Here’s our June in a nutshell:
A few weeks ago, Tille came down with a fever one evening. She’d been kind of sleepy all afternoon and then after the bath she was really warm. Usually the girls will play for a little bit before bedtime, but that night she just wanted
to cuddle. While Matt and I took her temperature and talked about whether she was sick, Hattie kept coming over and saying things like, ‘Is my sister ok?’, and ‘What’s wrong with my sister?’ It was really sweet to see how concerned she was about Tille. Tille
had a fever through the next day but no other symptoms. We’re thinking maybe she had a molar coming in or something.
I think (and I’m hoping I don’t jinx us by saying this) we’re almost done with potty training! It's been a long time coming. For the last couple of months the girls have been doing what I call pee loops. One baby would go potty. Then the other baby would go potty. Then I would wash the first baby's hands. Then, while I was washing the second baby's hands, the first baby would go potty again. Then the second baby would go potty again. And so on and so on. Often we'd have 6 or 7 potties in one session. Or other times, instead of a loop, they'd go, wash their hands, resume playing, go again, wash hands again, play some more, etc. etc, to where we ended up going and washing hands literally at least 30 times in an hour. Thankfully those days are behind us. The girls rarely have accidents anymore. They wake up dry probably 2/3 of the time, and whether they wear pull ups or underwear throughout
the day, they’re pretty good about going potty. Sometimes I’ll still catch Hattie doing an awkward squat and I’ll ask her if she has to go potty and she says no and I’ll ask her if she just went in her pull up and she says yes. But generally if they’re wearing
underpants they go in the toilet. We still have a routine most mornings where the girls wake up around 5, drink some milk, and then pass out on the couch. Tille likes to lie down on a pillow on one end of the couch- I’ll ask her if she wants to cuddle and
she says ‘by myself’, so I tuck her in- and Hattie likes to lie down on top of whichever parent has woken up with them. Last Saturday I was the lucky one. Hattie was passed out on top of me and I was half awake. I heard Tille get up off the couch and walk
over to her little elmo potty. I heard her unzip her pajamas and do a little pee. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw naked Tille walk across the living room to where we have a stack of pull ups. She grabbed one, put it on, and a minute later was fully
dressed and asking me to do up the top snap over the zipper of her pjs again. She’s totally self-sufficient in that area! It was so great! Another day right around then, I was playing with the girls and Hattie got up and went into the bathroom. A minute
later I heard the toilet flush and she came back out and kept playing. I know we’re not totally in the clear yet, but I love being so close to the light at the end of this particular tunnel.
Every night lately, this is our bedtime routine- after baths we go into the living room, the girls avoid getting dressed for as long as possible by dancing and playing and pretending to be babies (one will fake cry while the other fake
prepares a bottle and then brings it over and holds the baby, then they switch), we finally get them dressed and hair brushed, then they drink some milk and we read books. For prayer time, Tille likes to climb up on the couch from a certain direction and
sit in a particular spot (maybe a little OCD?). After prayer, they each pick a book to take to bed with them. In their room they give each other hugs and kisses, then they give Matt and me hugs and kisses, then we tuck them into bed and leave. When we leave,
they’re lying down and look like they’re moments from falling asleep. And always, without fail, within 2 minutes of us closing the door, we hear, ‘Tille, wake up! Wake up Tille!’ And then they talk and sing to each other, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes
for an hour. I figure as long as they’re not crying, no harm done. They just like playing together and if they want to stretch the day out a little longer with each other, I don’t mind. I leave the video camera in their room turned off most of the time
now, but I can switch it on with my phone, so sometimes I’ll check in on them just for a minute or two, and they’ll just be sitting in bed reading to each other (in the dark, flipping through the books that they know by heart), or passing toys between their
beds, or just laying down and talking. I’m glad they like each other so much.
Two weekends ago we went to our cabin. In the morning we were sitting around the fire and Matt and I were talking about something and I realized that Tille and Hattie were having a full conversation with each other. They were asking each
other questions and answering and having fun together. It was so sweet. That same weekend we tried a new hike in the Uintahs. It’s called Ruth Lake. We didn’t know what to expect with this hike, but figured we’d go as long as the girls lasted. It turns
out that all the hipsters and yuppies in Utah, plus their dogs, were on that trail that day, but it was still pretty fun. Hattie and Tille did awesome! The trail was a good mixture of flat spots and boulders to climb over. They insisted on doing most of
it themselves. The hike itself is less than a mile. We didn’t quite make it to the lake, but we had fun. It was really pretty, with lots of flowers and a little creek and amazing views. We’ll definitely try that one again.
Matt and I both had a pretty rough week at work last week, so for the 4th of July, we decided to do as little as possible. Our neighborhood does a big 4th of July party every year, and this was the first year we’ve
been around for it, so we figured we’d go over there for a little while. It was a potluck picnic and fireworks. After we ate, a couple of the little kids that live down the street from us came over to Hattie and Tille and asked if they wanted to throw some
of the popper things in the street. Hattie and Tille got right into it and went and played with the other kids. It was so cute to see them interacting with other kids, and to see the other kids being so nice to them. I should’ve gotten pictures, but I never
think of things like that until after I get home. Anyway, after not very long, both girls got tired and asked if we could go home. We realized it was almost bedtime and had to ditch out right before the fireworks got started. We tried watching some fireworks
from our deck after baths, but the girls didn’t really care and asked to go to bed. They get their love of fireworks from both Matt and me.
 |
| Giving each other a little support |
 |
| I finally remembered to get some inside pictures of our cabin. These pictures really make it look full size- in each I'm standing at the far end of the room |
 |
| Having a sucker break with cousins |
 |
| Aunt Kathryn bought the girls new dresses |
