Dear Taryn,

Dear Taryn,

Oh Tarynie my little pipsqueak I love you so.  I can't believe you're already three!  This year has been a big year.  You and your sister have been two years old and all the it implies and it's been loud and passionate and crazy.  Thankfully there are also moment of sweet snuggles, sweet interactions with siblings, and glimpses of deep, good, strong, roots.  We love you two little crazies in all your exhausting, ear-covering, patience-trying glory.  

This year of your life you've traveled to Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Germany, France, and the U.S., Bahrain, and Saudi.  Your dad and I have figured out that you and your sister get motion sickness which causes vomit on long car rides.  You also get sick when you're over-tired.  If we miss a nap, or are even late for a nap, if we have a hard over-night flight, we're pretty much guaranteed to see vomit out of at least one of you.  In the car, in the airport, in a restaurant or store.  It doesn't matter.  If we've pushed you too hard, it pretty much always ends in throw up.  

You had a great time in Sri Lanka.  We spent a lot of time at the beach which you loved.  You were crazy brave at the beach.  You love swimming.  You're a little more hesitant about getting all the way under the surface than your sister but I think you're a little braver in the waves of the ocean.  We did have one incident at the sea turtle hatchery.  The man in charge handed you a baby sea turtle.  Little 2-year-old you all by yourself while Dad was helping Kenna and I was taking some pictures of the boys.  You were a little worried about it but thought it was cute until it twitched its flipper and then you threw it up in the air out of fear.  It fell pretty hard and swam just a little slower after that.  Eesh we felt so bad, but you just panicked and it's funny now!  

Our Christmas trip to Germany and France was pretty rough.  You and Kenna were really out of sorts.  You wanted to be carried all the time, and even though you're a teensy little peanut, you still get heavy after a long day.  And you only wanted your Daddy to carry you.  No one else.  So many tantrums and so much screaming.  You wanted nothing to do with Auntie Mallo which broke her heart.  I think all the changes of traveling finally caught up to you and it was just too much.  Luckily, you warmed up a lot once we got back to our own house and your own room.  It's made your Dad and I very thoughtful about how much traveling we can do and how to make sure you ladies feel safe and stable while we're on the move.

You're still sleepy and ready for nap time every day.  You often tell us, "I'm so tired.  I need to go to bed."  You've always been sleepier than Kenna but lately you've been waking up in the mornings before Kenna.  You sit in bed around 6 every day no matter what time we get you to bed and yell "I want to get out.  I want to get out." And you'll keep yelling it until we come get you out.  

You and your sister get along beautifully most of the time.  You know how to tease your siblings but you don't do it unless we're busy getting things done like practicing or cooking meals and you're not getting enough attention.  You and your sister have done a lot of vocal strengthening this year.  Your screams are well-practiced.  It's been a very different year 2 than we had with either of your brothers.  When you play together nicely, holding hands while "dancing" (running in a circle until you fall down or hit something), singing songs, pretending to be characters, it's just magical.  We put you two in big girl beds right before Christmas and we've had to start putting Kenna in Finn's bed across the hall for nap time because you both sleep for hours still but if we have you in the same room during nap time you just can't stop talking to each other.  

You're a pretty persnickety eater.  Your dad and I often ponder how you're surviving day to day on how little you eat.  You pretty much always eat pineapple, melons, apples, bananas, pears, certain chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese.  Sometimes you'll eat eggs, turkey, pancakes, french toast, strawberries.  You don't like tomatoes, most chicken, never bread. You'll lick the peanut butter off the sandwiches but don't want the bread.  You have a major sweet tooth but unfortunately you're not usually interested in bribery.   If you try something and then change your mind you just spit it right out on your plate.  You LOVE to help in the kitchen.  Almost every morning I get you and your sister up and before I can even get to the kitchen you've climbed on the counter to help me with the shake.  You love pushing buttons, dumping ingredients, and you take great pride in telling people that you helped make something.

You love an opportunity to help people with anything.  You were SO excited when I said you were old enough to help clean the toilet.  You could hardly stand how happy you were to put on a glove and wipe down a toilet.  You love to hand out the vitamins in the morning and you've taken a lot of pride this year in the phrase, "I can do it.  I can do it."  Feeling big and needed and important means a lot to you.

You've been sick a lot this year.  If someone in our family is sick, you always catch it.  You've been in the hospital a couple of times just because we can't get you to stop throwing up long enough to keep you hydrated.  It's scary because you get so limp and you're so teensy.  Luckily they take good care of you and a visit always gets things turned around.

You love to snuggle and be held when you're feeling low or tired or sick.  You're also good for a full body squeeze when you're really happy.  Christmas was so fun this year.  You were SO grateful and happy and kept telling everyone, "Oh thank you SO much!  You're the BEST!"  You're becoming more affectionate which has been SO nice.  You're still very shy and standoffish with non-family members but you love our crew.  It's a big problem if you're not out of your booster seat in the morning to hug and wave to your brothers when they get on the bus. My favorite thing you say is, "You're the best mom EVER!"  Which comes out when I do something you love like announce a park trip or give you a treat.  Every once in a while your little teensy voice gets so excited that the only way to describe it is that it sounds like all caps.  SO full of happy!  Of course, you also have a pretty serious all caps angry voice.  You often tell us off by saying something like, "And you will not EVER EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" As if you're the boss of the world, and my brushing your hair was the most horrible crime that has ever occurred.  Sometimes I laugh.  Sometimes it makes me a little flustered how boldly you sass me.  You and your sister are going to push us like crazy but we hope we can eventually help you learn how to use kinder voices, even when you're frustrated and to be respectful and nice as a first instinct.  I love your strength.  Your passion and frustration sometimes seem to just blast from your little body like you just can't keep it in.  It's resulted in some epic stubborn tantrums this year.  We know better than to get in a stubborn-off with you.  You win every time.  You're gonna need that toughness in this crazy world.  We just gotta fine tune it a little bit.

You're go through phases of getting into trouble every single time you're out of sight.  Stealing brothers candy from valentines or stockings or halloween (that sweet tooth), climbing on chairs to get to pens or scissors without permission, coloring with marker or pencil on every single piano key, putting a penny in the cracks of the piano keys, or my personal favorite, trying to shove all my belts into the AC intake vent.  You're constantly thinking.  It's kind of genius the ideas you come up with.  Sometimes I wish they weren't all geared toward what seems to be just trying to be naughty.  But again, fine tuning.

Little T, you are a marvel.  I love you so much.  You've got so much happening in that tiny body and brain of yours and I honestly can't wait to see what you're going to do.  It's gonna be big.  This year has been a bit crazy and I'm doing my best to mother you and your sister.  I'm still very new to this twin momma thing and I think I'll be scrambling to figure it out your whole lives.  But I love you two so much and I can't imagine what we would be like without you.  You are a busy, strong, energetic little peanut.  I'm so glad I get to be your Momma.  I'm trying my best to help you recognize and grow all the amazing things you are. 

I love you to pieces, little T-cup.  

The world is yours, sweet girl.

Love,

Mom

Dear Kenna,

Dear Kenna,

Oh Kenna Wenna, you have had quite the year.  You've been two years old in all it's glory and it's been quite the ride with you and your sister this year.  You are absolutely bursting with energy and you can be crazy hilarious and sweet as candy and you can also be full of emotion and volume and drama.  It's a hilarious balance.  This year of your life you've traveled to Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Germany, France, and of course the U.S., Bahrain, and Saudi. We've discovered that you and your sister have very sensitive gag reflexes.  You've had motion sickness many times this year and you also seem to suffer from bouts of nausea when you're over-tired.  If we're late for nap time, have an overnight flight (which we frequently do), or you just get SUPER upset and exhausted, you usually throw up.  It makes traveling difficult and anxiety inducing, knowing that motion and exhaustion are just par for the course and that usually means vomit.  Poor little girls!

You also have a VERY sensitive sniffer.  You love smelling things that smell good.  You frequently ask for gum wrappers or gum boxes and have been anxiously awaiting the time when you were big enough to chew gum too.  You love smelly lotions and perfumes and shampoos and hand sanitizer.  You'll carry things around and just hold them in front of your nose and sniff them all day.  You're also very sensitive to bad smells and stinky breath in your face, or a stinky bathroom, or even a dinner cooking that you don't care for will make you start gagging immediately and you'll run out of the room whining and gagging to get away from the smell.  Silly sweet girl!

Our trip to Sri Lanka was pretty great.  Lots of time on the beach and in the pool which you absolutely love.  You're such a little fish.  You seem braver in the pool and Taryn is a little braver at the beach.  Our Christmas trip to Germany and France was tough.  Really tough.  Missing naps, new sleeping arrangements and schedules and people threw you and your sister for a loop.  You were clingy, but only to Glenn.  You did NOT want to ride in your stroller, ever.  And you were a downright meanie to Auntie Mallo which broke her heart.  One time you went running after your Dad crying, "Daddy please pick me up or Auntie Mallo will get me!"  It was bizarre and so sad.  You were completely out of sorts and it made us seriously question how much traveling we're going to be able to manage this year.  Hopefully we'll be able to figure that bit out and help you feel a little more stable when we're on the move.  

You're a sort of picky eater and you don't eat much.  You'll pretty much always eat strawberries, melons, cheese, tomatoes, berries, mac and cheese, and pizza.  You could just drink milk for every meal every day and be completely satisfied.  You'll drink yogurt drinks and morning shake.  But pretty much everything else is hit or miss.  You don't love chicken, nuts, and bread.  You have a hard time processing them and they just sort of stay in your mouth for a long time until you eventually spit them into the garbage  Truly, most days I'm not sure if you get by on much more than a few bites at each meal and lots of milk.  But you're growing and you're happy so I guess we'll just keep putting food in front of you and hoping you'll eventually branch out. 

You really really love books.  You love having us read to you and any time anyone is reading a book out loud you come running and snuggle on our laps so you don't miss a thing.  But you seem almost equally happy looking through books and "reading" them to yourself.  Every evening we put away books and every morning you start getting them down from your shelves and carrying them around the house and reading them to yourself again until the whole house is just covered in books.  Lately you really love chapter books from the library.  We haven't started to read them to you yet.  We pick them up at the library for Tate.  But you latch on to them like having such a big, hard cover book is the coolest thing and you carry it around for days. 

You ask me what things are called a lot lately.  Titles of books, names of things and you repeat them and ask me over again.  You are a collector of words like your Dad and your big brothers.  It's adorable.  Especially with your cute voice right now.  All of your ar, er, ir sounds are "oi" instead.  So the word adorable is even more adorable when you say "adoiaboh!"  You are very good at expressing yourself when you're happy and when you're less happy.  Once when you were frustrated that I wanted to hold your hand while we walked down some stairs you screamed at me, "YOU...Broke....My...Life!"   You know how to sass and it's not my favorite, but you also know how to use a soft, quiet voice, to tell me "I wuv you so much momma" and then it's all okay.

You have music in your soul, little girl.  You sing with your whole body and when you start belting out a song you're usually running around a room or running up and down the hall.  I think your favorite is "Let it Go" but you can also belt out a song from Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady or The Greatest Showman.  You don't discriminate.  You love them all.  The addition of a cape or costume usually heightens the volume and facial expressions, which are already pretty impressive.  Any time music is on you dance.  Almost always "dancing" is spinning in circles until you fall over.  Then getting back up and spinning again.  You like to be applauded but you'll dance in an empty room too.  You just can't hold still when there's a tune playing.

You can be very particular about a few things and we're trying to figure out what they are so we can help you deal.  You do not love to have your hands washed because you hate having wet hands.  Wet hands means that when you touch your toys they will get wet and then it just all gets so much worse  So we thoroughly dry your hands when we wash them and that helps.  You're really funny about closing doors.  We close your door at every nap and every bed time but you still remind us every single time, "Mom, cwose the doi a widdle bit okay?"  Yep.  I always do.  You close every door in the house all day long even though we ask you to just keep them open.  It's a thing with you.  

You have very big facial expressions.  You have a serious look over your brooding eyebrows face that you can hold and not flinch even when we're laughing at you because, hon, it's hilarious.  You also have a pretty good puppy dog eyes face when you look up at me and ask for something with your sugary voice.  You love hugs and kisses but lately you've also been very clear about when you're done.  When you're hurt or sad you need some love to help you feel better.  A listening ear and a little tender snuggle.  But most of the time, you don't come searching for a snug.  You've become pretty independent lately.  

You're a tough little lady.  You have days when you are defiant and don't flinch even a bit when we ask you to change your tone or use kinder words or obey right away.  We're trying to figure out what motivates you to listen and obey but so far we're kind of stumped.  Most of the time you're very sweet but when you decide to push back there's not much that can stop you.  You're a little power house and I hope we can point that power in the right way because you are a constant bundle of energy and passion and it's gonna be pretty amazing when you decide what you want in life.

You love your siblings.  You know how to push their buttons but most of the time you play nicely as long as they don't have something you want.  My favorite parenting moments are watching you and your siblings love each other.  Wrestling softly with Finn, having a water fight with Tate, getting completely soaked and just so happy that he's playing with you that you keep going after him anyway, and playing on the teeter totter or singing songs with Taryn as you swing back and forth on the swing set. 

Kenna girl I love you something fierce.  You're such a fun little girl.  Two year old twins are tough at times and the melt-downs this year have been epic and frequent but all the snugs and sweet, thoughtful words and love in those beautiful chocolate eyes of yours washes away all the tough parts.  I'm so grateful I get to mother you and I pray every night that I'll do and say the right things to let all the amazing, powerful, bright things about who you are shine even brighter.  You're such a little star and we can't wait to see what you light up next.

The world is yours, my little girl.

Love,

Mom