Two by Two: Happy Birthday Munchkins!

Yes, today is the day our little ones turn two. Happy birthday munchkins!! For some reason, I can’t stop singing, “The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching two by two hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching two by two, the little one stops to tie his shoe and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain.” Really, I can’t get it out of my head.

I’m sure every parent experiences the same bittersweet feelings I’m having today: our kids are growing up and are so incredible…but where did our babies go? Lucky for you, I didn’t even attempt to make a recap video of the last year like I did for their first year. You’re welcome, I just saved two hours of your life.

Instead, I thought I’d shed a little light on our day to day by sharing some of their favorite things, in alphabetical order:

A: Alphabet. They love to sing the alphabet and can pretty much sing the whole thing (Nea can without mistakes, Ry sounds like he has marbles in his mouth but he’s almost there).

B: Balls. Yes. I said my kids love balls. Remove your mind from the gutter. I’m talking about soccer balls. Love them.

C: Chloe. Our little old lady dog. They really do love her. She could go either way with them.

D: Downtown. As in, this song. I know, winning mother of the year for how appropriate it is that my kids sing this song in Target.

E: Elephants. They think elplapts are super awesome.

F: Fishies, pronounced “baby chichis.” (And if you’re from New Mexico, you know that chichis are boobs…again, winning). My kids ask me to draw baby chichis ALL THE TIME.

G: Grandparents. They are totally into all of their grandparents and when they finish reciting all the animal noises they know, they end with each grandparent’s catch phrase. Here’s the rundown of the names too, in case you’re interested: Scotty = Baba, Kay = KK, Sean = Chopachopa (his other grandkids named him Seany-sean-pa but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue of a toddler), Marilyn = Nana, Gwen = Maji, PZ = PZ (sometimes PP).

H: Hair. Rylan comforts himself when he’s tired by twirling the hair on the back of his head. He has a curly little rat tail there right now. That’s 3 points for mom, I’m really winning at this parenting thing. Nea has the cutest little pony tail when she lets me put one in…after about 12 hours of trying to decide what color rubberband to use.

I: Imitation. They are parrots. Watch what you say. Watch what you do. They will repeat it!

J: Jumping! Yup. They love it.

K: Kids. They are super into other kids and whenever they see another kid they scream, “KID!!!! KID!! KID!”

L: Lights. They are obsessed with turning lights on and off. And, if they’re awake before the sun comes up and I have to turn on the light to change diapers they are sure to tell me that it’s too bright.

M: Muscles. They both ball up their fists and try to flex their muscles and it’s hilarious. Rylan looks like he’s constipated and his face turns super red and Nea tucks her fists under her chin…not terribly intimidating.

N: Nea Nea. Rylan loves his Neala.

O: Oatmeal. Pretty much all they will ever eat for breakfast is oatmeal. Smash up a banana, add some almond butter (ababudder) and coconut oil (cocowheel) and stir it in and they’ll love you forever. It’s all out mutiny when I try to give them eggs eggs eggs (as they say).

P: Packers. As in the Green Bay Packers. At any given moment, you can find Rylan chanting, “Bop bop bada bop! Go pack go!” And Nea’s favorite dress is her “Go Pack go dress.”

Q: Questions. I know this will get worse before it gets better. Their current favorite question is to ask, “Are you?” when they’re looking for something…as in, “where are you?”

R: Ry Ry. Neala loves her Rylan.

S: Stella. They love the Stella dog and call her a “good girl.” She is soooo good with them! They also say, “Pee-yew, stinky Stelly.”

T: Trucks. Big, big trucks. Rylan pronounces it, “Big, big cocks.” Yes…I said it. That, paired with the “baby chichis” makes me feel like the best parent ever, especially when they’re screaming it!

U: Upside down. Turn them upside down and they’ll love you forever. Don’t drop them, mmmmk?

V: Vitamins. What does it say about my parenting that I can bribe my children to eat their dinner by promising vitamins if they eat all the bites?

W: Wagon Wheel (this version, sorry Darius Rucker, your cover isn’t my favorite). Otherwise knows as daddy’s song. From their first week of life, this song has been sung to them, one of our WONDERFUL NICU nurses started it and their awesome daddy continued and it’s now a song that mommy does an amazing job butchering each and every night.

X: Pictures. Oh wait, that doesn’t start with an X. They just aren’t that into xylophones or x-rays (sorry daddy), but they do love pictures, especially of themselves (completely un-related to the letter X). X-rays are a kind of picture, right?

Y: Yellow. They both know most of their colors now, but yellow was the first for both of them and for a VERY long time, according to them, everything was yellow.

Z: Zodiac. They’re both really into astrology. Kidding. But they do like zebras and zippers! Do zebras “neigh” like a horse? According to Rylan, they do.

I’ll leave you with a few photos taken today in our new Little & Mighty gear. Look for a post (+ discount) about Little & Mighty…the world is a small place filled with awesome people.