Our Babies

My littlest baby turned 2 on Saturday. She is our valentine and the other is our summer girl (that is what we tell them). Raising two girls has been an eye opening process so far. I am amazed every day in the things that I see in them that are the same and yet many things that are so different.

Each has her unique qualities:

Joey:

She is so sweet. She really looks after her little sister. She tries to be the mommy when Meli will let her. "Come on sweetie, I am going to take you to school today"..."No sweetie, I am your mommy today". I play the teacher..."Teacher, If my daughter gets sick, please call me and I will come and get her". Most of the time Meli plays along.

She is a perfectionist...we are working on that. Everything must be done right. She gets very frustrated if she can't do it correctly the first time.

She has a great imagination, but very concrete. She doesn't really imagine anything that cannot be real. She will draw a picture...but I have to tell her what it is. She is great at making up stories about real things.

She is a rule follower. Items have a specific purpose. We play this way with this and that way with that. When you are line leader at school, you are line leader at home. "I am not the prayer this week, but I will pray for dinner this time".

She is a leader. We joke in the summer that Joey is the cruise director at the beach. "Shuffle board on the Lido deck". She can organize anything as long as the others follow along.

Meli:

She is a joker. I mean seriously...she tells jokes. "Why'd da chicken cwoss da road?...(appropriate pause for a response)...to get to da oder side" with a look of 'tell me how cute I am' at the end.

She is creative. She loves to draw, paint, play play-doh and can tell you what she drew (even though it may not look like it to you). Maybe it is becuase she is a lefty.

She like mischief. See former posts on "I no lika my pjs on". That is not the only time that she has stripped herself down in bed. Just today, she dumped an entire bottle of bubble bath out...luckily it was mostly in the tub. Not to mention countless times the toilet paper has been unrolled. All of it is done with a heart of fun (see first sentence about her).

She loves snuggles and babies. Especially her mimi (blanket). She loves it! She has to have her "guys" with her when she sleeps. The more the better.

Yet some things are so much the same. With just a little twist for their unique personalities.

Both girls were born with the gift of gab. They can talk about so many things. Luckily, they have each other to tell their many stories to.

They love to play hide and seek. Joey giggles the whole time she is hiding; making her very easy to find. Meli hides almost stealthlike. Never making a peep (unless she is with her sister). Not to be coaxed out with the promise of a cookie but maybe for a walk outside. (this has taken both grandma/nanas buy surprise a couple of times).

Both love to be outside. Meli can be found digging for worms or watering the plants while Joey is making a hopscotch or running around the tree.

They love, love, love to read. When all is quiet in the house, most of the time I find the 2 (always together) "reading" books in their room. Joey, the more literal, will only read out loud if she really can read it or she knows the words by memory. Meli I will hear making the story up by the pictures that she sees. Most of the time at night, I hear her in her crib..."Bwown bear, bwown bear what do you see?...I see a _______" you name it to fill in the blank. She will find whatever is in her room.

These two girls have brought us joy that we never knew exsisted. Our ride has just begun and we cannot wait to see how it unfolds. We could not be more blessed with our two sweet girls. One valentine and one summer girl.