purple sunshine

There are weeks that drive you to your stay-at-home mom wits' end. And this has been one of them. Sweet Barnes was diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday, and despite the fact that both twins seem to be fully healed physically, the whining and crying and clinging and craziness has continued. My nerves are fraying. I have a saint of a husband who has helped as much as possible, but still, I'm running on empty. At times like this, you cling to the cuteness--to the moments when your little people amaze you. So to help me through the lingering crud, here are the precious things my twin monkeys are doing now that I want to store away for always.

• Barnes has the most vivid, adorable imagination. His latest story to tell is about the colors of the sunshine.  Most mornings, he climbs into my lap while I pump and tells me what colors of sunshine he sees that day.  Red, pink, blue, yellow, orange, and purple are usual suspects.  And in case you were wondering, Donald Duck likes purple sunshine.
• Frances has music in her soul. This girl walks around singing and dancing all day. If a restaurant is playing anything decently catchy, you can bet she'll be dancing in her seat. Her current favorites are the ABCs and Jesus Loves Me, though If You're Happy and You Know It ranks pretty high as well. Hearing her proclaim that "Yes, Jesus loves me" never gets old.
• B&F are still obsessed with art time. They ask for it each morning and wait not so patiently for Shep to go down for his first nap so that we can pull a project out of our "art closet."
• Barnes knows where everything is. If you lose something, anything, Barnes is likely to be the only one who can find it. It's uncanny, really.  Makes you wonder if he has something to do with items disappearing in the first place.
• Barnes loves stuffed animals. LOVES. His crib looks like an animal convention. And he takes care of them. Back in the day, B had three wubbanubs (pacifiers connected to little animals). We cut the pacifiers off long ago, but the little dogs and frog have stayed in the crib, and now each one is assigned to one of his three favorite friends. The frog is Snoopy's paci, and the two dogs belong to Mickey and Donald. And each night at bedtime, he makes sure that the pacis are properly distributed.
• Frances loves her baby brother, and he loves her right back. She always goes into his room with me to get him out of his crib...she likes to hold his hand through the rails. She loves to "play" with him, and he gives her some of his very biggest smiles.
• Frances not only takes care of her baby brother, she takes excellent care of her babies. She gives them bottles, makes their baby food, changes their clothes and diapers, and takes them on walks daily. This girl is all about the babies.
• Barnes is so very particular about clothes. He usually goes through at least three shirt options before deciding on one he will wear. I have totally given up on him looking cute ever again (clothes wise, because his precious face is cute everyday). And his obsession with clothes trickles into laundry as well. He loves to "help fold" and put his own clothes in the washer and dryer.
• Frances has become quite the little dog walker. She loves to go with mom and prefers to walk Stella, since Stella's leash is pink. She calls it her "exercise." She is not so patient with the dogs, saying "Come On Cooper/Stella" more times than you can count, but I love having her join me on our afternoon excursions.

Overall, two and a half is fun. The tantrums can be trying, but the fun times more than make up for it.