Inspiring waters?!?!

As a new season of American Idol started, I kind of wondered what it must have been like for the families who claimed their kids have been singing since birth. Mia and Allison have been reluctant, at best, contributing only words here and there as I encouraged them to sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, or 'The Wheels on the Bus'. Even their teacher, Teresa, has commented that she hasn't been able to get them to sing along with her and that she was starting to doubt her own singing voice. Over the past week or two, however, we have been hearing little glimpses of music. Mia prefers Jingle Bells and we can sometimes get Alli to sing the Blues Clues song. Tonight's voluntary, debut performance of the complete ABC's in the bath came as a TOTAL shock. I may have even teared up a little bit... (The video below is a repeat performance) Both girls are learning so much so fast that they seem more like little girls and less like my little babies every day. I'm so proud of them and how far they've come!!! (I'll stop here before I get teary again!)

Tiny Tumblers...

Tuesday marked a new first... Gymnastics lessons! Mia and Allison were incredibly excited about it. So much so, in fact, that our camera could hardly catch them in the act. The girls ran in circles and said 'hi' to everyone, including the animal stickers on the wall. Miss Kelly assured me that it is very normal for little ones to be a little overwhelmed and overstimulated at their first lesson. Mia and Allison did settle in to compliance a few times and did a great job walking like bears, slithering like snakes, and hopping like bunny rabbits. They even turned out some somersaults! There are two three-year-olds in the class also. It will be fun to see how the girls take turns and keep up with them throughout the upcoming classes!

Counting lolly pops...

Sweet Valentines...

Allison (above), Mia (below) and I teamed up to make some sweet treats for Valentine's Day. I was a little apprehensive about the potential messiness of the project, but was pleasantly surprised by their care and caution with the dough and cutters. They smooshed their fingerprints into a couple of cookies, but otherwise everything went off without a hitch!

Allison even took it upon herself to wash the dishes!

They put the sprinkles on all by themselves!

It was such an exciting day Alli had to go downstairs for some quiet turtle time. Lots of love to all of our Valentines, and special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Affeldt for the cute Valentine outfits!!!

Sleepless in St Cloud...

For the last couple of weeks, Mia and Allison, and consequently Shawn and I, have been pretty restless sleepers. They had both developed runny noses and hacking coughs that seemed to get better and worse over the weeks. We were almost relieved to find out Friday that three of their four ears were infected. With antibiotics on board, we have high hopes for an uninterrupted night of sleep!

We were at the NICU follow up clinic last Tuesday to catch up with Doctor Chip and check the girls growth stats. Allison is at the 10 percentile for both height and weight, not adjusting the scale back for prematurity. Mia is at the 25th percentile for height, but was below the growth curve for weight. Therein lies all of our frustration. Mia is more likely to throw and play with food than to actually eat much of it. That paired with a love of running and jumping leads to a sub-zero weight performance on the growth chart. The nutritionist did comment that she doesn't look unhealthy, and both girls impressed the OT with their progress over the past few months. Their next visit will be as THREE year olds!

Sled on!

Alli was all smiles on the sled. This was one of her first few solo slides.

Thanks, Grandpa Ken, for the action shot!

On the snowy Mississippi...

Taking advantage of the new inches of snow and the warmer, yet still freezing, temps, Auntie Amy, the girls and I headed out to the river for some sledding and river walking!

I figure Mia is destined to do the iditarod or something like it. She did prefer walking to being towed in the sled, but she could have stayed out in the snow for hours. Alli and all of the dogs were ready to go in and warm up long before we could convince Mia to turn back!

Table talk...

To explain... Our table isn't always so messy. The girls weren't thrilled with their dinner, so it ended up everywhere but in their mouths. At one point we asked what else they wanted. Alli's first answer was, "ummm... cake?". We told her we didn't have any so she clarified, "berfday cake?" Then I grabbed the camera. Mia preferred (ice)cream. In case a nutritionist sees this, please know they have VERY rarely had either cake or ice cream and have never had hot chocolate. We blame these cravings on Curious George books!

About the animals... The girls have developed a fondness for the local sporting goods store. They love to ride the "alligator" (escalator) and check out the (taxidermy) animals on the second floor. Some of them look a little menacing, with snarling teeth and all. Evidently we were successful in convincing Alli that they were actually smiling!)