giving thanks

Yesterday was American Thanksgiving, as opposed to Canadian Thanksgiving, which Ada also celebrates. We hosted what we called, Lazy Thanksgiving. The only rules we laid out were that we would eat when the turkey was ready, football would be on the TV, and we would most likely be in our comfy weekend clothes. My parents, Julie, and Taylor joined us for our lazy day and we all had fun hanging out, but Ada and Taylor showed us that they are learning how to be quite the tag team.

They are just starting to get to an age where they are playing together. And play they did. It looked like a toy store had thrown up in our living room by the time the day was over. In fact, they were so busy playing that they didn't have time to take their afternoon naps. Not that Julie and I didn't try. We would try to put one down and they would cry past their normal amount so we would take them out and then we would try the other one. Each time one of the girls was sprung loose from the crib she would walk back into the living room with her head held high and a slight glimmer of mischievous satisfaction across her face. This was the routine for a couple of tries then they picked it up a notch. I didn't see them talking this through ahead of time but I'm guessing that they had some sort of code worked out, because what happened next had to have been plotted out. Taylor once again had a little meltdown, the sort that just announce to everyone around that it is time for a nap. As a mom I love these meltdowns because they are so transparent you don't have to spend any time wondering what might be the source of the tantrum. But, as had happened the other three or four times we had tried to put one of the girls down for a nap, once her head hit mattress the screams got even louder and varied.

This is where the plotting comes in. Taylor and Ada must have figured that among the adults, there must be at least one that would succumb to their total cuteness. So they set up an elaborate sequence of crying rhythms and when the other one heard this they knew it was time to set their plan into action.

As the adults sat around waiting for Taylor to get through her full litany of cries, Ada snuck back to the bedroom and started lightly pounding on the door. And the girls were right, someone saw Ada pounding on the door and they let her in, she wandered in looked around and had a smug little look on her face that said, Yup, suckers. I did my job, they won't be able to resist Taylor now that they are in the room. And she was right. As Taylor walked back into the living room this time she held her head even higher, and the smile on her face was extra big. I'm sure that if we had video footage of the girls following this incident we would have seen them high fiving and giggling as they realized that they have us wrapped around their little fingers. And as silly as it sounds, THAT is what I'm thankful for this year.