• I got to experience the first snow flurries of 2006 in early January with my daughter; T was really curious about the snow disappearing in her hand.
• J started coughing Thursday January 12th.  Friday night, around 6pm, I fed the twins some Kool-aid gelatin cups that they had never had before(coincidentally containing red dye 40).  At 7:30 J went to bed in his room, and T came to mine.  At 10:30 J woke up crying and screaming; I went to comfort him, but he was coughing too hard for me to leave him alone.  I worried he would vomit and aspirate in the night, so I brought him to my room; T woke up and I took her to her room.  J stayed up crying until his papa got home; at 12:30 we were laying in bed trying to get J to sleep...cough - PUKE!!!  Then he puked 7 more times in the next 10 hours.  I waited on the pediatrician to open since they make fun of my multiple hospital visits; however, when I called the pediatrician's office they sent me to the ER anyway.  They did a horrible job, took no blood, took no lab work except a chest x-ray; they said he must of had a stomach virus that made him hurl, and he had a viral lung infection - not pneumonia.
• Also, that Kool-aid gelatin cup caused J's eczema to flare up behind his knees - red dye #40 was the only thing I think could have caused it.
• About a week after T was diagnosed w/ pnuemonia, I took J to his pediatrician.  He wasn't vomiting anymore, but his chest congestion, fever, and attitude were getting worse despite the oral steroids I was trying to give him.  The doctor took me seriously and treated my son like the hospital should have: 2 breathing treatments, chest x-rays, blood drawn, nose swabbed for the respiratory virus panel.  2 days later I was starting to feel really weak, tired, achy, etc; the doctor called with J's nasal swab results - J was diagnosed with the flu(Influenza A).
• Due to T's 9 days of antibiotics, she got a yeast infection; it took forever to get rid of , and she was miserable the whole time.
• I pricked J's fingers last week to get a blood sample for his Alpha-1 screening; I carry a "Z" gene that may have been passed to him. No big deal, we just need to know for the future. T will be tested at a later time - like when I have 3 big guys holding her down.
• The crib mattresses have been moved, climbed on, slid on, and partially ripped open by the twins.
• The first weekend in February really tested my tolerance of babies flinging poo.
• NAKED!  The both get naked all the time.  I'll turn around from one to see the other butt-naked with a Kix stuck to their butt.
• Though it took me a while to update "T's first 100 words said" list, she is beyond 100 words since January.  I'm not going to bother with the "things said" lists now that the kids are mimicing and saying so much.
• I might add a "Kids say the darndest things" list eventually though.
• Those snow flurries were nothing compared to the flurries I saw February 11.  I haven't seen real snow in years!  Snow sticks about once or twice a decade here now; when I was a kid, it seemed like it snowed every year and stuck too.  Darn that Global Warming!
• Be back as soon as I remember more - I try to block the depressing things out.

• Good News - J is not allergic to dust, cockroach, grass, ragweed, pollen, shrimp, crab, lobster, codfish, soy, wheat, milk, coconut, cashew, almond, or anything else in the panels they tested, that I didn't catch except below.
• Bad News - J has a STRONG, potentially fatal allergy to the peanut protien; he is also borderline allergic to eggs (hives from birthday cake, scrambled eggs for breakfast = egg drop soup in the playpen).  They said he is right in the middle on cats and dogs...not allergic, but not, not allergic either.

The twins had their second dental check-up today - still no cavities!!!  

The dentist's office experience was far less traumatic this time on all of us; whereas at their first check-up I freaked out when they took the kids back and said I couldn't come, this time I willingly gave my kids to the hygenist..."Good luck," I said snickering.  My hubby warned "Careful, he bites," and I added, "And she pulls out the toothbrush bristles."

A nurse/hygenist(whatever you want to call them) brought J out first and sat us in the consultation room.  "Where's our daughter?" hubby asks.  The whatever-lady said, "She's almost done, they will bring her right out."  About that time we look out of the window from the consultation room to the working area, and there goes T running like, well, like someone was chasing her.  Sure enough, about 6 or 7 steps back from T was the lucky whatever lady that had to chase her down.

All went well, despite the fact that both kids picked toys from the dentist's office that are deadly to toddlers; T got a way too small bouncy-ball, and J got a cheap plastic car that he had removed two wheels and an axle on before we got home (we live 2-3 minutes from the dentist).

And on a social note of observation, in the waiting room two boys came in with their mom while we were waiting for the kids appointment.  The younger boy was soooo darn cute...he just had this precious look about him.  Anyway, the boys' dad comes in, and the little one calls him "Uck" and points.  I dismissed it as a kid with a  normal to limited vocabulary for a kid about 18 months old.  So my kids are running around all noisy and friendly.  T is orbiting the little boy...they were the same height.  J ran up to him and waved...J is taller than this cute little boy.  So, I played that "guess the age" game in my head....I guess 18-20 months - definitely less than 2 years old.

The little boy's dad asks me how old "he" is, referring to T; I said "she" and her twin brother are 19 months.  His jaw dropped - "19 months?"  He was dumbfounded.  "And how old is your little guy?"  I asked, curious about his reaction to the twin's age.  "He's 4."  My jaw dropped...whoa...my kids are less than half his kid's age, and they could swollow him whole.  This guy was shocked at the number of teeth our kids have...16 teeth have been in since before they were 1.  I guess every kid is different. 

At least he didn't ask if they were identical!

• We combined their beds, and when they sleep they seem to sleep better than they did sleeping far  apart; I did have to add a towel to the gap between bed to prevent toes and fingers snapping off - Before & After Photos below
• You know those "Blind Cord Wraps" that are supposed to keep cords on window blinds too high for curious kids(as if they couldn't get hung in the blinds themselves)...anyway, I have attached a picture below of one for those who don't know.  The first or second time I found J on his dresser he had the blind cord wrap in his hand still attached to the blinds cord; he held it up to his chest in different spots and sat really still in between like he does for the doctor - that creative little dude imagines that blind cord wrapper is a stethoscope!
• I never posted about it, but T can catch a big ball too; she started catching about 3 days after her brother.
• Last night I was sitting in front of the toddler beds playing with the kids; J stood up on his toddler bed and ran toward the end of it...just before the last step he stopped, held up his hands, and said "Careful" just like I normally do.
• My twins' Dr. Says, "They don't know how to hide things at this age(18 months)."  I wish I had pictures...T's hides her favorite toys all of the time.  She like pairs - Little People Lion and Polar Bear, matching fish, matching colored blocks.  Often I will find one of her favorite pairs tucked away in awkward spots that J never thinks to look in; I guess he doesn't think about it because he is after the pair she is currently playng with(usually lion and polar bear - she makes them kiss so much that they have both rubbed off most of their nose, and the polar bear's butt is covered in lion colored streaks).
• Dr. in magazine says, "They cannot kick a ball intentionally at this age(18 months)."  Then why do we have family games of soccer(without goals)?  Both kids are relly good at kicking the ball on purpose.
• Baths are full of entertainment a both kids try to lay down in a small baby tub.
• For about a few days, a couple of weeks ago J stripped off his diaper(even if I put on 2 diapers) several times a day; the funny thing is he was peeing in megablocks...like filling up the 2 wide blue block in the photo below.  I think he's getting ready for potty training, but he freaks out if I sit him on his baby potty with his pants down.  Now he wears a regular size 5 diaper with a pull-up style diaper 1T-2T over it; on "trouble" days he wears his Spider-Man underwear 2T-3T over his diapers.
• T was shoving raisins up her nose for a while...cereal too once or twice.   
• T is terrified of The Bear in The Big Blue House because that big bear sniffs the veiwer...he gets really close to the camera/tv and it  freaks T out BADLY.  We just got a video of the freak-out yesterday, but she has been doing it for 6 months, so we rarely play that DVD for her.  Anyway, on the video we shot yesterday, after T started freaking out, J walked over to her, layed his head on her, and gave hr a big kiss...AWWW!
• Though J only uses his inhaler abou once a week, T picked up on him using it and what it looks like(his inhaler has a mask on it).  The cute thing is that while T was playing with her babydoll one night in November, she put a cup over her own face first, then over the baby's face - she was pretending  the cup was J's inhaler mask!  Photos below

• J busted his upper gums...his upper lip too.  He even ripped the frenum (Frenum: The fleshy muscle attachment which joins the inner surface of the of the lip to the gum between the teeth) which I know hurt like the dickens; the swelling went up his nostrils a bit, but not enough to rush him to the hospital.  Photo below
• I have tried out the playpen again as a distraction in the nursery; instead of hiding in it, the kids move/flip/crush that poor playpen.  Just to prove they could do it, the twins flipped it over and jumped in the middle of the bottom(now the top).  Needless to say, the playpen lost that battle.  Below are photos of each kid on the upside down pen...plus a before & after shot of the playpen's structure(that blue pole should be straight).
• The twins have moved beyond mattress removal; now they move the beds anywhere they please.  J moved a bed to the dresser to get on top; he dumped out all of his snacks, and he shredded the wipes for his sister to chew on.  Picture below
• Next the twins flipped the entire bed frame; they have flipped it every possible direction, but I only got a photo of the bed on its side...Photo below
• J got fed up with moving a bed across the room to climb on the dresser, so he started climbing right up the front.  Of course, he emptied three of the four drawers on that white dresser to get to the top.  Being fed up with fighting the laundry war, I turned the dresser around and left the towels, blankets, etc on the floor for the kids to be amused with.  Photo below
• There is only one thing better than being on top of a forbidden dresser - being stuck behind it with a wet diaper on a power strip.  J fell which unplugged the DVD player...he never would have made it out on his own.  Photo below
• T has been in a kissing mood; unfortunately, J has to sleep sometimes.  J was so tired that he fell asleep on the floor with T slapping his bare belly over and over.  Photo below

There are other things that happened, but I'm getting sleepy.  I'll write more about the good and bad of toddlerhood as soon as I can.  I haven't even spoke of Thanksgiving yet, but photos are in the album below.

*MSN Spaces likes to change the order of my uploaded photos, so they might not be in the order they were written about.