Prince Charming or Prince Challenging?

Our littlest guy can pour on the charm. I mean really thick. Thick like molasses in February. It's hard not to admire his skills. We were at a restaurant the other day and I was able to watch him in action. He has the precision of a Navy SEAL as he zeroes in on his target(s). Pretty young ladies in particular seem to fall prey to his wiley ways. He puts on this coy routine that involves closing his eyes and turning that muppety moppity head of his. Simple but effective. He gets the standard response, "Ahhhhhhhhh, how cuuuuuuute!" Yes, sometimes I just roll my eyes at the spectacle.

We at home, of course, get to see the other side of him. Usually he is pretty even-tempered, but he went through a two week phase in which he threw some King Kong sized tantrums. Three to be exact. Tantrums are not something we are used to. I am definitely a "don't give the drama to your mama" kind of person. So I was caught off guard by his performances (none of which occurred in the privacy of our own home, OF COURSE). Oh, can I also add that the father was absent for each one?

The first volcanic explosion happened at the beauty salon (no, I did not ask for it by taking him there). I took the WTs to my hairdresser to get shorn. I had Kara go first so Micah could watch and be comfortable about what was transpiring. This was not his first haircut, but his hair has been cut before by a friend (an adult friend, that is). Kara was fine as I expected, and all was going well. To save time, my hairdresser asked another gal to cut Micah's hair. That little change tripped some kind of switch and the haircut hellion was born. He absolutely flipped out, and he was even sitting on my lap. I don't know, maybe he thought he was Samson and he'd lose strength if his hair was cut. It took three of us to hold him still, and the end result was that he looked like a Beatles Muppet.

The second bomb went off in the doctor's office. Let me just say that all my kids have loved Dr. Ng. Not a one of them ever gave him any grief, Micah has been fine all the other times we've seen Dr. Ng. But this was a day in the two weeks of terror and he must have felt compelled to perform. Once again, Micah sat on my lap for supposed comfort and he still squirmed and wormed and twisted and resisted. I even had all hands on deck with the sibs present. I apologized for Micah's behavior and told Dr. Ng that the 3OS (older siblings) had been "textbook kids" and had always been good for him. He said, "No, you had three unusual kids (make that four) and now you have one textbook kid. He's acting normal." Did I say the kids love Dr. Ng? The parents think he's pretty fantastic too.

The last atom splitting episode took place at my in-laws' house. I love my in-laws, I enjoy spending time with my in-laws, I felt really bad for my in-laws. They had to concede that they were biologically connected with the toddler terrorist. Our visit had been going very well, one of my sisters-in-law and her daughter came up so we were able to spend time with them as well. As we were cleaning up to go, I did the unthinkable... I asked Micah to pick up a block. That little stinker plopped himself down and said, "No." The battle lines were drawn. Now remember, I am a parenting veteran. This kid is the youngest of five. I even have a master's degree in psychology. I have a teaching credential. I taught preschool for 13 years. Did any of that help? Not one little bit. It was brutal, it was ugly, it was loud. I was sure animal control was going to show up to pick up the deranged animal that was loose in the house.

Finally, after making him pick up that block, I took him (as he was kicking and screaming) out to the car. I had to force him into the carseat and then I shut the door. I admit, that was satisfying. I then went in to get Kara (the 3OS were with my parents), who was showing everyone that she was the sweetest, most well-behaved child on the planet. Micah fell asleep for the last five minutes of the 10 minute ride to my parents' house where we were spending the night. I thought that for sure he would go back to sleep once I put him in his bed. Silly, silly woman am I. He revved up his engines and away he went with tantrum part 2.

I let him scream and cry, knowing he needed the sleep. I'd wait him out. Well after an hour of his theatrics, I started nodding off on the couch. Kara was walking around and reached for something on the counter, accidentally knocking a glass onto the floor. I jumped up and raced to move her so she wouldn't get cut by broken glass. When that glass hit the floor, something magical happened. It broke the evil spell my cherub was under. Yelling ceased from his room. Instead, the questions came. "Mommy, what was that?" "It was glass breaking, Micah." "Oh. Get out?" "No, not yet. Mommy has to clean up the glass." "Oh. Okay. Glass break?" "Yes, the glass broke." "Oh. Kara did it?" "Yes, Kara did it. It was an accident." "Oh. Get out?" "Almost, I'm still cleaning up." "Oh. Okay." When Micah was finally released from his prison, he was all sunshine and roses. He also had the nerve to look me in the eye and say, "Micah. Good attitude." I have met my match.

Here's a picture of two blanket burritos.

And here is the family, not yet complete...but that's another story...

The robbers' den and twin tidbits

The twins have found a new hiding place to take their spoils - underneath the kitchen table. I didn't say it was a clever hiding place, especially since I spend the majority of my day in that room. However, they do know that Mom must use the restroom at least once per day...

The other day I found them there with a small baggie of contraband pita chips. I guess I should be glad that they were at least sharing. Before that they managed to stage a major coup. Mom had an absolute lapse of common sense and left a half gallon of chocolate soy milk and a gallon of nonfat milk on the table (the "roof" of the den) to take a phone call. I left the room briefly (which is an eternity when wonder twin power activates). When I returned I found Micah taking swigs from the half gallon while Kara was stashing other stolen goods in the gallon. Two pens and a plastic spoon came out when I poured the milk out into another container.

Hmmm, is Micah trying out for clown camp? Perhaps channeling his inner mime? Is Kara painting on her war paint to do battle against the mom? Try eating Desitin from the diaper bag.

Must be the cod liver oil. Mmmmmmm.

The WTs have each other's backs. When one needs assistance, the other will come for help. Micah will give the whole explanation, "Mommy! Kara! Uh, uh, stuck! Couch! Come here!" (That's for when Kara gets herself wedged between the couch and wall. Happens fairly often). Kara will take what I call the "Lassie" approach. She'll run in and say, "Micah! Uh oh!" and then she'll start going into the other room. She'll stop to make sure you are following her, then run to where Micah is. Which is usually stuck between the couch and the wall. Funny though, Micah didn't say anything when Kara was stuck between the front door and the security door. (There is a big gap between the doors.) Maybe it's because he trapped her there. I heard the front door close (we often leave it open for air flow since we have the security doors) and a muffled voice. I turned the corner to see Micah in front of the closed door with (no kidding) hands over his mouth giggling gleefully.

I finish this with a shot of our cool crew:

Oh, and by the way, we're expecting again! Well...sort of. We have officially started the process to adopt again. Yes, we may be experiencing triplets. I've been told I'm crazy, and I'd have to agree.

Two twos - a study in contrasts

When Micah turned two on May 23, I found myself with two two-year-olds. Some people think that things must be even crazier now, but in actuality, things are getting a little easier. True, there are many days that I turn the corner and see scenes like this:

We also have our share of hair-raising experiences:

As well as moments (many, many moments) of comic relief:

One day I had just the WT 2-2s and I noted that they are very different people. In particular, I noted differences in the following areas:

Eating: Micah is a very neat eater. At dinner he was holding his ear of corn gingerly, turning it over and over to figure out where to take a bite. He'd ask, "Eat this? Here?" Meanwhile I look at Kara who has decided to make ketchup handprints, complete with a "Hah!"

Songs: Kara insists on having "Mr. Sun" sung ad naseum when it's time to go to bed. You know, it's the song that asks "Mr. Sun" to "please come out so we can play with you." Micah's favorite song is "Little Bunny Foo Foo." It's the song that talks about LBFF having a bad attitude and bopping things on the head until he gets turned into a goon by the good fairy. Oh yes, it's "POW! She turned him into a goon."

Favorite food: Micah is a confirmed carnivore. He cannot get enough "shoo-shaw" (known to the common man as "sausage."). Kara has never met a fruit or vegetable she hasn't liked.

Entertainment: Micah really enjoys videos. He watches them with much interest and makes comments while he's watching so you know he understands what is going on. Right now he is really into "Bob the Builder." Kara is interested in the theme music. Actually the thing that she enjoys watching the most is packed with action, high drama, and a satisfying resolution. She loves to watch microwave popcorn pop.

Reading: Micah is obsessed with "Cowardly Clyde." It's a long book that we take turns reading so as not to wear out our vocal chords. Micah has much of it memorized and will quote from it (his newest quote is, "Ogre turn to be horrified."). Kara likes her books short and simple. It's a winner if it has a beat to it. Her favorite is "Hand hand fingers thumb." It is a literary masterpiece that contains lines such as, "Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum." The last time I read "Cowardly Clyde" Micah was sitting to my left, soaking up every word. Kara was on my left. A few pages in and Kara flipped herself backward and started to snore.

Favorite activity: Micah likes to swing anything that resembles a sword and shout "En garde!" He also pretends to get hit and does an impressive Shakespearean death scence (complete with sound effects, "Uhhhhh!). Kara likes to try on shoes. Anyone's shoes.

Physique: Kara is delicate, somewhat wirey. Micah is a chunky monkey.

These two twos are definitely two of a kind!

Sous chefs

We do a lot of cooking and baking in this household. The picture above is our fantastic five in the space where our new oven would go.

Here the oldest three are showing off the Red Velvet cake they made from scratch (someone snuck into the picture). They're on their way to becoming accomplished bakers. Then there are the budding sous chefs...

They are honing their skills in the following areas:

Testing the freshness of ingredients - cinnamon, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and lemonade powder. Here are the twins reacting to the lemonade powder.

Here the WTs are learning about portion control. Hopefully they realized that dumping a whole box of Kix cereal on the floor is not an example of an appropriate serving size.

Micah likes to test the ripeness of oranges by shouting "Boing!" and bouncing the oranges on the ground.

The WTs both know about viscosity. If you are not quick enough when washing their hands, they'll lick the handsoap and exclaim, "Honey!"

Even though James and I do not drink wine, apparently the WTs are practicing wine tasting. They enjoy swishing and spitting out their water, only they like to redrink it.

Micah understands the need to taste test your food. Thankfully when he decided to take one of my teaspoons and drink a spoonful of toilet water, no one had "created" anything in the bowl!

Who knows? One day they may become celebrity chefs. They sure look the part!

WTs go solo and earn their keep

Usually the WTs get in trouble together. Their newest tactic is to divide and conquer. They lull us into complacency by taking turns staying with the rest of the family while the other strikes out on his/her own. At some point we realize that only one WT is present. And that's when we come upon these types of scenes: Micah got a hold of our cinnamon/sugar shaker and decorated the kitchen floor. He was doing some "sand painting" when we caught him, then tried to "help" us clean up by licking up the evidence.

Kara decided to unload the rest of the bottle of Catalina dressing (which she calls "honey") onto her plate. At one point there was spinach on that plate as well. Talk about drowning your salad in dressing! When she was caught (see her very remorseful expression below), she was trying to scoop up dressing with the back of her fork.

We've decided that the WTs need to earn their keep, so here they are participating in chores with their older sibs:

Kara is in the background watching warily, she is afraid of the vaccuum cleaner.

I think Kara enjoyed dusting as it is a quiet activity that involves spraying liquid.

You'll notice the big smile on her face...look who has her hand on the spray bottle trigger...

This is how a sick kid rolls...

Micah had been running a fever, so the WTs and I stayed home from church while the 3OS caught a ride with their Uncle Mike and Aunt Pam. Now, I already know that I cannot use the restroom while I am solo caretaker of the WTs. That's just folly speaking. I had this idea, however, that I could work out in the family room while the WTs played around me. It didn't take long for me to be startled by the absence of noise from the WTs. Instantly, and instinctively, I say, "Don't get into the cabinet!" (visions of soy sauce and peppermint extract go through my head). I jump up to look over the counter and see the cabinet doors closed, so that's not where they have staged their attack. I run over to the front door. Nope, it's locked and our new security door not breached. I hear a small noise from the kitchen and this is what I found:

The WTs had taken a cooling rack off the counter. On the cooling rack were mini baked doughnuts that had (notice the use of the past tense here) chocolate icing on them. The WTs were gleefully and unabashedly licking the icing off of the doughnuts. Before I snapped these pictures, I did take a minute to scoop up any intact doughnuts I could find. I found four.

So this is how a sick kid rolls....

A different kind of blog worthy day

Do you know why this is a different kind of blog worthy day? It's because nothing crazy happened! Okay, Kara slammed the door on Micah's finger; and Micah did climb onto the toy cabinet, get to a plant, and make dirt rain on Kara's head. Still, the 3 OS and I remarked at how "good" the WTs were today. I almost took the twins' temperatures to make sure they were well.

I had a glimmer of hope today that we might just survive twin toddlerdom. Then again, the WTs might be lulling me into a false sense of security to spring a trap on me tomorrow. I put nothing passed them...would you????