There a couple of new developments in the recent weeks.
First we have converted the twin's cribs into day beds, as I mentioned in the last post. The result is that their schedules have been thrown off kilter. They don't really nap anymore and they get up much earlier. Unless both of them are on the verge of passing out, one will inevitably get out of bed and wake the other one up. They also get into more things that they shouldn't. They like to empty drawers very much, which I mentioned. Somehow, they managed to get a bottle of lotion off the changing table yesterday. You can imagine the results. Who knew there was so much lotion in one little bottle? The other problem is that the big girls wake them up and let them out in the morning, while we are still asleep. I don't mind Rylee and Reagan getting up to play, but the twins can't be wandering about unattended. We are working on a solution.
Recently we got the big girls safety scissors. You can already see where this is going, can't you? I gave them several long lectures about how the scissors were to be used, how they where only for cutting paper and under no circumstances should they be used to cut hair or anything else. JUST PAPER. I also sat with them and showed them how they worked. They had used them several different times with no problem and I was feeling confident that they would use them in a responsible manner. I'm not sure how I reached that conclusion, give the last couple of years that I have spent with them, but I did. So the other night, when Rylee requested to use the scissors, I got the two big girls situated at the table with a stack of paper and the cutting implements. Kari and I had spent the day cleaning and were still in cleaning mode and it was nearing dinner time. We were both within eye sight of the big girls, but not paying them too much attention. Kari was busy in the kitchen and I was on some task, per Jordan's orders, when I paused and looked at Reagan. She smiled, then she held up her right hand with a clump of hair pinched between her fingers. I did a double take. "She couldn't have!" I was thinking.
"What did you do?!" I said. Her smile faded, but the hand holding the hair stayed up. I looked at the table and floor and saw that she had chopped off a pretty good amount. I focused on her face and notice that she lopped off her bangs, right in the middle of her forehead.
"NO NO, I TOLD YOU THOSE WHERE ONLY FOR PAPER. THOSE ARE NOT FOR CUTTING HAIR!"
"WHAT!!!" Kari shreiked from the kitchen.
I sighed and then looked to Rylee, about to ask why she had let her sister do that. She was sitting right next to her. That is when I realized that the impressionable little sister was just following big sister's lead. Rylee had cut and even larger chunck out of her bangs. She was not smiling after hearing what I had said to Reagan.
"Rylee!" I exclaimed, "What did you do?"
Kari snatched up the scissors, gave me a withering stare and stomped back into the kitchen.
"YOU BOTH GO HAVE A TIME OUT! I TOLD YOU THOSE ARE FOR CUTTING PAPER. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CUT YOUR HAIR!"
While the girls were doing their penance I got out the vacuum and started cleaning up the mess. I looked into the kitchen and saw Kari throwing the scissors in the trash.
"Is it neccessary to throw those away? They WILL be ready for them someday." She gave me another "stink eye." I knew at that point I must be the responsible party. I can't believe that I had not seen that coming.
"YES!!!! IT IS!!" She responded.
"You think we should throw out all the scissors in the house then?" I reasoned.
"NO, THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH THOSE!" She told me.
"Okay, that makes sense." I said stiffling several smart aleck remarks and knowing that this was not a battle that I wanted to wage. She was pretty irritated.
I heard the bell go off, signaling the time out was over.
"Rylee, Reagan, come here. We need to talk." I said, and took them to the bath room. I stood them in front of the mirror.
"LOOK what you did to your hair." I scolded. "Rylee, why did you cut your hair?" I asked. I expected her to say "I don't know" and was wondering why I bothered to ask.
"I wanted to look pretty." she replied.
"Well, it doesn't look pretty, Rylee. It looks horrible. I told you at least four times that you don't cut hair." I said. Rylee looked totally crestfallen and I was wondering if I was being too stern.
I knew that I had to take a picture, so I had them stay there while I got the camera.
The rest of the evening was pretty tense and chilly. Finally Kari turned to me and said "Can I get this out?"
"Okay." I said, knowing what was coming. It had been pretty obvious that she viewed me as the culpable party in this whole affair. I don't recall exactly what she said, but it was something to the effect of "I think this was your fault. You have to watch them more closely."
"You are telling me that you would have been sitting there with them the WHOLE time?" I asked defensively.
"Yes, I always sit with them using scissors and glue." she told me. I wasn't buying it, but maybe. At any rate we were on friendly terms again. We disscussed where to take them to have their hair evened out and how bad it was going to look and how long it was going to take to grow out. Rylee's hair is pretty short now, but Reagan's isn't too noticable. The hair stylist told Kari not to worry, you are not the first.
I intend to do this better with the twins.
In other life lessons I have found that I am much less grumpy if I set up the coffee maker the night before. Having my cafeine fix ready and waiting makes the morning go a little smoother. That way I can at least down a half a cup before too many demands are made by the little people. I have also found that if the kids wake me up early it is best to just stay up. Turning on cartoons and trying to sleep for another 20 minutes does me no good at all.
Maybe one day we will start going to bed at a more reasonable hour. However, at this point, we still use the time after the kids go to bed as "me time" and "get things done time."