Parlee Farms

Last week, we met up with a few other mothers of twins (and one mother of triplets!) at Parlee Farms.  We have been a few times before but always in the Fall.  It was fun to check it out in the summer when things were much less hectic and less crowded.  There may not have been any hay bales to jump on, but there were all kinds of animals to look at, and strawberry donuts, too!

Mairead was beside herself with happiness.  Look!  It's a hen!!!  Look!  Goats!!!  She just loves animals and was in her glory as they came right up and ate out of her hands.  The boys really loved it, too.  I was glad to see that Jack got over some of his hesitation and let the goats eat from his hand.  The feed is dispensed through a little 'vending machine' that requires quarters, so all three kids learned the value of a quarter that day.  They just kept yelling, "Daddy!  More quarters, please!"

The boys are talking so much lately.  Sometimes, it's things I could live without like "NO!  I don't WANT to!" but at least they are using complete sentences!  Jack, especially, is on a roll with whole strings of conversation.  The other day, I was trying to fix his toy car and I just couldn't do it. I told him, "I'm sorry, Jack, I just can't fix it."  He stopped, considered the situation, sighed and said, "I needa find Brian, Mommy."  Guess it didn't take him long to figure out who to call when you need to fix something!

Mairead's speech has been great, too.  In fact, this morning she had her first summer session of speech, and her teacher happens to be the same speech teacher she had from September to February this year.  Miss Melissa hadn't seen Mairead in a while so I was so thrilled today when I picked up Mairead and Miss Melissa said, "Wow, what a difference!"  It was great to know that Mairead was able to show her teacher so many of her new skills!  We are definitely seeing some regression over the summer in terms of some stimming and hand flapping, but we sort of expected that with the sudden elimination of routine.  The boys are suffering from routine withdrawl, too, since there is no playgroup in the summer, no Wednesday morning trip to Target, and no ride to Mairead's school every day.  We are definitely keeping the kids busy, but there has been a period of adjustment since school ended.

Mairead's pretend play skills have been amazing, lately.  She is always handing me imaginary animals to pet.  Ben gets upset, though.  When Mairead says, "Look, it's a baby turtle!", Ben says, "I want baby turtle, too!"  I guess he wonders why he never gets to have any of these animals she is talking about.  She has been playing with dolls  a lote more lately, too, which is so fun to watch.  For a while, she was insistent that her two baby dolls do everything we do because they are her "two twin babies." I am loving her growing pretend play and imagination, and it is so cute to see her care for her babies. I think the twin element has less to do with her brothers, though, and more to do with Dora the Explorer's twin siblings.

Jack and Ben have been playing together so much lately.  Sometimes, this results in hysteria because one wants whatever the other one has, but most of the time it is really cute.  I am totally seeing the joy of multiples when they look for one another, or when Ben says, "You ok, Jackie?" whenever Jack falls down.  If Jack cries, Ben will say, "Oh no, Mommy!  Jackie's crying!" He then takes off to find Jack yelling, "I coming, Jackie!" 

The other day, Mairead took Ben's cup at the water table so Ben got upset.  Jack came running through the yard yelling, "What happened, Ben?  What happened?"  He then said, "c'mon, lawnmower, rescue Ben!"  Not sure what the toy lawnmower had to do with it, but ok.

We have been incredibly busy with all of our summer activities, including preparations for the best activity of all- Brian's wedding!  Brian and Christin will be getting married on Saturday and we all just can't wait for the big day.  We are SO thrilled for them and now we are just hoping for nice weather to make the day just perfect.  It will be such a great time to spend with our family as we wish the happy couple a long and happy life together!  I have had a sneak peek of the bride's dress and she is going to be just stunning.  I can't wait!