Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Twins at Play


If you had 5 Year Old twin boys, you'd make them play outside every day. At least I think you would. Because that kind of energy and noise, while it is wholesome and delightful, needs an outdoor arena.

So usually, rain or shine, snow or hail, our twins get some outside time everyday. Now, I don't force them to (usually). But about mid morning I try to suggest something like, "Hey, you could go play baseball in the backyard now!" Or, "Go pretend the front porch is a great ship and you're at sea!" or "Do you want to see if Mr. Wilson's home?" Mr. Wilson is our neighbor. Seriously, that's his name. Just like in Dennis the Menace. He's of grandfatherly age and my boys just LOVE to "watch" while he fixes something in his garage or pulls weeds.

On this snowy day it didn't take much cajoling or encouragement or bribes from Mr. Wilson's candy supply to get the boys outside. They bundled up in snow pants, coats, gloves, hats, and boots. They're not quite practiced at it yet, so the whole process of just getting bundled takes at least 15 minutes. But by February they'll have it down to 4 minutes flat. Just you wait and see.



Since I didn't want to get cold, I mean, since I was diligently homeschooling and caring for my dear sweet baby, I tried to get some pictures through the window of my dining room. The dirty dining room window. I had to bump the exposure up on my camera a full step just to compensate for the grime!

What do you guess the boys did on this first snowy play day of the year? Build a snowman? Make snow angels? Snowball fight? Nope. Caleb climbed a tree.

And stayed in that tree 2 1/2 feet off the ground practically the whole time!

Luke was longing for some brotherly companionship or some space in the tree, I couldn't tell from my perch on the dining room chair wearing my slippers. But I think he said something like this, "Climbing trees is for summer time, Caleb! We only have snow for 3 months a year, let's do something with it."



I don't actually know that he said those things, but that's what I would've been saying if my twin brother wanted to climb trees on the first snowy day. And I'm pretty sure it's actually a lilac bush, but who's keeping track.

Once he finally convinced Caleb to come down to earth, bad things started to happen.


Caleb's coat got stuck. But I'm happy to attest that he did not throw a kaniption fit, or scream MOMMMMMMYYYYYY until I came to release him from his captivity.


Instead, he did the very 5 Year Old thing of climbing back up and fixing it himself. This is great improvement in self control.


Apparently, some people don't like, "Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes . . ."

And because I'm a really good Mommy, I had homemade hot chocolate waiting for them when they came inside. The same homemade hot chocolate that Vicki calls and asks me the recipe for every year around the first week of December. :) Your welcome, again, dear friend.

5 comments:

Edward and Gretchen said...

OK, are you really showing off those cute boys or trying to make all of us Texans who read your blog jealous. I'll have to admit, I AM!!! I WANT SNOW TOO!!!

Bones said...

Ok, I am so in Texas and my kids SO want some snow already! But we are having a rare cold day today, and so your snow makes me shiver!

I had forgotten about my mom making homemade hot chocolate back in the day. Nothing warms up the kiddos like something warm on a cold day with a dash of love sprinkled in.

Blessings!

Kelly said...

UM! Are you going to make me beg for the delicious hot chocolate recipe that you mentioned or are you just going to give it freely?!!
I got to say, I love to watch the kids play in the snow. They are always so excited. Me too I guess. That's why I LOVE Texas! You get that one snow fall, enjoy it fully, then not have to think about snow for a whole other year! TEXAS!

Ginger said...

Gretchen, are you serious? Jealous of cold weather??? That is beyond my comprehension, snow or no snow.
Anyway, "make them go outside"? My boys beg me every single day to go outside. Usually within 30 min of waking. Poor Daniel has to wait for Isaac to finish his school work, so he can play with his "buddy". Boys are like a whole other gender entirely.

Mark said...

Kelly, I'll have to give it to you personally. It's my mom's secret family recipe . . .

Ginger, if it were 18 degrees outside your boys might want to play inside too! :)