My Twin Toddlers are Becoming Little Kids Tomorrow and Turning 5!

February 2, 2019

Oh Ground Hog Day, we meet again! It's the annual tradition now to post a blog entry every year on this day. This day brings on so much emotion for me as a mom; I start remembering everything, my pregnancy, how I felt on this day watching Super Bowl and anticipating my C-section in the morning, life before them, life right when they were born and so on. I can't believe my little babies will no longer be considered toddlers in a few short hours. It all goes by so very fast, it's hard to process.

This year just flew by. I really feel like we just celebrated their 4th birthday and here we are. We ended up cancelling the party last year due to the severity of the flu outbreak and half the party not coming due to being sick. We ended up celebrating with a few closest folks at my parents' house. Girls were bummed, but also had a good time. They definitely brought up why we can't go to the fun place with slides and ball pit. This year they definitely have gotten much taller, but weigh about the same as last year. Tall and lanky. Their English has gotten much better, they still make mistakes and have an accent, but they speak to me almost solely in English. They use Russian with the rest of the family.

We ended up going to LA last March. It was a great trip. We went to Disneyland for a day and it was kind of a nightmare. There were fun moments and we have great pictures from it, but it was so busy the day we went as I'm sure it always is, but the lines were insane, it was tough to get around, etc. Girls were annoyed at the constant waiting, wanted to leave by 2ish, just enjoyed the teacup ride, train around the park and the Disney store on the way out. We enjoyed City Walk and our other outings better, less pressure and chaos. We also took a few quick trips to Calistoga for some pool time. Those were all fun. We did our annual July Tahoe trip for my birthday. It was actually really great and much smoother than the previous year. The house was new and perfect for us. The only downfall was the girls refusing to eat pretty much the whole time. Crying at every meal time, thus making the only activity we were doing together, eating, an unpleasant fiasco. I think it was partially attention seeking and being off their usual routine. Not napping, later bed times, and being in the sun a bunch. Either way, it was a nice time. In August, Pavel and I went to Paso Robles for the first time and really enjoyed it. It's like low key Napa, with cheap or free wineries and not crowded. So in October we ended up taking the girls and also visiting Solvang while there. It was a good family time.

In the fall we began the whole process of applying to private schools for Kindergarten. We don't really love the area we live in and were not looking forward to sending the girls to public. I'm going to try to not go into too many details about this because it's very much front and center on my mind because we are going through the whole process now. Girls just did a playdate a couple of weeks ago there and now we have assessments coming up. Assessment is very hard and the girls are not super confident speaking English to new people, so my hopes are not too high there. However, we already cancelled the process with one private school as their rates went up even higher and it became totally unaffordable for us. This current one that's still in the running is also way too much, but we're still keeping options open. Yesterday we actually applied to a public Elementary school by our house after doing much research. It's one of the smallest schools around us and looks pretty clean and rated above average. Anyway, stressful process, but I'm sure the girls will end up at the the place in which they're meant to excel and be happy. I just can't comprehend that they're enrolled into an elementary school.

They have definitely become more outspoken and irritable this year. There have been and are some days where every single thing is a problem, either to one or the other or both. Wrong shirt/outfit, wrong food, not wanting to do something or go somewhere, you name it. Set off in a second and then it lasts and lasts. Learned to say hurtful stuff such as "Go away" "I don't love you, you're so bad" "No more hugs and kisses for you" and so on and in both languages, depends on whom they're addressing in that moment. But they're also super duper sweet and cuddly. They love snuggling and watching TV with us. They play so great together most of the time, up until they start fighting or letting jealousy take over. You know the twin/sibling thing. They can write all the letters and their own names on their own, can read easy words, know all the sounds. Their letters are not perfect and sometimes backwards, but still. They can count to a 100. They don't dig drawing much and can't draw much besides a few shapes and stick figures, but I'm sure they'll improve. They would definitely rather play with each other and run around than focus on academics. I've been doing flash cards with them almost every night, prepping them for K and specifically for private, but it would be great to save all that money every month. Would love to have unlimited funds where I wouldn't have to jeopardize my kids' education because of a budget.

They have been taking swimming classes all year long and are now starting Level 2, they jump into the water, can swim short distances, float, etc. Huge progress and they absolutely love it! Hope they continue this and later on this year I plan on signing them up a dance class of some sort, they're too musical and flexible to not be utilizing these skills.

Unlike all the other years, they're kind of excited to turn 5, we have been talking about this for a while and they're excited about going to Kindergarten, they really liked that private school they had a play date at. They always used to say they want to be younger and they don't like kids younger than them because they want to be the smallest and the cutest as they say. They are finally understanding that you can't control time, and your age changes every year no matter what you want. Don't we know this all too well. Look at us, the parents, just aging away and approaching new decades just like that. Today while talking on the phone to their Grandpa, he asked Alyssa if she's excited to be 5, she still said that she's not and wants to be little. He then said so do you want to be 1? She said yes, and Paula said "but you're still gonna be 5 tomorrow anyway". That was weird to hear, just the fact that they understand so much and are making sense of everything. Definitely picking up on everything. Patterns, conversations, looks, jokes, innuendos, can't get too much past them. The first big girl thing we did today was to finally convert their cribs, yes we set a record for the longest time in cribs (4 years 364 days) into toddler beds with new bedding and big pillows with a comforter. They LOVE them. They didn't realize their cribs could become that. But they loved the cribs, toys didn't fall off and they felt safe and if it's not broken, why fix it? Tonight marks their very first night in their toddler beds from which they can walk out of on their own. I am not used that idea yet. Hopefully this will be a smooth transition since they're much older than normal and they understand a lot more. However once they'll discover how easy it is to get out at night, they might start doing that a lot. I hope not, of course! We shall see how this plays out, but it was definitely time. I couldn't stand them waking up in cribs at 5!



Well my little girls are about to experience so many changes this coming year. New school, we'll miss our current preschool where they get fed 3 times a day and take a cozy nap w/ their cute little friends. I'm sure by my next post they'll already be going to an elementary school and I'll be talking about them starting 1st grade. This is truly very unbelievable.

A few of my friends had more babies over the last year and one is pregnant with her second. 2018 in general was really tough on some of my favorite people. Sometimes being strong is all a person can do and that's what they did. Overall lots of highs, lots of lows.

Hoping the next year will be smooth and fairly uneventful. I just want everyone I love and care about to be well and also have a good year. That is all.

On that note, I will wrap this up. I'm sure there's so much more I needed to cover, but this is all I can think of at the moment. We have an early day tomorrow with an early birthday party. Hoping for an easy and fun party! We are doing a Belle theme this year. Thanks for reading, I myself reread these blog posts annually and barely remember writing an entry the year prior to.



Happy 5th Birthday to my darling girls! Til next time.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that you were in the newborn phase?

Then crawling infants and running toddlers we had to chase

I can’t believe that you won’t be toddlers anymore

You are becoming little kids as soon as you stop being 4



Turning 5 feels like a big and different milestone

You’ll change so much and become more grown

You will have to part with your first school and teacher Janet

And your kindergarten journey will begin, like a new planet



4 was difficult and fun, yet I enjoyed it so much

We went to Disneyland, Tahoe, Calistoga and such

You learned to count to 100 and write all the letters

You enjoyed yourself this year and that's all that matters



It's bittersweet to see how fast these years fly by

You were just born, now you're 5 in a blink of an eye

As exciting as it is to watch you change and grow up

It pinches my heart that I can't make this time stop



Happy milestone birthday, hope it's all that you want and more

Always be happy and healthy, and remember that you, we adore

May all of you wonderful wishes and dreams come true

Alyssa & Paula, always know how much we all love you!


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