On yesterday...
Feb. 18th, 2006 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
I got there at 7, Jenn left around 7:40 or so, and Meghan was dropped off just after 8:30.
She'd brought a bear. Of course, Ana wanted to grab the bear, and Meghan wanted nobody to touch the ONE TOY that was hers, so I told her that Ana couldn't play with it if we put it up on the counter, but that if it was out, we like to *share*. So it got passed to me to hide temporarily. Eh, whatever.
Honestly, in the morning, watching them was great. They really did watch themselves. They talked to each other. (And since I keep thinking of Meghan as she was a few months ago, a kid whose only recognizable words (to me, I'm sure her parents recognized more words than I did) were "Ana" and "Mama" and "baba", every time she rattles out a full sentence or two, I go "Wow, she's brilliant!" because I forget that she can talk now.
They played hide-and-seek. *giggles* At one point, Ana hid herself in her mom's closet. And then was suspiciously silent. I opened the door... and sure enough, Ana's kneeling on the floor masturbating. Which, y'know, I've got no problems with. Nice and healthy. Of course, she then proceeded to, without standing up, drag Meghan in there and close the door. Straight into her little den of iniquity, her closet of ill-repute. Nice, healthy, and... uh, no. But it made me feel really stupid to stand there yelling "GIRLS! COME OUT OF THE CLOSET!", let me tell you!
They both used pacifiers today - Meghan because it's what she does, and Ana because I wasn't about to tell her she couldn't have one when Meghan did. Plus, she's apparently teething, and it's good for her to have something to gnaw and suck on. They both sat on the toilet. They both got incredibly hyper, so by 11 I sat them down to play with play-dough. Which lasted half an hour before Ana put an end to it all....
After this, I worked hard to do calming things with them, because I wanted them to take a nap at some point during this day! We made popcorn, we watched Ana's favorite episode of the Backyardigans, we read books and played with puzzles, we ate lunch.
And then we went to bed.
At 1:30.
I tried putting them in the same bed facing the headboard, that flopped miserably. They kept playing with each other. Meghan had a bottle which she held up to her eye like a spyglass, and declared "I'm a pirate!" Ana, of course, understood this sort of game, so she sat up too and yelled "Yeah, you a pirate, and I SUPERMAN!" and they passed the bottle back and forth for a while. I laid them back down, but they keep chattering and giggling. So then I tried putting them lying sideways on the bed, with a huge gap between them. This worked better, but they kept turning and giggling at each other. If I hadn't been so convinced they needed sleep, I'd've let them stay up... but while a giggly pair of toddlers is adorable, a pair of cranky, haven't-napped toddlers is not.
Eventually, I picked up Meghan and brought her into Jenn's room while I dealt with the baby, on the theory that it was safer to have Ana get out of bed and roam than Meghan. This worked - Meghan flopped down on the bed, face down, and fell right asleep. This was at 2:30.
I go with the baby into Ana's room. Ana, it turns out, didn't want a song or to sit on my lap because she was hiding not one, but two bottles of juice. And there was no way a hyper little kid was getting sugar. Same reason we didn't make cookies.
Ana didn't fall asleep until 3.
And the baby fell asleep at 3:15.
I had 15 minutes of TOTAL SLEEP until Meghan's mom showed up. It was bliss. I ate up the chips I'd bought for the cookies.
So I napped, and cleaned, and dealt with the cranky kid who misses her friend. And then, um, Jenn and 'dul came home and we ate dinner and I left.
Would I do this again? Sure. It was easy until the end, and if this happened more often, I suspect the nap part would get easier too. Twins do take naps, after all, don't they?
Would I want to do this again? Sure. IF the other kid gets taken away by lunchtime or so. And especially if transportation to one place or another is provided, or if I know the other kid can go on the bus with me. If I did this more with Meghan, for example, we'd have to be able to take her on the bus with me and the baby and Ana. We can't just stay in the house.
All in all, the day wasn't too bad. Just... a bit long.
She'd brought a bear. Of course, Ana wanted to grab the bear, and Meghan wanted nobody to touch the ONE TOY that was hers, so I told her that Ana couldn't play with it if we put it up on the counter, but that if it was out, we like to *share*. So it got passed to me to hide temporarily. Eh, whatever.
Honestly, in the morning, watching them was great. They really did watch themselves. They talked to each other. (And since I keep thinking of Meghan as she was a few months ago, a kid whose only recognizable words (to me, I'm sure her parents recognized more words than I did) were "Ana" and "Mama" and "baba", every time she rattles out a full sentence or two, I go "Wow, she's brilliant!" because I forget that she can talk now.
They played hide-and-seek. *giggles* At one point, Ana hid herself in her mom's closet. And then was suspiciously silent. I opened the door... and sure enough, Ana's kneeling on the floor masturbating. Which, y'know, I've got no problems with. Nice and healthy. Of course, she then proceeded to, without standing up, drag Meghan in there and close the door. Straight into her little den of iniquity, her closet of ill-repute. Nice, healthy, and... uh, no. But it made me feel really stupid to stand there yelling "GIRLS! COME OUT OF THE CLOSET!", let me tell you!
They both used pacifiers today - Meghan because it's what she does, and Ana because I wasn't about to tell her she couldn't have one when Meghan did. Plus, she's apparently teething, and it's good for her to have something to gnaw and suck on. They both sat on the toilet. They both got incredibly hyper, so by 11 I sat them down to play with play-dough. Which lasted half an hour before Ana put an end to it all....
After this, I worked hard to do calming things with them, because I wanted them to take a nap at some point during this day! We made popcorn, we watched Ana's favorite episode of the Backyardigans, we read books and played with puzzles, we ate lunch.
And then we went to bed.
At 1:30.
I tried putting them in the same bed facing the headboard, that flopped miserably. They kept playing with each other. Meghan had a bottle which she held up to her eye like a spyglass, and declared "I'm a pirate!" Ana, of course, understood this sort of game, so she sat up too and yelled "Yeah, you a pirate, and I SUPERMAN!" and they passed the bottle back and forth for a while. I laid them back down, but they keep chattering and giggling. So then I tried putting them lying sideways on the bed, with a huge gap between them. This worked better, but they kept turning and giggling at each other. If I hadn't been so convinced they needed sleep, I'd've let them stay up... but while a giggly pair of toddlers is adorable, a pair of cranky, haven't-napped toddlers is not.
Eventually, I picked up Meghan and brought her into Jenn's room while I dealt with the baby, on the theory that it was safer to have Ana get out of bed and roam than Meghan. This worked - Meghan flopped down on the bed, face down, and fell right asleep. This was at 2:30.
I go with the baby into Ana's room. Ana, it turns out, didn't want a song or to sit on my lap because she was hiding not one, but two bottles of juice. And there was no way a hyper little kid was getting sugar. Same reason we didn't make cookies.
Ana didn't fall asleep until 3.
And the baby fell asleep at 3:15.
I had 15 minutes of TOTAL SLEEP until Meghan's mom showed up. It was bliss. I ate up the chips I'd bought for the cookies.
So I napped, and cleaned, and dealt with the cranky kid who misses her friend. And then, um, Jenn and 'dul came home and we ate dinner and I left.
Would I do this again? Sure. It was easy until the end, and if this happened more often, I suspect the nap part would get easier too. Twins do take naps, after all, don't they?
Would I want to do this again? Sure. IF the other kid gets taken away by lunchtime or so. And especially if transportation to one place or another is provided, or if I know the other kid can go on the bus with me. If I did this more with Meghan, for example, we'd have to be able to take her on the bus with me and the baby and Ana. We can't just stay in the house.
All in all, the day wasn't too bad. Just... a bit long.
