This is 3

My crazy, wild, fun-loving twins are right in the middle of being THREE!   These years are such a whirlwind of busyness and activity and yet monotony at the same time.  I feel at times like the years will just creep on by and I will look back and strive to remember what exactly it was like.  So, I write it all down!

Three can be summarized by the words: TALKING, MOVEMENT, and SWEETNESS.


I honestly don't remember what life was like before the kids started talking.  If we were ever worried about their progress (which, for a short time we were), we didn't need to.  My kids can TALK.  And they do... all day long!  RJ, especially, is our verbal processor.  From the moment he wakes up, until the second he finally falls asleep, he does not stop talking - from his play, to asking questions about how everything works, to interrupting our conversations to learn what we are talking about, to singing/talking himself to sleep - it never ends!  He also wants to understand how everything in the entire world works.  It is so fascinating (and exhausting) to watch his mind grow.  Recently I had a solo car ride to get pizza just with MJ and my first observation was how quiet it was!  Ha!  RJ can sure fill up the space with his words.  MJ may be more selective in his words, but he is actually more advanced in his pronunciation and his sentences.  He talks and sings all day long too.  When they wake up now, they spend the first half hour of the morning just playing and talking in their room and it is the cutest thing ever!  By the end of the day, I normally don't even want to talk to my husband.  I am just burnt out from voices and need at least a little while to not talk to anyone.

The next thing is, they do not stop moving, at all, all day long.  This baffles me on the days where they refuse to nap, because they must be SO tired!  They pretty much run everywhere all day too.  From their rooms to the toilet, from the toilet to the breakfast table, down the hall playing airplanes, and everywhere outdoors.  Lately everything is a race too (always resulting in a meltdown by the one who didn't win).   I didn't anticipate how many tears 3 would still bring!

Our house isn't small, but it isn't large either and we spend most of our time upstairs.  Every day, though, we have to get out otherwise I go crazy!  As the whirlwinds fly from room to room the leave a mess in the wake of everything they touch.  By 8am (after they have been up for an hour), there are: cars all over their bedroom floor, clothes out of the drawer that they discarded for others, socks and underwear all around, towels in the bathroom, snack dishes on every table, paper airplanes in every nook and cranny, puzzle pieces scattered, and sippy cups galore.  We are working on cleaning up after playing with things, but they just move so fast from one thing to another.  I can barely keep up!  Getting out of the house assures that the disaster stays at a minimum indoors and they get tired out at whatever activity we are at.  We have one for every day: Nana's house, Teeter tots (gymnastics free play), Kindermusik, StrongStart at the elementary school and, of course, play dates and park visits as often as we can!

We are still working on potty training (mainly for sleeping times) but sometimes during the day they have accidents as they are too busy to stop and make their way to the toilet (playing is just way too much fun mom!).  They have moved into "big boy beds" and that still is a challenge.  With all of their moving around, we had to resort to a childproof door knob to keep them in their rooms at sleeping time.  You do what you gotta do!

Lastly, although they can make me tear my hair out at times with their emotional intensity, lack of listening, constant messes, and boundary pushing... they really are truly the sweetest things!

They are learning to ask politely, and their "Mommy, please may I...?" questions just melt my heart.  They like it when I wear my hair down because it is "pretty" and love it when I wear sparkly jewellery.  They love one-on-one "dates" and our family adventures are the best.  When I ask them to help me with a special job they don't hesitate but want to join right in, unloading laundry or digging in the dirt, or washing dishes.  They believe in God and copy my prayers at dinner and tell me they don't have to be scared about things because Jesus is in their hearts.  They can't wait to go to Heaven because "it is pretty and they will have such a nice house" (our picture Bible book has a super colorful, attractive picture of Heaven and it is their favorite one).  They have started quoting, "I love you to the moon and back" and now we play a bedtime game where we take turns increasing the size of our love for one another (I love you bigger than a blueberry.  I love you bigger than an orange.  I love you bigger than an apple tree.  I love you bigger than a house.  I love you bigger than the sun).  We snuggle before bed and their little breaths creep into my ear as they hold so tightly around my neck and smother me with kisses.  They are honestly so spectacular, it takes my breath away!