First Birthday

First Birthday
Mommy + "The Girls"

Saturday, January 5, 2008

A New Dawn

I have a feeling that this year is going to be one of the best ever since the girls are now "coming of an age", that I percieve as being one of the most exciting. Their almost 3 short years on this earth have sped bye and I am hoping that the "terrible" 2's weren't really just the "tiring" 2's and the 3's are really the terrible stage!!!! BTDT??? Is this a fallacy? Words of enlightenment?


Nonetheless, we will get through it, and the fascination they have of their world never ceases to amaze me.....


I warn you now, that this is going to be a Momma bragging post, so for the feint of heart you may wish to move on to another blog.


In the New Year I can see Sophia continuing to build amazing structures out of anything and virtually everything and creating wonderful works of art with her crayons. Sophia has been known to work on a card for her Grandma Judy for a week, and when the time came to give it to her she did, but refused to let her take it home. Do you blame her really? She will continue to pursue collecting things in all things collectible (so much for organization). She just loves to reorganize everything in her playroom into little bowls, cups , boxes, bags, you name it.
Sophia has alot of patience and loves her puzzles.


One of Sophia's many creations pictured above in which she meticulously and patiently placed each item.
Alyssa, I am sure will continue delving into the world of fantasy, dress up and creative play....she is my "model of new clothing purchases" and will gladly don a fancy dress (Sophia needs urging..........many times I have dressed Sophia kicking and screaming into her fancy wear). Who would've thunk it???Alyssa has yet to meet a mirror she doesn't like, (DH says she gets it from moi, but I know she really gets it from Nonna).
Mommy's tupperware drawers still continue to be their favourite to raid, and just before bath time they will madly dash to "the drawer" to grab stuff to drag to the tub. Politely asking me "Mommy take this?" over and over. It isn't unusual to have 25+ items of various sizes from Mommy's drawer in the tub at any given time. Need a lid anyone? Makes it tough to stay organized but WTH, a small price with big gains.
Alyssa,directly pictured below, sporting her bathing suit around her neck (a frequent sight in our house).

Alyssa all ready dressed and ready to go, pictured above.
Their creativity and imagination astounds me as well as their articulation of words. They take pride in enunciating words correctly and will practise saying a new word a few times until they have it. No temper tantrums here due to communication barriers, because they have always been excellent communicators. The girls have amazing observation skills, they notice the tiniest of details often overlooked by others. They don't recite their ABC's perfectly not even close to perfect, or for that matter count effortlessly to 20 not even 10. Why? It is my own personal believe that it means nothing to them so I don't value that type of learning right now as much as more relevant type of learning. There are so many things in their life that DO mean something to them and those are the things that I chose to teach them with passion. Things like that red light means Stop and see that green light means go . And yes Alyssa that is a stop sign and that is red, and looky here the banana is yellow like the sun. And when the sun is out the snow melts a little and sometimes the snow freezes. My girls are great at making CONNECTIONS and that is something that is very difficult to teach. For instance, they can pick out the numbers of their address because it means something to them and they can identify the letters in their name and they can tell you that an Octopus would be able to give lots of hugs because they have 8 arms....They can classify and sort their toys and they can tell you what they have in common with each other. They know that when they make jello the powder turns to a liquid when water is added and then after refrigeration the liquid turns into a solid. That's the kind of teaching that I love to do.





I am a mother filled with pride and unconditional love for these 2 lassies. And I still cry alot, more than parents who have not experienced their families through adoption. But mine are tears of happiness, joy and still at times disbelieve and awe that these 2 wonderful beings are calling me Momma, even after 2 years of being a family. I can't wait for all of you Mommies-in-waiting to experience this journey of love and I hope to be able to come along via your blogs with you.


I sense a little bit of my old life returning gradually. A friend recently told me at a dinner party that we are now reaping the benefits of our 2 years of hard work raising the girls. The girls are social with our friends and family, they are entertaining, and have a great sense of humour. Who else but Alyssa would put the "crayons" in "time-out" because Sophia tripped over them and cried??? Their imaginative play is so real to them and sometimes causes great dissent when Alyssa takes Sophia's nose and throws it in the garbage. NO amount of reassuring that her nez is still there works, only Alyssa generously fetching the appendage and putting it back.


For me this year I am training for the oldest running race on this continent (Around The Bay). A grueling 30 km race with the hill portion the last 15 km.... would anyone notice if I ran it backwards???I can just picture it now, the starting pistol going off and me turning and running upstream in a crowd of 5,500 people and everyone yelling "NO....". Um...maybe not. I am thrilled to be training for this race since it has been a life goal I have had for at least 5 years. This is the year, and March 30th is the date.


As a side benefit of all this training I hope to lose a few pounds in the process. Hopefully you will be seeing "less" of me in the future. lol.

This post is dedicated to my beautiful twin daughters, may God continue to Bless you and keep you healthy in the New Year.









14 comments:

D2 said...

Hate to scare you, but for us, the three-year-olds are much more challenging than the two-year-olds were.

But don't get me wrong. I love this stage. Much more interaction, much more personality, much more fun.

LaLa said...

Three is my favorite age so far...of course I only have one : )

Gracie said...

I love the pictures...I feel that 2008 is going to be great too!

kerri said...

Brag away baby, you have good bragging rights!!
I am here to tell you I am loving 3, I am finding Jillian easier to communicate with, reason with, she is less frustrated, far happier and she is just coming into her own,her imagination has peaked, very creative and is so funny, I find myself giggling with her all day.
Enjoy the 3's, they are so terrific!!

Julie said...

Some days I would take the terrible 2s over the 3s. Brynn can communicate so much better, which means sass, sass, sass. But, honestly, every age seems to get better. And her personality is a hoot!!

Enjoy this age just like you did the 2s

RamblingMother said...

Congrats on the run. I will be waiting for news of your completion. the girls are adorable.

Beverly

redmaryjanes said...

Motherhood is truly amazing. I am looking forward to when our daughter comes home and our family is complete. Your little girls are just darling.

crazylady said...

Hey, Minnie Pearl lives!!!

What a post. Work it sister, work it. The block photo is impressive.
I like yourself have the opposite twins. Like Sophia, Meg is type A, and Jazz is more free Willy like Alyssa. Glad to see you are not only surviving but thriving since I saw you last. The girls just get more cute in every post.

Hmmmm.Time outs.... We don't do that here, so I wonder what M and J would think about that. LOL.
I'll save that for the saucy three's.

And a marathon? Wow. I bow to you. Let me know how that goes. I'll cheer from my armchair and wine in hand. I gave up that dream. Who knows, you might inspire me...naaaaaaah.

Take care and hope to see you eventually!

Sen
xo

insanemommy said...

Ahh, so you have one that is a little OCD. Lol. That's my K. My girls are just like yours. One is intense and the other way laid back. Time - out? Don't let Sennie fool you. How do you think she gets her girls to march so obediently!

Yeah, I'm going to run a marathon too. As soon as I drag my butt off the couch! Go girl.

Steffie B. said...

They are so cute.....and my opinion is 2 is easy compared to
3. Sophia is so feisty! Now the boy is antoher story! lol

Loved this post.....I can feel the love girl.....

"M2" said...

lovely post my dear.......
I'm sure they will remain their angellic selves through the 3's.

are you insane BTW? You RUN for FUN???

Jewels of My Heart said...

Your daughters are just beautiful... and yes, very creative... you should be one proud Mama.... brag all you want you are entitled!
I am excited about your blog makeover... I am going to email you now.

Steffie B. said...

ok....we need an update on the twinkies! ;)

Cindy from central NC said...

Very lovely post. I, too, cry tears of joy and of complete jaw-dropping disbelief that my 2 little ones are actually my daughters. Head-y awesome stuff.

-cindy