Twins' 3 year pictures and update

Being their birthday month, the girls had their annual well child check.  This year, for the first time, they also had their very first eye exam.  2 (almost 3) might seem young for an eye exam, but with our family history of eye problems (especially after Chloe's eye problem at such a young age), we would rather be safe than sorry.  Detection early is best!

A few days before their birthday, they went to the ophthalmologist.  They are very familiar with this office- Chloe and Mitch have both been in for exams within the past 3 weeks. 

Being silly in the waiting room!

Back in the exam room, sharing a chair.  They didn't both stay in the chair for their exams, but it was cute for a quick picture.

The nurse did a quick eye test with them- instead of reading off letters like big kids and adults do, they had to tell what the picture was (ex: duck, cake, hand, etc).  Leah knew all of them and breezed right through them.  Lexi didn't seem to understand and couldn't name off any pictures.  I was a little worried.

Then the nurse gave them drops in their eyes to dilate their pupils so the doctor could examine their actual eye easier.  They hated the drops.  Both of them cried and screamed. 

Back out to the waiting room to wait for their pupils to dilate.

Then back in to see the doctor- finally!  They had calmed down by then and did great for him.  He is so good with kids.

Leah looked great he said- absolutely no problems.

I was worried about Lexi, as she couldn't (or wouldn't) name off any of the pictures.  Luckily, her only issue was a little bit of astigmatism, which the doctor said wasn't even an issue right now.  Whew!

After being tortured by the eye drops and for being big girls, I got them a treat at Target while I did some shopping.  (The eye drops keep your eyes dilated for the entire day, which makes your vision very blurry.  Lexi said in a pleasant voice on the way home, "Mom, I can't see very well."  How annoying would that be?)

They entertained themselves in the dressing room well.  Leah styled Lexi's hair.  It was hilarious.

For lunch, we stopped by Wendy's.  It was just as much of a treat for me as it was for them- I hadn't eaten all day and had gotten a migraine while shopping.  They were so cute and chatted happily with a lady sitting behind us, telling her all about their ice cream and whatever else they could think of.

A few days after their birthday, they had their 3 year well child checks.

Leah: 

Weight: 28 lbs 4 ounces

Height: 37 1/8 inches

Alexis:

Weight:31 lbs 4 ounces

Height: 36 3/4 inches

The nurse didn't put their percentages like she usually does, but Leah is around 25% and Lexi around 50%, just like they have been since they were tiny babies.  What we find the most interesting about their current stats is that they weigh less than or the same as Chloe did at one year old.  Chloe was 30 lbs at one year and although I don't have a height recorded for her at one, her height at 2 years was 36 inches.   Chloe was the size of an average or small 3 year old when she was one.  We knew she was a big girl- there was no mistaking that.  We find it fascinating the comparison between the twins and Chloe (and Mitch too, for that matter.  He was a big baby as well).

The girls are really into the puppies right now.  Every chance they get, they go out back and play with them.  I have to keep a careful on on things- they sometimes get a little too mischievous with those pups.  I looked out back one day to see all 9 puppies piled on the kids' plastic play table.  They were scared to death!

Leah loves to just sit with them.

This day, she was obsessed with trying to cover them with her blanket. 

Leah has become my little "wait until the last minute to go to the bathroom" girl.  It's gotten pretty bad.  She will go around "holding" herself, making it obvious that she desperately needs to go, and then will refuse to stop for 2 minutes and run in and use the bathroom.  It can be kind of embarrassing in public.

These girls love the iPad.

At least they are kind enough to share it with friends!

We recently got some 3 year pictures taken of them.  The good thing about them being older and getting their pictures taken is they will hold still without a fight and will smile on demand.  The bad thing about this age is that a lot of the smiles are forced and fake.  Still cute though.

We picked a gorgeous day to get pictures taken.  And with all the fall colors and two sweet, cooperative little girls, we got some great shots.

Gotta love the fake smile!

We thought this one was hilarious- she wrapped her leg around the tree.

We will try a kissing one every year for as long as we can!

TWO forced smiles. Lexi's looks like a grimace.

Some of my favorite things about the girls right now:

*They love playing house together.  One of them is "Mom" and the other is "Dad."  Just a few days ago, I overheard them telling each other "Ok, I'm going to a meeting and then we can go to the temple."  They sure do pick up on what goes on around this house.  Just today, they pretended, as "Mom" and "Dad" to go on an airplane together.  They were packing their bags (I saw Leah gathering up their underwear to pack), and then Lexi said, "We will get to drink juice on the airplane." 

*They are so good for babysitters these days.  I remember when they were little and Leah would usually cry the entire time I was gone.  It was so hard to leave her and I felt so bad for my friends and babysitters who would watch her for any period of time.  I remember picking her up from a friend's house and my friend was holding Leah in one hand, who was still fussing, and Lexi in the other hand (who had gotten sad when Leah started to cry) and my friend's baby was sitting on the floor.  She told me Leah and cried pretty much the whole time.  That was a hard stage.  Now, both of them are just fine with me leaving them at people's houses, and do great for babysitters.  I love it!

*They love to be the "good" sister.  If one of them is crying or throwing a fit about something, I will talk to her about why it's not ok to throw a tantrum, etc.  The other twin, who wasn't doing that, will come over to me and say, "I wasn't crying.  I wasn't doing that."  Or, "I'm being nice, Mom.  I didn't throw my toy."  Awesome.  Good twin, bad twin. :)

*This summer, I stopped napping them on a regular basis.  If I napped them, it would interfere with their bedtime.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that there is two of them sharing a room.  Unless they are super tired (not having had a nap), they will play in their room together for hours.  Having an extra person in there to distract them from sleep and entertain them, they would stay up until 9:00 or later- way, way past their bedtime.  So now they only nap if we are going to be out late that evening.  They still nap really great when I let them.  

*One of their favorite things to do when they are supposed to be in bed asleep is to get our of their cribs (Leah gets out of hers, then unzips Lexi's crib tent and lets her out), then get out of their pajamas and get dressed in a new outfit.  Then they just play.  Just 2 nights ago, I heard one of them crying in the middle of the night.  My clock said 4:30 a.m.  I went into their room to find the light on, and both of them fully dressed.  I don't think this has ever happened before, and I hope it never happens again.  I quickly put them back in their pj's and back to bed, and luckily they fell back asleep.  Naughty little monkeys, they are.

*They love books.  All of my kids have, and I'm glad these two are no exception.  I let them each pick one book each at bedtime, and we read the 2 books altogether.  Recently, they have been on a kick of picking the same 2 books every night for weeks.  And weeks.  And weeks.  I miss the days of picking a new book every night.  But it is cute to listen to them quote the book with me.  I'm not surprised they have it memorized- I sure do! 

*I love when they call each other by their nicknames.  Lexi will call Leah "Lee" and Leah will called Lexi "Lucky."  They also know each other's middle names and will call each other by their first and middle names. 

*One of their favorite times of the day is family prayer at night.  They both always want to pray and have the cutest little prayer (and scripture study) voices.  After prayers, we do a family hug, and then we all put our hands together and say "Gooooo Team" as we lift our hands up in the air.  The twins LOVE this and Leah always yells, "Goooo Team Andros!"  They both always like to be touching my hand and get panicked if they don't get it.  They will yell, "I want to be on Mommy's team!" 

*They truly are the best of friends (and can be the worst of enemies at times).  But they never fight for long.  They spend nearly every minute of every day together.  Their relationship is like a marriage- they spend even more time together than Ben and I do.  I can't blame them for an occasional fight.  Can you imagine spending 99% of your day with the same person, doing nearly everything together?  You're bound to disagree and bump heads every now and then.  But they are fiercely loyal to one another.  They will come and tell me when the other one is hurt or sad and don't like it when another person isn't nice to the other.  They love each other and look out for each other.  A little dynamic duo, this pair.  I love watching them grow and learn together.  Being a twin is such a special thing they will always share.

 Here's to another great year girls.  Gooooo Team Leah and Alexis!