Babes in Mauland: An end to summer

The start of the new school year meant the end to my summer with the twins and the return to the mayhem that is morning at the Mau house. The kids wake up way too early—Emaline is not above waking up at 5:30 and jumping on her bed yelling until everyone is up. Breakfast is sometimes a test of wills. The post-breakfast, pre-departure play/scream time is my favorite.

Keillor is going through a phase where he wants to be up at our level so he can see everything and touch it. It is not enough for him to play the “point and boop” game once in a while—this game involves Keillor pointing at something, Aimee or I carrying him over to it, he touching it, and we saying, “Boop!” He now wants to be up high all of the time, especially in the morning when we are trying to get ready. He is not above a floor-beating tantrum.

Emaline is content to play by herself in the morning, but this sometimes involves her trying to stick her fingers in cabinets, close herself in rooms, climb on bookshelves, and various and sundry other acts of daring do. She has more bruises than a banana in a kid’s backpack.

Afternoons are also back to being hectic. We not only have to get dinner ready, but we have to think about how to alter or modify dinner so that the twins can eat it, too. In some cases, we have to make two dinners. Our goal is for everyone to sit down together and enjoy one meal. Our reality is that we have had very few warm meals in the last few months. Last night was an exception. By the grace of God, they both enjoyed bean burritos and ate theirs as we ate ours. This means that we will only be eating bean burritos for the rest of our lives, or until tomorrow when they decide that they don’t really like them. There’s always oatmeal.

The most fun of the day remains bath time. Emaline used to be scared of the tub, but she is finding that she can not only put up with Keillor’s constant splashing, but also enjoy a little splashing herself. They both love lying on their backs with their ears under the water listening to tapping on the tub or water running. Usually, Keillor begins flailing around like a madman, laughing maniacally. We bought an inflatable cover for the faucet so that they wouldn’t hurt themselves on in. They popped it. They also find other ways to injure themselves in the tub, most of which involve slipping and hitting their heads.

Keillor sees a cow

They started trying to climb into and out of the tub themselves. Not fun for us.

Emaline wants to dance

Speaking of climbing, I never mentioned the trip to Shakertown. Shaker Village was hosting a craft fair, so we brought the kids. They liked the craft part—wanting to grab everything they could—but we really enjoyed watching them dance and climb the stairs.

Emaline meets a goat

Keillor is about to get butted by a goat

A family of bluegrass musicians played under a tent, and the kids just loved it. They bounced and ran, smiling and yelling. We then took them into one of the Shaker homes and let them run wild. Keillor just wanted to go up. He climbed one set of stairs, but wasn’t finished, so he climbed another, and another. When there were no more, he got really upset, even though he was so tired he couldn’t stand up. Emaline could not match his speed, but she was OK with bringing up the rear.