ARGGG

I've written about poop. Too much, I might add: how poop is everywhere, for instance. I'm sure there's more, but don't want to scout for it. Now that zaiki are a little more settled and 98% potty trained (I don't count sleeptime, that'll come later) the poop stopped tormenting us and I thought I won't have to dedicate any more posts to it. But the latest happening made me rethink that:

Aah, a nice, warm, relaxing bubble bath. What a treat, you may think. Taking a bath was a luxury before the zaiki. I loved to poop pop (see!!!! It is in my subconscious mind!!!!) in a nice CD, bring up my glass of wine, light candles and just relax in the tub. I haven't done it in three years (I'm such a mom cliche), so the other night I decided it was time.

After the zaiki were washed, fed, changed, hugged and tucked in, I closed the door to the bathroom, filled the tub with seductively warm water, and climbed in. Glorious, floaty feeling of being alone, no grabby hands, no demands. Perfect "me" time! Alas, it was short-lived: just as my muscles started to unknot themselves, the door opened. Maya tentatively peeked her head in and decided that sitting on the floor in front of the tub and watching Mama shave her legs is more fun than sleeping. It is a little disconcerting to have someone sit there and provide a running commentary of your EVERY move. I guess I better get used to it, but still. After she got tired of commenting on my actions, she moved on to carefully listing all anatomic attributes she would like to have when she grows up. Then (my guess that all that talking made her feel relaxed) she had to poop. Of course! My nemesis - toddler poop - had to make an appearance. So I had to leap out of the nice, warm and comfortable water to wipe her butt. I tell you what: nothing snaps you out of blissful relaxing-ness superfast as wiping toddler bottoms. Nothing.
The mood was broken. The poop won again.

Zaiki in a time lapse

I’ve gotten “I’m missing my babies being babies” mood lately. Maybe it’s my biological clock's last feeble attempt to change my mind about having more kids, or just that the girls are getting so big so fast.

So today, after I managed to get them up, dressed, somewhat fed and out of the door with only slight damage to my wardrobe (wiping boogers on Mama's button-down dark navy blue dress shirt doesn't count as damage anymore, it's like wearing deodorant to work, not only normal but somewhat expected) and even less damage to my psyche, I found myself looking at the girls' baby pictures and getting all soppy and in "remember when?" sort of mood. So here you'll find a few of my favorite baby-to-little girl transition photos. 

When the girls were born they resembled newborn mice more then anything else: bold, red and squinty. But they smelled so good! Until they pooped that is, and then cried and cried and cried and cried. Have I mentioned they cried?

Then came endless feeding-pumping (yes, I breastfed for 5 months, yes, it was difficult, and yes, please leave the Best-Mom-of-Twins award at the door, no applause needed). Thanks to nutrient-rich-good-fatty-acids full mama’s milk they plumped up and pinked up. Grew hair. Screaming didn’t stop though. Just got louder.
Then came the teething. Here they are trying really hard to eat the crib: 

Then the little wiggly legs grew stronger, brains-eye-limb coordination developed, and we moved from the cocoon stage into the worm stage.


Maya is so proud to be standing!



Sonya HATED crawling. But she loved the TV remote (sucking on it) and it was one of the few things that motivated her to move. Otherwise she'd just lay there and scream her head off until someone came up and placed her where she wanted to be. Anyway, here Papa would let Sonya crawl close enough to the remote to get her gums on it, and then move it far enough so she'd have to crawl to it. And then he'd giggle and do it over and over again.



I think she is saying "not cool!!"

 Sonya has a strong spirit. She knows her cuteness and is not afraid to use it. Just look at those eyelashes!!!

Maya would crawl up to me and hoist herself up on my leg. Sometimes she'd pull my pants down, sometimes not. It was always a surprise.



Here you see my industrious, strong children at their favorite past time: creating chaos and climbing into things they were not supposed to be in. Like a bookshelf.

This was a spontaneous photo op, I swear. Makes my Russian heart proud though. Ole-ole-ole...

I loved the skirts. This was around 1st birthday.

And this was last week. Oh how the times have changed!!! Now we make "funny faces", tell Mama that we are "mean on you!" (mad at you), demand to wear purple (only purple, God have mercy if you attempt to dress Sonya in any other color!) tights, don't go to sleep till 10 pm due to witch-in-closet issue and pee in the tub. Sometimes INTO the tub. :)

 Little butts. :)

Sonya's and Maya's favorite snack: green pitted olives from Wegmans. Note the adults standing around and calmly watching two 2-year olds use SHARP toothpicks to fish out the treats out. That's free-range parenting right there!