The Spencer Girls

I am fascinated by the inconsistencies in children's behavior. I was delighted to look outside and see my oldest, Rylee, pushing her younger sister, Reagan, on the swing. That seemed like a very big sisterly thing to do. I decided not to interrupt. About ten minutes later I heard Reagan wailing at the top of her lungs and figured I should investigate. I peeked out the window and glimpsed Rylee rocking in the swing, contemplating her toes, totally at peace. I leaned out a little more, so I could see the other swing. There was Reagan...hanging upside down. Apperantly she had been swinging on her stomach and misjudged her center of gravity, resulting in her upside down, legs splayed, finger tips on the ground and unable to extircate herself. Rylee appeared completely unconcerned.
"Rylee! Help your sister!" I hollered, as I was rushing to help Reagan. After I had her righted and calmed down. Reagan got back on the swing, belly side down, gave a good push with her legs, and toppled over again. Head down, legs splayed, toes hooked, and screaming for help. I gave her the short course on center of gravity and then turned my attention back to Rylee.
"Why didn't you help your sister?" I asked her. "Didn't you see that she needed help, didn't you hear her crying?"
"Because, because, because, because, Reagan... cause, uhmm." She replied with a shrug of the shoulders. I wondered breifly when she learned the shoulder shrugg as a reply to a question.
"You are her big sister, Rylee. You need to help her when she needs help. Okay?"
"OOOOOkaaaay." She said.
"Good. Sisters need to watch out for eachother. You want Reagan to help you when you need help, right?" I continued.
"Yeah." She agreed.
"Alright then."

The twins do it too. They will be terribly concerned if the other is crying and will go out of their way to find a pacifier and ram it into the wailing sibling's mouth. Maybe they just don't like the crying either. And again, ten minutes later one of them, usually Madison, will grab the other by the hair yank the pacifier out and push the her sister down. They will wrestle happily on the couch for long periods, laughing and shrieking, and then kick and hit any sibling who dares to try sitting on Dad's lap.

At the risk of sounding redundant, the potty training continues... It is not going well, really. After an excellent start by Reagan, she is now on the verge of being put back in diapers untill she is 18. Rylee has had some accidents too. That is all I have to say about that. I am ready for this stage to be over and I know that we have a long way to go.

I heard a quote the other day that I loved "The days are long, but the years are short."

On one occation Reagan actually made it to the potty upstairs and failed to let anyone know that she had used it and it now needed to be emptied. So when I took all the kids upstairs to pick up toys before bed I didn't pay much attention to the twins banging around in the bathroom. I was focused on scooping up toy kitchen utensiles when I glanced up and saw Madison bent over the training toilet. She had the lid held open with her right hand and was splashing around in the bolw with her left. "Uh oh..." I thought.
"Hey!! What are you doing!" I said, leaping to my feet.
Before I could reach the bathroom I saw Madison dip her hand in the bowl, stick it in her mouth and return it to the bowl for more. Then I saw that Jordan was in on the action and had her hands in her mouth. They were having a grand time, giggling and smiling. As I pulled them away I noticed that the bowl was in fact full, there was "liquid" splashed on the lid, on the floor, dripping from their arms, their chins, and I fought the urge to gag. The front of their shirts were soaked
"No! No! No! No!" I nearly shouted, grabbing hold of Madi and pushing Jordan away from the toilet with the other hand. I held Madi over the sink and pretty much doused her in water, all the while keeping Jordan at bay with my left foot and lecturing Reagan about the need to tell Dad when she uses the toilet. When I had Madison as clean as I could get her I put her down and grabbed hold of Jordan. Still stiffling the urge to gag, I started scooping handfuls of water up to her face and working my way down. Madison, in the mean time, kept charging for the toilet, pushing away my efforts to block her with my foot like a little sumo wrestler. After the third time I had to stop washing Jordan to grab Madison I gave her a pretty good smack on the hand. Now she was screaming, but at least she wasn't trying to get in the toilet anymore.

It still makes me feel a little sick thinking of the whole affair.

We have finally changed the twins cribs to day beds. We didn't really think they were quite ready for that yet. Or maybe we didn't think we were ready for that yet. However, Jordan, the little monkey, keeps climbing out or getting her feet stuck in the rails. Kari found her hanging upside down by her feet the other day and so we didn't really have a choice. We certainly didn't want her to fall on her head. The down side is that they now get up and empty every drawer in the room. Rylee and Reagan used to do that too, until we put locks on all of their drawers. Installing locks on every draw is a major hassle though.

The twins have also been moved from the high chairs to seats that latch onto the dining table. They seem to eat better that way for some reason. It is also nicer when we all sit down to diner to have them right there next to you. We are still working on the food throwing.

Reagan is still seeing the speech therapist twice a month and will likely qualify for a school program after she is three. Not a lot of progress in her speach as of yet.

That is about all I have at the moment.

(Just so you know. While I was typing this I have paused at least ten times to wipe up pee, plunge a toilet, wipe up milk, fix a bowl of Cheerios, dry tears, console toddlers, brush teeth, read stories, and tuck kids in bed.)