Luka Reading

This is Luka reading... he is four...

I Mean, Really...

Not Clear On The Concept

Today, Noah became very frustrated with Luka about something and started saying some very mean and hurtful words. I told him that that kind of talk was not acceptable in our family, and so he stomped off to go draw a picture for Luka to show him his feelings since he was not allowed to do so verbally. He brings the drawing to Luka and presents it.



Noah: Here, Luka, this is for you.

Luka: For me?

Noah: Yeah. It's a picture of an evil chicken eating a boy and it's to show you how angry I am at you and that I really wish you would get eaten by something.

Luka: You made a picture for me!?

Noah: Yeah. This here says, "I - hate - you."

Luka: I LOVE IT!

Noah: You aren't supposed to love it. It's to show you how angry I am at you!

Luka: It's beautiful! Thank you, Noah!

Noah: It's not beautiful! It's MEAN! It says, "I hate you" on it!

Luka: What's this word?

Noah: It's HATE! It says HATE! H-A-T-E!!!

Luka: Good job, Noah!

Noah: You don't understand! You are getting attacked by this evil chicken!

Luka: Is me?

Noah: Yeah. And an evil chicken!

Luka: I love it! Thank you, Noah!

Noah: Oh... NEVER MIND!!!!!

Interview with Luka

Okay, so it's Luka's turn. He is a bit behind Ethan in language skills. Pretty good at saying what he wants to say, but not the greatest at comprehending what is said to him. I had to ask him some of these questions in different wording. And this interview was done in about three different sittings because he was a bit frustrated. But it's darn cute.


1. What is something mommy always says to you?
(makes a kiss sound)

2. What makes mommy happy?
A bandaid.


3. What makes mommy sad?
What about clothes?


4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
Look what I found!


5. What did your mommy like to do when she was a child?
I want to find you on a picture.


6. How old is your mommy ?
4


7. How tall is your mommy ?
Big!


8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
Dora.


9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?
Counting.


10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Five.


11. What is your mommy really good at?
Four. Or two. Or one.


12. What is your mommy not very good at?
I want to play my games.


13. What does your mommy do for her job?
Type.


14. What is your mommy 's favorite food?
Carrots


15. What makes you proud of your mommy?
Luka!


16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
What cartoon mean?


17. What do you and your mommy do together?
Play outside. Let me show you outside.


18. How are you and your mommy the same?
There's blocks in the jar.


19. How are you and your mommy different?
I'll brought you something.


20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
Loves me!


21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
Love him!


22. Where is your mommy 's favorite place to go?
Playground!

Our Twosome is Three

Well, it seems my babies are turning THREE today. And I guess I will have to face up to the fact that I don't have babies anymore. Having twins has been such a body slam of a learning experience, but as difficult learning experiences go, one couldn't ask for better.

I thought it might be fun to look back on some pictures of the kids' first three years.

They were born in 2005, five days before Christmas. But they came six weeks early, after a futile night of drugged stupor trying to keep them inside my body for as long as possible. It seemed Luka was pushing Ethan out and wanted a room of his own, as he stayed inside more than an hour after Ethan emerged.

Both boys were head down, and I succeeded in giving birth the natural way, even though we did it in the surgery, with the docs and nurses scrubbed for a possible sudden C-Section. As the birthing went on in a gentle, normal way, the masks came down, the gloves and little paper hats came off, and it was a very relaxed and happy environment albeit more sterile than the pretty birthing rooms down the hall.

They were both little over four pounds each and were whisked away to intensive care, where they were tubed, wired and gently cared for. It was not the "mommy and me" moment I had been imagining but I really wanted to know if they were okay, and have any immediate treatment given if necessary.


Luka seemed happy to see Ethan again when they were reunited. Despite being six weeks early, the medicine they gave me the night before to quickly mature their lungs seemed to do its job, and aside from a short period of being given oxygen, they did quite well on their own.

I did get some skin on skin time shortly afterward. This is Luka above and Ethan below, just outside of their little incubator beds they would spend the next three weeks sleeping in, when not cuddling with Mommy. You can see the strain of the nasty Magnesium Stupor I was in (the medicine used to keep the babies inside me made me stu-pid!). Look how little Noah was. He had just turned three... the age my (not) babies are today.

Our hospital was AWESOME as they provided a FREE room for me to live in for three weeks so I could bond with the twins and provide as much breastfeeding as possible. It was odd to call the hospital home. Snowstorms raged outside and I hung out in my hospital room and ate every meal in the cafeteria. Every three or four hours around the clock I would go to the NICU and scrub in, and attempt to breastfeed and pump what was left over to be sent down their feeding tubes when they grew too tired to drink anymore. While being willing, they never really became adept at taking in as much as their bodies required, so I fed both babies and the pump for the next few months.

Here they are with Daddy in their Christmas best! That is Ethan in green and Luka in blue. The NICU nurses decorated all the little beds for the holidays and surprised us with ornaments that had their footprints on them. Every one of those nurses was beyond wonderful, specially chosen to work with these tiny troubled babies.

Here they are sleeping together in the NICU. I love the intensity of Luka's eyes. This might have been the last time Ethan was the sleeper while Luka was awake. Their heads, when born were just a little bigger than tennis balls. Those are my hands.

After three looooong weeks, they jumped through the NICU's hoops, passed their "thriving" tests, and were allowed to go home. Ethan actually got released a couple days prior to Luka and stayed in my hospital room with me. The last two nights before heading home I got NO sleep at all as Ethan was the LOUDEST tiny sleeper I have ever seen. Even when I wasn't wheeling him to the NICU to visit his brother every three hours, his crazy snoring kept me awake in the short naps I attempted between feedings. I went home in such a fog.


At home, I had the benefit of my mother's help, who moved in with Michael to care for Noah the whole three weeks I lived with the twins in the hospital. Then she was there most every day to help us out at home. I have no idea how we would have managed otherwise.


After easily fitting into our home and our family, Luka and Ethan's personalities began to emerge.

Especially Ethan's...



And Ethan taught Luka to be as goofy as he was...

Living in Ohio just outside of Twinsburg, we took advantage of the annual Twins Festival. These guys were voted "most alike". Our guys could probably have won "least alike" if we had tried.


Noah never really went through that whole sibling jealousy thing, thank goodness. He has been a pretty caring big brother. Mostly. Heh.


We laugh sometimes that we have a dark boy with black hair, a medium boy with brown hair and a transparent boy with blond hair.

As much as I looooove my boys, some of my favorite times are the rare occasions when they are both unconscious.


It's been SO fun watching them grow and learn...


...and become friends as well as brothers.


I could live without all the mischief and destruction of personal property.

The boys are as different as night and day. Luka, despite being the quiet one, might well become the leader. He is physically gifted, balanced and exhuberant. He hops and runs more than he walks. Ethan is the jokester. He is also "the lover" of my three kids, giving me the cuddle-fixes I need on a daily basis. He knows how to work his flirting skills as well.

I love this picture... they actually look like twins in this one.


I love that they have each other, and always will.


Despite their differences, they will be in each others lives in bad times...



And in good times.


My birthday wish for them is good times.
And lots of them.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie-boys!

The Difference Between Our Twins

...based on a description by my husband:

So, Michael goes to give the twins some candy from their Halloween pumpkin bucket. Swedish Fish. Kind of like Gummi Bears, but fish. Four for Ethan and four for Luka.

Ethan says... "Ooooh! Fish! Four fish! Red!"

He lines them up in a perfect row like little soldiers before the firing squad and picks up the first victim between a finger and a thumb and puts half in his mouth and slides it back out again, examining it.

"Mmmm! Yummy! Oooh, shiney! And RED!"

When Michael lays the four red Swedish Fish on the table in front of Luka, Luka scoops all four up and shoves them all in his mouth at the same time and begins to chew. With open mouth full of fish jelly, and red slime oozing down his chin he forces out the barely discernible words, "More Fish!???"

Daddy tells him to finish what he is eating.

He works his way through the mouthful of sticky red fish goo and swallows it all down whole. He then looks over at Ethan who is half way through his first fish (admiring it in all its wet, shiny, red splendor) and he spies the little row of three remaining fish. He scoops them up and stuffs them in his mouth.

Ethan commences with the "injustice cry" which we all know and love so well.

That's our boys. In a nutshell.

Child of Passion

It's all just getting a little too crazy now. Luka, the younger of my twin sons, we believe was a child of passion and it shows.

Yes, we had been trying to get pregnant (and trying to stay pregnant) and so there were charts, and temperature taking, and little x's to show just when... well, you know. And after I became pregnant with the twins, we decided it was very likely that they were conceived on completely different days!

This is based on very odd pregnancy test results, measurements of embryos, a conception date that just did not fit in with my "like clockwork" rhythms, and the fact that, given the kids measurements which made one look five days older, and going back and looking at the charts and the days... and those x's five days apart...

Well, lets just say we believe one twin was conceived by procreation and the other by... recreation! One was planned, and the other, thanks to a second egg that perhaps wiggled free, was a love child!

And we are dead sure, Luka is our child of passion.

He did, after all, hang out in the womb for more than an hour, happy to enjoy all that room after he kicked out his bigger brother. He also was the baby who always measured five days smaller.

And passionate he is. He lives life on the edge.

The edge of the table, the edge of the back of the couch, the edge of the stairs on the wrong side of the banister. And because he likes to live life like a daredevil, he has already been to the emergency room twice with head wounds, once that required stitches, the other: close observation of his mental state. Ha!

Well, life just got a little crazier in the last 3 days.

It started when he was protesting a nap and fell out of his crib. He was shocked to find himself on the floor of his room with nothing penning him in. The light bulb went on and suddenly he is out of his crib whenever he sees fit. And the baby gate that once kept him from freely roaming the upstairs? Yeah, it looks a lot like a crib rail and is easier to dismount from.

So now, he has the run of the house and has taken to fleeing up the stairs and pelting those down below with hard toys and books from Noah's bedroom thrown off the balcony above our living room. And he has good aim, let me tell you!

His passion manifests in other ways, too. He has discovered the joys of saying, "NO!" and follows that up with a punch to the face. If you say, "Luka, no hitting!" he will instantly kick you in the shin. Five times. If you say, "No kicking!" he will then blow raspberries in your face and run away.

And time-outs in his crib? Yeah, not workin'

The saddest victim of his new found aggression is poor mild-mannered Ethan. When I hear Ethan crying I must now come running as fast as possible because I often find him sitting on the floor with Luka standing behind him hitting him over and over again on the head with the stick from some toy. God forbid Ethan learn how to move away.

"Luka! We don't hit our brother! You need to be gentle! You hurt Ethan.
Look at him crying. Can you say, Sorry Brother?"

"PPlplplplplplplspspspslplplpl!!!"

He has also taken to biting Ethan when he won't hand over a coveted toy. I kind of miss the days when he used to grab Ethan by the hair and drag him down to the floor to steal his toys.

Sigh...

When folks ask me if the boys are twins, and I say they are, it is often followed by a question like, "So, do they have a special bond, a unique relationship with each other?"

Yeah, lady. Unique. That's one way to put it.

A Little Refreshment with Twin Toddlers

On her way out of town last week, my mother asked that I post more videos of her lovely grandchildren here on my blog so that she could watch them grow and change and learn many wonderful new things as the weeks go by...

And so a little gift from me to you.

We pick up on a warm August day in San Diego, just after the Wonder Twins have asked for some afternoon refreshments: crackers and juice. Their little eager selves have just climbed into their seats at the table.

Unfortunately, Luka was really hoping for the "Dora the Explorer" cup which was dirty in the sink, and Ethan had just caught me adding water to his sugary juice. Both were pushing their cups away with disdain, and so I put them over on the kitchen counter instead, and picked up my camera.

So, for your viewing pleasure, I bring you a little slice of life from our home to yours.

Wordless Wednesday: In Disguise

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Wordless Wednesday: Day of Rest

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Go on, it's fun!

Hawaiian Redux: Grass Skirts and Fire Dancers

Getting bored of the Hawaii Travelogue yet? Well, I am getting close to done. Then it will be back to adorable pictures of the kids and the mundanities of my life. Is that a word? Mundanities?

Anyway, on with the luau!

This was the stage overlooking the sea. That's the M.C. up there.


We were sitting pretty much front row center, at his feet. If you ever go to the luau at the Royal Kona Resort, DO pay the extra five bucks to get VIP treatment. Its worth it. We ate first, too.

Also, at the bar with the long line? Tell them you are getting drinks for your party and get enough for each of you to have three. That way, you don't have to stand in that crazy line again.


Check this out. Can you say Hot Foot?


I have said from time to time, after eating Mexican food, that my mouth was on fire. But it wasn't really. Not like this:



And because I know there are men out there who don't want to see shot after shot of "Mr. Abs of Steel" (Hi, DAD!), let's bring on one of the ladies!

Dang, she's pretty!

These next folks don't look too bad, either, but maybe its just the good Photoshopping job that was done on the picture.

Although, don't go congratulating me on the great Photoshop job on all these photos. I have a new apprentice and he is doing a great job!

My son, Luka, has been mastering layers and color balancing this week and is really coming along nicely on his sharpening skills, too!

As long as I keep him plied with coffee, he should make it through my unshopped photo catalog by next week!

One For the Grandmas

Okay, I had to take a little break in all the Hawaii photos so that I could give my mom her twins-fix. She has seen lots and lots of pics and video of Noah here lately, that she was jonesing for some toddler love. And I know that Mima wouldn't say no to some cute photos of twin antics.

So here goes.


We were playing in the little nylon "room" that their Aunt Terri got for them a year ago, popping up out of the roof like mad Jack-in-the-Boxes, and their hair was getting full of static electricity, it was standing straight up! Luka calls the nylon-folding room "Wass" which is his word for "house". It rhymes with... gosh, nothing.

Okay, it rhymes with the Spanish word, "mas" as in "uno mas, por favor!"


Check out Ethan's teeth! Can anyone say, "Orthodontia"? Donations for future work kindly accepted. He kind of looks like Ron in the Harry Potter movies here, don'tcha think?

But I am a bit cranky with Ethan lately. He has been throwing things on the floor just for fun: his plate when he is done eating, his cup when he is done drinking, whatever is on the kitchen counter that he can reach, all the spoons in the utensil drawer, all the papers on my desk, and yesterday (GRRRRRRR!!!) I heard something break when he was playing in the back courtyard and I went out there to make sure he was okay and he was standing among about 7 or 8 smashed terracotta pots with plants in them (or at least they had been in them!) that he had taken off a low table and thrown onto the cement one right after the other!

Okay, a couple of those were plastic, but ARGH!!!!

(taking deep cleansing breaths...)

(focusing on how cute he is in that last photo...)

(breathing... and... moving on!)

I know this last one of the pair of them is a bit out of focus, but its so rare to get the two of them in the same shot that I just went with it anyway.

Awwww, how cute is that? I asked Ethan to kiss Luka and he planted a big wet one on him, but that shot was even MORE out of focus.

Okay, Mom, will this hold you for a couple more Hawaii posts?

Wordless Wednesday: Ready For My Closeup!

************************************

Check out other Wordless Wednesday Participants

here and here.

For those just popping in,

my blog is about raising my three sons,

two of whom are twins who just started

their terrible twos,

and all the crazyness that comes with all of that.

It's also about my love for photography, photoshop,

and the sweet life.

I grew up in Findlay, Ohio

and now live in San Diego with my family.

If that sounds at all interesting,

bookmark me and stop by again sometime!

I know... yer busy WW-hopping right now.

Me too!

Pictures of Haircuts, Finally

All right, Mom, I will stop torturing you with days of "before" and "during" pictures! The wait is over.

I survived. And in the end, the haircuts make the twins look like what a lot of folks would describe as a couple kids who need a haircut. But, hey, I like their hair long, and I am their Mama.

So there, people!

.

After all this buildup I realized that pretty much every picture of the kids I have, post-haircut are blurry images, mostly of Luka. Luka's hair, the more I look at it, probably does need a trim. I kind of like how he looks in these pictures, but his hair was really dirty (they didn't wash it when they cut it) so I think it laid more nicely. Now that it is clean, it is a lot fluffier and shaggier. So I might trim it up a bit, if I build up the nerve.

Ethan's hair looks fine, but it is kind of sad. In the photo I showed to describe what I wanted, the boy has curls in his short hair. Sadly, Ethan's ringlets were mostly in the bottom of his wee mullet, and they are all gone. He has some serious waves, more so than what shows in this photo of him, but its still kind of sad.

But I am fine.

I know it will grow, and get cut, and grow and get cut. It's just a little hard because its another step toward being big-boys and loosing my last babies to the march of time.

Haircuts, Finally (Part Deux)

I know.

I am dragging this haircut out like its some epic drama, but its the only thing that I have photos of that I can blog about right now. And frankly, I have so many cute photos that I have to spread it out so I can post all of them. I mean, look at this. Poor, tortured guy.


I found this cute little place in La Jolla that is a salon just for children called Little Locks. The woman who cut their hair was named (I think) Larita, and I HIGHLY recommend her if you are in the area because she did exactly what I asked her to do.

Which was basically, "leave it long".


I told them that there were some photos online that I would like to have their hair cut to look like, and the folks there were happy to let me bring up the web pages. Here are the links for what I showed them for Ethan and for Luka.

Larita took such a quick look at both pictures I was worried she wouldn't really do what I asked, but she was spot on. She even asked if I wanted to cut a bit more from Luka because it was still pretty long on the sides (like the picture) but I hemmed and hawed and finally told her no. I figured I could cut it more if I needed to, myself. (And a couple days later, it looks like I might just do that).


This place has it all figured out. The kids sit in little cars or airplanes while getting their hair cut, they have cartoons to watch, and you literally have to walk through a toy store to get to the salon! They seem to be okay with the kids playing with the toys while waiting, and there are even live bunnies to look at in cages that are housed at toddler level.


Look at Luka.

What a little trooper he was. Of course, he had his lovey, "Lambie" clutched tight in his lap. I think the cuts would have gone better if the kids hadn't gotten spritzed with water bottles before the cut. But it was necessary to get those crazy locks tamed.

So, yeah, both kids cried. Both kids survived. Both kids still look cute.

Here is evidence of the carnage:


The "After" pics will be in the next post.

Sorry, Mom. Nyah, Nyah!

Lord, you'd think this story was a Penny Dreadful the way it goes on and on!

Haircuts, Finally. (The Before Shots)

Well, we did it. We finally bent to the social pressure and had the twins' hair cut!

I am SO thankful that none of the social pressure came from ANY of my family members. It mostly came from from well-meaning ladies at the grocery store who are constantly telling me how lovely my girls are. And the rest of the pressure came from my own internal dialog (which can be social pressure if you count ALL the voices).

So, for your perusal, I give you the BEFORE photos of their hair.

This is the side of Ethan's hair. Can you see why it was hard to cut this? He actually had Shirley Temple ringlets in the back!! Here is the front:

I have always cut Noah's hair, it being so straight and simple. The curls and waves on the twins threatened and intimidated me. And as their hair grew longer, I learned I preferred longer hair to shorter hair on these boys.

I kept expecting the grandmas to give me sweet gentle nudges toward the scissors, but one insisted I not cut it until she came to visit in 5 weeks and the other insisted they looked just perfect the way they were. I thank you, ladies, for letting me do this when I was good and ready.
And, finally I was.

I mean, who wouldn't be... Luka had passed from lovely locks, through mullet-ville, into Crystal Gayle Land!

I mean just look at the back! Not a curl left, which was my original excuse for not cutting it. When you washed it, it lengthened out to past the middle of his back!

I am mad for this picture of Luka, though. I am going to miss those shoulder-length locks. Not that its not still a bit long. As a preview, I will say there are those who would look at Luka post-haircut and say he is ready for one now.

Ethan, in my opinion, could have gone a wee bit longer, but with twins, you tend to do things at the same time to save yourself the extra trips.

I decided to take them to a hairdresser, which I may continue to do in the future, after I deduce whether or not I can cut their hair on my own after careful observation of a curly-cut. Not that Luka had a curl left on the back of his head.

I clipped a curl or two from both their heads, just in case I never saw those curlie-ques again.

To be continued.