odds and ends

I’m so glad we followed this crazy idea we (OK – mostly I) had and got hens. It’s truly been a lot of fun. The girls are pretty mature by now, and done molting, so they’re big and fluffy. They’re also obviously hardy, as they haven’t seemed to think twice about hanging out in the snow. Now that there are no more bugs to eat, they are especially excited to get any kind of treats, especially carrot peelings and leftover noodles, which they seem to think are worms by the way they pin them down as if the “worms” were going to escape. We now get 3 or 4 beautiful eggs a day, and give about 9 or so a week to the IL's. The eggs have real flavor, and have the brightest yolks. J and I were joking that someday, the boy are going to go off to college, and when they receive scrambled eggs in the cafeteria, they’ll think, “What the heck is this?”

I have a heat lamp installed for the really cold nights, and lights on a timer to get them to lay during the winter. Yesterday, I went outside to collect eggs and give the girls some fresh water, and on the way there, I sat down on the back step to tie my shoe. The ladies were out enjoying the sunshine, and within moments, I had one on my shoe and another in my lap! They’re such sweet, friendly birds. They seem to think I’m the mama chicken – kind of funny since I’m really the one that steals all their offspring. If I do yard work, they follow me everywhere, but unlike my own children, they neither whine nor argue with me.

 

 

I figured out that both boys are getting their back molar teeth. I thought they were done, but I was wrong. N is complaining of a sore mouth, and they also have a lingering cough, so they’ve been quite cranky. We did have a nice trip to the zoo yesterday. We did both big indoor loops and the boys got a ton of much needed running around time. We stopped and looked at the gibbon monkeys for a long time. At one point, N said, “I’m sad, mama.” I asked him why, and he said, “Because for some reason, I don’t have a tail!” Then we went by some hog-like creature they have at the zoo, and a lady came up next to us and said to the man with her, "Holy crap! That thing is butt-ugly!" N repeated very word and she didn't even notice, but thankfully, he seems to have forgotten that fine use of the English language.

   

We’ve been doing the Tropical Trail loop without the stroller since the boys were about 18 months old, but back then we only did it when it wasn’t crowded at all, and we did have harness backpacks just in case. Now, we go whenever we want with no harnesses, and it works out fine. There are SO many twins and triplets at the zoo—they are everywhere—but always in strollers. Even older three year olds, and this in a totally kid-safe environment and often with both parents along. I can’t imagine driving all the way to the zoo in a car seat, then sticking my kids in a stroller the whole time, then driving back home. We were right behind two sets of twins who weren't together, and they were in strollers for the entire loop. My kids would go nuts – they need to move. Neither of my kids are runners, so that helps, but honestly, I'd rather have a couple of squirrelly kids in harnesses at least moving around than in a stroller for an hour. I know some people hate them, but don't they have a lot more freedom in a harness than in a stroller?

   

Even though we had a nice time at the zoo, we did spend about a third of our zoo trip in the bathroom. N had an accident because he was scared by the automatic toilet, which flushed as soon as he sat down (so he didn’t really pee). We went back into the brand new, completely automatic-down-to-the-soap, bathroom. After we got N dressed in new pants, we spent a good half hour in there talking about how all the contraptions work, trying out first the faucet, then the soap, then the hand dryers, then checking underneath the sink to see how the bottles of soap screwed in underneath, talking about sensors and the difference between “automatic” and “manual”, and so on, until we got to the toilet, spent a few minutes talking about that, and then N went just fine. And then of course, we did the whole hand washing thing again. Next time I’m remembering the trick of bringing a post-it to put over the sensor, just in case, but at least maybe we’re past that particular fear. Then the whole rest of the time in the zoo, the boys were talking about what happened “automatically”, like the sliding doors, and the door locks when they press the key button on the key fob for our car. N was clearly still thinking about this when we got home, because then he said, “Mama takes care of us automatically.”   

Friday, J informed me that he had arranged a sitter for Saturday night so that we could go to a concert at the Fitz*gerald Theater (the one where Prairie Ho*me Compan*ion is taped). We went to a wonderful concert of Trio Mediæv*l, a renowned Norwegian choral trio. There were many Minnesotans in Norwegian sweaters there whose surnames probably ended in "seth", as ours does. We have such a fine choral tradition here in Minnesota, so it was really neat to hear some of the folk music from which that tradition began. I think it was the second concert that J and I have been to together since the boys arrived. We used to go pretty regularly. I've never found it easy to leave the boys with a sitter, but I'm working on it, and J's sister and I are trading babysitting and date nights. I'm really happy about that, because it not only allows for at least one or two date nights a month for each of us, it also keeps us connected with each other's kids.

I'm been feeling much better the last couple of days, but I felt like crap on Friday, and was quite depressed about it. Every few days, i still feel awful - nauseous with bad heartburn, and exhausted. I haven't felt good for well over a month now. I'm not supposed to eat for several hours before bedtime, which means a major shift in habits for me. I just don't really get hungry for the first half of the day, and I really don't have much time to sit down and eat until the boys are in bed. I'm having a really hard time sleeping propped up the way I'm supposed to be. The realities of this condition are starting to hit me a little. Yes, it could be much worse, but it still sucks.

Today both boys took a lousy nap (nap woes could be a whole nother post) and then got up late, so it was dark by the time we could get outside. We took a little drive to see the Christmas lights in the area, which they absolutely loved. They were so excited. I'm going to put some up this year, and we're getting a tree when my mom comes. I think we'll make construction paper ornaments, though, and no presents under the tree until the night before. Age two and impulse control are relative strangers to one another, but Christmas can e a lot of fun when you have little kids, I'm finding.

Here are a couple of old pictures from early October. I can't believe how much younger O looked just 6 weeks ago! I'm still undecided on the picture issue, but for now, I think I'll at least brand them so they're a little harder to steal.

Comments

[Stacey]

I think I found you here from twinkies. I enjoy reading about your life with twins- I have twin 5 yos and a singleton the same age as your boys. I'm with you on the stroller thing. I thought I'd tell you my girls also have a fear of automatic toilets. If you wet a piece of toilet paper (I use my tongue), it will stick to the sensor.

[Jody]

We used to bring our stroller for that moment when the kids would start dragging and whining and asking to be carried. But I can't imagine the kids being happy at the zoo in a stroller the whole time. Certainly not that particular zoo, where they have wanted to run and run. (I love the indoor loops there. They're ENORMOUS, aren't they.)

I would love to get some chickens, and you make it sound even nicer than I have been imagining. We gave our classroom-raised baby chicks to another class family who does have chickens, and the sound of those hens, that particular bwock-bwock-bwock-wock sound, is just so warm and friendly and good.

Admittedly, the two chickens WE gave them were meat hens and are now cooling in a deep freeze. But we do eat a lot of chicken, so I can't complain.

I would love to have laying hens. Maybe someday....