Smarts, Sass and Poop Talk

Lots going on in my head, but I haven't felt like writing. Mostly I think about my kids. I think about how they're growing up and how I need to grow with them.

I think a lot about preschool and then feel anxious that they don't go. Our twins are turning four in two weeks. FOUR. My little premie babies are now big kids. I feel like we're in a transition time but I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be. Most of our friends with toddlers already have them in preschool. And I feel this urgency that ours are supposed to be there too. Not from other Moms, but because I don't want ours to miss out. I think they'd enjoy it so much.

I don't think my kids are behind by any means, I think that Maxwell is so smart. I mean he blows my mind.

He comes up to us and rattles off equations, "Did you know 4 + 4 = (he says the word equals) 8?" "Did you know 5 + 2 = 7."

He takes his letter magnets and puts them in alphabetical order, getting each one right. When we're driving in the car he'll say, "Let's think about words that start with the letter 'A'. Like, astronaut, apple, antlers." He's coming up with these things on his own. Whenever he does I'm like, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be intentional about 'learning time' every day. Good thing he reminds me. Ella is not slow at all. She just shows a greater interest in other areas. She'd rather tell me that she stayed in the lines with her artwork or that she made a color pattern with her beads.

Side-note: We got the kid's Kindle Fire's for Christmas and it has been the coolest thing. There's a feature called Kindle Free Time where you personalize their settings by age (it's all password protected so they can't get on the Internet). They have their own tablets with tons and tons of books, games, and videos. There are so many educational apps that come with this feature that add/change every month. We pay $5 a month per kindle for the feature but I think it is so worth it. We almost got a leap pad but I'm so pleased with what we chose instead. We paid the cost for the Kindle and now $10 total a month for unlimited features. So much of what they are learning is coming from this tool.

They are starting to push boundaries and my sweet Ella throws out occasional sass. I guess every parent thinks this, but I thought my kids would never talk back. Seriously, I did. I thought they'd make mistakes but I didn't think they'd be disrespectful. But they're almost four and they're trying us out. So I've got to step up my game and be firm and consistent.

Do anyone else's kids think it's hilarious to talk dirty? Maxwell and Ella laugh uncontrollably when the other calls something a 'poopy butt wiener head hahahahahaha.' After I typed that line I literally just heard Ella tell Maxwell, "Little Bill likes poop poo dog heads for breakfast hahahaha." What? Eck.

So, that's life around here :) Our days are good. Some longer than others. Date nights are required. I've still been taking most of my pictures with my phone. If you're not one of my three followers on Instagram, here are some of my favorite pictures of the last couple weeks.

A couple weeks ago I got to take a girl's trip for a friends birthday. It was sooo much fun. One of those trips where I forgot what it's like to have any responsibilities. We did each other's hair and make up (well, I didn't help them because I don't know how but I let them do mine). We planned our outfits the night before. We ate, shopped and laughed. It was so nice. We went to a taping of Chelsea Lately (who I love) and yours truly got to sit in the front row :)