A Hoarse Little Girl

This evening, I noticed Lacie was starting to get hoarse. We ran errands tonight including going to Kroger and Best Buy, which is in the same shopping center as Target (important for later in the story). As the evening wore on, she became more and more hoarse and squeaky. She didn't have fever and she said her throat didn't hurt, but when we got home, I made a remark about Lacie losing her voice. She said, "I promise I don't know where I lost it. Maybe it fell out of my mouth in the street by Target!"

Do They Have a Dog???

As any parent of twins can attest to, I feel the need to be balanced. Every time I post something funny that one says, I feel the need to post something about the other one to be fair. Here is Lacie's latest....

Lacie is afraid of dogs. Terrified might be a better description. She likes my parent's little weinie dog, Daisy; she liked my in-law's Pomeranian, Tonto, before he ran away. I think she's okay around little tiny dogs, but will have absolutely nothing to do with a dog that jumps or is bigger than she is. I can't think of any definitive reason for this; she was never attacked by a dog. She even wants a pet puppy. It just can't jump or be big.

Anytime we are going to someone's house that we haven't been to before, her first question is, "Do they have a dog? If they have a dog, I'm not going." If I tell her they have a dog, she insists that we ask them to put it up while we are there, or she wants us to hold her. When we get to the door, she immediately asks whoever answers, "Do you have a dog?" If they do, two more questions follow: "Does he bite? and Does he jump and scratch?"

Tonight we went to some friends' house from our small group at church. We had never been there before, and sure enough, we rang the door bell, Kasie answered, and Lacie asked very matter-of-factly, "Do you have a dog?" Luckily, they didn't........

The Golden Rule in Reverse

Lately the girls have been arguing over whose turn it is to have "Pinky Pie". Pinky Pie is a pie stuffed baby horse that comes with a bottle and makes bottle noises when you try to feed it. It's gotten to the point where each girl gets to have it for a day, we switch the next day, and so on. Today on the way home from school, Leslie had Pinky Pie because it was her day, and Lacie asked Leslie if she could hold it. When Leslie told her no, Lacie took Leslie's purse and decided to play with it which led to yelling and tattling. As the arguing ensued, I tried to persuade the girls to be nice and share. I reminded them about what they learned in Sunday School a few weeks ago: The Golden Rule. I told Leslie, "Remember the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want them to treat you." This was her reply: "Well Lacie's being mean to me. Which means that she wants me to be mean to her. So I can."

What could I say?

Teenage Emotions... Already!

We are protective of the boyfriend already! Today I picked the girls up at school and went straight to gymnastics. On the way there, I had the standard "how was your day" conversation. This was the result....

Leslie: When Hayden (the boyfriend) was outside on the swings today, Anniston and Kaitlin went to go swing with him even though I was sad and they knowed how I feeled about it.
Me: Why were you sad? And how did they know how you felt?
Leslie: Because I told them that I would be sad if they went to swing with Hayden, but they did anyway.
Me: Why couldn't they swing with Hayden?
Leslie: (she gave me the "duh" look at this point) Because he's MY boyfriend. And they're not supposed to swing with him if he's my boyfriend.
Me: Just because he's your boyfriend doesn't mean he can't swing with other girls. He can still be your boyfriend and be their friend.
Leslie: No... If they swing by him, he might think that they are his girlfriend, and they're not.... I am!

While having this conversation, I had a flashforward about 10 years into the future when Leslie's boyfriend is talking to other girls in the halls at school. I wonder then if she will be sad even though she told her friends "how she feeled about it".

Also, tonight Lacie announced that she wanted to sing. On a stage. Like the one where she had her dance recital (The Strand). And everybody could come watch her. If you're around Lacie much, you know how much she likes to sing her made up songs that are about random things that happen to her during the day. We like to watch American Idol and she's already asked when she can be on it. Apparently, she will be trying out for American Idol about 15 years from now.

Never a dull moment!

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

Yesterday, my mom took the girls and I to the only place "where a kid can be a kid"..... Chuck E Cheese. Luckily my sister and her boyfriend met us there because there were TONS of people. Note to self.... the only time to go to Chuck E Cheese is on a weeknight. Way too many people were there, which made it hard to keep an eye on the girls. One of us had to follow them around everywhere, and we had to wait in line at some of the games. But we still had fun! Here are a couple of pictures:

Leslie riding in a car

The closest thing they will get to riding a roller coaster.

It's a virtual reality roller coaster; they hold on to the bar while it jerks and turns back and forth in time with the roller coaster video on the screen. We waited in line for 10 minutes for this.

Me and the girls

Leslie is wearing one of her "prizes" - one of those black, plastic glasses with the nose and mustache attached. Ryan, my sister's boyfriend, bought his own tokens and racked up on the tickets, so the girls had over 600 tickets to split and pick out prizes. They each came home with a pair of those glasses, a mini- Chuck E Cheese lunch box, tattoos, a plastic ring, and a wrist sweatband. Mere trinkets, but fabulous prizes for them.

Special Time

Every night when the girls go to bed, we have a routine that we call "special time". Del and I take turns laying with each child and we talk about the day. We always ask them what their favorite part of the day was, we cuddle, and we hug and kiss goodnight. When the timer goes off (yes, we have a timer.... otherwise we have arguments about who got longer), we switch and repeat the process. It always take a good 10 minutes, but it is usually our favorite time of the day.
As are most things where Del is involved, it also leads to some silly playtime. Tonight was no exception. Somehow Lacie decided that she needed to make her daddy "Captain Diaperhead." I have absolutely no idea where this came from, but she was very insistent on putting a pair of her panties(yes, they were clean) on top of her daddy's head. She needed Leslie's help to make it fit, and the laughter ensued. I persuaded Del to let me take a picture before he took it off:
During Leslie's special time, she had a Dr. Seuss book, There's a Wocket in My Pocket. She made us read a line and she would repeat it... so she was "reading."
Our timer is Del's IPod Touch, which the girls see as forbidden fruit. Because it's their daddy's and he doesn't let them play with it, it is a spot of contention every single night. When the timer sounds, Lacie has been known to scramble out of her bed, grab the "I-Pot" (as she calls it), and scramble under her bed to try to get it. Since I had the camera for special time, Daddy let her take a picture with it tonight.
I don't know how old they will be when they decide they no longer want special time, but until then, we will cherish it....

My Gymnasts

Today, the girls started their fall session of gymnastics. They started in the summer, and they really like it - much more than dance! I think they like all the different stations. In ballet, they stayed in line and bent their legs and pointed their toes. In gymnastics, there are all kinds of rotations. They jump down this trampoline thing into a foam pit, do flips on the bars, run and bounce on the springboard the bigger gymnasts use for vaulting, walk on a little version of the beam, and practice cartwheels. There is way too much going on for the girls to get bored!

Here is a picture of the girls and their friend, Caitlin. I have been best friends with Caitlin's mom, Mandy, since college. She and I work together, and our families have gone to the beach every summer since the girls were 18 months old. She is definitely their oldest friend, and they were born 3 weeks apart.... However, since Caitlin's dad is 6'6", she has always been a good bit taller!
The girls are close friends with five of the six girls in their class: Caitlin, and 2 different girls named Emily who are in their class at school. They definitely love gymnastics!

Leslie's toe is much better. She is now taking baths and wearing two regular shoes. All she has to do is now is wear a bandaid over her toe where the scab is until it comes off. She wore her socks today at gymnastics and will until she is good to go barefooted. We have a final checkup with the foot doctor after the first of September to make sure that everything looks good, and then we're in the clear!

Lacie is also doing well. Sassy, as usual....and I have to try to keep from laughing when she gets in trouble for being sassy, because it's just so cute!

4 Going on 14!

Here are some pictures of the girls playing "dress up" at my sister's. They are in their typical, sassy pose as usual! Lacie is in the picture on top, and Leslie is on the bottom. Leslie is actually wearing a puppy dog slipper; at first glance, it looks like she is standing behind a dog.

Back in the Swing of Things

Well, today was my first official day back at work. The students don't come until Monday, but I have two days of meetings and inservices, plus I have to get my room ready. I think summer lasted just long enough. It seems that during the week before last, the girls and I ran out of summer fun. We were beginning to get cranky and stir-crazy, so at last.... back to school!

The girls are loving being in Mrs. Edie's class. Leslie's main complaint for the first few days was that her "boyfriend" wasn't there. Leslie and Hayden have been boyfriend and girlfriend since the 2 year old class with Ms. Elaine. Leslie says that Hayden is SpiderMan... not Hayden likes SpiderMan, but he is SpiderMan. Leslie's BuildaBear has a SpiderMan costume, and she got a SpiderMan helmet for her bike from Santa, and a SpiderMan scooter for her birthday - all because of Hayden. So Leslie was very upset that Hayden was not at school this week. Apparently, he is in the other 4 year old class, and she saw him today for the 1st time. She said they got to play together on the playground, so she is happy at last! However, Leslie is not one to be without a man. For the three days she went without Hayden, she told me she was thinking about having "Trey" as her new boyfriend, but he gets in trouble too much.

Lacie is also liking school. Her main concern right now has been "graduation." At the end of the year at Renzi's, all of the 4 year olds dress up in little blue caps and gowns and have an official graduation ceremony. For a while, Lacie informed us that she was not graduating. She was going to sit out in the audience with us and watch her sister graduate. Well, she finally told us yesterday that if she learned the song, then she would graduate. Lacie tends to be a little more timid and particular than her fearless sister, so I imagine she will change her mind several more times before the end of the year.

Big girl gymnastics starts Monday. They've been taking gymnastics this summer, but they were in the "little kid" corner of the gym. The summer session ended last week with them all standing in a circle, peforming a "move" they learned this summer, and getting a medal (just like the Olympics) from their teacher. Lacie is convinced she got her medal because she won a contest (even though there wasn't one), and Leslie wore her medal to school the next 2 days. Starting Monday, they will be in Basic Gymnastics, which is in the "big girl" part of the gym. Very exciting!!! I will take pictures and post them next week.

First Day of School

Today is the girls' first day of school. They are in preschool at Elizabetta Renzi Child Development Center, and I can't say enough good things about it! This is their last year of preschool before they start kindergarten next fall, and they have been at this school since they were 18 months old, so it is definitely bittersweet.

Attached are some pictures of this morning:

This is the girls in their first day of school dresses that my mom bought them. She said they picked them out themselves when they went shopping. You'll notice Leslie is still in her surgical shoe. She should only have to wear this the rest of this week.

Below is a picture of the girls and Mrs. Edie, their new teacher:

Does the Stitch Fairy Come to Your House???

The Johnsons are officially stitchless! I won't say forever because I know my children better than that, but hopefully for the foreseeable future, there will no more stitches.

We went back to the podiatrist today. I went prepared with "distractions." I have a good friend who is a child life specialist and told me to bring some things for her to look at and concentrate on instead of watching the stitches. She said that Leslie would cope better with her mind elsewhere. Well..... not exactly! When he came in, I brought out the book and.... NOPE! She wanted nothing to do with anything I brought. She hugged her daddy's arm and cried. I tried asking her what flavor ice cream she wanted when we left.... nothing. I asked what present she wanted to buy her friend for this weekend's birthday party.... nothing. All she wanted was her daddy (which Del thoroughly enjoyed). When Dr. Toups was done, she looked up, stopped crying, and asked him when she could go swimming again.

She has to wear her surgical shoe for another week, and she can only take showers - her foot can get wet now, but he doesn't want it to "soak." He gave her the all clear for swimming in a week and gymnastics when the fall session starts in two weeks. He wants to see her again in a month; by then he thinks she'll be 100%.

Of course, we had to bring our stitches home in an envelope to give to "The Stitch Fairy." When Leslie got her chin stitches out a month ago, Dr. Brown (who has young children as well) told her that the stitch fairy would come and leave her money if she left the stitches under her pillow. So how much is 12 stitches worth? Del said $12, but I think that is a lot of money for a 4 year old to comprehend. Plus, she would just want to go to the Dollar Store and buy 12 trinkets (aka things that will get left in my car or stepped on a broken). Maybe $2.... I think she got $1 for her 5 chin stitches, so that should be about right. To Leslie, money is money.... a penny is the same thing as a quarter.

Lacie is great. She's not very excited about school starting back next week. She has enjoyed staying up late and sleeping late. We have a birthday party tomorrow and a playdate with one of the girls' favorite school friends Sunday, so they are excited about this weekend. Maybe we can make it through this one with no casualties!

I Have Protectors

This is a random conversation I had with the girls today on the way home from gymnastics.

Leslie: Mom, why doesn't Hannah have a mom?
Me: Who's Hannah?
Leslie: Hannah Montana. It's only her, her dad, and Jackson.
Me: Her mom is in heaven. (On the show, Hannah's mom is played by Brooke Shields who comes every now and then to give advice, although I don't recall it ever mentioning how she died.)
Leslie: (shocked) Why?
Lacie: Coz she went out of the country without nobody and bad guys killed her. (sidenote: I don't think this is how HM's mom died... my children are just overly dramatic)
Me: I don't know how she died and went to heaven, but you girls don't have anything to worry about. Mommy's not going anywhere.
Leslie: Well, mom, if you ever go on a 'venture out of the country, would you take me with you? (dramatic pause) coz I know .... kung fu. (imagine karate hand motions here)
Lacie: No, if she ran into a bear then Daddy would have a gun.
Leslie: Guns don't kill bears; kung fu does. and I would protect her with my kung fu.

At this point, I drove home wondering how we got on this tangent..... but it's nice to know that if I decide go out of the country - on a "venture" where I might run into a bear - that I have some protection!

Where Did My Babies Go?

When the girls were born, everybody told me the same cliches about how they would grow up so fast. Recently, this has become all too real for me.

This past Wednesday, a friend called because they had 3 front row tickets to the Wiggles Concert at the CenturyTel and their 2 year old was throwing up, so they offered them to us. For those of you who know the girls well, you remember that about a year and a half ago the "Goggles" (as they called them) were the girls' obsession. When I asked the girls if they wanted to go, Leslie immediately jumped at the chance to have date with her daddy. What was Lacie's response? "I don't want to go. The Wiggles are too 'babyish'." My 4 1/2 year old is now passing judgement on things that are too babyish for her.

So we are now past the Wiggles, and we have a new musical obsession:

THE JONAS BROTHERS!!!

The girls even have 'favorite' Jonas Brothers, just like I remember doing with my sister and The New Kids on the Block. Lacie likes Joe (the one in the middle), Leslie likes Nick (the one on the left - she says he's the "cute, funny one"). They told me I could have Kevin (the one on the right, which coincidentally is a good thing, because he's the only one over 18). They have even gone so far as to ask if they could have the Jonas Brothers come to their house for Christmas. I hate to disappoint them, but their tour isn't coming anywhere near here, so they're out of luck for now.

So, alas.... my babies are now about to enter their last year of preschool before they go to real kindergarten, they don't like the Disney cartoons anymore; they much prefer the "big kid" shows like The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Hannah Montana. They are eagerly anticipating the theatrical release of High School Musical 3... And evidently they are now too big for the Wiggles.

Lack of Coordination Runs in the Family

Although this may not be the greatest picture of Lacie in the world, it should be very obvious to you that she is missing two very crucial items..... her front teeth! Now, at 4 1/2 you are also probably thinking, "Isn't that a little early to be missing teeth?" Not if you're a Johnson!

At the age of 2 1/2, little Lacie was running in a mattress store, when she literally tripped and fell over her own feet and knocked her 2 front teeth loose. After a visit to the greatest Pediatric dentist EVER, we were told that they would tighten up on their own. Fastforward another year (nearly to the day), the girls were jumping on the trampoline, when Lacie fell and bumped her mouth on Leslie's head. This time they had to be pulled. Because it would be nearly 4 years before her permanent teeth moved in, they recommended she be fitted for a pedo-partial, which is essentially a permanent retainer with 2 very real looking baby teeth attached. It is to help maintain the space in her mouth and to prevent a speech problem.

The above beach picture is when Lacie was without her "new teeth" for about a month this summer. Her mouth outgrew the partial and the dentist had to make a new impression and order another one. This is what her new teeth look like:
Del likes to laugh that the girls got their lack of coordination from me. While I didn't lose any teeth, I am not the most graceful person in the world. Luckily, we have good insurance! Maybe they are trying to get a good look at the medical profession; every family needs a doctor... or two!

Beach Trip

We took our annual Byrd/Johnson Family Vacation to the beach during the last week of June. Since I hadn't started my blog yet, I thought I would post about it now....

We've been taking the girls to the beach in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama, with this same couple every year since the girls were 18 months old. It is amazing to see how much they've grown each year. This was by far the best year yet. The girls became more comfortable with the ocean and were happy playing in the waves on the edge of the sand for hours. The one day we managed to get them to let Del carry them out into the ocean, Leslie got stung by a jellyfish. Unfortunately, she was not ocean-friendly after that. Maybe next year.

Here are a couple of other beach shots:

Me and my precious girls!

The Johnson/Byrd families

We've decided to try Destin next year instead of Orange Beach, but hopefully this beach tradition will be one we continue well into the girls' teen years. Our families are close, and it is always a great time!

Update on the Toe!

Leslie has now been crippled for a week, but you can hardly tell. Once she got her surgical shoe on Monday, she was a new girl. The hard part has been reminding her what she cannot do right now - jump on the trampoline, go to gymnastics, get her foot wet, etc.

We were supposed to go back to the podiatrist today to get a new bandage, but I got a call that our appointment had to be rescheduled till Monday because he got called out on emergency surgery. This meant that I had to change the bandage myself... YUCK!

Before we dressed it again, we took a few pictures, which I will post below:

It's not as bad as it looks. The purple in between her toes is not bruising. It's some purple stuff (gentian violent?) the doctor put on there that helps cut down on the wetness and bacteria. the toe is swollen, but that is mostly from the crack in the bone, I believe. In a couple of weeks, I predict that she will as good as new.... hopefully!