Tales from daycare

We've been in daycare for almost two years now, and I can honestly say I am very happy there. No child are arrangement is perfect (including a stay at home parent in my opinion, for us anyway) but really, I have no complaints. That said, I was SUPER nervous about Avery's favorite teacher leaving. Due to luck, she moved with our girls from infants to the two year old (!) room, and their transition was seamless. 

But, she just got a new job elsewhere....child care is kind of a mind fuck sometimes. They're employees, technically, but how do you not get attached to the people watching your kids fifty hours a week? Anyway, once I got my wits together I remembered I would never think anything other than Godspeed to someone in an office setting heading to greener pastures and wished her the best. 

As luck would have it, Ms. C's last day was also our last day before vacation. I was pretty nervous - Avery talks about her a lot, but while we were away we talked about Ms. C going bye bye and talked up they other teachers. And, shock of shocks, she returned to daycare this week seamlessly.

And in thankful for twins news, Avery comforted Quinn at naptime today (who was crying for MaMa) by telling her "it's ok, don't cry, mama will be here later". Swoon. 

Flower girls

Last month, the girls were half the bridal/flower girls party at their aunt's wedding. They were adorable in the dresses Grammy made them, and were just great all weekend. Quinn did a great job walking down the aisle lured by gummy bears, but Avery required hand holding. Their just slightly older cousin sprinted down on her own, but our girls are introverts for sure. 

Self imposed Time Out

Post ceremony stroll

Apple picking

We went apple picking with a few of my old teammates and their families today. It was a huge milestone - for me. This was the first time I've taken the girls to a very public place solo and unrestrained. I try to be laid back, but sometimes it's hard with two young toddlers. I just started feeling comfortable at the park solo in the last couple of months. I imagine, though have no true way to know, this is one of the harder issues with twins - 2 & 4 means you have one kid with somewhat reasonable listening skills and a sense of danger. 2 & 2 (young two anyway, and certainly below) has so so much room for chaos.   It went well though, perhaps thanks in part to the tractor scaring Avery     And the promise of cider donuts 😉

Not impressed with the tractor ride

But loving all the loose chickens (and huge cage full of peacocks)

Cooking

The girls have really gotten into pretend play recently. It's adorable. They can spend an hour diapering their babies (and like to use every cloth diaper we own for this).

They also like to cook. We have a toy grill outside and they make hotdogs and pizza in the fake oven (its a grill/brick oven. They have nicer stuff than we do). 

They also really adore our new stool and are learning to help us cook for real. Most recently Quinn helped put the cheese on our pizza and Avery helped me make cookies. She was shockingly good at putting the flour in the bowl. She's also a kid after my own heart and kept trying to eat the dough (sorry kid, momma can give herself salmonella but not you)

At the moment they're parading around with gift bags talking about leaving to go shopping. Hysterical. 

Two

Incredible. 

The girls' birthday was on a Monday, so they had cake at daycare...and again at home after presents :)

An hour or so before officially two!

Cake at school!

Favorite present, hah!

And this weekend we had a small party with some family and a couple of friends. We kind of dropped the ball on invitations and not many people were available - plus all the summer vacations- but it was a nice size for our small house :)

More cake!

Two Year Well Visit

 We had our two year old well visit last night, and it was kind of awesome.  We talked a bit before going about what the doctor would do, and they were apprehensive going in, but generally did really well.  They weren't that excited about sitting on the scale or being measured, but we counted to ten while the nurse did it, and they did ok! The only major tears were when the doctor looked in Quinn's ears.  They also got one shot (Hep A), and the doctor used numbing spray this time and there weren't even tears...

 After she went, Quinn did say "Avery turn!" I guess she wanted to make sure Avery suffered like she did ;)  And they both got Daffy Duck bandaids, which were pretty exciting, even the next morning!

 The other bonus of our well visit is the doctor was ok with their 24-32 oz average milk consumption (being honest, Quinn pretty much always gets 32 oz). She said there's some new research indicating high calcium and vitamin D intake as babies breeds taller children.  Our homework is to start multivitamins and get to the dentist.

 

percentiles from this site for actual age. I THINK it uses the CDC and not WHO charts, but whatever, good for scanning curves at least. It also reports anything under 5th percentile as 5th percentile, which is ridiculous...Quinn has never been ON the CDC chart.

Quinn
Birth: 3 lbs 8 oz & 16 inches
1 month (40w gestational): 5 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 19 inches (5th)
2 months: 7 lbs 13 oz (5th) & 20.5 inches (5th)
3 months: 9 lbs 9 oz (5th) & 22.5 inches (29th)
4 months: 10 lbs 9 oz (5th) and 23 inches (16th)
6 months: 12 lbs 0 oz (5th) and 24.75 inches (24th) 
9 months:  13 lbs 14 oz (5th) and 26 inches (38th)
12 months: 15 lbs 14oz (5th) and 28 inches (25th)
14 months: 17 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 28 inches (8th)
18 months: 19 lbs 5 oz (5th) and 31.25 inches (51st)
24 months: 21 lbs 7 oz (5th ) and 34 inches (66th)  (according to this site about 8th and 50th on WHO)

Avery
Birth: 5 lbs 0 oz (5th) & 17 3/4 inches (5th)
1 month (40w gestational): 7 lbs 13 oz (7th) and 20 inches (38th)
2 months: 8 lbs 14 oz (9th) and 22 inches (46th)
3 months: 10 lbs 4 oz (10th) and 24 inches (80th)
4 months: 11 lbs 13 oz (12th) and 24 1/4 inches (60th)  
6 months: 13 lbs 2 oz (6th) and 26 inches (71st)
9 months: 15 lbs 6 oz (5th) and 27 inches (47th)
12 months: 16 lbs 14 oz (5th)  and 28 inches (25th)
14 months:  18 lbs 4 oz (5th) and 28.5 inches (16th)
18 months: 20 lbs 4 oz (5th ) and 31.25 inches (51st)  
24 months: 22 lbs 5 oz (5th) and 33 inches (33rd) (around 13th and 21st on WHO)

After our poor weight gain months last year, it's super awesome to see their weight tick up a bit. Quinn's still way below the weight for length CDC chart and just below 2% on WHO, and I feel bad you can see her ribs, but is what it is. Avery is just over the 3rd percentile line now on CDC and a bit over 10th on WHO...they're just going to be skinny kids.  The pediatrician isn't worried anymore, so I am trying hard not to be. And it keeps them economical - they're still wearing some tees, skirts and dresses from last summer. You don't hear of a lot of 2 year olds doing that :)
And Quinn is offically taller - considering she started out almost 2 inches shorter, I am impressed!

Two tomorrow

I can't even wrap my head around this.

They're so big and such toddlers now. 

Winter boots on July 27 at the mall. And sitting is protest at said mall. 

Climbing around a mid sized play set with minimal hovering. And only one mom. (That's probably another post)

Diapering their babies. 

Knocking on the backdoor in the 9 month dresses. Um. Yeah. They'll look awesome with jeggings as tunics this fall though. 

Getting In Trouble at daycare ;)