having too much trouble keeping ahead of her and after several minutes of her not catching me I thought that I would slow down a little and let her get me, so that she wouldn't get frustrated with the game. Apparently she likes a challenge, because as she was running behind me, giggling and gasping, starting to catch up, she yells "Run Daddy!" You probably had to be there, but I was quite amused.
Whenever I sit on the floor, within seconds I am mauled by children. This means that whichever kid makes it to my lap first gets equally mauled by the following mob. Yesterday Rylee was enjoying the choice spot on my lap when Jordan decided that she wanted to occupy the same spot. Jordan is not gentle and she shrieked with joy, displaying a big toothless grin, as she grabbed two fistfuls of Rylee's hair and yanked. Rylee skwaked a bit, "My hair! My hair! Jojo! My hair!" After I untangled Jordan from Rylee's disheveled hair, Rylee looked at me with a grin then turned to Jordan. Jordan stood there unsteadily, teetering back and forth, grinning from ear to ear, drool dripping from her chin, trying to remain standing with out support. Rylee put her right index finger squarely in the center of Jordan's chest, held it there for just a moment, and then gave her just enough of a push with that one finger to topple her. They both found this very amusing. Jordan stood up again and Rylee pushed her over again with on finger. I said to Rylee, "Thats not nice. How would you like it if I did that to you?" and I pushed her over. She toppled back onto my legs, looked up at me with a surprised look and then grinned and said "Again!"
Getting the big girls, especially Rylee, to eat good food has been a challenge. The other night Rylee wanted marshmallows or candy or something that was less than nutritious, right as I was getting ready to cook dinner. I told her "No... I am about to make dinner. We are having chicken."
"No shickin." she said with a frown.
"Yes, chicken." I said.
"No, shickin." she said, with her head hung low.
"Yes, chicken. I have already started making it and we are having chicken."
Reagan walks in the room and Rylee turns to her and says "Shicken, Reagan?"
"Yeah!!" says Reagan.
"Shicken yummy!! Shicken!" Rylee says to me with a big smile.