Vision...it's what's for lunch

This year the girls started Kindergarten as all 2 of you know. Last Fall we noticed that Riley was putting her face very close to everything she was looking at, reading, etc. and she was walking up to the board a lot to see what it said. When questioned about it she said the board was too far away, that she couldn't tell what it said. I spoke with the teacher, and she told me that the following month they were going to have a vision screening with an optometrist, so we should wait until then to make any decisions. As it turns out she was referred for further examination. Yesterday we picked the girls up at lunch, and finally had that appointment.

We set the appointment for both girls since it was long overdue for both to have an official eye exam. After several different exams, eye dilation x2, and one more exam it was determined that Sam had mostly normal vision. She does have an astigmatism (thank you hereditary), but that is not affecting her vision at the moment. She was/is extremely sad that she does not need glasses. She wants them badly and is insanely jealous of Riley over this issue.

Riley, on the other hand, had far greater problems than we had ever imagined. We (I) had thought that there might be a slight deficit that could be easily corrected with glasses, maybe associated with an astigmatism or the like. Unfortunately we were to find out differently. Apparently she has not been using her left eye at all, and has been letting her right eye do all of the work for both. We don't know how or when this started, but we've been told that it's been caught early enough to fix. Riley has been referred to a specialist who will probably patch her good eye in varying time lengths to help strengthen the weak eye. If that does not work, then the next step would be surgery. Obviously we are praying for the patching to work its' magic.

On to the issue of glasses. She was a little nervous about having to wear them and how the other kids would react, but once she discovered that Sam wanted glasses too it changed everything. She picked out a really cute pair without any assistance from Mom, Dad, or the sales crew. They fitted them out with her prescription, and we were on our way. She donned them for the first time at school today, and was pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions from her classmates. One of the boys came up to her and said, "I really like your glasses, they look very nice on you." This was without any prompting from anyone. As for the girls in the class, they were just as complimentary and it would now appear that all the girls in her class want glasses too. Success!

Updates to follow in June.

24 hours as a new kindergartner

Preparation for the first day of school starts the night before. Who are we kidding? It starts months before, probably even years. For the purpose of this post however, we'll start the night before.

The uniforms are all ready: Jumpers and shirts hanging on hangers,

Sweaters and pants neatly folded in drawers, and shoes shiny and new and waiting to be worn.

Their new alarm clock (complete with ceiling projection) is set for 6:30 A.M., yes 6:30 A.M. Ugh.

The girls have a bath and head to bed for a good nights sleep. Afterall, they have a busy day tomorrow.

Daddy makes blueberry pancakes, bacon, and deviled eggs, orange juice, and milk for breakfast their first day (He was worried about having enough protein.) Their lunches were packed and ready to go.

A quick photo shoot with Mommy and @aktse, (with much silliness) then into the car, and off to school they went.

Once at school there were many things to do starting with a scavenger hunt (Daddy read the list). First they had to find their cubby, and put their things inside.

Then they had to find the bathroom, the calendar,

and the under the sea reading area.

At this point the girls split the list. Riley went to the rug, and built a design with the shapes while Sam found a book from the rack for Daddy to read. Soon Riley joined Daddy and Sam to hear the end of the story.

Then it was time for the kids to sit on the rug, and for the Mommies and Daddies to leave, and begin their long wait (2 hours) until the end of the day.

Waiting...

waiting...

still waiting...

Spying on the class as they take their class photo (this was taken through a volleyball net with my telephoto lens (thus the blurriness). The two short ones on the right? Those are mine.

waiting some more...

and still waiting...

Finally, it was time to pick them up. They were patiently (and quietly) lined up at the door until they were released,

and then out burst a group of excited and happy Kindergartners. A hug and kiss for Daddy,

a short stop to peek in on another mysterious room of the school, one last drink from the fountain,

and a quick goodbye to friends until tomorrow, a snack,

a peek in the science room, and it was finally time to head home, and prepare for day 2.

That first day was just 2.5 hours. 3 weeks later and they're up to 6 hour school days. Wow!

They're also just as interested in everything about the school, and they love their friends. I love the enthusiasm.

One set of carseats has become two

Since the girls were born we've always had a single set of carseats. They went in the Tahoe as it was what we deemed our safest car for them. (Our other car at the time was my Jeep Wrangler. Not really kid friendly.) It went without saying that the person with the kids had the Tahoe as well, so we swapped cars back and forth, as troublesome as that was.

This past spring we suddenly realized that we were going to need a second set of carseats since Bill would be dropping them off at school and I would be picking them up. His current place of employment is over 45 min away, which really doesn't make for great car swap possibilities, so we invested in new carseats which we installed in the Tahoe. We decided to use the older seats in the "blue car" as the girls have dubbed it. Now the blue car needed new tires, breaks, an oil change, and to have the AC juiced up before we could install the seats. Amazingly that has taken us all summer to accomplish, but finally the blue car was ready, so I installed the seats last night. Thank you Britax and thank you people who invented LATCH for a quick, easy, SAFE installation.

This morning the girls were SO EXCITED that they were going to get to ride to school in the blue car. A hug and kiss for me, and they were off, excitedly running after Bill to get into the blue car this morning. This is now a total of 4 cars they have ever been in during their little lives. They were so cute sitting up very proudly as they drove off to school.

See you this afternoon girls.

The Road to College

Today our lives turned a corner on the long road to college (or some life path of their choosing), my girls started kindergarten.

When my eldest started kindergarten the teacher did a home visit ahead of time to assess the students skills, and to help prepare us parents for that momentous first day. One of the things they told us is that it would be best if we just said goodbye at the play yard gate, and walked away. No long goodbyes, no clinging hugs, just peel the kids off and go. I spent 2 weeks mentally preparing both myself and Stacey for that day. When it finally arrived I got her up, dressed, and fed. Took the obligatory first day photo (which is still one of my favorites) and headed off to school hand in hand. My heart beat a little faster as we neared those ominous gates (which in those days were chain link, but are now a lovely wrought iron). Suddenly the moment was upon us, we were there, and even more suddenly my kid was off. There she went, through the gate, to the playground, to swing on the swings, slide the slides, and climb the structures without a look back. I found that the clinging, crying child at the gate was me.

Fast forward many years to the present day when I once again found myself sending a child, two in fact, to school for the first time. I'm not sure if times have changed or if it's just the school, but there were many events leading up to this day. Parent back to school, buddy parent meetings, lemonade socials, and the like have broken us in for this first day. Instead of leaving children at the gate, parents were welcomed into the classroom and encouraged to help their children complete a classroom scavenger hunt. At the end of the hunt, the parents were gently requested to join the rest of the school for a back to school coffee social while the children took up the familiar spot on the carpet for their orientation and story time.

All of the people were a bit overwhelming for Sam, so she hung back and sat to read a book by herself, but as the parents left the room I noticed her relax and she eagerly joined the group on the rug. Riley, on the otherhand, had eagerly joined in the scavenger festivities until two things happened: 1. Parents were asked to leave, and 2. another child had gotten into their lunch bag. Suddenly she was "hungry" and grabbed onto my neck wanting me to get her something to eat. Explaining that she would eat with the rest of the class when it was time was not sufficient. I gave her a hug and kiss, said, "I love you", but that was not enough for her. Her grasp only tightened so as not to let me go. To her teachers credit (and one of the reasons we love her already), she came over, gently asked Riley to join the group, and allowed her to stand right next to her chair which is where I left her. This time there were no tears from me, though many emotions were surging through my body. Does it mean I'm any less sad or excited than I was with my first? Absolutely not. It just means that I, we, they were much better prepared.

My Amazing Girls

The title of this post could very well be written by any one of you substituting the "Girls" with an appropriate word of your choice such as boys, kids, spouse, dogs, cats, etc. Why use that title then? Because that's how I feel right this very minute.

As some of you know I stay home with the kids during the week, and work on the weekends. This means we don't get much family time together. The days I work I don't see the girls much, and i miss them terribly. This weekend I was able to work 3 nights which was great for the ol' checking account, but hard on the Mommy. This morning I was exhausted when I got home, so I got a quick hug, kiss, and cuddle from each of the girls, and then headed off to bed. Later today I was awoken by 2 kisses, 2 hugs, and 2 cuddles followed by requests to read with them. We spent the next 2 hours cuddled up in bed reading books. It was the best "Saturday morning" ever.

I'm sure that all of you can relate to the nice cozy feeling of being with your amazing "others" which is why I say, "Any of you could have written this."

Endings lead to new beginnings

Friday the girls "graduated" from preschool. I could stop right there since that was the end of a story. A story of growth, development, independence, and letting go while still hanging on. However, it is also the beginning of a new story, one that I'm sure will expand on the previous tale.

My girls did not go to daycare. They did not go to preschool at an early age. For a long time I was determined to homeschool them in order to maintain our own schedule, their individual learning curve, and yes, a bit of control over what they're exposed to on my part. This past year I made the decision to go back to school for my masters (I haven't yet, but that's another story.) In order to accomplish that the girls would have to attend school. I spent a short amount of time exploring preschools near our house (distance was a factor), and finally selected one that may not have been at the top of other people's list, but gave me the warm fuzzies. I was not let down. The teachers are enthusiastic and truly care about the kids and their development. To say they are fabulous is an understatement. More importantly, the girls loved it. We didn't have a transition period as I feared. My greatest threat the past 9 months has been, "If you don't do "blank" then you're not going to school today". Let me tell you, they would snap to, and do whatever it was that needed getting done whether it was getting dressed, finishing their lunch without playing around, or changing their attitude. Despite being in the same class they gained some independence from each other (and from me.) They learned many things this year, but the most important is their current love for school. I hope that it continues for a long time.

The new beginning starts in two weeks. Their new school hosts a summer school/camp for two weeks in the summer. We've decided to enroll the girls as they seem to be having a difficult time with the idea of actually leaving their beloved preschool and moving on. They want to take their teachers with them. The good thing is that I also get that warm, fuzzy feeling from their kindergarten teacher, so I'm hoping the transition goes well. After the summer program we have about a month and a half off, and then elementary school (yikes, elementary school) begins along with the rigid schedules, homework, and even more independence that I was dreading. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm also sure that I will cry the first day of school as they run off to begin a new life, one without me there at their side.

Every 5 year old should have a bachelor/ette party

The past few months the girls have been begging us to try some new foods and to eat with their hands. While the two were not related I thought that combined they would make for a good, new experience. As a result, I started looking around for a Morrocan restaurant. I asked a few friends and as it turned out one of them had recently dined at such a place in San Francisco, El Mansour. She wanted to eat there again, and started recruiting people to join us.

Tonight was the night that we could all make it, so we piled in cars and met up in the city. The girls were thrilled with the concept, and excited that the day was here. Upon arrival we were immediately seated at a low table surrounded by low couches and "tuffets". While I should have seen the disaster coming, I did not. Tuffets plus two 5 year olds equals one very "active" dinner
with many reminders that we were indeed in a restaurant and needed to behave accordingly. Overall, IMHO, other than expanding our dining space to include the vacant tables next to us, they were pretty good, especially for such a prolonged dinner.

The start of the experience began with handwashing where they bring out a large brass tureen and pitcher and pour nice warm water over your hands. The girls thought this step was great, and lots of fun. Sam even required a solo washing. Soon after came the bread which was passed around between every course. Better grab extra though, because this is what you use to pick up your food, and they don't leave any on the table. The bread was followed each time by something new, soup, a veggie platter with uniquely cooked and spiced treats, some sort of puff pastry appetizer that Riley devoured, the main course, belly dancing, and dessert which was more puff pastry yumminess and fried bananas. The girls seemed to enjoy most, if not all of the food.

The belly dancing, however, is where the bachelorette party started. The dancer came out, did a short dance then brought Riley up to dance with her. Sam refused, but held on tightly to the scarf the dancer gave her. Riley did a great job copying everything that the dancer did,
and had me in tears of glee throughout. She was so serious about the whole thing, and was really paying attention to what the dancer was showing her. After her turn was done, the dancer moved on to other tables to dance with their occupants. At this point I was pretty sure
we were all done. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After performing for each table, she made her way back towards the kitchen where the manager put a dollar in her shirt strap giving everyone a clue as to how they should tip her. Members of our party gave the girls dollars for the dancer, which I thought was really nice...until they
delivered them. I mistakenly assumed (I know, I know) that they would hand her the dollars, she would say thank you, and they would sit back down. Oh noooooo. She held out her waistband and let them tuck the dollars in. They were very entertained by it all. I, however, was mortified. My girls had unknowingly had their first bachelorette party.

The best Mother's Day present ever (even if it was a little early)

While in Disneyland this past week we got the girls cupcakes (more expensive and less tasty than Kara's or Sprinkles) for their birthday. The cupcakes came complete with little Minnie Mouse rings that the girls just loved. Riley wore hers all day. Sam was a little "busier" with her ring. It was on her finger, off her finger, carried tightly in her fist, and yes, left on tables, benches, rides, etc. This is probably because Minnie Mouse is her favorite character. She just couldn't stop looking at it.

At the end of the day, we made a stop by the little potties in the child care center. It was here that Sam discovered her beloved Minnie ring was missing. All day she had been a little under the weather, and none of us had had much sleep the last two days, so she (and the rest of us) were just exhausted. Upon discovering the loss Sam just crumpled into a sad little heap on the floor and cried. As I was trying to comfort her and assure her that we would try to find the ring Riley walked up. Very sweetly, she took off her Minnie Mouse ring and presented it to Sam saying, "Here Sam, you can have my Minnie Ring". She then gave Sam a very gentle and loving pat on the shoulder. Sam responded with, "That's ok Riley, that's your ring, you should keep it." At this moment in time I could not keep the tears out of my eyes. Thankfully they didn't notice.

I could not have been more proud of my girls. This was definitely better than any Mother's Day gift I could hope to receive.

Twin thoughts

With the girls 5th birthday fast approaching I've had some deep moments of reflection, regret, happiness, sorrow, joy, and general contemplation. 5 years ago I had no idea what I was in for, and I now know that unless you've experienced it yourself you can't come close to understanding what it's like to have two totally unique individuals growing up in your home that just happen to have the same birth date. Wondering if I'm doing the right thing often keeps me up late at night, and in this case caused me to get out of bed at 2:00 A.M. to record some of these thoughts, incoherent as they may be.

When they were first born, and even to present day, I had many people tell me how much alike they looked. I never saw that. To me they always looked very different, starting with their weight. They were born a whopping 2 lbs. apart. Sam was 5 lbs 5 oz while Riley was 7 lbs 7 oz. Until this year they maintained that weight difference within half a pound. For the first time they are the same weight and height, but I think that this is about to change again. They were both blonde but Riley had a nice head of hair while Sam was nearly bald. They both had riveting blue eyes but Riley's were a deep cerulean blue while Sam's were more of a penetrating steel blue. The list of visual differences goes on and on. I could understand other people's confusion though, they didn't know them like I did.

The differences go beyond appearances though. I can see them across a playground and know by the way they run which one it is. More importantly though, I know who they are with my eyes closed. I know when they creep into my bed in the morning which one it is that has curled up on my left and which one on my right by the way they snuggle. I know whose hand I'm holding just by the feel. I can pat a tushie or rub a tummy in the dark and know just who it belongs to. I can tell the difference by the bend of their ear, the curve in their nose, or the line of their lips. They're unique from the shape and feel of their heads down to their cute little toes, one set chubby, one long and thin.

The way they interact with the world around them is also very different and ever changing. I could never say one is dominant, aggressive, outgoing, quiet, shy, or withdrawn. I can clearly say that they each carry these traits within them, and they come out at the most unexpected times. One moment one of them will walk right up to a new person and say, "Hello. Do you want to play with me?" The next day it will be the other one to perform this miracle of childhood. Is that to say they're interchangeable on any given day? Never. Even with the same act, they handle it very differently. One will generally jump right into the center of any social situation and soak up the energy of the moment, the other is more comtemplative, will observe and evaluate before making the same leap. Other times Mommy's coat tails are not quite big enough to hide behind. Many of my friends have come up with cute monikers to describe the differences. I've been unable to do so. Thier names seem sufficient and we often use them to describe something such as, "That's so Riley" or "That's a Sam-ism" I know this is a no-no in the electronic world.

The most challenging part of this whole journey was not learning these things about a child, but learning them about two people who just happen to be the same developmental age at the same time. It's very different than learning it about one child at a time, not to lesson that experience by any means. Having raised a single child, the unique difficulties (and joys) of having two simultaneously have become clear. With one child there is a focus, a purpose, a challenge. With two children the focus is often split, the purpose unclear as it shifts from one to the other, and the challenges are exponentially multiplied. Trying to help them each grow as individuals, give them each the attention that they need, and teaching them how to live together yet be strong when they are apart have all become parts of this wild trip. For those of you with multiples you know that it stems from the first days trying to meet their individual needs for food, sleep, and clean diapers to learning to clap, crawl, walk, and use the potty to preparing them to face the world as individuals. Teaching them to share, to empathize and to sympathize with others but usually starting with their sibling who also didn't understand these concepts and had to learn. The big question that applies to any parent however, is, "Have I learned more from them than they learned from me?" My answer would have to be a resounding, "Yes!" They have taught me so much about who I am, and what's important to me. I thought I knew this already, but I have found that there is still much to learn.

As any parent out there, I can't yet tell if I'm having any level of success in encouraging them to follow their own path, or if they are the successful ones in making me believe that I have any control over it at all. I can only hope that together all of us will come out of this roller coaster ride of childhood with satisfaction, eagerness, and anticipation for the next adventure.

It's been a long week around here

Last Thursday both girls starting feeling bad, Friday they were pretty lethargic and Riley was complaining that her ear hurt. I put drops in it, gave them both some Tylenol and headed off to work leaving them in Bill's hands. Saturday and Sunday Riley stayed in bed all day voluntarily. Monday we headed to their doctor since they weren't getting any better. The diagnosis? They both had bronchitis and Riley had a bilateral ear infection. In addition to this Bill and Stacey both have sinus infections they're fighting off, and all 4 were on antibiotics, and Bill, Sam, and Riley are on inhalers. Do you know how hard it is to get a 4 year old to use an inhaler properly? Amidst all this I came down with a mild version of whatever plague is going around here.

Fast forward to today. Girls are up and playing, seem to be pretty healthy, Stacey is out and about, I'm feeling much better. Just Bill is still pretty sick, or so I thought. After going to bed tonight Sam came out crying about her ear hurting. Here we go again.

Since Andrea has blogged, I figure I should too

As usual, a lot has happened since my last blog entry. Most of it I remember from photos I haven't yet uploaded (although that process has begun.)

The girls had pajama day at school. A wonderful day in which (in theory) I didn't have to get them dressed for school. In reality they had gymnastics in the morning, so they had to get dressed for that, then come home and get back in their pajamas for school. They thought going to school in their pj's was the best. They also got to read bedtime stories, have warm chocolate, "go to sleep" and then had pancakes when they "woke up." All in all, it was a great day for them.

My birthday this year happened to fall on the annual St. Patrick's day dinner hosted by our church. Normally my birthday is good, or at the very worst it's uneventful. This year truly stunk. There were many awful things that happened (that I won't go into here), but the end of the day turned things around a bit. The dinner was a lot of fun. I found out one of my friends daughters was/has been one of the Celtic dancers that perform every year. My entire family generally attends these things, and so they brought my cards and presents there. I was very lucky to recieve a quilt made special for me by my SIL, Deb.

St. Patrick's day the girls and Val helped make Shamrock cookies for their teachers at school. My parents had also given the girls a plethora of green holiday items for them to wear and consume. They looked quite cute and were very excited.

That brings us up to this past week. The girls have become very sick, Riley more so than Sam which varies from the norm. After 5 days without improvement (and some degeneration) I took the girls to the docs office. It turns out they both have bronchitis and Riley has an ear infection (both ears) to top it off. They were sent home with antibiotics and inhalers, and seem to be on the mend. After 3 days of being in bed (voluntarily), Riley is finally up and playing a bit though she still seems tired and lethargic. Sam is still pretty cuddily, but gaining more energy herself.

On a side note, Bill, Stacey, and I are also sick, but mending as well. We were suppose to be up at my parents condo in the snow this week, but finances and illness had other ideas.

This weekend is scheduled to be a 3 night (12 hours each) work extravaganza, so no hockey for me. However, it should be noted that that is only temporary. Thanks to my wonderful hockey peeps who got me registered, I will be skating summer season. Woo hoo and THANK YOU!