That's Awfully...

Miss Vivian Grace says some funny things. Like her brother, she enjoys picking up phrases and words that she hears adults say. Gavin does this much more frequently than Vivian, but when she adopts a new word or phrase into her daily communication, it's usually hilarious.

As of late, Vivian has really enjoyed using the word "awfully." She'll say something like, "That's awfully sad," "Gavin is being awfully bad today," (giving commentary on her brother's behavior is very common for Vivian), or "This food is awfully hot, Mom."

She's awfully cute sometimes.

Cat and Dog Kids

Have you seen this video on YouTube? It's freaking hilarious. And, it mirrors a lot of what Wes and I have been saying about our twins for years. Go ahead, watch it.

In many ways, Gavin is our little dog-like kid and Vivi is our cat-like kid. Gavin likes to snuggle, hug and kiss, and he wants to be around you every second of the day. Vivian, on the other hand, only wants to do what she wants to do, she doesn't particularly enjoy cuddling, I have to beg for a kiss from the girl, and she is perfectly fine with independently playing on her own.

She's Sticker-Hungry

We recently made a chore chart for the twins. We've been talking about making one for months now and just haven't gotten around to it. Well, we finally did it. And the twins love it.

Each day, the twins can acquire stickers for doing certain things like setting the table, taking out the trash, being calm and quiet during story time at bedtime, listening to Mommy and Daddy, getting dressed by themselves in the morning, and many more (by the way, THEY came up with this list of chores). At the end of the week, they get a special prize (i.e. a dollar and a trip to the dollar store) if they have enough stickers (which is yet to be determined, by the way).

While the both love the chore chart, and are excited when they get a sticker, Miss Vivian Grace is sticker-hungry. She asks several times a day if she can get a sticker for doing A, B, or C or she'll just come out and ask, "Mama, what can I do for a sticker?" She's a go-getter. And if we ever hold the stickers over her head (think: "if you do this, you'll get a sticker"), she's the first one to jump up. 

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

Gavin and Vivian come home from school with drawings, activities, paintings, or other projects on a daily basis. And I just love looking at the vast differences between our two twins. Let's just say that one of our twins is clearly left-brained and the other one is right-brained. Here are a few examples.

The month of July was an "Under the Sea" theme at their school, so everything had to do with the ocean. Below is Vivian's tracing of the word "Shell." Although she didn't attempt to make her own letters, she traced all of the pre-dotted letters perfectly. She even wrote a version of her name at the top (Vivian doesn't typically write her name out correctly, but she always uses the correct letters- so she'll include the letters V, I, A, and/or N, but just not usually in the correct order).

 

And then here's Gavin's version of tracing the word "Shell." He looks like he did some of it, but then got bored, color-happy, or just pissed off and decided to scribble all over the page.

This is Vivian's scuba diver. She used a variety of colors and attempted to color in the lines (and came very close).

And, here's Gavin's scuba diver. 

I like to call it, "Death to Scuba Man."

Here's Vivian's tracing of the word "Fish." Clearly, she really liked this activity. She not only traced the word 4 times, but she also attempted to do it herself on line #3 ("FiFsh"), wrote her own name all over it, and decorated the page with hearts.

And here's Gavin's. I don't think he liked doing this one as much as Vivi.

She's a Mouth-Trumpeter

Miss Vivian Grace is a mouth trumpeter. She must trumpet for a total of 3-7 hours a day. Every single day, in fact. It's usually hilarious, sometimes annoying, and very Vivian. When does she do it? Anytime. She'll trumpet through dinner, while watching TV, whenever it's quiet, in the car, on a walk, while playing outside, or anytime, really. She's been doing this for a couple of months now and I just keep forgetting to get it on film and write about it. 

Well, without further ado...

She's a Little Anxious

I don't know what's been going on with Vivian in the last few MONTHS, but she's been acting anxious just about every single morning that I drop her off at school in the morning. Sometimes she just requires an extra hug (or 2 or 3 or 4), but other times, she throws a full-blown fit (screaming, grabbing me as if she's falling off a cliff, and sometimes even flailing on the floor) about me leaving. It's ridiculous. But it's also pretty sad. She looks so genuinely upset and I generally end up staying for longer than I would like.

And I've tried everything. Sometimes it works if I give her to a teacher to hug while I walk out. Other times, she's okay if I leave her eating a snack at the breakfast table. But for the most part, she expresses some kind of sadness when I say that it's time for me to go. The worst part is that on the way to school, we talk about what's going to happen when I drop her off and she says (without hesitation and with excitement most times), "I not gonna cry! I gonna give you a hug and kiss and you gonna leave!" She understands what's going to happen; there are no surprises. She even recites "the plan" to me before we get inside. But then we walk through the doors and her anxiety takes over. She forgets about her enthusiasm in the car and she begins to break down.

It's not shyness either. This is the same girl who introduces herself and asks others to disclose their names to her on a daily basis. She does this with every single cashier, other child, or anyone who waves at her. She'll compliment a stranger on her purse or hat and she'll proudly (and loudly) thank people who deserve it. So, I don't think its because she's shy.

I tell myself that it's just a phase and that she's done this before and gotten through it, but the fact that she's almost 4 years old and that her brother only rarely pitches a fit about me leaving has me questioning my diagnosis.

Oh well. I guess we'll just have to ride this phase out.

Her Messy Bun

Lately, Vivian has been letting me put her hair in a messy bun. I'm dying over the cuteness. I hope she continues to let me put it up all summer long.

Turtle Love

When we don't have anything to do and it's raining outside, we like to go to the pet store. Last week, we took the kiddos to a pet store we rarely go to. Miss Vivian fell in love with a turtle. And it actually seemed like the turtle felt the same way about Vivian.

Her Hair

I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but Vivian's hair has gotten to be SOOOO long. She still hates washing and brushing it, but she has gotten a lot better at letting me put it up or braid it. When you ask her if we can cut it, she refuses and claims that she wants it to be like Rapunzel. Yowza.

She's a Gymnast

Vivian is a gymnast. Or at least she thinks she is. Several times a day (probably between 20 and 40), Vivian is asking us to look at her ability to do something. Sometimes, it's something small like balancing on one leg and sometimes it's a bit more serious, like getting Wes to flip her in the air. As long as it's something a gymnast would do, she's interested. She loves flipping, jumping, balancing, running, leaping, and rolling. And she especially loves to have other people watch her do it.

In these videos, Vivian is showing me how she can do a summersalt. She's been able to do it for some time now, but she had been practicing a lot on this particular day.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gavin is not as talented as Vivian in the acrobatic department. But, he tries; sort of because he wants to know how to do it, but mostly because Vivian is getting attention for doing it.

Viv

She's Still Slow

Vivian is still a terribly slow eater. We have written about this once before, but since it has continued for over a year, I thought we'd post again to show how this is just part of who she is. Vivian is the last person to finish eating at every single meal we have. She takes her sweet time. And, she demands to finish eating, even if we all leave the table before her.

Once Gavin is done, it's difficult to keep him at the table for long. Then Wes and I are challenged with the task of waiting it out with her. This usually lasts until one of us is pulled away by another child or household crisis created by another child. Then the last parent will continuously ask little Miss if she's done, to which she almost always responds with "NO!" or "Not yet!" After being yelled at for the 10th or 11th time, the remaining parent will usually leave Vivian to her own devices. Then, she'll continue to talk to herself or to Elmo, sing out loud, and eat. Slowly. When she's ready, she yells for someone to clean her hands and help her down.

And yes, we still call her "Inez".

Miss Broccoli

Vivian has always loved broccoli (I know, she's a weird kid). And her love for these green trees has continued into the generally picky Terrible Twos and Tantrum-Ridden Threes. In fact, we recently went to a buffet and let the kids pick out their own food. Vivian saw these huge broccoli trees and had to have one.

And yes, she ate the entire thing.

She Loves Him

Vivian really loves her little brother. She really loves him. She's very gentle and quite careful with him. And whenever he cries, she'll go up to him and say, "It's okay, Paxton. It's okay." She also asks to hold him several times a day, helps us change his diapers, and is willing to get anything for him if we ask. We just hope this unconditional love for her brother continues...

She's an "Upie"-A-Holic

Miss Vivian is an "upie"-a-holic. She must ask Wes (since I've been on bed rest, she's learned to leave me alone) to pick her up by asking for an "upie" at least 3-5 times a day. She either wants Wes to hold her (on his front) and carry her around or (as she is in the pictures) she wants to hold onto his neck, stick her feet into his pants (to secure her place) and "ride" on his back. 

She wants to be "upied" a lot with Wes, especially if she knows he's about to do something (like vacuum). She looks at it as an opportunity to go for a ride.

Funny story: we recently told her that the new baby was going to need to be "upied" a lot and that she may not be "upied" as much anymore when baby #3 arrives. Shockingly (we've talked about several changes that will occur with the new baby with no real reaction from the twins), this sent her into a crying fit like no other. Needless to say, we haven't brought it up again.

She's such a cute little "upie"-a-holic.

"Dat not fair!"

This is what Vivian says whenever she doesn't like something, someone takes something from her, or just in general when she's unhappy with the way that things are going. She's usually yelling this with a rather mean (or reprimanding) look on her face. It has become one of her catch phrases in the last month or so. She's definitely our feisty child.

Classic Vivian

Red lady bug rain boots, pink pants, a green, white, orange, and pink striped dress, a pink leopard print hoodie, and a teal vest. Yep, that's classic Vivian.

She Ain't 'Fraid of No Bug

Yesterday, there was a bug in our house. Wes pointed it out to Gavin and he flipped. He started yelling, "I no want dat bug in my new house!" (p.s. both kiddos call our current house the "new house" every single time they talk about it) Gavin immediately ran over and placed a green lid on top of it (after a little apprehension and screaming of course). 

Vivian, on the other hand, was very excited about this bug. She kept taking the lid off the bug and laughing at it. Every time she took the lid off, Gavin would cry/squeal/shriek while Vivian was smiling ear-to-ear.

This is just one of those situations where we notice the huge differences between our twins. It's just so funny to us that Gavin is completely fearless about some things and not others, while at the same time, Vivian is unfazed by many of the things that Gavin is scarred of and ridiculously terrified of many things that Gavin enjoys greatly.

Apparently, bugs are one of those things that divides them. While Gavin is not horrified by bugs, he definitely does not enjoy them. Vivi (as you'll see in the videos) not only likes them, but is not scarred at all.

Listen to the fear in Gavin's voice and the delight in Vivian's. It's so funny how different they are. My favorite line is when Gavin fearfully says, "Catch him, Vivi!" (around the 24 second mark).




This second video is of Viv trying to actually pick up the bug. I love how she says, "C'mon, boy," when she's attempting to catch it.

She's Lip Gloss Obsessed

Our little princess has become ridiculously obsessed with lip gloss (or as she says, "Wip Gwoss"). She's always wanted some of my lip gloss if she saw me use it, but she had not had her own personal lip gloss until 2 weeks ago. 

Since then, she's gone through not 1, not 2, but 3 lip glosses. She uses it repeatedly. All. Day. Long.

The good news is that she's perfectly willing to put it down at nap time, bed time, and meal time.

When she puts it on, she puckers her little lips together, rubs it all over her them, and then smacks them together rather loudly.

She also continuously talks about how she's a "Big Girl," how lip gloss "goes on wips (lips) only," and how she "puts wid (lid) on so it not get dirty."

I don't think she's giving up this obsession any time soon.

Our Cutie Pie