The Zoe and Silas Show

8/31/12: We were playing on the back deck when Zoe pointed out to me that she was drawing circles. Then she said they were eggs, and that the eggs were hatching. I asked her what would come out of the eggs and she said, "babies... baby DINOSAURS!!!!". Ahhh, I love this age!

8/30/12: Up-down, up-down, up-down on the new-to-us see-saw from cousin Kaylan.

You're Invited! Daft Punk Dance Party,  6:05pm Nightly Hosted by DJ A-Dub (aka, Momma) Pants are (apparently) optional

8/28/12: Brushing m&m's out of their teeth before bed :) We have continued this week with pretty much zero accidents except for a little Silas dribble here and there, but he always stops himself and runs to the potty!

8/27/12: Making a sandwich for Mommy to take to work tomorrow. He even wrapped it in wax paper :)

I've been storing some of these up for awhile, so here goes, starting with the most recent: At bedtime, me: "I love you, Silas" Silas: "I love Momma, and Ta-ta, and Daddy, and Zoe" Bless this child's heart, this is where bedtime prayers originate. On skype, with my parents, after finishing a big bowl of rice and beans Silas: "I want something else". Grandma: "Silas, do you have a hole in your tummy?" Silas, after giving the question some thought: "Noooo, I just have a belly button". After starting food bribery on Friday for potty training , Silas calls m&m's, "m's-m's". Both kids are obsessed with using hand sanitizer, and Zoe calls it "hanitizer". Now we all call it hanitizer, and frankly, I think the product should be re-named. When Zoe started going pee-pee on the potty a few months ago, whenever she would sit down to go but couldn't she would say "it's broken...

We have been playing around with potty training for a few months now. We started offering the little potty's after baths, and once both kids showed some consistent interest we also implemented a sticker chart for reinforcement. After talking with a fellow twin mom friend, Stephanie, last week and hearing how she used m&m's for reinforcement with her daughter I decided for three reasons to do a big push this weekend and once and for all stop using daytime diapers: 1) we have plateaued at peeing a maximum of 3x/day in the potty and continue to use diapers, b) Derek had a vasectomy on Friday and we planned on staying pretty close to home, and c) most importantly, our preschool requires that kids are in pull-ups or in underwear, and the first day of school is 9/18! On Friday morning I bought a big bag of m&m's and described to S&Z that they would get 1 m&m for going pee-pee in the potty and 2 m&m's for going poop in the potty. I explained that we we...

8/26/12: Child's pose. The kids are showing an interest in yoga when I do it at home, so I'm going to cut my old mat in half so that they each have their own mini yoga mat :)

8/25/12: S&Z were so happy to hang out with Grandma D. at Braden and Kaylan's birthday party yesterday!

8/24/12: Getting an "old-fashioned" photography lesson from Aditi. Polaroids always remind me of my Grandma W.! 123

8/23/12: Silas noticed that Salvador's food bowl was empty, so he insisted on stopping to feed him... He filled up the scoop very carefully and then put it in his bowl.

8/22/12: S&Z found Salvador all snuggled up underneath the blanket on our bed. All you could see peeking out was his tail!

8/21/12: Bubbles on the back deck.

8/20/12: Scraping moss off the rock wall in the backyard.

8/19/12: Fun with paints !

Derek needed to do some yard work this morning, so we cracked out some new paints and paint rollers that we picked up yesterday at the Lakeshore Learning Center. It was a gorgeous morning in the low 70's - perfect weather to paint on the back deck! After painting for awhile we decided to get out some of the new stamps as well. It was easier to do those on the ground. For the final hurrah we hung up one long mural that they worked on together. SO messy and SO fun!!! They talked about painting for the rest of the day :)

8/18/12: We went to Lakeshore Learning Center for the first time this morning. This store is AMAZING!!! We got a bunch of new crafty stuff, including some stamps and extra large stamp pads. I also can't wait to try out the beads we got for jewelry making :)

8/17/12: Whenever we go to the doctor, S&Z bring their Fisher Price doctor kits. It's the cutest thing to see them walking to the clinic, excited, carrying their little kits. Dr. Rundquist started off today's appointment by using Silas' stethoscope before listening with her own...

8/16/12: Having access to Mommy & Daddy's bed is a big novelty now that Derek's schedule has changed. We have started reading books in our room every night before bed. Zoe was waiting and ready...

8/15/12 Love,  love,  love, Love, love, love, Love, love, love, All you need is love, All you need is love, love Love is all you need.

8/14/12: Morning hijinx.

8/13/12: Momma, look!

I think that cooking and eating dinner together two nights a week will be the best part of Derek's new schedule. Tonight we made tilapia and an improv quinoa dish. I am very inspired by the farmer's market this time of year, and here is what I came up with tonight. Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Roasted Beets CATEGORIES   vegetarian INGREDIENTS Leftover quinoa (I had about 3 cups of quinoa that had been cooked in coconut milk) 1  bunch swiss chard, stems chopped and set aside Onions and garlic Sesame oil Low sodium soy sauce 6  beets, individually wrapped in foil and roasted according to ATK recipe INSTRUCTIONS Saute chard stems, onion and garlic in 1 T. sesame oil. Add swiss chard and cook it down. Add 1 T. soy sauce. Once the chard is cooked, add the peeled-roasted-diced beets and quinoa. Since S&Z helped cook everything, they were very motivated to eat it too. It also didn't hurt when I explained to Zoe tha...

Our lives resumed some normalcy this weekend now that Joanne is out of the hospital; Derek is also working on getting on a normal sleep schedule. We went to the zoo on Friday, the Farmer's Market on Saturday, and the Children's Museum on Sunday. Here are a few photos that didn't make it as photos of the day, but are definitely runners-up. 8/10/12: In the Butterfly Landing at Franklin Park Zoo 8/10/12: Momma's and their babies 8/11/12: Eating strawberries with their puppy following a 3.5 mile morning power walk/jog with Mommy 8/11/12: Ring around the rosie. This went on for another 5 minutes after I stopped the video :) 8/12/12: Cribs empty and clothes removed at 7am 8/12/12: On our way to the Children's Museum 8/12/12: Checking out the chairs in the Big & Little exhibit at the Children's Museum Back to work for both of us tomorrow. Hopefully no more visits to the hospital for awhile. Next round of chemo is on 8/24...