We had a great trip to Utah for Christmas. We drove the 1500 miles each way with few major issues. The worst part of the travel were the hotel stops (2 nights each way). Once we stopped and they could move, it was difficult to keep them quiet and get them to fall asleep. The other hotel guests must have been annoyed to say the least. And we had more than one kid fall out of bed. My preference with driving has always been to drive straight through... even if it's more than a full 24 hours of driving. Mike will never be on board with that, but after this trip he definitely agrees to minimize the number of nights we stop. They did do pretty amazing with the whole potty issue. We potty trained them in early Oct--just put them in underwear and after a few days they were going potty on their own.. esp Alexis. They still wear diapers in their cribs, but rarely have any accidents anymore. We did buy pull ups for the drive, but JJ wouldn't use them. We told them it was "ok to pee pee on Dora/Diego" but JJ refused so he did amazing and just used the bathroom whenever Mike and I did on our stops--even if he had to wait 20-30 minutes after he announced his need to relieve himself. Alexis, on the other hand, had no issues yelling her business to all of us in the car "I'm pee peeing on Dora!"
Once we got to Utah, we ran into a monster snow storm and actually got stuck a mere 1/4 mile from our destination--a cabin in the mountains just east of Heber City. Turns out 4WD wasn't enough--chains became a necessity. It snowed over 6 feet during the week we were there and while that made coming and going more difficult--it was spectacularly beautiful and extremely fun to play in. The best part of the weather was that though it snowed almost constantly, it never really dipped below 30 during the day, so it was also warm enough to play in. My parents and sister Christina (with her 10-month-old baby) stayed with us as did Mike's parents and brother David--although David's trip up was pretty horrifying. He drove from Vegas.. a drive I insisted should take no longer than 5-6 hours. It took him over 24. And he ended up stopping in Provo, a scant 30 miles from where we were because the weather was so bad. On top of that, he turned a snowmobile over on himself the very day he arrived. He headed back to Vegas on Christmas Eve relieved to be leaving the snow behind. At least it only took him 5 hours to get back, giving me some vindication!
We also got to take JJ and Alexis skiing for the first time. They LOVED it. Mike and I, however, have never been so worn out skiing before. We would support them while they were between our skis... but because they are so short, we had to squat the whole way down the mountain and make sure we were going slow--an extreme thigh workout to say the least. But the twins did really well--esp. Alexis. She could ski by herself and kept the skis parallel--she definitely seems to have a natural athletic ability. She also loved to watch the skiers and snowboarders doing tricks in the snow park (with its ramps and designed jumps), which we watched while riding the lift. Every time we'd get off the lift and head off to the left toward the bunny slope (and away from the snow park), she'd whine a little and say, "but mommy... I want to go jump off the mountain! I want to jump on the mountain!" she would also point out (a little too loudly) all the people who were falling or had fallen by yelling "oh no, mommy... she FELL!" as we passed by. JJ had a blast as well, though I did notice Mike was doing most of the work since JJ liked to lift his legs up off the snow on the way down and yell, "Weeeeeee".
Christmas was wonderful.... we had been working with JJ and Alexis since October about needing to give up their pacifiers to Santa in order to get a present. Alexis immediately announced that she wanted a "pink bicycle". And every time we would remind them that they'd have to give their pacifiers to Santa, she'd remind us that she would get a pink bicycle. And after a while, JJ caught on and started to ask for a blue bicycle. We culminated the fraud by going to see Santa on Christmas eve in the Mall. Before they sat on his lap, I whispered to "Santa" to remind the twins to leave their pacifiers out with the cookies. Then, we made sugar cookies at my sister Heather's house with their cousins that evening and left them out with all their pacifiers. The first night or two they asked for them, but we reminded them of their deal with Santa, and they'd just respond, "oh... ok." And, of course, Santa brought them their pink and blue bicycles. Strider balance bikes that they are doing so well on!
Now that they're officially 3, their language development doesn't seem that drastic anymore.. but looking back they have come a loonnnnnggg way the past year in terms of speech. And now that they're more articulate, it's fun to listen to them play together or try to reason with us. A few of their language idiosyncrasies:
-When we were in Utah in Sept they spent a lot of time with their 4 year old cousin Devin, who referred to them collectively as "girls" [since JJ had longish hair I guess]. And he directed them around a bit; as in, "come on, girls" "let's go, girls" etc. When we got back home I noticed that they started referring to each other as "girls". That was in October, and now, almost 4 months later it's still going strong. If you watch our videos on Dropshots, you can hear it pretty frequently. Not sure when they're going to piece together the inaccuracy of their lingo...but for now, it's pretty cute.
-Whenever Alexis falls down or bumps her head or even gets soap in her eye she sighs really loudly and proclaims, "Oh no! I'm gonna need a band aid!"
-They also say many things we say and now in the right situations. When we were trying to light the candles for their birthday party, we couldn't get them lit for a while and JJ said, exacerbated, "Oh, Come On!" We'll also hear them say things like "That's just ridiculous" or "I just can not believe it" while they're playing. It's amazing how much of ourselves are reflected in them.
-Alexis is also very clever at getting her way (at least in her own head). When we're out of some type of food she likes (like Dora yogurt or Lucky Charms) and is told we don't have any, she'll ask, "You got to go get some more at the Store?" And when we reply in the affirmative, she'll be satisfied. Of course, she NEVER forgets and will remind us whenever we leave to get whatever item is missing. Additionally, when she asks to do something or have something and I say no, she's started responding with questions/assertions like "I can have some maybe later?" or "I can watch Dora tomorrow?" To which I usually reply, "maybe" which for some reason is extremely satisfying to her. Also, with JJ when she wants him to do something, she'll frame it in a somewhat leading way like, "JJ, you want to go upstairs with me? Yes or No? Yes or No? YES or no?" (emphasizing the Yes).
-And we're pleased to report that they both still love looking at poop. Any poop. In the toilet or in their diapers (which they use over 50% of the time to go poop in unfortunately). Theirs or ours. And when they poop on the potty they typically won't flush it until "daddy" can see it when he gets home.
Sadly, it's taken me this long to type about Sam. That's because she's such a good, happy (no, ecstatic really) baby and is just so easy that we totally take her for granted. She's eating solids now, and is rocking up a storm. She can get herself into a sitting position and is getting more mobile every day. We are lucky to have her. She's a lot more content then the twins were while awake, but she doesn't sleep as well as they did. She still wakes up one or two times during her 12 hour night stretch--but at least doesn't stay up very long.. just nurses then back to sleep.
JJ also got his first stitches! But this post is already too long for that story, so I'll type in out in it's own post. Maybe later.
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