Square Peg in a Square Hole: The fun continues, springtime and Easter in St. George

To say the twins get more adorable every day would be a great understatement. What is particularly precious now, is the way they interact with each other, not necessarily how they interact with other people. I am watching their tiny, intimate relationship emerge. When Sam cries, August gently strokes his cheek with her hand, and says "oh, buddy." If you ask one twin to take a toy of a sippy cup to the other one, they almost always do it. They know exactly what things are theirs and are increasingly particular about their own possessions. For example, I casually threw bibs on them the other day to feed them lunch, and they both immediately ripped them off and switched with each other. Little did I know they cared who had the rocket ship bib and who had the strawberry bib.

Sam has become a little parrot, adopting casual adult phrases, which are especially funny coming out of his mouth because he remains the shortest man alive. He says "yeah, bud" and "oh man" and "oh yeah!" August is still the more verbal twin but they're both talking more and more every day. August recently started calling green beens "be greens." Personally, I think that's a fitting name and I now call them that too.

The shortest man alive, trying to scale a dining chair.

As the twins become more sensitive and opinionated, Claire becomes equally more independent. We went to St. George over Easter break, and she packed all by herself, following a specific list I gave her. It seems like a small thing, but it is a HUGE thing as a mom, to have one of your children be able to pack for themselves. She has become such an angel, really respects the rules of the house, and is a little mother to these twins. It is a huge benefit to me because I am still in recovery from my back injury, so she changes their morning diaper, helps get them dressed, and even gets them in high chairs and feels them full meals. It's incredible. They just worship her and ask for her when she is not there. I have no doubt I am raising three little best friends - it is my goal, at least.

During our Easter trip in St. George with our dear friends Charlie, Mel, Penny & Jack Fisher (from California), Claire learned a lot of "big girl" skills. She worked on riding her bike without raining wheels and practiced her swimming. When I read the girls a bedtime story one night, it was so fun to take turns among the three of us, reading the book. I have known Penny since she was born (she and Claire are just two weeks apart), and to be sitting in a bed snuggled up with them, listening to them read to me, was so poignant for me. We also went on a wonderful hike and our tradition is to call out the colors of flowering cacti as we see them. We went to an art fair and took the kids on the carousel (multiple times.) August was stoic like Claire was when she was little. Didn't make much noise, minimal facial expression, hard to tell if she liked it. Sammy boy, on the other hand, LOVED the Merry Go Round and went totally insane when we took him off to wait in line again for the next ride. It was absolutely adorable.

My favorite picture of the trip. I had to go into stealth mode so they didn't know I was watching, but they took each other's hands through much of the hike. A lifelong friendship in the making.. I love these girls.

Another highlight of the trip was the big Easter egg hunt. Sam and August were finally old enough to grasp the concept of putting eggs in their basket, although Sam felt that the rocks and grasses he collected were of equal importance to shiny pastel chocolates. August came up to me the day after Easter and said "Mom, I have an UGG." She promptly handed me a plastic egg, and cheerfully said "Okay, goodbye, mommy!" Easter uggs -- how cute is that.