Johnson Twin Girls: Terrible twos times two....

As I look back at the last blog entry I realize it has been a long time since I last posted. The last time I posted about them they were a little shy of their second birthday, so I think I will start there....

The twins turned two in July. As you would guess from the previous post, we had a Mickey birthday celebration. Their obsession for Mickey has increased. It was a warm day and we invited all of our family. This birthday they were more excited about opening presents. One of their favorite gifts was the dress ups we got them, in particular, the Minnie light up heels.The girls were also excited about their Minnie fleece blanket they got, which is one of the two blankets they sleep with each night. After presents, it was time for cake. They were so excited about everybody singing "Happy Birthday" to them. In fact, we had to sing it a total of three times because they kept signaling with their hands the sign for "more" and how do you turn that down?!?! After we sang to them they were ready to dig into their yummy cake, of course, icing and cake were everywhere. However, this is what birthdays are all about for two-year-olds, right? All in all their second birthday was a success and they were spoiled by our wonderful family!

The girls had their two year check up shortly after their birthday. The doctor said they were looking good and were right on track for their growth and development. Their speech has come along. They were combining two to three word phrases and their vocabulary has expanded. It is fascinating to watch two babies grow at the same time. Even though they are identical, they have definitely developed at different rates. Instead of comparing them, lately I find myself noticing that they have each been gifted in different ways. There is nothing sweeter than to watch the two of them communicate with one another or giggle back and forth or even chase each other around the house. They have a built in best friend in the house. I often find myself as an observer lately, instead of an entertainer.

A couple of things to mention that I do not want to forget about the two of them is that fact that Emma calls Ava "Ada" and it is the funniest thing to hear. I guess Ava was too hard for her to say or this was how she heard Ava's name and it has stuck. I laugh every time I hear her yell it. The girls also have this unique sound they make and they both say it the same way (this is so hard to explain in words, but my mom, Marc and I have all noticed it) when they want something or something is not right, but is sounds like "neigh". When we hear it, we know that they need something, even though they have the vocabulary now to express their wants/needs. It is interesting for sure. They both call their grandmas "gaga". This is not something we ever say and the older kids call grandma "grandma", so we are not sure where they got it from, but this has also stuck.

One of the questions I often get asked is if they wake each other up. The answer to that question is no. They are still in their cribs in the same room. They definitely have a nighttime routine. They each sleep with a stuffed Mickey, three blankets in their bed (and Ava wants all three blankets on and then proceeds to sweat like her dad), and they have a caterpillar that shines little stars on the ceiling, as well as plays music. So back to the question about waking each other up.....there are many times when one of them gets up before the other and starts talking very loudly. In fact, if Ava wakes up first (which usually happens), she will yell for Emma multiple times and tell her to wake up! Emma can just sleep right through it. Although I have to admit, it sounds pretty funny! They definitely talk to each other in the morning when they both wake up before we go in and get them. When we get them out of bed, they immediately want their breakfast (pancakes and donuts are their favorite), cup of milk and Mickey Mouse turned on.

Soon after their birthday Ava and Emma visited Isle of Palms in South Carolina over the summer with the Johnson side of the family. I was extremely worried about this vacation because the twins were mobile this year, compared to the beach trip last year when they were only crawling. One of my worries was that we were staying in a house that had a pool and how were we going to keep an eye on twins going in two different directions on the beach?!?! I was terrified they would find a way to get to that pool when no one was looking or walk away from us at the beach. My other worry was driving 11 hours with two year old twins. How were we going to survive???? Well, the vacation turned out to be perfect. We set out for the drive around 3 am in hopes we could get some driving behind us and they would sleep. They stayed wide awake for awhile, but eventually fell asleep. We had plenty of Mickey DVD's when they were awake. All in all, the drive was not bad. The house we stayed at was beautiful! We had an awesome screened in porch with a lock on it that prevented them from escaping. It was spacious for all 18 of us staying together. The weather was amazing; it did not rain one day we were there. The beach is my all time favorite place to be. I could spend the entire day, every day of vacation at the beach with the kids, breeze, and the sound of the waves. My hope was the twins were going to like the beach this year. We soon found out they were not big fans of the beach at first. They did not mind the sand, but they really did not like to get their feet in the wet sand near the water. One of the things they did like to do was walk up and down the beach looking for birdies and shells. Towards the end of the week, we were able to get them in the waves. They did like to be by the steps in the pool and play with their buckets and pool tools, so this was a nice option. The girls slept in pack in plays in our bedroom and they slept very well. Of course, the swimming and walking around on the beach helped to wear them out. All in all, it was a wonderful week. The older kids had a great time, and we were even able to get some nice family pictures on the beach. Our family was so helpful to us during the trip. We are very blessed!

Overall we had a great summer. The girls loved to be outside with the older kids. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, balls, and the water table were some of their favorites they liked to play with. They also liked to take turns on Lydia's old scooter and drive around in their cozy coupe. However, the summer would come to end and it was time for the crazy fall to begin.

The girls quickly got into a routine once school started. I started back to work, so that meant they go GaGa's three days a week. And ever since fall, the girls have spent countless hours on soccer fields, football fields, volleyball and basketball courts, as well as time in the car driving their sibling to and from practice.

I think that is all for now...potty training, switching the girls to their big beds and their third birthday will be our next adventures.

Here are some pictures below:

It was a Mickey Birthday!