We have spent the last few days soaking in each and every moment of the end of summer activities. Staying outside until dusk, enjoying picnics, trips to the pool, riding tricycles and going for walks.
While out for a tricycle ride the other day, we stumbled across a water main leak near the entrance to our neighborhood coming from a crack in the road next to the first culdesac.
Tricycles instantly forgotten, it was toddler nirvana.
We played in the "rivers" and watched our "boats" (i.e. leaves) go down the drain....
....made dams to try and save our "boats"....
....and danced, splashed and jumped in the puddles.
Simple.
Summer.
Fun.
From newborns sharing a room....
....to getting their own rooms at nine months old....
....to big kid beds!
I have no idea why I waited so long to post pictures of Ella and Aidan's "big kid" rooms. We transitioned them back in February! Shame on me! Anyway - the kiddos have done great in their big beds and have never gotten out of bed even once.
I was told once by someone with twin boys that based upon her experience, I would wind up having to remove everything from their rooms because it basically would wind up being mass chaos and a never ending playtime each night.
Although the thought did cross my mind - I am so glad that I didn't heed the warning. Perhaps it is just because we took a different approach than most people since their birth in relation to their bedrooms. Basically, their rooms are for quiet time only - reading books, winding down after baths, talking about the day and going to sleep. We have never played or had a bunch of toys in their rooms.
Whatever the reason, Ella and Aidan have been wonderful and just adore their rooms!
The kiddos had an exciting morning yesterday filled with lots of art and geography. It is amazing how fast their little brains absorb and retain things these days. By the time I returned home, Ella and Aidan had painted "earths" and told me all sorts of things that they learned with Mrs. Paula:
Santa and polar bears live at the North Pole.
Madagascar is in Africa.
Panda bears live in China.
Italy is shaped like a boot.
The blue parts of the globe are oceans.
Ella and Aidan have known all sorts of other geographical information for a while now (Opa and Grandma Shushi live in Atlanta, Uncle Chris, Aunt Emily and baby Mia live in New Jersey, Opa's salon is in the mountains, and we live in Charlotte), but I have to admit that I am really impressed with all they learned in just a few hours with Mrs. Paula - we LOVE you Mrs. Paula!!
Keeping with the theme of learning new things, while the kids and I spent our time after naps cleaning up the backyard and doing this ....
.... Ella and Aidan watered the plants a bit differently earlier in the day with Mrs. Paula!
While playing outside, Aidan told Mrs. Paula that he needed to go to the bathroom and wanted to "water the plants"...so she obliged. A little background - back when we were potty training Aidan, several people told us to let him try going outside - we had always offered and he never would do it - until yesterday!
In typical twin fashion, what one does, so must the other - and Ella followed up with her request to do the same.
While it is obviously a bit more of an endeavor for a girl, Mrs. Paula got Ella all settled and into position....only the result was a little more "solid". Yikes!
Too funny - needless to say, we have now had several discussions about what to do and what NOT to do if it is necessary to use the potty outside!
